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!

The reveal of the Master, complete with yellow eyes, is well-crafted, as is Anthony Ainley's gorgeous new outfit. After spending most of the 1980s in a velvety penguin suit that made him look like a pantomime arch-villain, Ainley finally gets something different thanks to costume designer Ken Trew. It's a slightly regal get-up, with tie brooch and large belt buckle, and gives the Master a suitably dignified appearance for his final classic series turn.

Matching the improved clobber is Ainley's own performance, which he's dialled right back to be more subtle. He's always been capable of giving the Master a more brooding, sinister presence (examples in parts of The King's Demons and Planet of Fire), but in Survival his whole demeanour is different, perhaps because of the predicament he finds himself in. I'm glad Ainley got to do this one last time, showing the potential his version of the Master could have had throughout the 1980s, if only his melodramatic tendencies (and some of the script writers' exaggerated dialogue) had been reined in.

The Doctor tries to distract the playful Cheetahs from toying with Paterson by employing his newly-acquired skill of juggling (he was learning in The Greatest Show in the Galaxy), but to no avail, leading him instead to commandeer a horse and escape that way. I can't say Julian Holloway's Paterson makes an ideal pairing for the Doctor. The character is simply annoying, rather than fully-rounded, but I enjoy the Doctor's frequent scowls at his ridiculous hyperbole, and the moment when he closes him down with a snarky: "Oh do shut up!"

Meanwhile, Ace and her newfound gang try to capture a Cheetah person. Ace is aided well by old pal Shreela, but pulled back at every turn by the antagonistic defeatism of Midge. In productions like this - where a group of people are thrown together and forced to fight a common enemy - there's always one character who moans, brings everybody down, and adopts a pessimistic attitude. This time it's Midge, who's so negative that it's amazing he's survived even this long.

They fail to capture a Cheetah (nice extending claw effect) but succeed in capturing Paterson and the Doctor, who ends up dangling upside down by a tether. The Seventh Doctor likes a good dangle, having done so before in Dragonfire (that infamous cliffhanger), Remembrance of the Daleks (entering the Dalek shuttle) and The Greatest Show in the Galaxy (during the magic show).

A quick mention for the amazing world-building in this story from the behind-the-scenes team, including director Wareing, musician Dominic Glynn (those Spanish guitars are gorgeous) and video effects designer Dave Chapman. The raging volcanic landscape of the Cheetah planet is an overlooked gem in late Doctor Who's special effects crown, enhanced by sound designer Dick Mills' layered treatment. They were filming in the same baking hot quarry they used for Segonax in The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, but the Cheetah planet looks so alien and apocalyptic that you'd never know. It genuinely feels like a bewitching place, typified by the magical moment when Ace manages to capture moonlight in her hands.

The Doctor, Ace, Paterson, Midge, Shreela and Derek carefully traverse the dead valley, avoiding the sleepy yet dangerously playful Cheetah people. There's a nice, truthful exchange between the lead characters when the Doctor describes the Master as "an evil genius, one of my oldest and deadliest of enemies". Ace replies: "Do you know any nice people? You know, ordinary people, not power-crazed nutters trying to take over the galaxy?" Exactly the kind of thing any previous companion could have said, but never really did (I can hear Sarah Jane and Tegan saying it).

A Terribly Handsome Milkman - played by Jack Talbot, who also played one of Ghost Light's Husks and was the neo-Nazi who died really badly in Silver Nemesis - is transported to the planet, leading to chaos as everybody starts running around and attacking the Cheetah people. "There's one thing more dangerous than being attacked by a Cheetah, and that is attacking a Cheetah," warns the Doctor. "You do not know what it will do to you!"

That doesn't stop everybody charging about like headless chickens, bunging rocks at the Cheetahs, and in the case of wimpy Derek, holding out his arms so that he can be pulled to the ground. Amid the chaos, Sylvester McCoy manages a very Season 24-ish moment when he trips a Cheetah up with his umbrella, then doffs his hat as they fall! The chaos leads to the group getting separated, and the Doctor finally facing up to the Master in the ruins of a long-fallen civilisation.

The Time Lords circle each other suspiciously, unsure of one another and unwilling to trust. The Master explains that the planet is alive - "This place: it bewitches you" - and the Cheetah people are part of it. Every time they fight, the planet begins to break up, and now it is on the edge of destruction. The ancient civilisation tried to control the planet by breeding Kitlings, feline vultures who transport from world to world hunting for carrion. These people thought they could commune with the planet through the Kitlings, but instead they were possessed by it, presumably becoming Cheetah people themselves.

It's a fascinating idea, the effect of which is ably demonstrated when the Master himself reveals his bright yellow eyes and razor sharp fangs. As the Doctor flees, we see the Master howling like a wild creature. He was brought from Earth to the Cheetah planet by a Kitling as prey, and is now bewitched himself. His strength of mind ("I must keep control... I must keep control") has kept him one step ahead of death so far, but he needs the Doctor's help (when doesn't he?) to escape the planet and the possession. The Master's admission that he needs the Doctor's help is basically a confession that his old enemy is cleverer than him.

The scenes by the waterside in which Ace helps the Cheetah person, and the Doctor explains how dangerous they are, are marvellous. You can tell that Ace is being slowly bewitched by the Cheetah and the planet, lured into its alien grasp. And see the way the Doctor fearfully looks away from the Cheetah when its eyes meet his. The Doctor knows how dangerous the planet is, and that the only way to escape is for one of them to become possessed so that they can leave. "We need an animal whose home is Earth," he says, which is handily overheard by the eavesdropping Master.

Midge becomes bewitched by the planet when he has mercy on an injured Cheetah, and puts it out of its misery by ending its life. The fact he does this to relieve the creature's pain is a nice added flourish to his otherwise very selfish nature, but it's also his downfall, as he is finally entrapped by the Master (and very unconvincingly too). By the end of the episode the Master has seemingly escaped back to Earth using Midge as his guide, and the Doctor's party have to wait to see which of them turns first (if it's the Doctor, they'll all end up on Gallifrey!).

At first we're led to believe it's poor Derek, but in fact it's Ace, who turns to camera, her eyes aglow with the feline bewitchment. It's the last ever cliffhanger of the classic series, and creepily effective as we see that the Doctor's companion is the one to succumb, the one who will get them back home but who may fall victim to the planet's wiles in the process.

First broadcast: November 29th, 1989

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: The consequences of the cliffhanger unfold themselves gradually the more you consider it. It's not just "Oh no, Ace is possessed", it's also what will become of her as a result.
The Bad: It's such an unbelievable coincidence that Midge stands on the exact spot where the Master's placed his rope trap.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

Ace says "Professor": 114 - "Don't worry, Professor. I'm no one's bowl of cat food."

NEXT TIME: Part Three...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Part One; Part Three

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site.

Survival is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Survival-Sylvester-McCoy/dp/B000MEYGSG