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doctornolonger · 8 months ago
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The Killer Cats of Gin-Seng
In Survival, the last regular serial of Classic Doctor Who, the Doctor and Ace visit a planet of humanoid cats called “Cheetah People”. The Cheetah People are highly telepathic: they can mentally control and inhabit their pet cats, and they can even teleport between planets. Most notably, one of them is played by Lisa Barrowman, better known as Bernice Summerfield.
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But this wasn’t actually the first time that humanoid cats had been set to appear in Doctor Who. In 1977, script editor Anthony Read commissioned his former collaborator David Weir to write the Season 15 finale, a four-part serial set on Gallifrey. The request was to explore society outside the Capitol with an emphasis on morality, a theme which Weir had written well in the past. So he pitched a story about Gallifreyan civilization of humanoid cats.
The Gallifreyan cat-people would have mirrored real-world cats’ dual penchant for both sophistication and savagery: they would appear advanced and civilized until the Doctor wound up in one of their elaborate gladiatorial displays! Weir delivered his scripts on time, and production proceeded to the point that Dee Robson designed costumes for the cat actors.
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Ultimately the story was cancelled: Weir, by all accounts an excellent screenwriter, dramatically overestimated the show’s VFX capabilities and budget. But executive producer Graham Williams later mentioned the idea at a fan convention, so it became well-known in fandom (albeit under the false name The Killer Cats of Geng Singh). As a result, when Survival finally brought cat people to screens, fans naturally canonwelded the two.
One of these fans was Adrian Middleton, editor of the Apocrypha fanzine. Here’s how Apocrypha issue 1 covered the cats:
Apocrypha on the Killer Cats
THE GIANT CATS     -16,000,000
The first intelligent mammalians on Gallifrey evolved from its version of the sabre-toothed Tiger. These giant cats developed a rudimentary form of empathic communication, which allowed them to influence the actions of their prey.
Over an extended period of time, the cats developed a finer telepathic ability, allowing them to actually control other species. This became a necessity as feline culture grew, as their physiological form prevented the use of tools to build or write with. Thus, in spite of their intelligence, the cats could not establish a true civilisation without anthropoid assistance.
FELINOID CIVILISATION     -14,000,000
Early Gallifreyan hominids soon became the tools of feline culture. The first buildings on the planet were built by hominids but designed by cats, taking the form of vast stone arenas, in which the cats would use lesser species for sport - hunting and killing for pleasure rather than survival.
HOMINIDS     -14,000,000/-13,980,000
Forced to live alongside saurian and feline predators, Gallifrey's first hominid tribes evolved as creatures of guile and stealth. Communities were established using primitive communications. These hominids were the cave-people, the tree-people, and the river-people.
THE FALL OF THE GIANT CATS     -13,980,000
The hominid tribes had at first been easy prey for the cats, easily manipulated as a supply of muscle and food. Ultimately, however, the development of feline culture accelerated the development of hominid culture. Being made to use their hands and having the telepathic parts of their minds manipulated awakened a new sense of purpose within them. Seeing the cats as their slavers, they rebelled, exposing the cats to a coup so bloody that the species was all but wiped from the face of the planet.
THE LEGEND OF THE VANISHING CATS     -13,800,000
It is rumoured that, after their defeat by the hominids, the giant cats fled to the mountains, where they hoped to restore their numbers (perhaps in an effort to restore their power over the hominids). Often hunting parties would venture into these mountains, bringing back the occasional cat. It seemed that the mental strength of the hominids had come to match their feline contemporaries.
Other psychic powers were attributed to the cats, including the power of teleportation. In Gallifrey's southern hemisphere, atop one of its highest mountains, there stands a crudely erected stone circle. Gallifreyan archaeologists determined that this was built by the cats themselves. Legend states that the giant cats emigrated by mass teleportation to another worlds. Few giant cats were seen from this time on, and those that did appear bore no telepathic powers. However, smaller domestic cats, or Kitlings, retained this ability.
WHY LINK THE KITLINGS FROM 'SURVIVAL' WITH THE KILLER CATS OF GALLIFREY?
The 'cat' theme is one that has been expanded on greatly in recent years. Colin Baker's cat motif and 'I am the cat that walks alone' slogan, followed by Eric Saward's novelisation of 'Slipback', set a pace followed by 'Survival' and the 'Cat's Cradle' trilogy.
Upon learning about 'The Killer Cats of Ginseng' by David Weir, everything seemed to fit into place. Cats can't exist everywhere in the universe, they have to come from somewhere - we have Earth cats, and Gallifrey has telepathic or empathic cats, just like the Kitlings.
Commentary
Since the 90s, a few stories have referenced the killer cats idea. Gary Russell’s VMA Invasion of the Cat-People mentions “mercenaries of Gin-Seng” alongside the Cheetah People in a list of felinoid species (hence the “canonical” spelling); there’s a similar offhand mention in Big Finish’s Erasure. But there’s only been one actual appearance of one of the cats: Daniel O’Mahony’s Faction Paradox short story “The Return of the King” (pdf).
“The Return of the King” is a prelude to the author’s 2008 novel Newtons Sleep. In that book there’s a glimpse of “the nocturnal delegations of the wild things, whose sharp bright teeth and claws gleamed in the dark of their robes.” The prelude elaborates,
[Time Lord Thessalia’s] oracle stays at the window, seething playfully below his hood. He has fiercely intelligent eyes, neither as sharp nor as bright as his scar. His mouth is a succulent white smile in a lightless face. His people have nothing but contempt for the rituals of the Great Houses. She’s little better than prey to him, a bloodless snack for his long teeth and hungry mind. He breathes, honeyed air purring out of the cavities of his body.
A killer cat kept as a Time Lord’s personal oracle … as @rassilon-imprimatur​ once noted, a funny recontextualization of The Mark of the Rani’s reference to the Lord President’s “pet cat”!
This was my first exposure to the killer cats, so I always took it for granted that they’d always had psychic or oracular abilities. But in fact, as best as I can tell, there was zero hint of this in the original serial. I tracked down every published description of the story, and they all amount to the same few repeated bits of information: Gallifrey, humanoid cats, and a gladiatorial arena. Richard Bignell ultimately told me, “No summary of Killers of the Dark exists. Even David Weir couldn’t recall anything about it when I spoke to him.”
So when “The Return of the King” features an oracular cat-man, it’s not just a reference to the unmade Classic serial. It’s a reference to fan interpretations like Middleton’s which canonweld that serial with the psychic Cheetah People.
And in some ways, it seems to be referencing Middleton’s version specifically! In “The Return of the King”, the above quoted memory is interrupted by commentary:
Your first oracle? ‘My last.’ You think? But his kind were vanishing from the world. ‘They were escaping the War. They could see it coming.’
Compare:
Legend states that the giant cats emigrated by mass teleportation to another worlds. Few giant cats were seen from this time on, and those that did appear bore no telepathic powers.
And so Middleton explains how the cats vanished in O’Mahony’s telling, and O’Mahony explains why they vanished.
Afterword
While we’re on the topic of why, why did O’Mahony choose to revive this specific idea in “The Return of the King”?
One of the places I checked for Killers of the Dark details was issue 336 of Doctor Who Magazine. Imagine how thrilled I was to find that the relevant “Accidental Tourist” piece, located one page after a Faction Paradox ad, was written by none other than O’Mahony himself!
Part of his reflection was particularly striking. He recaps the wild undefinedness of the Doctor’s backstory, a topic I’ve discussed before on this blog. But in his telling, the uncertainty extends past The War Games all the way to The Deadly Assassin.
After all, The War Games declared that “the Doctor’s people are the Time Lords”, but “who are the Time Lords?” was still left undefined. In the Time Lords’ many subsequent appearances, they were simply walking plot devices, and lore details were left to the wayside. Contradictions were rife. Who was Rassilon to Omega? Is their planet called “Gallifrey” or “Jewel”? Who or what on earth are the “First”, “Second”, and “Third Time Lord” who exiled the Doctor?
It was The Deadly Assassin which first dove into the details by featuring the Time Lords like they were any other of the show’s alien cultures. And for this, it was widely panned: “the fans had voted it the worst story of Season Fourteen and published reviews vociferously attacking its ‘betrayal’ of the Time Lords. The BBC practically disowned it, physically vandalising the master tape to placate Mary Whitehouse.” In other words, the stage was all set for a discarding of Holmes’ Time Lords.
O’Mahony writes in his conclusion,
The Deadly Assassin could have remained a one-off, its vision of the Doctor’s homeworld set at odds not just with the Gallifrey stories of the past but also those of the future. The Killer Cats of Geng Singh was the last chance to slip the leash. Williams loved the Time Lords but he had a raft of other ideas he could have put into play, not least the frustratingly deferred Guardians who were clearly intended as a new rung of the series cosmology above and beyond the Time Lords. The premise of Killer Cats was also to counterpoint the Time Lords with another Gallifreyan species – a race of humanoid cats that delighted in bloodthirsty gladiatorial contests alongside a highly refined culture. This wasn’t cribbing from The Deadly Assassin, this was building something new that would expand the newly-forged mythology of the series. In fact, with the cat-people on board and the Guardians waiting in the wings, the possibilities for Time Lord mythology were fluid. It might be possible to return to Gallifrey and find something new and exciting each time, different Gallifreys, with a mutable and ever-expanding history.
However, thanks to Killers of the Dark’s cancellation, Williams and Read were left with a slot to fill on short notice, and for The Invasion of Time they ultimately turned back to Holmes’ ideas. The Deadly Assassin wasn’t discarded or undermined, it was reentrenched.
This was the real moment that the Time Lords as we know them were crystallized: a real-world anchoring of the thread. This was when the whimsically-named planet “Gallifrey” definitively transformed into the rationalistic, stagnant, bureaucratic Homeworld that would feature in the Faction Paradox series.
Because in FP, by the time Grandfather Paradox enters the scene, the Great Houses are total strangers to whismy. It’s only through the course of the War that their understanding of the cosmos is broadened and stranger things begin to return to the Homeworld (with great vengeance).
By showing us a cat in the flesh, O’Mahony is finishing the housekeeping: just as the Intuitive Revelation banished the Pythia, the Eremites, and the Carnival Queen; just as the Grey Eminence unwrote Gallifrey’s first childbirth; and just as the Eternals “despaired of this reality, and fled their hallowed halls” at first hint of conflict – the Killer Cats have to leave to set the scene for the War to come.
P.S.
In Baker’s End, Tom Baker wound up “the King of Cats”. What does this imply about the Other?!?
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dearestgentlereaders · 5 months ago
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and he wonders why his wife would question whether he was ever punished as a child as if he isn’t the most dramatic bitch around
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ladywhistleballs · 6 months ago
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This is exactly how I picture them after colin and pen married 😂
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harmonizingsunsets · 6 months ago
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Colin: I think I’m in love with Penelope.
Audience:
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groovygrub · 4 months ago
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panlight · 4 months ago
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The other funny thing I just realized about the Tent Scene is that Mike Newton's family owned the outdoor gear store.
Mike Newton would have been prepared for a camping trip.
Mike Newton would have known what gear they might need.
Mike Newton would have brought a sleeping bag with the correct temperature rating for mountain camping where it might get cold.
I mean, Bella worked there so you'd think she'd have picked up a few things, too, but it was pretty clear she did not care about that job at all, so.
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anxious-bisexual-0 · 6 months ago
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This is me rn if anyone was wondering
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I’m gonna go to bed and try to get a couple of hours before PART ONE OF SEASON THREE OF BRIDGERTON DROPS ON NETFLIX
Guys we’re HERE OH MY GOD ONLY A FEW MORE HOURS
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dalavendergirl · 2 months ago
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Hmmmmm
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somedayillbepeterpan · 6 months ago
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The funniest thing to me is:
The perennial wallflower Penelope Featherington being Whistledown is actually the juiciest gossip Lady Whistledown can ever write about.
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greeneyessmize · 5 months ago
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Lol, here I am, another wife on Tumblr with a husband saying he would not have been pissed with me if we had been Penelope & Colin. Hubs also said she didn't write anything untrue, just that Colin didn't like being called on his bullshit.
I still maintain that Colin Bridgerton is a sweet sensitive overreacting drama llama, but I still love him. Pen really has far more patience than I. I am direct and will not let conflicts fester lol. We are talking until there isn't anything left to say and shit is settled.
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I would have at least gotten his stupid stubborn butt back into bed for sleep, instead of him sulking dramatically on the settee for who knows how many nights. Which would have only led to him getting increasingly more recalcitrant and overwrought.
And like... maybe talking would have taken them at least 50% out of this conflict? Like if she could have told Colin why she did not directly say Marina was pregnant in some detail or why she called out Eloise like she did? He might have understood her better than her clipped defenses to his yelling in the middle if the street would have ever allowed. Also, how many times did the girl have to apologize? She got nothing for being truly penitent.
Anyways.... that went long. Lol
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foxglovecove · 8 months ago
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The night before:
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+++
Ps I found the text post image on Pinterest so if anyone knows who made it let me know so I can properly credit
[edit] original post can be found over here @textsfromtheshatterdome
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doctornolonger · 1 year ago
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The original print edition of this book featured a large Faction Paradox logo at the top of the cover. This had a marked tendency to prompt the question ‘so what’s this Faction Paradox thing, then?’, the answer to which is long and complicated and distracts from more important questions like ‘what’s the book about?’ and ‘is it any good?’. Assuming the potential reader bothered to ask any questions at all, and didn’t write it off immediately as a worthless tie-in to something they’d never heard of. We’ve decided to leave the Faction branding off this online edition in the hope that readers will be more inclined to judge Newtons Sleep on its own merits. Everything you need to know to read this book can be found in its own text, and its story is complete and self-contained. If after reading this book you’re intrigued by the Faction Paradox mythos, then by all means explore the universe further, but the other novels tell different stories about different characters in different times and places – they’re not sequels or prequels.
— Newtons Sleep ebook, 2009
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max-the-silly-guy · 1 month ago
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Newton newtonnewton newnnnwqyon newto sakbskansnwksb
Uh tw for very mild blood and body horror(?)
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Emo emo emo
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lukenewtonlove · 3 months ago
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Alright time for bed 😴
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loveisnotfinite · 4 months ago
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mariailoveyou-guerin · 6 months ago
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the way these two and Charithra have sexual chemistry with anyone they meet needs to be studied bc why I’m still not over their check kiss gif and now I have this pic! LukeN to but Claudia bc thats his real sister his 2nd sis
Need Luke playing a prince to Charithra/Nic princess
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