The Eastern Undead & Blood Red Moon

Oriental Japan 18th/19th Century. An elderly woman is wandering a lonely path at twilight. An adjacent thicket rustles slightly, to which a young fox comes out towards her. Rubbing itself against her, the elderly woman offers the fox a small scrap of food, which the fox welcomingly accepts, swallows greedily and retreats back into its hiding place. The fox re-emerges later, yelping and frightened by something in the bush. The elderly woman takes a look as to see what scared the fox and sees a reflection of eyes with her lantern. The being inside snarling and hissing.

Cursing at the creature in the bush, the hissing increases to become growling. From the creature's perspective, we emerge from the bush, and the growling becomes menacing. The perspective shifts to above the woman, a monstrous sillhouette just visible on the wall. The woman attempts to scream only to be silence abruptly, her scream replaced with the sound of bones snapping and flesh tearing as if being eaten alive, offscreen. Our vision shifts to a small puddle, which reflects a near full moon, glourious and white, with a speck of blood staining the puddle, turning the moon's reflection red.

Within the TARDIS, the Doctor, Amy and Rory discuss past adventures until they hear the phone ringing, however it is not the TARDIS phone, it's a mobile phone.

"There is only one person who'd phone me on that hotline."

Picking up the phone, the Doctor answers to someone who he hasn't heard from for a very long time.

"Doctor Jones I presume? When's my appointment?"

Titles

This is a discussion for my script for a Doctor Who serial. I know what the monster is, I just need to discuss it further, notably with other fans of the series, to make sure I have something good to work with.

Because of the story being set in Oriental Japan, it would only be fitting to feature something prominent in Japanese mythology. In this case, it is the Kitsune.

The Kitsune originate from the planet Vulpecula, but have visited Earth for millenia, taking a preference for countries such as China, Korea and Japan. Normally, they have been a harmless species, save for a few individuals who have created a reputation as tricksters and playing games with humans.

However, the Kitsune the features in this role is on a mission for her people, one which will leave nothing but destruction in its wake (yawn).

Sadly, since Kitsune last ventured to Earth, they were thrown into the Time War.




Vulpecula
was a planet within the constellation neighbouring one of Gallifrey, home of
the Time Lords. In the earlier days of the Time Lords, they visited the planet
once to see a lush veritable Eden, mostly populated by a fox-like species
called Kitsune. It has been a text book example since to the children of time
of a world that must be protected.


During the time war, the Daleks secured a foot hole in this system,
taking Vulpecula as a base for testing. With the Time Lords issuing a
“neutrality position” over the planet, the Time Lords couldn’t fight over it to
be protected from the evil Daleks. The Daleks’ experiments were designed to
create time weapons, bombs capable of accelerating, decelerating or even rapid
reversal of the area of impact. These experiments came to little success, but
the waste produced by these experiments was unbelievable and was carelessly
leaked into the environment.


During this time, most of the
planet was exposed to deadly waste that began to affect local wildlife. Several
millions years worth of evolution was being forced within years, killing off
most life unable to adapt, with many kitsune dying of other side effects. By a
stroke of what might have seemed like luck at the time, some kitsune evolved
impressively, to feature incredible intelligence, psychic ability and brute
force.


Once the Daleks designated
Vulpecula to be too polluted to continue work and to clear away evidence that
they were even there, they planned to detonate a bomb to obliterate the planet.
However, the kitsune engaged the Daleks in battle in a bid to destroy the evil
creatures. The kitsune’s strength was unmatched; Dalek blasting would have to
be charged strongly to kill them and the kitsune’s psychic power was able to
force the Daleks into destroying one another. A group attacked the ship
proceeding to destroy the planet, knocking its guidance off course and
lessening the impact. Falling short of a major faultline, the planet was blown
apart, but the core remained intact, its own gravity keeping the large land
masses floating around it, the planet becoming the Vulpecula Cluster.


For a long time, the Kitsune
cleared their planet of the waste into its core and tried to continue living
their lives in peace. When the Time War began to rage, the Daleks returned, in
a bid to gain control over the kitsune to use them in a bid to win them
battles. Victory, however, went to the kitsune. The Time Lords tried to
intervene to protect the planet, having finally been able to return, to which
the kitsune were greatly displeased. War broke out over Vulpecula over the fate
of the kitsune, with heavy casualties taken on all sides. Daleks were destroyed
in cold blood, kitsune fell to the might of the enemy and the Time Lords
suffered terrible tragedies that day.


It was at this stage, the
Kitsune discovered a new power they hadn’t previously known of, but whether it
was a natural ability or one of a mutation is unknown. This ability was to be
able to consume a host, in body, mind and soul, and take on their form. Through
this, they could consume the Time Lords they captured and consume them to
acquire their form, their memories and their minds, allowing them to reach a
greater potential than even the Time Lords were aware.


The kitsune won outright after
discovering this, and the Vulpecula cluster was left alone...




The kitsune
that has come to Earth wishes to re-use a base previously built their long ago
by her own people. Earth is suitable as a colony for the kitsune, with an
adequate supply of food and a population of humans suitable for consuming.
However, the kitsune are incredibly biased towards which gender are suitable;
females are the only ones allowed to leave their home world and male humans are
considered to be less important and not worth consuming. Instead, the males
that stand between the kitsune and her task are taken, fatally wounded and
infected with a symbiotic species called the Blight, which serve the kitsune.


The colony is intended to be
designed not only as a food source for a planet slowly starving, but also as a
means to fill the void which the Time Lords left behind. Humanity has hidden
potential, and once consumed, kitsune can unlock it. The Doctor’s detection in
Oriental Japan, changes everything.


As the Doctor arrives, Kyubi’s
plan is to use the Doctor as the 9^th tail in her physiology (the
tails are prominently known to be representing of a kitsune’s power) and
acquire more than enough power to call forth her kind to this world on the
night of the Blood Red Moon. The moon is suitable for the signal to pass into
outer space, but because the transmitter is so basic and so rudimentary (such
that it can be a perfect signal and undetected), certain wavelengths of light
damage the signal, so one the night of a total lunar eclipse, a rare astral
phenomena when no sunlight is reflected from its surface, the signal can enter
deep space without a problem.


The only way to kill a kitsune
is by stabbing it through the heart with something deriving of its home world.
Nothing else will do, death must be delivered to the evolved beings by
something that has evolved with it. With a strange stroke of luck, something
belonging to the kitsune does exist on Earth, unaccounted for by Kyubi. When
Kyubi approached Earth using her ship, it struck a piece of rock, causing it to
shatter. Kyubi fell to Earth over China whilst the fragments of her ship either
fell into the sea, burnt up or fell to land where it was supposed to.


As Kyubi wondered the world for several years trying to reach the fortress, she consumed several humans, making her presence known as she passed. Passing through China, Korea and finally
Japan (causing her to be sighted many times, resulting in myths of a magical
fox being prominent in Eastern culture) to reach Oni Island. The mysterious
rock which made her ship was found by humans, who discovered the mysterious
quality it had. The rock was covered in a strange excitation that made air
molecules move around it. Whilst most parts where stolen and unsalvageable, one
major part remained intact; part of the weapons array. This object, resembling
a sword, when swung would cause a rapid rush of wind in its wake. It later was
dubbed Kusanagi, after the mythical sword which bared the same power.

The kitsune have also at their disposal a symbiotic species called the Blight. The Blight originated during the Time War. As the time waste leaked, a cold virus mutated to such an extent that it could acquire sentience by using its hosts.

The Blight are an important asset to the Kitsune, notably that which lands on Earth. The kitsune takes no interest in males, as she only is interested in possessing the bodies of woman, so just kills the men that get in her way and leave them for dead. The Blight will infect the body and control it (hence the undead resemblence). The body becomes unnaturally strong as the smog the bacteria produces behaves like a steroid on dead cells, but at the same time causes rapid decay and discolouration of the iris.

Blight, like their masters, can only be killed by their host being stabbed through the heart with an object important to their host.

Oni Island is a fortress constructed by the Kitsune to serve as an outpost whilst different packs were on Earth.

The island itself is built from adapted Earth technology, such that it doesn't contravene rulings from the Shadow Proclamation for being foreign in origin. The primary design features a shield that is powered from local supplies that curves light around it to make it appear almost invisible from direct vision (however is visible from the corner of your eye).

The barrier is almost perfect, even the TARDIS cannot penetrate it (such making it a useful foothold on Earth for the Kitsune to exact out her plan without Time Lord interference). There is one flaw, it is built with a hybrid power supply in design. At sundown, it switches between from one supply to the other more efficient generator, giving it the strange ability to only appear visible at sun down, as it switches from solar power to tidal power.

The fortress is something of a marvel within, but is cold and frightening to human visitors. Human intruders have fallen into the traps for centuries, killed off either by the monstrous inhabitants that the Kitsune brings to life, or by being killed in cold blood by their own allies or committing suicide.

As Rory, Amy and Martha enter the island, each takes their own path. Rory is chased by a ghostly manservant that asks that he be replaced. He is convinced that by stealing Rory's eyes, the windows to his soul, that Rory will sign his soul away to a contract that ensures he will never leave till the deed is done. Rory will do anything to escape waiting eternity for the woman he loves again, even taking his own life.

Amy and Martha take different directions to find themselves being lead into rooms that are identical to past situations, Amy aboard Devils Run and Martha on Earth, in her home street, now completely derelict and boarded up. Then each sees someone who they hate most in this universe, Amy sees Madame Kovarian, who tried to kill the Doctor and with Amy's daughter and Martha sees Ms. Dexter, who served the Master in the year that never was. Each begins to fall for the torment of each apparition of the women, till it drives them to violence. In reality, they are in fact fighting eachother to the death, unable to see the reality, until Amy can finally see the flaw in the design and urges herself and Martha to see the real world.

As the companions and a young apprentice to a late carpenter fight the Kitsune on the roof, the humans brought to bring down the island are killed by the monsters on the island, each becoming a new Blight in turn. The carnage only stops when one of the soldiers opens the doors to the TARDIS as the cloister bell is ringing and pulls a glowing lever on the panel that the Blight is destroyed and their hosts rot and crumble to dust.

"The great planet of Vulpecula orbits a star so very distant from here, but so close to that of Kasterborous, where Gallifrey, the home of the Time Lords, once orbitted between twin suns.

Our ancestors were an ignorant and vulnerable race, seeming to live on a verdant paradise that was never to last. The Time Lords assured their protection, but that was a lie.

From the dead planet, carried by their destruction and conflict, they came. The monsters descended from the skies and wiped out so many of the ancestors, it was slaughter. Those that survived wished they hadn't soon enough, as the monsters prooved.

They began to test their infernal contraptions, hoping to wipe out the Time Lords with them. They carelessly unleashed these weapons on our verdant paradise. Nearly everything died. Those that survived were forced to harden, to learn and to fight.

In the first of many heated wars, the monsters wished to dispose of the wastes of our world, but we ripped their flesh from their shells like weakling molluscs. Their plan was failed and our world, instead of being destroyed, was scattered, each continent separated and left floating around a curious core.

Then finally did the Time Lords comes, the monsters joining them to control us. None survived our war with them, not when our true powers came to knowledge. Our consumption of their flesh, blood and souls would allow us to take on their form, both in mind and in body. We repelled the force as strongly as we could, and won triumphant. All were slain, monsters, liars and traitors; the minority surviving reporting only a world opposing to what it once was. A world of pure hell; the Vulpecula Cluster."

Look and review!
LOOK AND REVIEW!

It's not hard to leave a comment in passing!

It is hard to leave a comment in passing because "in passing" implies not reading it.

I'm not sure what to say at the moment as you've scarcely gone into the story (merely backstory that would unlikely to feature in the episode). I also don't understand Martha's inclusion at the moment (and I'm slightly biased in what would constitute a good reason because I didn't like her character ).

I'm not a huge fan of some of the backstory. It makes the Kitsune come across too powerful, yet at the same time it's counter productive... how can they travel space if they are so new to be intelligent and their planet is destroyed? How can they come to be on Earth if they are in the Time War? Why did they come to Earth? If their resources are so scare a planet that is at least in the same galaxy would perhaps be more prudent?

I reckon just focussing on the story would be better. The pre-intro scene was interesting.

3mptylord wrote:It is hard to leave a comment in passing because "in passing" implies not reading it.

I'm not sure what to say at the moment as you've scarcely gone into the story (merely backstory that would unlikely to feature in the episode). I also don't understand Martha's inclusion at the moment (and I'm slightly biased in what would constitute a good reason because I didn't like her character ).

I'm not a huge fan of some of the backstory. It makes the Kitsune come across too powerful, yet at the same time it's counter productive... how can they travel space if they are so new to be intelligent and their planet is destroyed? How can they come to be on Earth if they are in the Time War? Why did they come to Earth? If their resources are so scare a planet that is at least in the same galaxy would perhaps be more prudent?

I reckon just focussing on the story would be better. The pre-intro scene was interesting.

Martha's inclusion into the story would be the primary reason for landing in Oriental Japan in the first place. Whilst working for UNIT, she is sent to solve disappearances within the London Area. Turns out it was a Weeping Angel and soon she fell victim to it. Luckily, her phone still had "Universal Roaming" and she was able to contact the Doctor for a lift.

However, something is quite wrong. The TARDIS lands in Japan, only to find Martha hasn't made the call, even though the TARDIS landed at the right time. Later is it realised that the clock on Martha's phone is out of sync, what with it being damaged slightly by the "touch of angel" so she will make the call, but the Doctor has taken her phone to find out something about it. Ultimately, this makes the situation worse; with the Kitsune having now taken the Doctor, with Martha's phone, the phone has to be retrieved in order for the call to be made and for the TARDIS to land or we have something of a dangerous paradox, something that the Kitsune is dwelling on...

We're talking about time waste here, capable of accelerating time over the area of detonation. Now say some of that leaked, you could have millions of years of evolution in a matter of days. Imagine human intelligence developing that quickly, you could move on from the fire to the lightbulb in barely any time at all. Considering this took place over years, you'd have something very clever after all that time. Accelerated evolution can produce very unlikely results, hence creating a very powerful species, it would be like a species trying to fight for survival at the end of the universe by fighting time itself.

The kitsune were involved in the Time War, but not majorly taking part. As such, their planet survived (just) whilst Gallifrey and Skaro were destroyed. The Time Lock only strongly applied to species which had access to time travel in the war, the kitsune were left well alone once they fought for their planet. Ruins and remnants of the Time War remain, such as those that survived it or waited for it to end.

Earth is considered a highly valuable planet. An indigenous population that is considered to be slow and easy to manipulate makes a prime factor for invasion, but it's more than that. Earth is neutral territory and is rumoured to be a haven for the last time lord. A personal attack on the Doctor and the time lords to exact revenge.

"It hurts to see a neutral planet, one which is weak and cannot defend itself, taken and ravaged by monsters and to be able to do nothing about it because of technicalities."

But perhaps the Kitsune are more cunning than this. It might not simply be a species demanding revenge or survival, but perhaps the truth lies somewhere within the troubled past of the Time War, perhaps one that will make people see nothing of the Doctor but pure evil.

The TARDIS attempting to land on Oni Island.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeqUHAvA-fI

Also a variation of Oni Island, i'd recommend "No Reflection" on FreePlay music.

Okay, Matha's inclusion is a little cooler.

Also, the time lock applies generally. We've encountered Geth, those red spiders, etc, who were all simply caught up in the war. The lock's in place to prevent time-travellers from changing events... but all are contained within it. At least, that's how I've understood it.

Just ignoring the backstory, the episode itself looks quite interesting. I wasn't a huge fan of the illusion sequence though.

The illusion sequence was supposed to enhance the psychodrama element of it all. Doctor Who has some fine scary moments based around the mind playing tricks.

I did understand the purpose of it, but that doesn't make me like it. It's a little bit corny, and I think that the best scary-mind-tricks are the ones where both the user and the character don't know they're happening. Even if the character is under some euphoria and doesn't realise that 3 seconds ago they were somewhere else, the user does and it doesn't really work as effectively.