| SURVIVAL by Rona Munro |
| Story 158 Synopsis: Earth, 1989. Several young people have gone missing, and the Doctor thinks the cats have something to do with it. He tracks one down, finding they are actually Kitlings. Meanwhile, Ace is looking up old pals from Perivale, but they seem to have gone missing.. The Doctor finds that the Master is responsible for the vanishings, with the help of the Cheetah-People. Ace becomes possessed by the Cheetah spirit, and the Doctor uses her to get home from the Cheetah Planet. Ace settles her issues with the locals, whilst the Doctor and the Master take a final battle on the Cheetah Planet. The Doctor escapes through his refusal to fight. The Doctor and Ace head off into the wild blue yonder. |
| Review:- And so, after 26 years, the longest-running science fiction show in the whole came to an end. Not with a bang, but a whimper. Okay, there is a lot to enjoy in this story, as the Doctor faces a final battle with his archest nemesis, the Master. Ace finally goes home, to find that it isn't home any more (as if it ever was). The Earth sections are superior to that which happens on the Cheetah Planet. The Doctor asking two shopworkers which brand of cat food is the one to buy must be one of the most astonishing sections in the series' history. That these shopworkers are played by comic duo Norman Pace and Gareth Hale is by the by (and Gareth's heavily into acting these days anyway). This is one story that needs to be set in suburbia, and evokes the everyday normality so well. The cats are a mixed bunch. The Kitlings are an animatronic letdown, but not ever so bad unless you expected them to look exactly like real cats. The Cheetah People are never well explained, and they don't seem to convince as real aliens and not men and women in costumes. The human extras vary, too. Midge is a one-dimensional thug, whereas Sergeant Patterson has an arc of development to move through, as well as provide plenty of meat to the survival theme of the story. Ace goes through a change, which marks out the clever way that her return home is not an end, but a beginning. In modern TV language, after the conclusion of the Fenric arc, this could have been the start of something new (although it wasn't planned to be, and apart from the PDA Matrix, has been ignored ever since). The Master brings the Doctor in because he knows his old adversary will be resourceful enough to find an escape. He seems to have gone through a change, too, but is still able to make the most of chances to kill his old enemy. That the Doctor still escapes is one of the most life affirming messages of the series, too. So, all in all, this is a mixture of a story. Some bits work better than others, some characters are stronger than others. After 26 years, Doctor Who was able to walk into the sunset with its head held high. |
| Disclaimer: I've seen the video. |