Extinction - Introduction (By Mark McCullough and The Genie)
SYNOPSIS:
The hunt for the Hunters continues, leading the Doctor, Autumn and Lily-Rose to the prehistoric era, where the Earth is being ravaged by violent Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. A meteor is on course to hit Earth and everything seems that bit too coincidental... That's until they find the Silurians and unravel the EDEN Project. Suddenly, everything makes sense, and the Doctor must assemble a team to make one of the most horrible decisions in prehistory... |
PREVIEW:
From out of nowhere a group of small dinosaurs sprinted past on two legs, their heads bobbing up and down as they moved. Lily-Rose fumbled in her pocket and produced a small rectangular device. She held it up in front of her as if taking a photo of the dinosaurs. There were a few beeps which let her know the machine was working followed by a soft ding informing her it had made a match. Reading off the screen she shared her findings with the group. “Velociraptors." |
Mark McCullough |
The Genie |
Extinction is very much a story which was inspired by a lot of other media I had viewed at the time. Having been given the premise of a prehistoric story and an adventure featuring a larger group onbaord the TARDIS, I was rather unsure what to do. Dinosaurs was a must, and this lead to a bit of research which showed up a potential issue. As far as we know, the humans and the dinosaurs didn't inhabit the earth at the same time. That concept forms the crux of the story here, what if they did, how would that change things?
There's no denying that Kill the Moon played a large part in my thought process for this story, and that probably shows as you read it. There is a moral dilema which is the backbone of this story, however unlike in Kill the Moon, there are lasting consequences and the ending is not so neat.As for the characters involved, there are a lot of new faces mostly of the reptilian kind as the setting seemed perfect to utilise the Silurians who incidently are not the only thing from the show to make an appearance. Finally there is Father Gerry, a character who I came up with before most of the story was decided, consequently much of it revolves around him. So I'd say he is probably the strongest part, but I'll leave that up to you to decide. |
Mark came to me with this idea and I was astonished. Yes, so he can't write tenses even if his family is held at gunpoint (what can I say? I do try). He sometimes takes a lot of redrafts. But the best thing about Mark McCullough is that he's an ideas man. He has some amazing ideas. And this is just a wealth of absurd and shocking components pivoting around one central idea.
I can't say much about the idea without spoiling the revelation half-way through. In fact, there's not very much I can say, apart from that it's a very clever idea and a wonderful expansion of canon; it slots into the series mythos perfectly and tricks you more times than you'd think. It's like Kill the Moon but I don't like Kill the Moon and I like this. But it's still a lot like Kill the Moon. It's the best and most thought-provoking thing Mark's ever written. That's probably because of the immense passion poured into it. If you read between the lines, passion is exactly what you'll see. |
Extinction will be up on Sunday 5th April