Day 695: Survival Part 3

Survival comes to an end, and so many things end with it.

This is the last story to be script edited by Andrew Cartmel. Cartmel has been an amazing script editor, bringing new life into the programme. Each story that has been under his tenure as editor has sought to do something interesting with the series, whether it be a story about a society where it's illegal to be unhappy otherwise you will be sentenced to a confectionery based execution, or a story about a galactic species surveyor trying to face the concept of evolution head on. And more than that, Cartmel has brought a consistency to the programme that we simply haven't had under prior script editors. Every story that Cartmel was responsible for is either a really good story, or something that's not good in an interesting way. He's been an amazing part of the series, and it's sad that we won't get to see his influence again.

It's also the last story to be produced by John Nathan Turner. JNT has been an interesting figure in the production of the series. He's not the best producer that they've had, making several mistakes that have ended up costing him his career through poor management, and a lack of focus on scripts. However, he also kept the show running, and was willing to work to keep the show on the air, in the process producing some amazing pieces of television. So whilst he may have been misguided in his time as producer, he still did the job, and that's worth commending.

But all of this pales in comparison to the fact that this is the last story to be broadcast of the original Doctor Who run. The show had been around for 26 years, and it was decided that it should be retired, to make way for new programmes, and new ideas. It's a shame, as over the past 695 episodes Doctor Who has shown itself to be new, exciting and different, with stories ranging from cavemen in 100,000 BC to a race of Cheetah People on a planet that feeds off their emotions. It's a fantastic and amazing series, and it's sad to see it end.

And, indeed, over the past 695 episodes, we've seen some fantastic stories. There's been The Sensorites, a weird and wonderful tale about a new alien race. There was also Power of the Daleks, looking at a new Doctor, as well as the truly manipulative nature of the Daleks that allows them to become the most powerful race in the galaxy. That's not forgetting Carnival of Monsters, an incredibly funny story with thoroughly memorable characters like Vorg the charismatic showman. Of course, there was also The Robots of Death, a genuinely tense and frightening Agatha Christie style thriller. And one of my personal favourites is Mawdryn Undead, applying equal measures of time travel and ruminations on the power of death. Attack of the Cybermen was also worth watching, even if it was just a generic action story. But generic action isn't what you can say about The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, which was wonderfully odd and terrifying.

And almost all of those stories were stories that I saw for the first time as part of this blog. I started it so that I could watch these episodes, and many more, to experience them for the first time as part of one great adventure. And it's all come to an end with Survival, the Doctor Who story that I left to watch last, over all of my travels through this fantastic series. It's been a fun ride, and I'm thoroughly glad that I've done it. But, the blog isn't over yet, as by my count there are still 100-odd episodes left to cover before I'm truly done. And I'm looking forward to watching these as the blog continues. So, I think it's only appropriate to end this entry with some choice words...

There are worlds out there where the sky is burning
Where the sea's asleep and the rivers dream
People made of smoke and cities made of song
Somewhere there's danger
Somewhere there's injustice
And somewhere else, the tea's getting cold
Come on Ace,
We've Got Work to Do!

Day 694: Survival Part 2

And so the story continues. In the land of Doctor Who, we get a villain in the story. It's the Master, who's played by Anthony Ainley in his final appearance in the role. here, he's given something far more interesting than the generic pantomime villain that he's been lumbered with for the past 9 or so years, being able to play a darker character. He brings the Doctor to the planet of the Cheetah People, not as part of some vast trap, but instead because he is trapped and needs the Doctor's help to escape the planet. What makes this darker, however, is why he needs help. He's unwell, turning into a Cheetah Person with every passing moment. It's unleashing his more animal nature, making the character feel just that bit more unhinged and dangerous. It's a shame, then, that this is Ainley's last story, as he's able to show here the potential that he has as an actor, and that he could have been a more memorable Master, were it not for poor direction/scripts/production etc.

Meanwhile in the real world, we look back to 2013. I'm chatting with friends about Doctor Who, and someone guesses that I've seen all of Doctor Who. I reply by saying that I haven't, and then I try and figure out just how much of Doctor Who I have seen. A quick estimate in my head says that I'd only seen around a third of Classic Doctor Who. This fact stuck with me, until one day I came up with a stupid idea. I would watch every episode of Doctor Who, in order, one a day, from the start. That way, I'd gain a new appreciation for the series, as well as plug some gaps in my Doctor Who knowledge, all in celebration of Doctor Who's upcoming 50th anniversary in November of that year. Then, almost immediately afterwards, I made another stupid decision, which was to tell people that I was going to do it, thus ensuring that I was going to do it. I started a blog as well, as another mechanism to keep me on track with this odyssey. So, on the 23rd of November, 2013, I began a grand marathon of all of Doctor Who, starting with An Unearthly Child...

Day 693: Survival Part 1

To say that this story is set in Perivale in the 1980's would be a lie. It is, in actual fact, set in a suburb of Newcastle in 2015, where a young man is sitting in front of an old CRT TV and beginning to watch an old Doctor Who episode. He's watching and enjoying this story, but there's a sense of finality of proceedings. For you see, as this Doctor Who story begins, another story is coming to an end...

The Doctor Who story is known as Survival. It's a story set in the modern day, where young people are going missing in the town where Ace grew up. It's odd to watch this story though because it feels as if it's a return to the world of the mundane. It's been a long time since we've been back in such a normal environment, and it feels weird to not see alien races or strange designs behind every corner. But that, in turn, makes the aliens feel all the more exciting and frightening. Take, for example, the scene where Ace is kidnapped and sent to an alien world, where she is hunted by a Cheetah person. In another Doctor Who story, we would take that alien world in our stride, because it's fairly obviously a quarry, but to the eyes of someone who has instead been wandering around a town, it feels extraordinary, and truly alien. It all feels as if it's a return to what is one of the great concepts that can be covered in Doctor Who, the juxtaposition of normal things with strange and otherworldly concepts, creating an unforgettable series.

The other story began, I suppose, in 2003. Fresh off discovering the programme with Frontier in Space, I'd raced through other videos that we had in the downstairs cupboard, in preparation for watching the entire repeat season of Doctor Who, broadcast 6pm, Monday-Thursday on ABC. I sat down in front of the first episode, and loved it, and I continued to watch the series as the repeat season continued. But then, out of nowhere, I noticed that they skipped Marco Polo. I asked my parents, and we discovered that it was skipped because they'd lost it. Later, I noticed that the Dalek serials weren't being broadcast, which was because of legal problems. All of this kind of took the magic away of watching Doctor Who, knowing that I wouldn't be experiencing the full adventure, but instead an edited version. Combined with other factors seeking my attention, like The Simpsons or Age of Mythology, I suppose that it was inevitable that I would drift away from the programme. I still watched it though, but this was mainly through watching DVDs. It was a potted and selective viewing of Doctor Who, entirely devoid of context, and the ability to watch concepts and characters grow over time. It wasn't the ideal way to watch the programme, but it was the way I watched it for the next 10 years. Until, that is, I had an idea...