Winter is Coming
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Doctor Who: Elizabeth Klein – the Doctor’s Nazi companion

By James Aggas

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Elizabeth Klein first met the Doctor in Colditz. What followed was a long journey that lead the Doctor to having one of the most unusual companions of all his lives…

(Image credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.

Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)

Since the character returned earlier this week in Warlock’s Cross, we take a look at Doctor Who companion Elizabeth Klein – scientist, time traveler, Nazi…wait, what?!?

It was an absolute joy to hear EIizabeth Klein return to Doctor Who earlier this week in Warlock’s Cross. She’s such a brilliant and fascinating character, who’s been on quite the journey.

Her relationship with the Seventh Doctor has also been an interesting one. Especially as she’s changed a lot since she first met him. This wasn’t simply due to character development, either. Because when the Doctor first met Klein, she was, originally, a Nazi.

How did a Nazi become a friend and even companion of the Doctor? Well, it’s complicated. It all began back in the 2001 story Colditz. This story initially had the appearance of being a pure historical, and in some ways, it was.

The Seventh Doctor and Ace had arrived at Colditz castle in 1944, an incredibly secure POW camp. Of course, they’re immediately captured, with several items taken away from them, including her CD player. They naturally meet prisoners wanting to escape, but they also meet a mysterious woman, Klein, who’s very interested in the Doctor and his TARDIS.

Eventually, Klein takes him to a far away location, to some kind of transport…but when they arrive at their location, there’s nothing there. Only a square indentation in the ground gives a clue as to what was there before. And that’s when the Doctor begins to suspect where – or rather when – Klein’s really from.

Alternative timeline

It’s then that the Doctor finds out where Klein originally came from: England in the 1960s…but not the one that the Doctor or the audience knows. Because this is a history where the Nazis had won the Second World War. Klein had been taught Nazi beliefs for years, and was a strong believer in the Third Reich.

Over the course of the story, the creation of this alternative timeline became clear: Ace’s CD player. When the Nazis found it, they were able to break down the CD player and reverse engineer it, with the laser technology giving them a major advantage in the War.

In the alternative timeline, the Doctor didn’t realize that the CD player had been left behind until after he had escaped in his TARDIS. Arranging a way to change history back without contacting his past self directly, he landed in Germany in 1955, allowed himself to be killed and, in a new regeneration, took on the identity of “Johann Schmidt”.

Meeting Elizabeth Klein as an eager scientist and gently guiding her to take the TARDIS back to 1944, Klein, through the smallest of actions, was able to change history back to its proper course.

Not that she saw it that way. To her, the Nazis winning the war was the real timeline. And she was going to change it back. By any means necessary. However, the Seventh Doctor and Ace left in a hurry, and while the Doctor knows that Klein is still around in their history with dangerous knowledge, it would be a long time before he would meet her again.

The Seventh Doctor story Survival of the Fittest also included the flashback episode Klein’s Story, which revealed even more of her past.

(Image credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.

Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)

Klein’s story

Klein’s story finally continued in 2010 with A Thousand Tiny Wings. Living a quiet life in Kenya after the war, she’s reunited with the Seventh Doctor when he’s travelling alone. After they fight off a grave threat together, the Doctor decides that he can help Klein learn another way. Thus, he decides to bring her along as a companion.

You just read that right. The Doctor decided that having a Nazi as a companion was a good idea. You can see where this is going.

Perhaps the most fascinating thing about the alternative timeline presented in Colditz was that we didn’t get to properly explore it, at least not originally. Colditz is actually surprisingly close to a pure historical story, it’s only through the character of Klein that the story throws in that alternative history element.

So that’s what makes the one episode story Klein’s Story so fantastic. It not only worked as a fresh introduction to Klein for audiences who had yet to listen to Colditz. It was also fantastic for the old listeners, as they got to discover exactly what this alternative history was like. And through Klein’s eyes, too.

This episode is crucial in many ways. Not only do we learn a lot more about Klein’s past, but so does Klein herself. Because that’s when she finds out exactly who “Johann Schmidt” really was. And understandably, finding out that the Doctor really was responsible for using her to wipe out her own timeline (even an alternative version of him) didn’t make her any happier about the idea of travelling with him. In fact, it just made her even more determined to change history back.

And eventually, she did. She had to wait quite a while, and the Doctor was as careful as he could be. But one day, she stole the TARDIS from him. And once again, a whole new timeline was created.

The first Seventh Doctor and Klein trilogy came to an end with The Architects of History. But Klein’s story wasn’t finished with completely…

The Architects of History

Through careful manipulation of history, Klein not only helped to ensure that the Nazis didn’t lose the Second World War. She even helped to create a new future where they had complete mastery of time travel.

The Architects of History (written by Steve Lyons, Klein’s original creator, I might add,) has Klein as a major figure in the Galactic Reich. Anyone remotely dangerous, anyone who tries to attack them, and the Reich simply goes back in time and prevents that danger from happening.

It’s practically perfect. There’s just one problem: it’s still not the real timeline. Not the one according to Klein, anyway. It may be better in some ways, (at least, for her and the Nazis,) but it isn’t her home.

More from Winter is Coming

Of course, things get more complicated when Shark-like aliens the Selachians arrive. (Seriously, how awesome would they be to see on TV?) Klein knows the Doctor has a plan to completely destroy all of her hard work. But what is it?

Unfortunately, even the Doctor doesn’t know. Once again, it’s a plan that’s been put into action by an alternative version from him from the new timeline. He adapts to it quickly however and escapes, taking Klein with him. (Unfortunately, leaving behind a companion that his alternative self had traveled with in the process.)

Klein found out that she had been tried for her crimes. She believed that she would simply be erased from existence once the prime timeline was restored. Or even, perhaps, that with her being erased from time, and thus not being the one responsible for undoing the first alternative timeline, her own history would be restored, instead.

But neither happened, not completely. Instead, a new version of Klein was created for the primary timeline. One that worked for UNIT, and helped them to fight multiple invasions as their “scientific advisor”.

How different was this new Klein compared to the original? How much could she trust the Doctor? And would she ever find out about her original self? We’ll be covering this version of Klein very, very soon…

Next. Series Eleven’s big problem – where are the good monsters?. dark

What do you think of the Doctor having a Nazi as a companion? Have you listened to any stories of the original Elizabeth Klein? Which one was your favorite? Let us know in the comments below.

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