Serial: 7P  Episode Nos. 701, 702, and 703.  Title: Survival

Nothing ever happens in Perivale, or so Ace has always believed.  When the Doctor brings her there for a visit, they find that all her friends have gone missing, and that the stray black cats roaming the area are not native to Earth.  They are part of the planet of the Cheetah People, who have the power to teleport across space to hunt for prey and take it home.  This is where Ace's friends have been taken to, at the direction of the Doctor's oldest enemy, the Master....

This was the last story shot in the original BBC series.

starring Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor, Sophie Aldred as Ace, and Anthony Ainley as the Master. Written by Rona Munro, Produced by John Nathan-Turner, and Directed by Alan Wareing.

Originally transmitted from 22 November 1989 to 6 December 1989 on BBC1.

DVD Features:

On Disc 1:

- All three episodes of the story, with digitally restored pictures and sound.

- Graphical menus, episode selection, and scene selection features.

- Dolby 5.1 sound remix option. (The default sound is the original 2-channel stereo mix from 1989.)

- Two commentary tracks. The first track is on all three episodes and features Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, and script editor

Andrew Cartmel. The second track is on only part three, and features the winners of a Doctor Who Magazine write-in

competition sharing their thoughts about this story.

- Isolated Music option. This plays Dominic Glynn’s incidental music as the episodes play without any of the rest of the program’s sound.

- “Cat Flap Part 1” (28 minutes) and “Cat Flap Part 2” (34 minutes). New documentaries about the making of this story.

Part 1 focuses on the writing and pre-production process. Part 2 focuses on the production and post-production process.

The interviewees this time are actors Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, Lisa Bowerman (Karra), Adele Silva (Squeak),

Will Barton (Midge), and Sakantula Ramanee (Shreela), script editor Andrew Cartmel, director Alan Wareing,

visual effects designer Mike Tucker, costume designer Ken Trew, and incidental music composer Dominic Glynn.

- Deleted and Extended Scenes. 9-minute featurette of scenes that were changed or deleted from the story, 18 segments in all.

- Outtakes. 23-minute featurette of assorted bloopers and other general silliness. 23 segments in all.

- Continuities. 3-minute featurette showing the trailers and introductory narrations that preceded each episode’s original BBC

transmission in 1989.

- Photo Gallery. 9 minutes of still photographs taken during the production of the story.

- Information Text. Pop-up production information notes that appear throughout the story.

- Subtitles for the hearing impaired.

- Radio Times Listings. DVD-ROM files in Acrobat Reader .pdf format of the Radio Times listings for this story. Just place the disc

in your computer and open the file to see them.

On Disc 2:

- “Endgame” A new 44-minute documentary about why the series was cancelled after this story and about the tentative plans the

writers and actors had for the following season had there been one. Features interviews with Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred,

script editor Andrew Cartmel, writer Ben Aaronovitch, incidental music composer Mark Ayres, BBC script editor Colin Brake,

visual effects designer Mike Tucker, and former BBC Head of Series Peter Cregeen – the man who cancelled the show.

- “Search Out Science” A 19-minute science quiz show for young children from 1990 presented by Sylvester McCoy

in character as the Doctor, Sophie Aldred as Ace, John Leeson as the voice of K9, and a new character called Cedric.

- “Little Girl Lost” A new 16-minute documentary about the character of Ace – how she was conceived, how she developed, and

what would have happened to her had the series continued. Features interviews with Sophie Aldred, script editor Andrew

Cartmel, and writer Ian Briggs.

- “Destiny of the Doctors” A 14-minute featurette. In 1997, the BBC brought out a PC computer game called “Destiny of the

Doctors” that featured specially-recorded video links starring Anthony Ainley in his last performance as the Master.

This featurette presents nearly all of them, starting with his introduction to the game, followed by his introductions to

each of the seven “boss challenge” rounds that ended each level of the game (including both the “win” and “loss” segments

depending on how the player did in the round), and ending with his final defeat the hands of the player and the Doctors.

- Subtitles for the hearing impaired.