Classic Doctor Who went out not with a bang but with a cat. The Doctor takes Ace home to Perivale, where her old mates are being snatched off the street by a planet of Cheetah People, the Master is holding conversations with a cat, and the fate of two worlds comes down to a motorbike joust in a quarry. Survival is Rona Munro's three-part fable about primal violence versus self-control, and it might also be an off-Broadway production of Cats, in which Sylvester McCoy takes an undignified tumble, Anthony Ainley dons yellow contact lenses, and the Doctor delivers the "tea's getting cold" speech that closed 26 years of television. So is the last story of the original run a thoughtful send-off, a half-finished masterpiece, or an unintentional parody of itself?
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Timeline:
- Intro 00:00:00
- Previously… 00:02:33
- Whomoji Challenge 00:07:52
- Poll to Open 00:11:56
- Comment of the Week 00:14:37
- TL;DW 00:19:03
- Review: Survival 00:24:27
- Four Questions to Doomsday 01:01:52
- What If the Evil Plot Had Succeeded? 01:09:17
- Where Is the Clara Splinter? 01:11:58
- Final Judgment 01:17:42
- Randomizer! 01:22:44
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Story Essentials
- Season 26, Serial 4
- Story number: 158, per the Pull To Open Codex
- Writer: Rona Munro
- Director: Alan Wareing
- Script Editor: Andrew Cartmel
- Producer: John Nathan-Turner
- Aired: 22 November–6 December 1989
Pull To Open: Survival
Hosts: Pete Pachal and Chris Taylor
Music: Martin West/Thinking Fish
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Doctor Who ©️BBC 1963