History Recap / DoctorWhoS26E4Survival

The last one. [[SeriesFauxnale For 16 years, anyways.]][[note]]Not counting the movie.[[/note]]

Separated from the Doctor, Ace meets one of the Cheetah people and [[LesYay 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.

After adventuring throughout time and space, Ace finally asks the Doctor to take a visit to her hometown -- Perivale.[[note]]Not to be confused with Peri Brown or misconstrued as the home of Peri Brown that happens to have a MeaningfulName- number one, she's an American who obviously did not grow up in an English burg, number two, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS23E4TheUltimateFoe she's currently with King Yrcanos...]] [[ContinuitySnarl well, in at least one continuity.]] [[/note]] As it turns out, not much is the same since Ace left the town originally and many of her friends have just up and left. The Doctor, however, takes a curious interest in a black cat that seems to be following them around, and while he tries to set a trap for it Ace finds herself poking around a playground when an [[CatFolk anthropomorphic cheetah-person]] riding a horse chases her around the park. Not long after this scene, the Doctor and Ace are whipped away to an [[BBCQuarry exotic alien planet]] where the Cheetah people come from -- and where Ace's friends and a few other extras have been whipped away to. The Doctor is then escorted to the Cheetah people's leader... the Master. And this time, he's acting [[CerebusSyndrome very darkly.]] That's what happens when you're allowed to cut loose for the final episode and portray the character as you originally intended without a heaping helping of {{Camp}} thrown in to belay complaints that the show is getting too violent for its britches, since, by now, it really doesn't matter, does it?

As it turns out, the planet is some sort of living entity (maybe?) that is slowly infecting the people on the planet with an urge to fight, kill and destroy one another. The Master has already been infected, sporting some neat cat eye contacts, and simply desires to leave the planet. Meanwhile, Ace and her friends are hunted by the Cheetah people and do their best to simply run away. The Doctor and Ace finally meet up again just in time for the Cheetah people to pull an ambush and kill a few of the extras -- but not before Midge kills one of the Cheetah people and turns more and more feral.

* DrillSergeantNasty: "Sergeant" Paterson, the overzealous neighbourhood watchman. His American equivalent would be the Guardian Angel vigilantes.

** This was the last story to feature Creator/SophieAldred as companion Ace; she would be the only ''Doctor Who'' companion to never get an explained departure, as the [[Recap/DoctorWhoTVMTheTVMovie The TV Movie]] began with the Seventh Doctor travelling alone with no explanation of what had happened to Ace.

* UncertainDoom: It's not clear what the Master did to Squeak's mother, since she only says he "made her go away".

** This was the final story to be produced by Creator/JohnNathanTurner, the longest serving producer in the show's history who had been at the helm since "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E1TheLeisureHive The Leisure Hive]]" in 1980, spanning nine seasons and four Doctors.

** The final ''Doctor Who'' story to be shot on video; it had been the primary method of recording the show for the entire classic era; for the first 22 seasons it was VideoInsideFilmOutside (except "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E1SpearheadFromSpace Spearhead from Space]]", which was shot entire on film)and the last four seasons were shot exclusively on video tape. However, the [[Recap/DoctorWhoTVMTheTVMovie The TV Movie]] was shot on film, while the 2005 revival would see the show move to using digital cameras.

* CrazySurvivalist & DrillSergeantNasty: "Sergeant" Paterson, the overzealous neighborhood watchman. His American equivalent would be the Guardian Angel vigilantes.

* CostumeEvolution: For his final appearance in the Classic Series, the Master trades out the black velvet baroque outfit he'd had since [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E6TheKeeperOfTraken "The Keeper of Traken"]] in favor of a new getup inspired by contemporary yuppie fashion. His new costume consists of a black suit with a serrated silver collar on the jacket, a black belt around his waist with a stylized draconian buckle, a blue ribbon with a sun medallion around his neck, and a pair of leather gloves.

* {{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.

* PressurePoint: The Doctor briefly paralyzes the Sergeant by poking him in the forehead.

* TurnTheOtherCheek: The Cheetah Planet infects its inhabitants with feral instinct and blood lust, which [[RedEyesTakeWarning gradually]] transforms them into humanoid Cheetahs as they continue to indulge in their urges. Having exhausted its population, the planet has become a volcanic desert on the verge of [[EarthShatteringKaboom explosion]]. While the Master succumbs to primal intoxication, the Doctor realises survival to lie in willful rejection of violence -- which teleports him back to the TARDIS in Perivale.

* 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 on the grounds of them attempting to rank themselves among preestablished music legends. As ''Music/AchtungBaby'' was still a couple years off, the general public sentiment at the time was that U2 had committed career suicide, a sentiment reflected in Ace's inquiry.

* PopCultureUrbanLegends: Creator/AdeleSilva embellished her part of Squeak in interviews once she was an adult. In her version of the plot, Squeak is infected by the Planet of the Cheetah People and Silva had to wear yellow contact lenses like William Barton (Midge) and Creator/AnthonyAinley (The Master) did. In the real serial, none of that happens to Squeak.

* StockEpisodeTitles: 55 uses.

** With "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E1AnUnearthlyChild An Unearthly Child]]"--the series' first story and final story both feature characters abducted from contemporary suburbia to a brutally primitive environment.
** This serial and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E1Rose Rose]]" also form this for the wilderness years of ''Doctor Who'' as a whole (if we count the TV movie as part of the wilderness as a whole). Both serials involve the Doctor and his companion, a council estate girl, investigating aliens that are infiltrating contemporary London and assorted mysterious goings-on surrounding them, all of which involve an old enemy of the Doctor.
** Another one: in "An Unearthly Child" the Doctor attempts to bash a caveman's head in, only to be stopped by Ian. At the end of this serial, the Doctor is about to bash the Master's head in, but is stopped by himself.

* EvilIsPetty: The Master apparently goes out of his way to kill the cat of a child he never met before.

* FauxAffablyEvil: The Master here is much less the cackling madman viewers had come to expect. In previous stories, Ainley had been told to [[LargeHam amp up the ham]] by production staff, but here was finally allowed to give a much more restrained, brooding and ultimately rather vicious portrayal.

* KilledOffForReal: The Master, again. This time it was supposed to be for really real (largely owing to the series's cancellation), but FirstLawOfResurrection + JokerImmunity = LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt[[invoked]].

* TurnTheOtherCheek: The Cheetah Planet infects its inhabitants with feral instinct and blood lust, which [[RedEyesTakeWarning gradually]] transforms them into humanoid Cheetahs as they continue to indulge in their urges. Having exhausted its population, the planet has become a volcanic desert on the verge of [[EarthShatteringKaboom explosion]]. While the Master succumbs to primal intoxication, the Doctor realises survival to lie in willful rejection of violence -- which teleports him back to the Perivale-parked TARDIS.

As for Rona Munro, with this serial she became only the third woman to be credited as scriptwriter on the series, after Barbara Clegg for "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS20E5Enlightenment Enlightenment]]" and Creator/JaneBaker for four stories co-written with her husband Pip.[[note]] "Paula Moore" is credited for "Attack of the Cybermen", but this is a pseudonym. See that page for more.[[/note]] She would eventually return to ''Doctor Who'' to write the Twelfth Doctor story [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E10TheEatersOfLight "The Eaters of Light"]], making her the first writer to contribute to both the Classic Series and the Revival Series (and in all likelihood the only one, given that most of the other Classic Series writers were either retired or dead by the time "The Eaters of Light" aired).

* MilkingTheGiantCow: Overacting? On ''Doctor Who''? Never!
-->'''Doctor:''' '''''IF WE FIGHT LIKE ANIMALS, WE'LL DIIIIIIIE LIKE ANIMAAAAAAAAALS!'''''

* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: For the Doctor's final fight with the Master in Classic Who.

* SexyCatPerson: Not as much as the writer originally envisaged, but Ace's interactions with the Cheetah People are heavily played as a sexual awakening.

* CrazySurvivalist & DrillSergeantNasty: "Sargent" Paterson, the overzealous neighborhood watchman. His American equivalent would be the Guardian Angel vigilantes.

As for Rona Munro, with this serial she became only the third woman to be credited as scriptwriter on the series, after Barbara Clegg for "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS20E5Enlightenment Enlightenment]]" and Jane Baker for four stories co-written with her husband Pip.[[note]] "Paula Moore" is credited for "Attack of the Cybermen", but this is a pseudonym. See that page for more.[[/note]] She would eventually return to ''Doctor Who'' to write the Twelfth Doctor story [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E10TheEatersOfLight "The Eaters of Light"]], making her the first writer to contribute to both the Classic Series and the Revival Series (and in all likelihood the only one, given that most of the other Classic Series writers were either retired or dead by the time "The Eaters of Light" aired).

As for Rona Munro, with this serial she became only the second woman to be credited as scriptwriter on the series, after Barbara Clegg for "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS20E5Enlightenment Enlightenment]]".[[note]] "Paula Moore" is credited for "Attack of the Cybermen", but this is a pseudonym. See that page for more.[[/note]] She would eventually return to ''Doctor Who'' to write the Twelfth Doctor story [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E10TheEatersOfLight "The Eaters of Light"]], making her the first writer to contribute to both the Classic Series and the Revival Series (and in all likelihood the only one, given that most of the other Classic Series writers were either retired or dead by the time "The Eaters of Light" aired).

As for Rona Munro, she would eventually return to ''Doctor Who'' to write the Twelfth Doctor story [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E10TheEatersOfLight "The Eaters of Light"]], making her the first writer to contribute to both the Classic Series and the Revival Series (and in all likelihood the only one, given that most of the other Classic Series writers were either retired or dead by the time "The Eaters of Light" aired).

After adventuring throughout time and space, Ace finally asks the Doctor to take a visit to her hometown -- Perivale.[[note]]Not to be confused with Peri Brown or misconstrued as the home of Peri Brown that happens to have a MeaningfulName- number one, she's an American who obviously did not grow up in an English burg, number two, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS23E4TheUltimateFoe she's currently with King Yrcanos...]] [[ContinuitySnarl well, in at least one continuity.]] [[/note]]
As it turns out, not much is the same since Ace left the town originally and many of her friends have just up and left. The Doctor, however, takes a curious interest in a black cat that seems to be following them around, and while he tries to set a trap for it Ace finds herself poking around a playground when an [[CatFolk anthropomorphic cheetah-person]] riding a horse chases her around the park. Not long after this scene, the Doctor and Ace are whipped away to an [[BBCQuarry exotic alien planet]] where the Cheetah people come from - and where Ace's friends and a few other extras have been whipped away to. The Doctor is then escorted to the Cheetah people's leader... the Master. And this time, he's acting [[CerebusSyndrome very darkly.]] That's what happens when you're allowed to cut loose for the final episode and portray the character as you originally intended without a heaping helping of {{Camp}} thrown in to belay complaints that the show is getting too violent for its britches, since, by now, it really doesn't matter, does it?

As it turns out, the planet is some sort of living entity (maybe?) that is slowly infecting the people on the planet with an urge to fight, kill and destroy one another. The Master has already been infected, sporting some neat cat eye contacts, and simply desires to leave the planet. Meanwhile, Ace and her friends are hunted by the Cheetah people and do their best to simply run away. The Doctor and Ace finally meet up again just in time for the Cheetah people to pull an ambush and kill a few of the extras - but not before Midge kills one of the Cheetah people and turns more and more feral.

Either way, the Doctor and the dreaded feral Midge drive at one another and randomly blow up their bikes. The Doctor survives without a scratch while Midge suffers a CriticalExistenceFailure and dies. Suddenly, the youth group advances on Ace, until that Cheetah person from earlier shows up and tries to chase off the Master. By hugging him. Of course, the Master kills her and meanders off to go steal the TARDIS. There, he encounters the Doctor - and then drags the Doctor back to the now-collapsing-for-some-reason planet where they fight it out in hand-to-hand combat. The Doctor himself sports those adjusted eyes until he realizes that the fighting is killing the planet and that the only way to win is to not fight. The Doctor is whisked away back to Earth and the Master is supposedly left for dead.

Ace mourns the loss of her newfound friend, while the Doctor comes up behind her. Ace takes a few moments to collect herself before saying it's time they go home - back to the TARDIS. The Doctor gives a wonderful monologue as they walk off into the distance, and Ace and the Doctor then go on to have many more adventures... [[ScrewedByTheNetwork but sadly, for the viewers, this would be the end, after twenty-six years and 155 complete stories...]]

''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, in effect, cancelled, the BBC repeatedly insisted that it was simply a hiatus and that the show would return to television in the future. [[ExactWords 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.

* AnAesop: This story skewers the "kill or be killed" ethos of the 80's, as personified by Sgt. Paterson and the Master. The Doctor retorts by reminding them both of the PrisonersDilemma.

* AndThenJohnWasAZombie

* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: Invoked. And justified - they're ''cats'' and cats ''adore'' shiny things.

* EmpathicEnvironment: the violence of the Cheetah people is literally causing their world to break apart.

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Literally, in this case.

* NothingExcitingEverHappensHere: Perivale.

* TurnTheOtherCheek: The Cheetah Planet infects its inhabitants with feral instinct and blood lust, which [[RedEyesTakeWarning gradually]] transforms them into humanoid Cheetahs. Having exhausted its population, the planet has become a volcanic desert on the verge of [[EarthShatteringKaboom explosion]]. While the Master succumbs to primal intoxication, the Doctor realises survival to lie in wilful rejection of violence - which teleports him back to the Perivale-parked TARDIS.

* 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.

[[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).

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, 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. [[ExactWords 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"). As for Rona Munro, she would eventually return to ''Doctor Who'' to write the Twelfth Doctor story [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E10TheEatersOfLight "The Eaters of Light"]], making her the first writer to contribute to both the Classic Series and the Revival Series (and in all likelihood the only one, given that most of the other Classic Series writers were either retired or dead by the time "The Eaters of Light" aired).

''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. [[ExactWords 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"). As for Rona Munro, she would eventually return to ''Doctor Who'' to write the Twelfth Doctor story [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E10TheEatersOfLight "The Eaters of Light"]], making her the only writer to contribute to both the Classic Series and the Revival Series (and in all likelihood the only one, given that most of the other Classic Series writers were either retired or dead by the time "The Eaters of Light" aired).

''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. [[ExactWords 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").

Written by Rona Munro. This serial first aired November 22-December 6, 1989.

* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: Invoked. And justified - they're ''cats''.

* KilledOffForReal: The Master, again. This time it was supposed to be for really real (largely owing to the series's cancellation), but FirstLawOfResurrection + JokerImmunity = LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt.

Written by Rona Munro. This serial first aired November 22, 1989.

* MaleSunFemaleMoon: According to Rona Munroe, she included the scene with the "moon water" healing Karra because the moon, like cats, is associated with femininity.