Survival Part Three

The one where it all ends...

While being the end of an era, Survival part 3 is also something of a transitionary episode. As well as neatly reflecting elements from both parts 1 and 2, and how they dangerously merge together, it also serves as a pathway to the future. When Doctor Who began in 1963, it was set in contemporary London. When the classic series finished in 1989, it was also set in contemporary London. Perfect symmetry. And when the series returned in 2005, where was it set? Yes that's right, in contemporary London. Shoreditch, Perivale and Kennington (the probable location of Rose's Powell Estate) are bound together across the decades by the creative forces behind three different iterations of Doctor Who. The same, but different. London would seem to be the Doctor's "home".

At the start of the episode we see Ace lose her fight to hold on to herself, and run off with her new "sister", Karra the Cheetah person. I'm not crystal clear on why Ace and Karra share this bond, unless it's something to do with Karra hypnotising or bewitching Ace when she helps her at the waterside. It's obvious that Karra sees something in Ace which is different to any other Earth girl brought as prey to the planet. Later on we see the feline Karra revert to her original human self, suggesting that maybe, just perhaps, Karra had the hots for Ace, and her latent sexuality was brought to the fore. "I'm your sister. You're like me. You will be..." Karra tells Ace in one scene.

Survival Part Two

The one where Ace is bewitched by an alien planet...

It's great how the white flash at the end of the opening credits merges perfectly into the effect of the Doctor and Paterson being transported to the Cheetah planet. I'm glad director Alan Wareing thought to do that, because if he hadn't, the lost potential would have bugged me until my dying day!

The Doctor and his narrow-minded new pal are herded towards a tent, the Cheetah people constantly growling and snarling along the way. As much as I quite admire the Cheetah costumes and make-up, dubbing sound effects of real-life big cats on top of these cuddly creatures just does not work, and only accentuates the fact they are not big, vicious, carnivorous monsters, just people in leopard-print suits!

Survival Part One

The one where Ace goes back to Perivale to see her mates...

This is it. The final story of the classic series run, ironically yet appropriately entitled Survival. Nobody knew it when they made it, but they certainly knew there would be no Season 27 by the time Survival was broadcast. Blame Philip Segal, because if he hadn't made that fateful telephone call to the BBC on July 12th, 1989, things might have carried on as normal, and I'd be reviewing Ice Time, Earth Aid, Crime of the Century and Illegal Alien too.

But it didn't pan out that way, and instead this surreal suburban thriller is how classic Doctor Who bowed out. Fittingly, it left by telling a story set in contemporary London, just as it began 26 years before. From Shoreditch to Perivale, via Skaro, Peladon and Gallifrey!

The Curse of Fenric Part Four

The one where Ace learns who the baby really is...

What I'm getting from this critical review of the story - after decades of watching it thinking I'm understanding it all - is that the Doctor hasn't necessarily fought "Fenric" before. Fenric is just Millington's interpretation of evil, and as the Doctor says in part 3, "evil has no name". It seems to me that evil has simply chosen to manifest itself in this way on this particular occasion, using Norse mythology as an amusing cover, but the adversary the Doctor played chess with in the shadow dimensions, and trapped there for 17 centuries, was not Fenric as such. It was evil. The Doctor played chess with evil.

He says elsewhere in this episode, as he tries to remember where the pieces were left on the chess board, that it took place "so long ago", suggesting it wasn't his seventh self which did all this. It's an interesting take on things, and I'm not convinced it was meant this way by writer Ian Briggs, but I quite like the theory that Fenric isn't the Doctor's ancient enemy. Pure evil is his enemy, and this time around it's called Fenric.

The Curse of Fenric Part Three

The one where evil takes a body...

Wow, when Perkins gets an order, he certainly carries it out to the very best of his abilities, doesn't he? And with so much gusto! Charged with the task of disabling all of the radio transmitters on the base, he sets about chopping them up with an axe, sparks flying everywhere! Millington rushes in, hoping to find that Perkins isn't as loyal as he fears, but too late - the hardware's in bits. "Splendid work, Perkins, splendid work!" jeers the Doctor. "Now put them back together again." And just look at the sweet little smile from Ace behind him when he says that. That girl really loves that man (for now).

There are so many little moments like this in the relationship between the Doctor and Ace / Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred. The chemistry between them is like lightning in a bottle, and beyond the narrative development of the relationship and characters, it can be found in the organic performance between the two, the unscripted looks and gestures which were also present between Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen. That naturalness, that ease between them, is palpable. It happens again when Ace blows up the brick wall with her nitro-9, and as they're all escaping, the Doctor stops Ace and says: "I'll talk to you later", and Aldred responds with a big goofy grin. It's a timeless, organic working relationship and we are so lucky to have witnessed it.

The Curse of Fenric Part Two

The one where the chains of Fenric shatter...

A fine example of the hotch-potch way The Curse of Fenric is edited/ sequenced is the fact Dr Judson's recital of the Wainwright translation bridges two episodes. He starts reading it toward the end of part 1 but doesn't get to finish until part 2, making it seem like he's been reading it all week! Placing the entire recital in one or the other episode, and not both, would have been far better.

Part 2 is far more satisfying than part 1, but I'm still left with a glut of unanswered questions. Why does a whole new set of Viking inscriptions burn into existence when Judson reads the translations? It looks good, but why does it happen? Why does the corpse of the dead Russian beneath the water come back to life? Again, it looks good, but why does it happen? What becomes of him? Does he turn into a Haemovore?

The Curse of Fenric Part One

The one where the Russians invade wartime Northumbria...

The TARDIS materialises in the grounds of a top secret naval camp in Northumbria in 1943. The Doctor and Ace are here to see Dr Judson, a mathematician charged with the task of cracking the German cyphers in World War Two. The Doctor's duffel coat makes him look a bit like Paddington Bear, while Ace's period outfit makes a refreshing change from her usual badge-scattered bomber jacket (although she still has that).

We're straight into the story, no messing about, as the Doctor and Ace waltz into the base as if they were expected all along. The Doctor even goes so far as to fake his own credentials, right in front of the ratty Dr Judson and his nurse, Crane. It's a very brief letter, with forged signatures from Prime Minister Winston Churchill and MI6 Chief Stewart Menzies (good attention to detail there by production designer David Laskey). The Doctor's gall in forging this letter before presenting it to Captain Bates with the ink still wet is highly amusing, including when Bates knocks on the door and the Doctor shouts: "Come in!" The Doctor is instantly in charge.

Ghost Light Part Three

The one where the Doctor defeats Light with Darwinism...

Many people say they don't understand Ghost Light. I get why they say it, because it's not an easy watch, but the basics of what the story's about are present in the transmitted story, albeit tricky to catch. Basic explanations are given in the opening dialogue of part 3, when Light emerges and the Doctor explains who's who (as does Ace, who seems remarkably well informed).

"It's called Light," the Doctor tells Inspector Mackenzie. "It's come to survey life here... And while it slept, the survey got out of control." It's all a big experiment to catalogue life on Earth. Josiah is the survey, Control is, well... the control, and Light is an intergalactic David Attenborough. Light came to Earth in the stone spaceship, and while it slept, the survey and control got out of hand. Nimrod, a specimen of the Neanderthal race taken from pre-history, was released from his quarantine cubicle by Josiah as he climbed the evolutionary ladder and craved servants.

Ghost Light Part Two

The one where the Doctor finds a policeman in the drawer...

It's just the latest in a string of weird and wacky ideas and images in this story: the Doctor and Gwendoline coming across a Victorian sleeping policeman in the bottom drawer of Josiah's moth collection. "It's from Java," Gwendoline bewilderingly states. It seems Java is a simile for being killed, or perhaps just "preserved", as Gwendoline adds that the Reverend Matthews will be sent to Java soon, where he might meet her father.

"Your father, is he there?" enquires the Doctor. Gwendoline's reply always gives me goosebumps, thanks to the slightly unhinged way Katharine Schlesinger delivers the line, and the way the scene is edited. "Uncle Josiah sent him there," she says, "after he saw what was in the cellar." Cut to the cellar! Such an effective cut, sadly spoiled in the otherwise superior blu-ray workprint version, which adds a line on the end before cutting.

Ghost Light Part One

The one where the Doctor takes Ace into her worst nightmare...

Wish me luck with this one, guys. I'll need it. Right, I'm going in...

A dark and spooky Victorian house. Gothic, funereal organ music. A hatchet-faced housekeeper. And something nasty locked up in the cellar. This is the stuff that nightmarish dreams are made of, and the sort of thing the BBC always does so well. If it involves a period setting, the BBC usually come up trumps. And a period Victorian setting never fails to serve Doctor Who well. The two seem to go together like fish fingers and custard!

Battlefield Part Four

The one where the Destroyer is freed...

So Morgaine gives Ace and Shou Yuing over to the Destroyer to become his handmaidens in Hell, only for the Destroyer to then disappear for five minutes. Morgaine cannot cross the chalk circle with her magic alone, but the Destroyer claims he can if she releases him from his silver chains. "It burns!" says the blue meanie, which is a fantastically realistic design by Stephen Mansfield and Sue Moore, complete with huge Krull-like horns, a greasy black mane and a warty complexion. Interestingly, the original design for the Destroyer was by Mike Tucker, but he was given visual effects duties on The Curse of Fenric at the last moment, and Mansfield and Moore stepped in. Tucker's original design for the Destroyer eventually became the Unspeakable One in the 1992 Red Dwarf episode Terrorform. What we got was better.

Marek Anton gives the Destroyer such animation too, despite the character being quite static. The eyes dart about, the mouth snarls and gnashes, and Anton has the size, bulk and physique to make the creature truly daunting. Even the voice is scary.

Battlefield Part Three

The one where Morgaine summons the Destroyer...

Finally, four minutes into part 3, the Brigadier and the Doctor are reunited. It's taken the old soldier more than half the story to arrive at where the action is, making it a most leisurely comeback. But it's nice to have the Brig meet yet another incarnation of his old friend ("Who else would it be?"), and rather fitting that he saves the day with a squash of his boot - the first thing we ever saw of Lethbridge-Stewart way back in The Web of Fear was his boots.

Ace escapes through an airlock to the surface of Lake Vortigern, where she rises from the water holding Excalibur aloft, like the Lady of the Lake. Warmsley notes that the site of the archaeological dig was supposedly where Mordred faced Arthur in the mythology, and where Bedivere threw Excalibur into the lake. Writer Ben Aaronovitch is toying with the various versions of Arthurian legend here, as Arthur and Mordred apparently faced each other at Camlann, which according to dialogue elsewhere in this episode has already happened. In the legends, Mordred dies at Camlann (and sometimes Arthur too), but seeing as he's alive and well here, the events of the alternative dimension must differ.

Battlefield Part Two

The one where the Doctor finds a spaceship at the bottom of the lake...

The space knight threatening to kill everybody turns out to be called Mordred, and when he lifts his visor he's revealed to be just as ruggedly handsome as his arch-enemy, blond Ancelyn. It seems Ancelyn is general of Arthur's army, while Mordred is the son of Arthur's enemy, Morgaine. I love how Ben Aaronovitch is tinkering with Arthurian legend, just as Sir Thomas Malory tinkered with the works of Nennius and Geoffrey of Monmouth. There is no definitive version of the mythology, so why not play with it a bit more? I was so inspired by all of this as a 13-year-old that I went to my local library to research the legends of King Arthur (when we had books instead of Google), demonstrating how, even 26 years on, Doctor Who was still educating as well as entertaining.

Mordred says that 12 centuries ago, Morgaine bound the Doctor (ie Merlin) and sealed him in ice caves for all eternity, but the Doctor - at least, the Doctor in his seventh body - knows nothing of this. He blags his way through the conversation, pretending he's Merlin and that he wields "mighty arts", but once Mordred and his tin men have gone, he admits he has no idea who any of them are. For once, the Doctor is on the back foot, and others know more than he does.

Battlefield Part One

The one where the Doctor is mistaken for Merlin...

Here it is, the beginning of the end. The first of four stories in Season 26, bringing to an end Doctor Who's classic series run. Doctor Who had clawed its way back from the doldrums with the critical and creative successes of Season 25, and the change of Doctor in 1987 gave the show the fresh start it needed after the opprobrium associated with Colin Baker's tenure (even if Season 24 wasn't of the highest quality). As the Seventh Doctor entered his third year, confidence must have been at a relative high, with the production team sure of its intent and aims for the series. Last year ratings were markedly up, so what could possibly go wrong?

Season 26 opens with the dullest, most uninspiring and underwhelming scene in the history of season openers. It starts in a garden centre, and the first person we see is a tweedy old duffer in a trilby carrying a couple of shrubs. Battlefield stumbles at the very first hurdle. No wonder this episode was watched by just 3.1m people - less than half the figure for The Greatest Show in the Galaxy part 4 (6.6m). In truth, we know it was lack of promotion and harsh scheduling that did for Season 26, but the production team was doing itself no favours by starting with such a sedentary opening.

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy Part Four

The one where the Doctor confronts the Gods of Ragnarok...

This final part of both the story and the season aired in January 1989, making it the first of a bumper 15 episodes of Doctor Who broadcast that year. It was watched by a whopping 6.6m people, the highest figure for the McCoy era, and the highest rating since Season 22. Doctor Who was on a role in its silver anniversary year. Season 25 had topped 6m viewers twice, surely a sign that more people were watching, more people were enjoying and more people wanted more? It all felt so encouraging, only for the BBC to renew the show one final time, but decide to bury it for good...

Back to the Psychic Circus, and that gloriously scary cliffhanger in which the Doctor's being menaced by a wolverine Mags. It's a testament to the work of make-up designer Denise Baron that Mags' werewolf look is so convincing, but the make-up has been spot-on throughout the story, particularly for Ian Reddington's Joker-esque Chief Clown. Mags is her masterpiece though (her work on The Curse of Fenric would be great, but not better than this).

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy Part Three

The one where the Doctor discovers Mags' secret...

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy was transmitted through the festive season, the first time Doctor Who had done this since 1980's The Horns of Nimon - and the last until 2005's The Christmas Invasion. It feels somehow fitting that a story set in a circus, a world of entertainment, should have been shown at Christmastime. Part 2 of the serial was shown straight after a special programme called Terry Wogan in Pantoland, in which the chat show host encountered various fairytale scenarios performed by the likes of Barbara Windsor, Little and Large, Christopher Biggins and Wilfred Mott himself, Bernard Cribbins!

Part 3 was pushed back slightly to 7.40pm due to Wogan's very special interview with Hollywood legend James Stewart, making it one of the latest shown classic series episodes. There are scenes throughout the episode in which the family of three spectators express how bored they are ("Something has to happen soon"), but this third episode is far from dull, exploring the background to the Psychic Circus and what happened when it arrived on Segonax.

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy Part Two

The one where the Doctor is chosen as an act in the Psychic Circus talent contest...

Part 1 concentrated on establishing the characters, and part 2 cracks on with the story proper as the Doctor and Ace enter the Psychic Circus to the sound of rapturous applause from within. The weird thing is, there's no audience in the amphitheatre, which means the impression of there being paying customers is a fabrication. Where's the audience gone?

The reprise from part 1 adds on the fact Ace spots the Chief Clown in the circus entrance waving her in, which we see her visibly shudder at in part 1, but we don't see the cause until part 2. A niftier bit of editing would have made the part 1 cliffhanger slightly stronger if they'd left in the grinning clown.

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy Part One

The one where clowns dressed as undertakers use kites to track hippies in the desert...

That introductory line barely scratches the surface of how bizarre and surreal elements of The Greatest Show in the Galaxy are, but this is what Doctor Who was excelling at in its twilight years. It was trying new things, it was far from predictable, and it was going for big, colourful comic book ideas and visuals. Setting Doctor Who in a circus seems such an obvious idea - it was touched upon half-heartedly in Terror of the Autons - and I'm surprised it took 25 years to get around to it properly.

The deluge of wild and wacky images that bombard the viewer as the episode unfolds is almost overwhelming. It might have been filmed on location in a quarry to represent the barren alien world of Segonax, but the characters that populate this arid planet are far from dull and dusty. It all begins with the opening scene of a circus ringmaster performing a rap to an empty amphitheatre (but actually the viewers at home). The ringmaster warns of amazing and scary acts, and plenty of surprises, finishing with: "You ain't seen nothin' yet."

Silver Nemesis Part Three

The one where Lady Peinforte threatens to spill the Doctor's beans...

There's a lovely little scene in this episode as the Doctor and Ace trudge through the woods and Ace admits she's "really, really scared". I appreciate the sentiment and intent of the scene, as it shows that Ace feels confident enough to share her true feelings with the Doctor, and in turn the Doctor can show compassion for his young friend. When he realises Ace is afraid, he apologises and offers to let her wait in the TARDIS. In the event, Ace refuses to give in and will not leave her Professor's side.

But something bugs me about the scene. I don't quite buy the fact that it would be this story, this adventure, this particular set of dangers which would scare Ace so much. It's not as if Ace has endured very much in this story so far, she's mostly been wandering around the countryside listening to jazz and blowing up spaceships. I don't understand what's made Ace so scared, especially considering her run-ins with Kane, the Daleks and even the Happiness Patrol presented greater threats. It's a lovely scene, but somehow in the wrong story.

Silver Nemesis Part Two

The one where Lady Peinforte visits her own tomb...

The Cybermen disembark from their shuttle, only to be set upon by a trigger-happy neo-Nazi - and so begins the Battle of Windsor! These scenes were actually filmed in Greenwich, not Windsor, and the old warehouse has long been demolished, with the area redeveloped to give way to the Millennium Dome and its car parking facilities. It's thought that the comet's crash site later became the David Beckham Football Academy (until it closed in 2009).

"Eradicate them!" orders the Cyber Leader. Cue lots of explosions, machine gun fire, and impressive stunts as the Mondasian marauders battle it out with the Nazi numbskulls, but it must be noted how pathetic the Cybermen's weapons are. They don't shoot lasers, they just fizzle and spark like damp fuses, and let down the physical might and presence of so many silver giants.