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I became a fan in 1988 at just 5 years of age watching perhaps some of the best stories the series had ever offered in the McCoy years. This story is about as important a DVD you could own as it was the last of the original series and also one of the best stories. By now McCoy and Aldred are perfect in their roles and their chemistry is obvious, with this story being the last in the arc of what could be called the ACE trilogy where this charcter was developed and put through more than any other companion in the series history. Survival has so many layers and is so beautifully written it is hard to imagine this was for children but never the less back in 89 after wogan i sat on the couch eagerly awaiting this story, and despite being terrified it has stayed with me all these years and i get a tremendous sense of nostalgia watching this and other 7th doctor classics. Despite what others have said on here, this story is as sophisticated as many of the episodes from the new series despite the fact that they are also fantastic. Survival continues the direction the series had been going in under the wonderful Andrew Cartmel. The direction is superb as is the music. The guitar riffs sound like something from pink floyds momentary lapse of reason album and the pink sky of the cheetah planet is wonderfully realised and alien. The contemporary earth setting with the tardis landing in the drive way of a typical suburban home is very effective and the scene where ace is running from the creature in the park is about as frightening as you can get, a simply amazing image. Anthony Ainley gives his best performance as the Master, with all the ham and pantomime delivery of other stories all but a distant memory and one cant help but imagine what might have been in 1990 had this not been the last story. The final speech between the doctor and Ace is truely moving and dare i say perfect, and this story thus provides a fitting coda to the wonderful original series of doctor who. It is amazing that in its dying momments, Doctor Who could still be as imaginative, thought provoking, scary, beautiful and original as it had ever been during the many wonderful years of great stories and great doctors. This story seems to have had somewhat of an influence on the new series, and is definately the closest of the old series stories to the series we have now. With the demons that the doctor had had throughout the last few stories of season 26 buried,the latest series has picked up the baton and given us the more optimistic doctors we now see on Tv and ofcourse the new series has made me more of a fan than ever, but depite the brilliance of new dr who, let's not forget where it all started (or ended). Sylvester McCoy is one of the better doctors and deserves re-appraisal by many especially as his stories are more relevant now than everRead full review
The BBC and 2 Entertain have released Survival, billed on the DVD as “The Final Classic Adventure”. This double disc set includes the 3 episodes, various documentaries and all the usual bits and pieces you can expect from the range. I originally felt that it all seemed overkill for this story in particular. However this re-viewing of the story within this package has led me to re-evaluate this one part of the Sylvester McCoy era in a much more positive light. THE STORY The opening minutes of episode one with it’s images of suburban normality are intriguing and well put together, as are the scenes of the Doctor and Ace touring an almost deserted Perivale, which seems to be populated by societies lesser specimens – clever in the sense that the strong are being taken away... There is a clear nod to the Pertwee era too, as the tour of this part of West London seems similar to part 1 of Invasion of the Dinosaurs. In fact Survival with it’s tale of monsters, deserted streets, the Master and a battling community of survivors probably makes it the most traditional Who story of the McCoy era! The movement and the tension of the earlier moments of the story are well realized too – the first two “cat-napped” people we see are taken by an invisible force which appears loudly from behind us (the viewer), keeping the suspense up. Being attacked by unseen forces is a superb vehicle that Who uses well and shows the programme, in all it’s forms, at it’s best. However when we do see what attacks them as it makes an attempt on Ace – an overgrown cute looking teddy bear with Dracula teeth on a horse whilst wearing a rejected Colin Baker costume, you do get a feeling of being let down. There are some other let downs – the pointless stand off between Mitch and the Doctor on motorbikes; there was no lead to it nor any sense to the reasoning of it happening, it seemed merely an expensive plot device – an exercise to dispense of Midge after making the character too powerful and to make Ace think that the Doctor had also perished. The killing of Karra afterwards was also very contrived just afterwards, again a plot device for Ace so that Karra appears in her true, human form. The casting is a little odd too. Despite the superb performance of Julian Holloway as the embittered and passionate trainer, if Survival is trying to find an audience with London based youngsters from council estates then it wasn’t going to happen with the collection of RADA rejects that Survival brings together to play these characters. Only Adele Silva really impresses – and she was 8 here! Comedians Hale and Pace (Gareth Hale and Norman Pace) at the time the Ant and Dec of the 1980s and early 1990s for ITV are sadly placed in the pointless cameo bucket for late 80s Who. Sylvester finally makes his mark as the Doctor here though and it says it all that it took him three years to do it. No embarrassing turns and it seems Sophie Aldred almost fails as Ace here as she is seems far too old for the part even in 1989 but for once the script allows her to get away from the “yeah, Ace, Professor” scripting that she was saddled with for most of her time on the programme.Read full review
The final as it`s now come to be known as Classic Doctor Who. This is a superb DVD collection, laden full of extras as one comes to expect from these discs. The show is very much of it`s time (late 80`s) and typical of JNT`s tenure to have some kind of star(s) appear, this time Hale and Pace, who were quite popular back then but really serve no purpose to the story(I don`t like characters that serve no purpose to the story Ron!). This is really Ace`s continuing tale as she starts to break free from the Doctor`s coattails and learns to grow into an adult woman. Oh and The MAster is in there too heh heh heh heh ! I`m a big Mycoy fan and although he`s not a favourite with most fans and yes he does has his moments when trying to be a forceful just don`t quite work but he imbued the Doctor with more mystery than many a year. I for one would have enjoy the oft spoken about 27th season that was to follow this continuing story of a `darker` Doctor. All said and done the story is worth 8/10 and the dvd as a whole gets 10/10Read full review
I've always wanted to see this episode and I was hugely impressed when I saw the final part of the story today. For starters, Sylvester McCoy and Solphie Aldred played a fantastic part in this three-part serial and I have high hopes to buy another episode starring the duo. The plot of the story was really interesting and despite the idea of The Cheetah People being slightly far fetched, Survival had the ability to become one of my favourite episodes of Doctor Who to date. The first part was an absolute masterpiece and a superb set up for the final two episodes. The second part lost it's enjoyability factor slightly but it was maintained in the final episode of the serial which I thoroughly enjoyed. Anthony Ainley also played a stunning part in this episode and is one of the reasons why I rated this story so highly. This is a highly recommendable classic series adventure as it is accompanied with a stunning plot, stupendous acting, fantastic location work and some wonderful writing. Survival has now become my second favourite episode of the classic series with Inferno being my first favourite and Pyramids being my third favourite. 5/5.Read full review
THIS THE FINAL BBC DR WHO MADE IN 1989 STARRING SYLVESTER McMCOY AND SOPHINE ALDRED NICE TO SEE THE THE MASTER (ANTHONY AINLEY ) IN IT.THE DOCTOR TAKE ACE BACK TO HER HOME TOWN OF PERIVALE TO FIND SOMETHING IS VERY,VERY WRONG.??? THE FINAL CLASSIC ADVENTURE VERY GOOD BUY. THIS IS MY FIST REVIEW ? IF YOU LIKE DR WHO BUY IT. THIS DVD HAS SPECIAL FEATURES ON IT
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