Old Who: Dragonfire and Survival (only vague spoilers)

[selenak]

Two of the Old Who stories I hadn't seen before were the very first and the very last ones featuring Ace, Dragonfire and Survival, with the later being the very last episode of Old Who, full stop. (Not counting the tv movie of doom.) In recent weeks I rectified that. Neither is Who at its best (as opposed to Curse of Fenric which I talked about earlier), but they both showcase some of the major strengths of that last period of the show before it got cancelled interrupted for many years. And they make a fascinating compare and contrast. The Doctor is far more in a clown mode in Dragonfire, and Ace comes across as far more of a teenager - which, as we hear in the course of the story, she literally is, of course - than later. Of course, Dragonfire was followed by Rememberance of the Daleks, wherein the Doctor commits genocide for the first time (or did I miss a previous occasion? All I recall is Four not doing it in Genesis, with infamous results) and argues the surviving Dalek into suicide, and Ace is showcased being crazy and courageous enough to go after a Dalek with a baseball bat, so the change of tone is pretty much signalled from there, I'd say.

One more thing about Dragonfire: poor Mel/Bonnie Longford. Well, not really, but not only is she outshone on screen by her replacement, she gets a goodbye scene which is completely disconnected from the rest of the story (there's no lead up to Mel deciding to leave that I can see). Well, at least she went on adventuring in space, which wasn't an option for all companions. Ahem. Oh, and come to think of it, the Doctor sort of leads Iceman Whose Name I Can't Recall Right Now But It Wasn't Bobby into committing suicide as well by pointing out the time that has passed and the fact his civilisation has completly vanished, doesn't he?

Survival: or, we always knew Andrew Llyod Webber has some connections to the forces of darkness. Seriously, that Cats poster amused the hell out of me whenever we saw it. Also, clearly the Tenth Doctor's dislike of cats has nothing to do with New Earth and everything with the Master going all Catman on him in Survival. After the cats (large and small) being coded as episode villains at the start, I, as a cat person, has very happy about the way the Ace and Karra (Ace/Karra? is there something out there? there should be, you speciesists!) subplot was handled, showing feline nature (and yes, its fierceness, too) as something beautiful as well, with Ace being glad in the end that something feline will always remain with her after her bonding with Karra, instead of the exorcism I had expected. The Master wasting time by going after youth clubs was a bit silly, but hey, impaired by cattishness, and besides, it's the Master. He was really just waiting for the Doctor and killing time instead of making an escape as any sensible person would. Because, seriously? "Opposites attract"? And they actually say that to each other? On screen? You can't tell me if such a sentence were spoken these days by either of the two recent incarnations of the Doctor, people wouldn't slash them madly.

Clearly, someone in the script writing department wasn't impressed with survival courses or that "I don't need to be faster than the lion" joke (which I know in the version that says "bear" instead of "lion", because I heard it in Alaska). On the other hand, they went a bit poetical at the end, with the Doctor's speech to Ace about the wonders he can show her next - is there a transcription? It was a lovely note for the show to go out on back then, culminating in the matter-of-factly "come on, Ace, there's work to be done". Which I recall they echoed at the end of the New Who episode School Reunion (where Sarah Jane says it to K9). I know Survival wasn't the last they filmed - that was Ghost Light - but I think they made the right choice in putting it last, because that scene, with the two wandering of together to these words, is such a great ending.

Until, of course, the show got revived. Must find Seventh Doctor and Ace fanfiction now. And I wasn't kidding about the Ace/Karra. They had at least as touching a goodbye as Jack from Jack on Torchwood...

Comments

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

the Doctor's speech to Ace about the wonders he can show her next - is there a transcription? It was a lovely note for the show to go out on back then, culminating in the matter-of-factly "come on, Ace, there's work to be done". Which I recall they echoed at the end of the New Who episode School Reunion (where Sarah Jane says it to K9). I know Survival wasn't the last they filmed - that was Ghost Light - but I think they made the right choice in putting it last, because that scene, with the two wandering of together to these words, is such a great ending.

"There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea's asleep, and the rivers dream; people made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on Ace, we've got work to do."

That speech on the ending was a voiceover added after they learned it'd be the last episode, so it's not surprising that it's a note-perfect ending. :)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Thank you! And yes, makes sense that they did it after finding out...

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

You can't tell me if such a sentence were spoken these days by either of the two recent incarnations of the Doctor, people wouldn't slash them madly.

What, you think there hasn't been any Dr Who slash prior to the new series? Heee.

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

You've just reminded me that I did, in fact, write some mildly slashy (or OT3, really) Master/Doctor fic set in Survival over the summer. (But, yes, Doctor/Master is one of the long-standing slash pairings of fandom.) :)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Link?

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

They're all linked off this post (http://community.livejournal.com/allen_road/7689.html). (Although, honestly, they're not much slashier than the ep itself. Um, aside from the bondage.) :)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know there has (I keep stumbling over Doctor/Turlough, after all - which is unfortunate since I'm not really into Five OR Turlough) - but where's the Doctor/Master? Other than in The Curse of Fatal Death, of course...

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

There are a bunch of stories listed here (http://community.livejournal.com/who_otp/16698.html), there's some at prydonianfic (as Koschei/Theta), and you can do searches for older stuff, say on news:alt.drwho.creative, although that still doesn't give you print zines and stuff that predates easily-accessible internet fic exchange.

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

It's mostly Three/Delgado!Master, and Youth!Fic, I think.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Inside gossip: the Mel leaving scene in Dragonfire was written as an audition scene for McCoy and forcibly shoved into the ep when he felt that the original leaving scene was too casual.

Slightly more disturbing inside gossip: there was a post on the Doctor Who comm a couple of weeks ago saying that either a spin-off novel author or one of the creative team of the show thought Glitz deflowered Ace at some point shortly before the story started.

I've never seen Survival, which I regret. There's a strong fandom position that the anti-macho elements you comment on were written as a deliberate attack on the "see, you're not so pacifist now" scene in the original Dalek story. Which you wouldn't normally credit after twenty-six years, but this was a show where some of the fans had already seized the means of production.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Inside gossip: the Mel leaving scene in Dragonfire was written as an audition scene for McCoy and forcibly shoved into the ep when he felt that the original leaving scene was too casual.

It really feels inserted.

there was a post on the Doctor Who comm a couple of weeks ago saying that either a spin-off novel author or one of the creative team of the show thought Glitz deflowered Ace at some point shortly before the story started.

*makes face*

There's a strong fandom position that the anti-macho elements you comment on were written as a deliberate attack on the "see, you're not so pacifist now" scene in the original Dalek story.

Hm, I could see that. It's in a way a reverse to how the Thal are presented in the first Dalek story, with giving into the (blind) fighting urge being the downfall to be avoided, as is crushing your enemy when he's down.

I think you'd like Survival. Especially the attitude towards swaggering. Also, it makes me feel somewhat old to realize I can remember Britain from that time, due to early visits...

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

It's an amusing coincidence about the two stories you reviewed. The face-melting scene in Dargonfire was what caused me to not watch the final season on first broadcast, I was an astonishingly squeamish pre-teen.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

But... didn't you read the Grimms' fairy tales? Wherein people get locked up in barrels with snakes or boiling oil, or have to dance with superheated iron shoes, etc.?

Kidding, I know it's dixpfferent when it's visual. Or audible, for that matter. The scariest fictional thing I ever experienced as a pre-teen was an audio version of Dracula, and it wasn't the blood sucking which did it but that he crawled face down...

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

the Tenth Doctor's dislike of cats

Hm, maybe that's why I don't like him? Whereas I love the Ninth Doctor, who likes cats so much he picks them up and discusses his problems with them?

Grammatical stuff, though I wasn't sure whether it was a language thing or just a typo:
Ace comes across as far more as a teenager

Either "comes across as far more of a teenager" or "comes across far more as a teenager"; I prefer the first.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Despite adoring cats myself, the Ninth Doctor's attitude towards same does not help me from going from like to love. I mean, I like him more than Five or Six. I think. But I always have slight trouble connecting Eccleston's version with the other Doctors I knew, seeing him as another variation of the same person, whereas I never had that feeling with Tennant. Au contraire, I went "yes, that's the Doctor!" basically from the start. Different strokes, etc.

Will edit the grammar mistake.

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

That's funny, I always saw Eccleston as a direct carryover of McCoy in many ways. (Perhaps the parallels between Rose and Ace made it too direct.)

[ponygirl72.livejournal.com]

A rec for the best Seventh Doctor fic I've ever read - I wish this author would write some more stories.

http://www.whofic.com/viewstory.php?sid=7629

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Thank you!