Survival is a truly remarkable Doctor Who story.
The subtexts within the story are legion. What we are being faced with
here is really the destruction of self and the desire to metamorphose into
something different. What if Ace could surrender to her darker nature,
become something much more primitive? This in itself sets up a triangle of
this story's main characters. First, we have the Doctor, desperate to stay
in control and prevent change. He realises that everybody needs to be true
to his or her own nature. Next, Ace. Ace's journey is the most intriguing.
She is quite a damaged individual, and she's tested to her limits. Ace is
offered a simpler feral existence, and is forced to re-examine her own
values. Finally, the Master. By being so convinced that he is a strong
survivor, in fact he is the weakest of the three. He has surrendered
himself to his own savagery, whether through fear or desperation, and when
asked why the Master does what he does, the Doctor replies, "Malice." So
the Master's slide into his bestial nature was fairly inevitable.
It's quite fitting that this story should represent the final story of
the classic series, as it sees all three of these characters meet a
natural crossroads in their lives. We sense that Ace may finally be more
comfortable within herself, having been plunged into the darkness and
seeing how dangerous (yet tragically free) her other side could be. The
Master, in doing what he can to survive, has in fact killed himself by
giving up everything. The Master believes he's strong enough to control
it, but we all have a dark side that we struggle to control. The Doctor
has his worth re-affirmed after at least two stories that leave him with a
self-doubt and fear about his abilities and his responsibilities to
protect the universe. Here, he faces something deeply personal and
involved. He is ready for the next stage of his life. It's hard to imagine
the Seventh Doctor and Ace continuing for much longer after this story,
though the New Adventures and the audios have done some interesting work
with this. This would have been a good regeneration story, with the
Seventh Doctor reaching his own inner calm and preparing for the next
phase.
The structure of the story is very good, putting the Doctor and Ace in
the middle of Perivale but not initially being alerted to anything strange
going on. As Survival becomes more intricate in its plotting, so
too do the emotions of its characters. Almost everyone is profoundly
affected by the situation. An interesting addition to the story is Derek.
Although not really a fleshed-out character in his own right, he
represents something very important. Place him next to Midge, a scared
young man full of bravado yet certain that he's the strongest. But through
being so aggressive toward his situation, Midge opens himself up to anger
and savagery. Derek, considered weaker, survives the ordeal. Midge
doesn't. We're all animals and the sheer basic instinct of man is shown
stripped bare.
I've barely scratched the surface of the issues raised here, there's so
much to read from this. But as basic entertainment, Survival is
well paced, has a gorgeous script, some precise acting, excellent
direction, and a very successful musical score. The acting honours go to
Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, and Anthony Ainley. Ainley, in particular,
is brilliant in Survival. By far his best performance, he is
allowed to play the Master as his version always should have been:
reckless, ruthless, living on borrowed time. Whereas Delgado's Master had
a cool, suave persona that belied his villainous nature and Pratt/Beevers
had a violent and extremely dangerous brutality, Ainley's Master should
always have been a natural progression of this. He'd stolen a body and
been given a second chance, but JNT saw him as a Delgado clone. Here, the
Master is calculated, cold, desperate and sinister. He comes across as
more dangerous than he's been since The Deadly
Assassin. Although that final fight scene could have been longer, it
finishes off Ainley's incarnation beautifully. For once in this decade of
the programme, the Master is not shoehorned into the story; it's as much
about him as the Doctor and Ace.
In hindsight, it's probably for the best that JNT didn't know for sure
that Doctor Who wasn't coming back, as he may have been tempted to
end it forever by bringing back all the surviving Doctor's, as many
companions as possible and set the thing on Gallifrey at the end of the
Universe with Daleks, Cybermen and God knows what else. Survival
ends the series at the natural point it was at during that time. It delves
deep into the world of the Seventh Doctor and Ace, the contemporary team,
and not back into the First Doctor's era, or the Final Doctor's. The
ending is left open for the Doctor more than anyone else, obviously, and
provides a good point for the New Adventures/audios/TV
Movie to pick up from.
Survival certainly deserves its popularity. It is a deep and
extremely dark story that finished the classic series on a high note. Very
highly recommended.
Buy from the BBC Shop:
http://www.bbcshop.com/science-fiction/doctor-who-survival-dvd/invt/bbcdvd1834
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