Survival

Survival
by Rona Munro
Originally Broadcasted: November 22nd-December 6th, 1989

The Doctor takes Ace to her hometown of Perivale to meet up with some old friends, but they discover that they're all missing. The Doctor notices some mysterious cats popping up around town, who eventually transport them to the Cheetah planet, where survival of the fittest is the law of the land, and where an old enemy lurks...

There's a reason why I haven't reviewed a story from the Slyvester McCoy era just yet. While it has some standouts, on the whole it is probably the weakest era in the history of Doctor Who. Some stories were poorly written, with bad acting and direction to boot, not to mention some rather dull music. There are a few exceptions though, and Survival is one of them. This is the point where the show was really starting to turn around. The scripts were getting better, and a more mystery was being added to Slyvester McCoy's Doctor. It's then a real shame that this was the last ever story from the classic run of Doctor Who. Survival deals with themes of survival of the fittest, as The Doctor and Ace, and the other characters in the story try to survive against the playful yet deadly Cheetah people. To make matters worse, The Master is in on everything, although he has been partially taken over by the cheetah ways, slowly becoming more animal than man. The same thing happens to Ace, although she manages to overcome it. The Master however doesn't, and the story ends with an epic battle between the Master and the Doctor. Survival is the third of three loosely connected stories dealing quite specifically with Ace. The Curse of Fenric deals with Ace's hatred of her mother, while Ghost Light deals with Ace's current fears. Survival also deals with Ace, by showing her hometown and some of her mates, who all get transported to the Cheetah planet. Producer John Nathan-Turner, knowing Survival could be the last episode of the show, had script editor Andrew Cartmel put in a lovely speech from the Doctor at the end of the episode that sends the show off on a lovely note. "There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea's asleep, and the rivers dream; people made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, and somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on, Ace. We've got work to do." Looking back, it was sad to have Doctor Who come to a sudden halt. But it was probably good to give the show a rest. Of course we all know Doctor Who came back in 2005 with new life and an amazing new direction. Survival was perhaps an early beginning of new Who, for it's easy to see echoes of Ace found in Rose. And it's a pretty good story to boot!

Luke's Rating: 8/10