'Doctor Who: Survival' (1989)

This won't be the last classic 'Doctor Who' story that I write about but it was the last story of the classic 'Doctor Who' era to air, all the way back in 1989. I'm still more about the stories than the 'behind the scenes' stuff so I'll happily admit that I don't really know an awful lot about what killed the show off the first time round. 'BBC politics' is the quick answer but I don't know much more than that. I'll have to go and look it up but I'm not going to regurgitate a whole load of Google here, no-one needs that ;o) Nope, none of that, we're all about the last classic 'Doctor Who' story and whether it was a good one to end an era on. I think it was actually, and I can't help but wonder if it was the sign of things to come had the show kept on going...

The Doctor takes Ace back to her home town of Perivale, only to find that something is very, very wrong. Many of Ace's old friends and neighbours have disappeared, whilst domestic pets become victims of unseen killers. Will the hunter become the hunted when only the fittest survive...?

One thing I've noticed about the Seventh Doctor stories, that I've watched for the blog, is that they're a lot darker than I remember them being the first time around (well, apart from 'The Curse of Fenric' which is pretty damn dark whenever I watch it). 'Survival' might not be as dark as 'The Curse of Fenric' but it's dark enough with a grim message of 'Survival of the Fittest' backed up by household pets and various residents of Perivale, and the Cheetah planet, paying the ultimate price for not quite being fit enough. It makes for quite the compelling watch as you know the three leads are going to make it but anyone else is fair game for the chop and the story is quite happy to go ahead and do that, especially with the Master and his 'life is cheap' ethos. Anthony Ainley is great as the Master anyway but takes it to a whole new level with what the Cheetah planet has done to him.

And if that wasn't enough, Sylvester McCoy's Seventh Doctor is doing that thing where's he's not saying much (at least to start off with) but you know something is wrong because he's darkly brooding (or brooding darkly, I'm not sure which way round it goes) and the less he says, the more you know that it's an issue.

There's a lot going on here then so it perhaps it's for the best that the actual plot is fairly straightforward with the main thrust being around alien abductions and getting everyone back in one piece before the Cheetah planet crumbles completely. This is fine by itself but it's the little bits, happening around the edges, that make this story really stand out. I'm thinking about the examination of the Cheetah people and their relationship with the Kitlings (which just so happen to be puppets that would never fool anyone but I like the idea though).

Is 'Survival' a good story to round off the classic 'Doctor Who' era though? I'm half and half on that... The story itself is a little too lightweight to be convincing, as far as that goes, but it does finish with what must have felt like a final fight between the Doctor and the Master. As far as that goes, I can't think of a better way to round things off, it is such a powerful note to end on.

A lightweight plot then but a whole lot of other stuff happening that fleshes the story out in all the right ways and a monologue, at the very end, suggesting that even if we never saw the Doctor on TV again, him and Ace were still fighting the good fight,

"There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, 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!"

I like that ;o)