Doctor Who – Survival
Reviewer: Tim Isaac
Issue 90 May 2007
(1 votes, average: 4 out of 10)
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The end of a remarkable era.
The Lowdown: When the Doctor takes Ace back to her hometown of Perrivale, they discover many of the inhabitants have been transported through space to the planet of the cheetah-like Kitlings. The Doctor decides to find out what’s going on and encounters The Master, who was drawn him into a trap in order to get his help.
Review: And now, the end is here… Well, at least until the Paul McGann TV movie in 1996 and the Who resurrection in 2005. Survival was the very last of the classic Doctor Who tales, with Sylvester McCoy’s adventures with the Cheetah People ending a remarkable 26-year run. The public never took to McCoy as they had the other Doctors and Sophie Aldred’s Ace wasn’t the strongest companion, nor were things helped by the fact that the already dodgy special effects were beginning to look ludicrous by the late 80s. Although in 1989 the BBC said the show had merely been put ‘on hiatus’, everyone knew that really it had been cancelled.
While Survival is undoubtedly a bit silly, it’s also a lot of fun. As well as being poignant for fans as the last episode of classic Who, it’s also Anthony Ainley’s final appearance as The Master (barring a 1997 videogame), a role he’d been playing since 1981. While the Cheetah People themselves aren’t the most interesting of villains, the dynamic of The Master having lured the Doctor to the Kitling’s dying planet, in order to get the Time Lord to help stop him turning into a cat himself, ensures it’s all very watchable.
However what makes this package really special isn’t the okay but not spectacular three-part adventure, but the special features. Survival is coming out as a two-disc set packed with retrospective material. Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred, along with script editor Andrew Cartmel, are on hand with an informative commentary. They also appear in the very good documentary ‘Cat-Flap’, as do numerous other behind-the-scenes folk, which covers the making of the serial. Why the series ended and what might have happened if Series 27 had been made are covered in ‘Endgame’, while Aldred gets a featurette focussing on her character in ‘Little Girl Lost’. With numerous other bits and pieces to get fans excited, it’s a truly superb package and a fitting tribute to an adventure that brought the longest running sci-fi series in the world to a close.
FILM: 6 EXTRAS: 9
Movie Info:
Starring: Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, Adele Silva, Anthony Ainley
Certificate: PG
Director: Alan Wareing
Distributor: BBC DVD
Original Release: 1989
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0, Dolby Digital 5.1
Visuals: 4:3 Fullscreen
Running Time: 75 mins
Price: £19.99
Special Features:
Disc 1:
Episode Selection
Audio Commentary On All Episodes With Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred and Script-Editor Andrew Cartmel
Audio Commentary On Episode Three With Fans
‘Cat Flap’ Two-Part Documentary
Deleted Scenes
Outtakes
Trailers
Photo Gallery
Isolated Score
Radio Times Listings
Disc 2:
‘Endgame’ Documentary
‘Search Out Science’ Vintage Schools Programme
‘Little Girl Lost’ Featurette
‘Destiny Of The Doctors’ Computer Game Links
