History Recap / DoctorWhoS26E4Survival

[[WordOfGod According to the writing team at the time]], they were putting together scripts for a "Season 27", intended to air in the second half of 1990, when the axe fell[[note]]some sources claim that a "Season 28", intended to air in 1991, was also planned, though this hasn't been definitively verified; while enough scripts were penned during the waning days of the classic series for three potential seasons (barring the possibility of some being rejected or abandoned during production), among the stories claimed to have been written for Season 28 are ones commonly believed to have been penned with Season 27 in mind[[/note]]. Season 27 would have seen Ace's departure to study to become a Time Lord at Prydon Academy on Gallifrey, the introduction of a new ClassyCatBurglar companion, and the Seventh Doctor's regeneration[[note]]for those wondering, Creator/PaulMcGann was never under consideration for the role of the Eighth Doctor until the 1996 TV movie; prior to the show's cancellation, the ''Doctor Who'' staff actually had Creator/RichardGriffiths and Creator/IanRichardson in mind as their top picks for [=Sylvester McCoy's=] replacement[[/note]]. Had this season been finished and aired, it would've made [=Sylvester McCoy=] the first actor to play the Doctor for more than three seasons since Creator/TomBaker and the actor with the third-longest tenure in the role by season count at four (behind Creator/JonPertwee's five and Baker's seven, which still has yet to be surpassed, although McCoy's hypothetical episode count, at 56 half-hour episodes, would nonetheless have been clearly dwarfed by Pertwee's 128 and Baker's 172 episodes in the role respectively due to the shorter individual length of McCoy's seasons). To this day, neither milestone has yet to be reached; the [[Creator/DavidTennant 2009]] and [[Creator/MattSmith 2013]] specials are listed in their own folders on this site's recap page for the series, but they're officially considered part of series 4 and series 7, respectively. Following Big Finish's adaptations of the [[{{Continuation}} "lost"]] 1986 season, in 2011 they adapted the stories from Season 27. Two other stories would be adapted into the Seventh Doctor novel ''The Pit'' in 1993 and the Sixth Doctor audio play ''The Rani Elite'' in 2014. The remaining two stories, "Avatar" and "A School for Glory", remain unadapted to this day (though the latter did seem to at least partly influence the Seventh Doctor novel ''Human Nature'' and its [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E8HumanNature later]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E9TheFamilyOfBlood adaptation]] in the revived series, starring the Tenth Doctor).

[[WordOfGod According to the writing team at the time]], they were putting together scripts for a "Season 27", intended to air in the second half of 1990, when the axe fell[[note]]some sources claim that a "Season 28", intended to air in 1991, was also planned, though this hasn't been definitively verified; while enough scripts were penned during the waning days of the classic series for three potential seasons (barring the possibility of some being rejected or abandoned during production), among the stories claimed to have been written for Season 28 are ones commonly believed to have been penned with Season 27 in mind[[/note]]. Season 27 would have seen Ace's departure to study to become a Time Lord at Prydon Academy on Gallifrey, the introduction of a new ClassyCatBurglar companion, and the Seventh Doctor's regeneration[[note]]for those wondering, Creator/PaulMcGann was never under consideration for the role of the Eighth Doctor until the 1996 TV movie; prior to the show's cancellation, the ''Doctor Who'' staff actually had Creator/RichardGriffiths and Creator/IanRichardson in mind as their top picks for [=Sylvester McCoy's=] replacement[[/note]]. Had this season been finished and aired, it would've made [=Sylvester McCoy=] the first actor to play the Doctor for more than three seasons since Creator/TomBaker and the actor with the third-longest tenure in the role by season count at four (behind Creator/JonPertwee's five and Baker's seven, which still has yet to be surpassed). To this day, neither milestone has yet to be reached; the [[Creator/DavidTennant 2009]] and [[Creator/MattSmith 2013]] specials are listed in their own folders on this site's recap page for the series, but they're officially considered part of series 4 and series 7, respectively. Following Big Finish's adaptations of the [[{{Continuation}} "lost"]] 1986 season, in 2011 they adapted the stories from Season 27. Two other stories would be adapted into the Seventh Doctor novel ''The Pit'' in 1993 and the Sixth Doctor audio play ''The Rani Elite'' in 2014. The remaining two stories, "Avatar" and "A School for Glory", remain unadapted to this day (though the latter did seem to at least partly influence the Seventh Doctor novel ''Human Nature'' and its [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E8HumanNature later]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E9TheFamilyOfBlood adaptation]] in the revived series, starring the Tenth Doctor).

Separated from the Doctor, Ace meets one of the Cheetah people and [[HoYay kinda befriends her]]. As it turns out, Ace is also slowly starting to fall to the spell of the planet and is now also sporting those neat contacts. Meanwhile, the Master uses Midge to escape from the planet back to Perivale. The Doctor also uses Ace, after warning her of possible consequences that don't apply to her as she's a main character, to get everyone back home. Waiting for them is the Master, who has taken the time between the two groups arriving to harness the power of a male youth group to challenge the Doctor to motorcycle-jousting.

* CreepyChild: Squeak
* DeathOfAChild: The Doctor pursues the predatory Cheetah People to Earth. The first person he meets is a little girl in tears because someone has killed her cat.
* DisneyDeath: The Doctor has a head-on collision on a motorbike with the enemy, resulting in a huge explosion which we see nobody escape from. Ace begins to mourn his death after she finds his hat and his umbrella laying on the ground. We soon after find out he's somehow just ended up face first in a pile of rubbish with his backside in the air.

* {{Irony}}:
** Sgt. Patterson, the bullying Territorial Army self-defense instructor who proudly lectures a "survival of the fittest" philosophy, suffers a complete breakdown when actually transported into an environment where he has to put this philosophy into practice. He spends most of the story as a cowering wreck.
** As Website/SFDebris pointed out, it is ironic that the last story to be broadcast before the series was cancelled was called "Survival".

The last one. [[SeriesFauxnale For 16 years, anyways.]]

The end. [[SeriesFauxnale For 16 years, anyways.]]

* InfantImmortality: Hinted at but ultimately played straight; the Master, through the black cat that summons the Cheetah People, considers kidnapping a group of small children playing in a park to participate in the hunt, but ultimately rejects them as not providing enough sport.

* TakeThat: Ace asks whether or not Music/{{U2}} are still active after spotting a copy of ''Music/WarU2Album'' at Midge's flat; at the time the serial aired, the band faced a tremendous amount of backlash for their ConcertFilm and soundtrack album ''Music/RattleAndHum'', which saw accusations of SmallNameBigEgo. As ''Music/AchtungBaby'' was still a couple years off, the general public sentiment at the time was that U2 had committed career suicide, a semtiment reflected in Ace's inquiry.

* SeriesFauxnale: When part three finished airing, the general consensus was that the show was over, having been cancelled due to rapidly declining ratings over the course of the past several years. The TV movie in 1996 and the show's full-on revival in 2005 changed that notion.

[[WordOfGod According to the writing team at the time]], they were putting together scripts for a "Season 27", intended to air in the second half of 1990, when the axe fell. This season would have seen Ace's departure to study to become a Time Lord at Prydon Academy on Gallifrey, the introduction of a new ClassyCatBurglar companion, and the Seventh Doctor's regeneration[[note]]for those wondering, Creator/PaulMcGann was never under consideration for the role of the Eighth Doctor until the 1996 TV movie; prior to the show's cancellation, the ''Doctor Who'' staff actually had Creator/RichardGriffiths and Creator/IanRichardson in mind as their top picks for [=Sylvester McCoy's=] replacement[[/note]]. Had this season been finished and aired, it would've made [=Sylvester McCoy=] the first actor to play the Doctor for more than three seasons since Creator/TomBaker and the actor with the third-longest tenure in the role by season count at four (behind Creator/JonPertwee's five and Baker's seven, which still has yet to be surpassed). To this day, neither milestone has yet to be reached; the [[Creator/DavidTennant 2009]] and [[Creator/MattSmith 2013]] specials are listed in their own folders on this site's recap page for the series, but they're officially considered part of series 4 and series 7, respectively. Following Big Finish's adaptations of the [[{{Continuation}} "lost"]] 1986 season, in 2011 they adapted the stories from "Season 27".

* GadgetWatches: The Doctor has a fob watch, which he uses to discover the safest nearby part of the planet.

* WrapItUp: By the time the final episode was about to air, it was clear that it was going to be the last for at least a while; the closing monologue was recorded and dubbed in at the last minute to ensure the series ended on an appropriate note.

[[WordOfGod According to the writing team at the time]], they were putting together scripts for a "Season 27", intended to air in the second half of 1990, when the axe fell. This season would have seen Ace's departure to study to become a Time Lord at Prydon Academy on Gallifrey, the introduction of a new ClassyCatBurglar companion, and the Seventh Doctor's regeneration[[note]]for those wondering, Creator/PaulMcGann was never under consideration for the role of the Eighth Doctor until the 1996 TV movie; prior to the show's cancellation, the ''Doctor Who'' staff actually had Creator/RichardGriffiths and Creator/IanRichardson in mind as their top picks for [=Sylvester McCoy's=] replacement[[/note]]. Had this season been finished and aired, it would've made [=Sylvester McCoy=] the first actor to play the Doctor for more than three seasons since Creator/TomBaker, tying him with Creator/JonPertwee as having the second-longest tenure in the role by season count at four (Baker's seven still has yet to be surpassed). To this day, neither milestone has yet to be reached; the [[Creator/DavidTennant 2009]] and [[Creator/MattSmith 2013]] specials are listed in their own folders on this site's recap page for the series, but they're officially considered part of series 4 and series 7, respectively. Following Big Finish's adaptations of the [[{{Continuation}} "lost"]] 1986 season, in 2011 they adapted the stories from "Season 27".

[[WordOfGod According to the writing team at the time]], they were putting together scripts for a "Season 27", intended to air in the second half of 1990, when the axe fell. This season would have seen Ace's departure to study to become a Time Lord at Prydon Academy on Gallifrey, the introduction of a new ClassyCatBurglar companion, and the Seventh Doctor's regeneration[[note]]for those wondering, Creator/PaulMcGann was never under consideration for the role of the Eighth Doctor until the 1996 TV movie; prior to the show's cancellation, the ''Doctor Who'' staff actually had Creator/RichardGriffiths and Creator/IanRichardson in mind as their top picks for [=Sylvester McCoy's=] replacement[[/note]]. Following Big Finish's adaptations of the [[{{Continuation}} "lost"]] 1986 season, in 2011 they adapted the stories from 'Season 27'.

The Master makes one last appearance, and this time Creator/AnthonyAinley was finally allowed to play the character in the more understated way that he had longed for since 1980. Ace is also extremely well developed for an old-series companion, culminating the final part of her [[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E2GhostLight three part]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E3TheCurseOfFenric story arc]] and serving as the basic template for the characterization and portrayal of most companions in the revival series (which itself owes damn near everything about it to this season and the previous one).

''Doctor Who'' was pulled off the air following this episode, would not officially return until the 1996 movie, and would not return as a regularly-airing television series until the start of the revival series in 2005. Although the BBC's studios for the series were officially shut down in 1990 and everyone knew the series was pretty much cancelled before the revival series began, the BBC repeatedly insisted that it was simply a hiatus and that the show would return to television in the future. Technically it did, and the BBC did repeatedly try to revive the series as a theatrical film first in the late 90's (which, incidentally, is the reason why the revival series began so belatedly), but for all intents and purposes the 16-year "Wilderness Years" era is seen by fans and the general public as the show having been cancelled. The thirtieth-anniversary ''Series/ChildrenInNeed'' special [[Recap/DoctorWho30thASDimensionsInTime "Dimensions in Time"]] aired in 1993, but this is generally regarded as non-canonical (worth noting though is that a proper canonical MilestoneCelebration special ''was'' planned for 1993, but various pre-production difficulties led it to be replaced with the much-maligned "Dimensions in Time").

-->-- The final monologue from '''the Seventh Doctor''' for this episode.[[note]]It was edited in once they knew the show had been cancelled. The way the Doctor moves out of sync with the words being spoken gives it away.[[/note]]

The Master makes one last appearance, and this time Creator/AnthonyAinley was finally allowed to play the character in a more understated way. Ace is also extremely well developed for an old-series companion, culminating the final part of her [[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E2GhostLight three part]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E3TheCurseOfFenric story arc]].

[[WordOfGod According to the writing team at the time]], they were putting together scripts for a "Season 27", intended to air in the second half of 1990, when the axe fell. This season would have seen Ace's departure (to study to become a Time Lord at Prydon Academy on Gallifrey) and the introduction of a new companion, a high-class safecracker. Following Big Finish's adaptations of the '[[{{Continuation}} lost]]' 1986 season, in 2011 they adapted the stories from 'Season 27'.

''Doctor Who'' was pulled off the air following this episode and would not officially return until the 1996 movie. Though the BBC's studios for the series were officially shut down in 1990, and everyone knew the series was pretty much cancelled before the revival series began in 2005, the BBC repeatedly insisted that it was simply a hiatus and that the show would return to television in the future. Technically it did, and the BBC did repeatedly try to revive the series as a theatrical film first in the late 90's, but for all intents and purposes the 16-year "Wilderness Years" era is seen by fans and the general public as the show having been cancelled. The thirtieth-anniversary ''Series/ChildrenInNeed'' special [[Recap/DoctorWho30thASDimensionsInTime "Dimensions in Time"]] aired in 1993, but this is generally regarded as non-canonical (worth noting though is that a proper canonical MilestoneCelebration special ''was'' planned for 1993, but various pre-production difficulties led it to be replaced with "Dimensions in Time").

[[WordOfGod According to the writing team at the time]], they were putting together scripts for a 'Season 27' when the axe fell. This season would have seen Ace's departure (to study to become a Time Lord at Prydon Academy on Gallifrey) and the introduction of a new companion, a high-class safecracker. Following Big Finish's adaptations of the '[[{{Continuation}} lost]]' 1986 season, in 2011 they adapted the stories from 'Season 27'.

Incidentally, Ace's... special friend (Karra the Cheetah-person) was played by Lisa Bowerman, who would proceed to the Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse as Professor Franchise/BerniceSummerfield.

''Doctor Who'' was pulled off the air following this episode and would not officially return until the 1996 movie (A ''Series/ChildrenInNeed'' special aired some time during its "rest" from the air, but this is non-canonical). Unfortunately, Ace's adventures with the Doctor up to her eventual departure, plus the full extent of the Seventh Doctor's darkened personality are not depicted, leaving the viewer to scratch their head or make a dash for the Seventh Doctor novels that fill in the holes.

** Sgt. Patterson, the bullying Territorial Army self-defence instructor who proudly lectures a 'survival of the fittest' philosophy, suffers a complete breakdown when actually transported into an environment where he has to put this philosophy into practice. He spends most of the story as a cowering wreck.

* YouCantGoHomeAgain: While Ace visits her hometown in this story, it's not the same as she left it. And after giving into her cheetah transformation enough to bring her friends/prey back to Earth she determines that the Tardis is her home now - a sentiment she restates at the end.

* KilledOffForReal: The Master, again. This time it was supposed to be for really real, but FirstLawOfResurrection + JokerImmunity = LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt.

* AndTheAdventureContinues: The story -- and the original run of ''Series/DoctorWho'' -- ends with the Doctor and Ace happily walking back to the [=TARDIS=] to continue their adventures, with a monologue from the Doctor (added by the script editor when he and the producer realised this was highly likely to be the last episode for at least a while, and possibly ever) to reinforce this.

* SeriesFauxnale: When part four finished airing, the general consensus was that the show was over, having been cancelled due to rapidly declining ratings over the course of the past several years. The TV movie in 1996 and the show's full-on revival in 2005 changed that notion.

* AndTheAdventureContinues: The story -- and the original run of ''Series/DoctorWho'' -- ends with the Doctor and Ace happily walking back to the [=TARDIS=] to continue their adventures, with a monologue from the Doctor (written at the last minute, when it was learnt that this would be the final episode indefinitely) to reinforce this.

The end. For 16 years, anyways.