This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The Curse of Fenric

Just like that, it's done. I started this journey over a year ago now (sometime in November) and while it's not truly over yet (thanks Big Finish!) this does mark a big milestone. Survival feels like a very fitting end. All about death and desperation and, well... survival. It's not some masterpiece like The Caves of Androzani but rather, in my opinion, a good representation of Doctor Who as a whole.

The down-to-earth setting of Perivale really reminds of the council flats of the early RTD era. It's quite interesting to see that the show was going in that direction already before it got cancelled. I particularly love the first part, where it's just the Doctor and Ace roaming around Perivale looking for a mystery. The Doctor feels at his most alien here and I love it.

The story dips in quality when we get to the cheetah planet but it wouldn't be Doctor Who without a quarry. Still there are some interesting themes here and I quite like the idea that the Master doesn't even have some evil plot he's just trapped and needs a way out. Ace's little friendship with Karra was interesting aswell.

I thought the plot was resolved a bit quickly and I'm not sure how the Doctor and the Master were just able to freely travel between Earth and the cheetah planet. Still having it be one final fight between the Doctor and the Master, no gadgets or scheming plans but rather just fighting like animals was a good way to end it in my opinion.

As with the rest of the McCoy era, the soundtrack and visuals to this episode were exceptional (By classic standards) but in the end, I can see why it was cancelled and I think in the long-run it's done more good than harm.

Next Story: Thin Ice

While I may have finished Classic, in the wise words of the First Doctor, "It's far from being all over."