Survival is an interesting choice for "DVD of The Week" because the actual story is awful; what secures this DVD its title is a brilliant documentary, Endgame, charting the downfall of Doctor Who and plans for the never-filmed follow-on season, in the extras.Survival was the last of "classic" run of Doctor Who, screened by the BBC in 1989.
It was a sad end to a once-great show, an embarrassing mess of a story that pulled out all the cliches from a gravel pit planet to unconvincing alien costumes and a nonsense plot hampered by a 50p budget and bargain basement effects.
When a story opens with shots of an animatronic cat less convincing than Salem in Sabrina The Teenage Witch, you know you're in trouble ...
Although I never really "got" Ace as a companion and she seems even more dated now, I felt Sylvester McCoy's Doctor was underrated. He gave the character a dark edge that is now de riguer for the Doctor, despite the awful question marks all over his costume (which McCoy wanted to get rid of).
The story of Survival (something to with a planet to cat people, teleporting kittens and The Master) is redeemed by two factors: the Doctor's final monologue to Ace as they walk off and clues towards the recipe for saving the show all these years later.
Script Editor Andrew Cartmel had plans to keep the show alive in 1989 that now seem remarkably similar to the blueprint that Russell T Davies has used to regenerate Doctor Who into the most popular show on British TV. The "Cartmel Masterplan" had more Earth-based adventures; a darker, more mysterious Doctor; and a strong, female companion the audience could more readily relate to and empathise with.
Not part of the "masterplan", but still a taste of the future, is the pointless camp celebrity cameo by comedians-of-the-time Hale and Pace (whatever happened to them?) as a pair of bickering shopkeepers.
Endgame explains that by 1989, Doctor Who had outstayed its welcome at the BBC and seen better days - as evidenced by Survival - but its position wasn't helped by the fact that upper management at Aunty Beeb just didn't understand or like science-fiction shows, so it really didn't stand a chance.
Intriguing plans for the never-filmed season 27 of Classic Who included a giant space opera epic about the politics of food aid (which the writer admitted would have looked awful on a BBC budget so they'd pretty much scrapped it anyway), an Ice Warriors story in London and Ace becoming a Timelord. There was also a proposal for a new companion - a sexy, upper class cat burglar!
0 minions have something to say about this!:
Post a Comment