(693) Survival - Part 1

The moment has finally arrived. Survival marks the final story for Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred and the final story to be made in the UK by the BBC for 16 years. Today’s episode marks the 807^th day that Sylvester McCoy has been the Doctor and that’s five days longer than Peter Davison was Doctor. It’s rather good that the final story of the original era is on Earth in London which is the same as An Unearthly Child. I know that wasn’t intentional but if the show hadn’t returned in 2005 then there aren’t many stories better to end the era on.

One of the few things that doesn’t work in this episode is the cat that hisses. Unfortunately it just doesn’t look convincing and it would have been better to have not seen it at all. Maybe they could have got away with it just being on screen but the hissing totally ruins it. The crane shot used in this opening scene with the guy washing the car was impressive. There are some impressive scenes that have been directed well by Alan Wareing.

I cant make my mind up about Paterson. His first scene shows his a tough but firm individual. He starts off as stern but after being knocked out by the Doctor with just one finger, he loses that edge and becomes a rather more entertaining person. Hale and Pace is another example of stunt casting that people use to attack the JNT era of the show. I remember growing up watching them on a Sunday night but I think that their casting didn’t really suit the characters and just doesn’t let the episode flow. I know it’s a brief scene but apart from seeing the Doctor buy some cat food, it doesn’t really add anything to the episode. The Doctor spends most of the episode trying to hunt for the right cat. It’s almost like Perivale is so boring it has made the Doctor snap.

This story also marks the final appearance of the Master as played by Anthony Ainley. It’s the first time that the Master has been seen since 1986’s Trial of a Timelord. We don’t see him fully until the end where he is the cliffhanger. I don’t know whether people were suppose to know that its him with the extreme close up but a good attempt is made to at least hide this until it was suppose to be revealed.

The costume/mask for the Cheetah People doesn’t look too bad in this episode because we don’t see it too close or for too long a period of time. There will be more about that in future episodes but from an first glance look, its not the worst costume that has been in the show in recent years.

The planet that Ace finds herself on in the latter stages of the episode really does look like another world even though all they have done is paint the sky pink. It was clearly filmed during a warm period (a rarity in Britain) and this help in creating this new world.

This has been a very good episode with very few faults. I thought that the performances of the central characters has been one of the best things for the first time in quite sometime. I notice that I haven’t commented on the performances of the regulars recently as much as I did in the early days but they have both worked really well and I look forward to the final two episodes of this story. Wow, that’s a depressing thought that I only have two episodes of the McCoy era is over.