{"id":9901,"date":"2012-10-08T10:52:02","date_gmt":"2012-10-08T14:52:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=9901"},"modified":"2012-10-08T10:52:02","modified_gmt":"2012-10-08T14:52:02","slug":"doctor-who-survival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/10\/doctor-who-survival.html","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Who: Survival"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"There is something striking about the fact that the last episode of Doctor Who before its long period of non-production was called \u201cSurvival<\/a>\u201c\"\"<\/em>. The DVD<\/a>\"\" release of the episode<\/a> includes a second disc with extras, one of which is a documentary \u201cEndgame\u201d about the show\u2019s cancellation, about which I\u2019ll say more after discussing<\/a> the episode<\/a>\"\" itself.<\/p>\n

The episode \u201cSurvival<\/a>\u201c\"\"\u00a0features the last appearance of Anthony Ainsley as the Master on the show, although he did subsequently record clips for a Doctor Who video game, and those too are on the bonus DVD<\/a>\"\".<\/p>\n

The story of the episode centers on the Master having become trapped on a planet inhabited by Cheetah-People. It turns out that the planet is alive, and as the Cheetah-People fight, it brings the planet itself closer to destruction. The Cheetah-People can teleport from world to world for the purpose of hunting, and that is presumably how the Master ended up there \u2013 and how eventually Ace and then the Doctor end up there.<\/p>\n

\"\"The episode starts in Perivale, Ace\u2019s home town, and so marks a major milestone in her own character\u2019s development \u2013 the place she ran from and detested, she has come to miss as she matured, and her maturity as a result of her broadened experiences and her confronting her past is illustrated when she is placed side by side with her old friends once again.<\/p>\n

The planet, it turns out, also has a transformative effect on those who end up there, turning them into Cheetah-People. The Master has begun to be transformed, and eventually so are others, including Ace. But it turns out that that transformation allows such people to teleport back to their homes, and provides a means of escape.<\/p>\n

The deeper element of the story centers on the title, which is a single word from the famous phrase which is repeated multiple times in the episode: \u201csurvival of the fittest.\u201d It is pondered from many angles \u2013 the need to be able to defend yourself by force if necessary, the need for a shop to open on Sundays because others do, the hunting or prey by animals. The Doctor stands as perhaps the only character in the episode who really questions the \u201cglib generalization\u201d that the phrase represents. And in the end, he indicates that the only way to stop the process of being transformed by the animal nature the planet bestows is to stop fighting. As he puts it, \u201cIf we fight like animals, we\u2019ll die like animals.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"The episode offers a nicely nuanced perspective that goes beyond the Doctor\u2019s own \u201cglib generalization.\u201d By the end of the episode, we learn that what the planet bestowed will remain in Ace, and they both seem to agree that that is not a bad thing. It is not as though we are not animals \u2013 it is just that as human beings, we have a far greater array of options than simply fighting for survival. \u00a0We all have that animal instinct within us, and the Doctor makes good use of double entendre when he says about the pets people have \u2013 and at the same time about the \u201canimal\u201d within each of us \u2013 that we \u201ctry to keep them under control.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is worth considering that the episode\u2019s ending, neither final nor a cliffhanger, filmed without the knowledge that the show would not be returning the next year, made the revival of the show possible. Had the producers and writers known that the show was ending, they might have written something more final \u2013 which could have prevented the show\u2019s survival by later \u201cregenerating.\u201d<\/p>\n

The documentary \u201cEndgame\u201d on the bonus DVD discusses a lot of interesting aspects of the show from that time, including the fact that the BBC did not at that time intend to \u201ccancel<\/a>\u201d the show so much as stop production envisaging that it would in fact return (not anticipating that it would be as long as it was). It also discusses where the writers were heading (what is sometimes referred to as the \u201cCartmel Masterplan\u201d), making the Doctor the show\u2019s hero who is in control of what happens to him, rather than a perpetual victim of circumstance, and trying to make him more mysterious \u2013 which meant of course raising questions about the Doctor\u2019s identity without providing answers that would simply put the show back where it was. That is worth considering in relation to recent seasons. The mystery surrounding the Doctor\u2019s identity is an element that runs throughout the show\u2019s history. If Steven Moffatt actually tells us the Doctor\u2019s name, or why his identity is so mysterious and so important, where could the show go from there? It seems like the sort of thing that one ought to reveal only in the last episode ever.<\/p>\n

The \u201cEndgame\u201d documentary also discusses the idea that the Doctor was one of three \u201cgodlike\u201d beings who was around at the start of timelord history, before the timelords. There were hints of that on the show, as well as in novels that the same writers produced such as Lungbarrow<\/a>\"\"<\/em> in particular. John Nathan Turner was apparently worried about the possible religious reactions from viewers if this idea of the Doctor as in any sense a \u201cgod\u201d were explored. As fans of the current show, it is appropriate to ponder how much of the \u201cCartmel Masterplan\u201d has been incorporated into the \u201cMoffatt Masterplan.\u201d But certainly the notion that the Doctor has a mysterious connection with the earliest days of Gallifreyan history, so that a religious order might exist that focuses on his identity, is something that is clearly part of the revived show\u2019s mythology as well as that of the Sylvester McCoy era, uniting the two even if current writers decide to take things in different directions than earlier ones might have.<\/p>\n

Have you seen \u201cSurvival<\/a>\u201c? Is it an important episode<\/a> for fans of the current series to watch? Is understanding the reasons for Doctor Who having stopped production back then helpful for fans of the current show?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is something striking about the fact that the last episode of Doctor Who before its long period of non-production was called \u201cSurvival\u201c. The DVD release of the episode includes a second disc with extras, one of which is a documentary \u201cEndgame\u201d about the show\u2019s cancellation, about which I\u2019ll say more after discussing the episode […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[133,61],"tags":[331,665,1055,1539,1623,2765,2903,3062,4005,5852,6779,7103,7107,10030,11910,12094,12155],"class_list":["post-9901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-who-science-fiction","category-morality","tag-ace","tag-anthony-ainsley","tag-bbc","tag-cancellation","tag-cartmel","tag-doctor-who","tag-dvd","tag-endgame","tag-god","tag-john-nathan-turner","tag-lungbarrow","tag-master","tag-masterplan","tag-reboot","tag-steven-moffatt","tag-survival","tag-sylvester-mccoy"],"yoast_head":"\nDoctor Who: Survival<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There is something striking about the fact that the last episode of Doctor Who before its long period of non-production was called "Survival". 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