(681) The Greatest Show in the Galaxy - Part 4

Today’s episode is the final episode of the season but due to scheduling problems it is the first episode of 1989 which is the final year of the original run. Ratings wise, this was watched by 1.7 million more than had watched the previous episodes on December 28. There is more plot development in the first couple of minutes of this episode than there has been in the previous three episodes. The thing that has worked quite well is that director Alan Wearing has done a relatively good job in keeping me distracted from the fact that nothing substantial has been happening.

The family finally show us what they are really about. They are actually the Gods of Ragnarok who are visually very impressive and are made out of rock (obviously). All they want is to be entertained and the Doctor does several tricks to try and amuse them and it’s extraordinary that this is happening in the final episode. One thing I don’t like about this section is the incredible number of rolling r’s that the Doctor uses. I must say that I am slightly disappointed with what happened here. After waiting for a long time for this encounter, it seemed that this was just a bit of padding which again is odd considering that it’s the final episode.

Captain Cook has been the unexpected star of the episode because he is just superb from the very beginning. There was always something fun every time he was on screen. Even when he was being horrible to people there was something to enjoy about him and T.P. McKenna has been a very good piece of casting. That’s not to say that Jessica Martin (Mags) and Ian Reddington (Chief Clown) haven’t been just as good but in this episode I thought that the Captain was the stronger of this trio.

The performances from the regular have been quite good although neither have been particularly outstanding. That is probably harsh bearing in mind that Sylvester McCoy does do his magic trick routine well and if Britains Got Talent were around in 1988 then he wouldn’t get buzzed by Simon Cowell.

The explosion that happens as the Doctor leaves the tent is fantastic and its made even better when you take into consideration that McCoy doesn’t flinch. It kind of makes up for the disappointment of the Ragnarok/Doctor encounter. The ending is quite nice because it sees Kingpin and Mags going off to set up a new circus. All’s well that ends well and I haven’t hated the last four episodes as much as I was expected. I thought that there were good things but there is something in it that I find underwhelming. Despite my reservations it was a good ending to what has been a vastly improved series and I think that the show in back going in the right direction.

(680) The Greatest Show in the Galaxy - Part 3

Today is a very important day in Doctor Who fandom (not that you need reminding of course). 10 years ago today the show that seemed dead and buried returned. I remember going to my friend’s house somewhat nervous about what I was about to see. Little did anyone know that the show would go on the journey that it has done since then. I would watch Rose today to celebrate but I must stay strict and watch it in the correct order.

The episode doesn’t start in a particularly good way as it takes several minutes to get going. It seems slightly odd that in the penultimate episode of the story that things are moving a bit more quickly. The thing that does seem to happen early on in the episode is that the clowns seem to be more in the story than before. There is something quite good about these clowns and something that does back up the theory that clowns are creepy.

The writing hasn’t been particularly strong because there wasn’t anything that really stood out in terms of dialogue. The leading stars don’t really do anything that has been on the same level as has been seen during this season.

For the first time all of the supporting performances were quite good. Mags is starting to change into a werewolf. It hasn’t really been suggested up until this episode that she may be a werewolf. It’s alluded to at the beginning of the episode but doesn’t really get addressed until the very end of the episode where it forms part of the cliffhanger. The cliffhanger is rather good and it’s the strongest one so far. There are some good scenes between Ace and Bellboy which suggests that a romance could have possible. I have underrated Christopher Guard’s performance as Bellboy because he really showed me in this episode how good he is. The performance from Chris Jury as Deadbeat was another good one because there is something slightly unnerving. The Captain continues being totally unlikeable by letting the geek to go and perform before him. At least the geek go to explain how he came to be there. When he enters the ring to do his performance he walks in with a cocky attitude. I really couldn’t wait for him to be wiped out by the family. The family spend a long time sitting bored as no one is put in front of them. The three people that play the mother, father and the child are quite chilling and I think that they would have been quite an effective villain. Ian Reddington continues to impress so I won’t say much more cause I have spent two episodes praising him.

Things are building up nicely. I don’t know exactly what to but I think that the story is starting to get going. I still think that this is one of the stories that should have been put in the three episode slot because there isn’t enough to fil four episodes. There was a lot of not very much happening. It took a long time for the episode to get going and took even longer for someone to appear in the ring.

(679) The Greatest Show in the Galaxy - Part 2

This episode was broadcast just before Christmas 1988, its hardly the most christmassey episode that there has ever been but after not enjoying the previous episode a great deal it was nice to know that things improve greatly in this episode. I still maintain that the cliffhanger from the previous episode is appalling bad. However its all forgotten when the Chief Clown suddenly appears and convinces the Doctor and Ace to enter the Circus tent.

I like how there is a bit more information about the Psychic Circus when Morgana talks about how the Circus went from place to place but have made home on Segonax and is then stopped from saying by who. This means that they suddenly become good guys because they are being repressed by a mystical force and also by the Chief Clown. There is something odd about the family that are just sitting in the stands of the circus. Obviously I know their involvement in the story but there is a nice mystery about them.

The Doctor gets handpicked by the Ringmaster and it’s clear that it’s a trick. There are moment where the Doctor knows that something is going on and is letting himself been manipulated so that he can get to the centre of it. The manipulative Doctor starts to show more of itself in this serial and in this episode. He wants to meet the people but doesn’t say so although his face tells us this. McCoy really starts to own the role in this season and its this aspect of the character that he seems to thrive in.

The geek that was annoying in the previous episode is still annoying in this episode and it’s explained that he has come of his own choice but it’s not clear whether this is a known thing on earth and who told him about it. He gets to perform in the circus much to his shock. I am happy about this because that this means his time on the show is going to be shorter. Another character that bugged me in the previous episode Nord is also back in this episode but I didn’t find him annoying, it seems that the reigning in happened between episode although he doesn’t last long as he’s killed in the centre of the circus.

The tent set is very good and I think that lends something that wouldn’t have been achievable in a studio set. None of the interior sets are spacious and all of them mean that the characters are all up close and personal. I even like the exterior filming (although I didn’t mention in the previous episodes review), it helps that they were filming during lovely weather as this makes the quarry filming not seem like it was filmed in the endless number of quarries that the show has visited over the previous twenty-five years.

The cliffhanger is much better than the previous one and as a whole the episode is much better than the opening one. The writing is stronger and the performances are much better. It’s funny to think about the production problems that the show was having during this time and if you didn’t know this then you would be able to tell on screen because the whole thing works. The rating for this episode is back in the sevens and the average rating for the story is in the sevens although its still one of the lowest rated McCoy stories. Half way through and the story itself is still something that is puzzling me because again there are things that quite good but its still not a great story. I worry that the next two episodes wont really change anything but maybe I will be proved wrong.

(678) The Greatest Show in the Galaxy - Part 1

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy is one of those stories that I cant make my mind up about. On the one hand there are things that are quite good but then there is something that bugs me about this story. This is a story that was mainly filmed in a carpark due to asbestos being found in a BBC studio. Stephen Wyatt returns to writing duties having penned the previous season’s Paradise Towers. There were interesting things about that story so its perfectly plausible that the same could happen in this adventure.

I think one of the first problems that I have is with Nord who from the moment he appears on screen is rather annoying. It’s largely down to Daniel Peacock’s performance because I think that it could have been reigned back. I have recently watched Peacock in an episode of Only Fools and Horses and he is playing pretty much the same character (minus the bat helmet) so I don’t find the character to be interesting. Another problem is the fanboy that appears to be a rip on Doctor Who fans. Even if there is an argument that it’s not a fan, I think that it’s just another annoying character. The character just doesn’t make any sense in the context of the story and there is no explanation as to where he has come from.

There are good things that work in this episode. One of the successes of this story is that of the Chief Clown who is played superbly by Ian Reddington. There is something very chilling from the moment that he appears on screen. He doesn’t say much with his mouth but his face and hands do all the talking and that is what makes the character so good. I like the idea that he is travelling around in a hearse because there is quite dark and sinister about that and the whole imagery works. I do like the Stallslady because I think there is something lovely about her. She seems to be the only one in the entire piece that it talking sense.

Captain Cook (T.P. McKenna) and Mags (Jessica Martin) are two interesting characters. There is something weird about the Captain but Mags is more normal and she is the one that I find less annoying. There is something interesting about Mags and she is one of those characters that could easily have found her way inside the TARDIS.

This is one of the final stories to feature the interior of the TARDIS. It still doesn’t seem right for some reason that the Seventh Doctor has any TARDIS interior scenes. The purpose of this scene is lure the Doctor and Ace to Segonax. Bearing in mind that Ace doesn’t like clowns it seems somewhat cruel of the Doctor to try and persuade Ace that it would be nice to visit the Psychic Circus.

The cliffhanger is terrible. I don’t think that I have seen a worse end to an episode. Even the cliffhanger where the Doctor is hanging off a cliff is better than this one. Ace’s reluctance to enter the Psychic Circus would not be enough to make me tune in the next week. I still have my reservations about this story but have the feeling that something may make me like the next three episodes. Sadly my rating for this episode is 6.97 which is the first time since episode three of Delta and the Bannermen but that’s only because the cliffhanger got 4/10.

(661) Paradise Towers - Part 4

The final episode of this story again starts off with that stupid shot of the tower. I do wonder why they went to the trouble of setting this on another planet because it could easily have been set on earth in the future. To be honest that is just a minor problem with a story that starts off slightly frustrating before becoming more frustrating and that frustration receding a bit in this episode.

I had forgotten that Richard Briers isn’t killed by because he becomes the body for the monster. I didn’t think I would like the new Chief Caretaker would be any fun but after a while I sort of got use to it. I think that it was a mistake for this to happen but writer Stephen Wyatt has admitted that this is one of the things wrong with it. The performance that Richard Briers gives is something that I have enjoyed but in this episode he sort of goes into zombie mode and that is disappointing. It’s not often that someone of Briers’ calibre comes into Doctor Who but he did very well and was the best thing about this serial.

Mel seems to have forgotten about the troubles because she starts the episode by taking a swim and within seconds is attacked by a yellow thing and also has the double misfortune of being stuck with Pex. Despite this being the episode where Pex shows us he is a hero and even when he has given his life pushing the Chief Caretaker to the explosives. To be honest I just wasn’t fussed about the loss of the character.

A good portion of the episode takes place in the pool. The Rezzies (Maddy), The Red and Blue Kangs, Pex, Mel and The Doctor have a good scene where they all seem to join forces to fight the Chief Caretaker. This is the first time that people have worked together to try and defeat someone. It feels like a plan is forming and its actually building up to something. There have been several groups yet there has been no real connection between them. Also I found the introduction of the Rezzies in the pool scene to be rather ill thought out because there must be more than three rezzies in Paradise Towers.

I am really glad that I this serial is over. Admittedly this episode is by far the serial so far but to be honest its too little too late. There was pace, there was some drama and more importantly there was something to like. Watching one of the documentaries on the DVD, writer Stephen Wyatt revealed that he wrote the final three episodes in two weeks which shows in episodes two and three but the necessity to tie things up means that we don’t have people meandering around. Paradise Towers will be remembered for wasted opportunities and just want to move on.

(660) Paradise Towers - Part 3

Today is the 660^th episode of Doctor Who. 60 episodes ago I was watching The first episode of the Kings Demons, it’s surprising just how much a decline there has been in quality of stories. There is a distinct lack of energy in this episode than in the Kings Demons. I regularly visit the Den of Geek website which looks at a report from 1988 which gave Bonnie Langford an appreciation index score of just 34 (out of 100). Whilst I think that the character has taken a step backwards in the last few episodes but I think that she deserves a better score than 34. The willingness in which she decides to stay with Tilda and Tabby is probably part of the reason why 56% of people surveyed in the 1988 survey say that they wished that Mel had been eaten in this story.

I do like how Tilda and Tabby do the menacing thing quite well. Tabby is killed by whatever came up in the waste disposal chute although I do find it slightly implausible that she ca be pulled through in. Tilda is slightly more plausible. It’s amusing that Pex tries to make it seem like he saved Mel when in effect he had very little to do with it. Mel finally makes it to the top floor with Pex and it’s the nicest thing in the entire Tower.

The two standout supporting performances came from Judy Cornwell (Maddy) and Richard Briers (Chief Caretaker). They get a nice scene together where the Chief Caretaker bribes Maddy with Tilda and Tabby’s flat in exchange for remaining quiet. The performance that Cornwell gives is very similar to what she would play in Keeping up Appearances. Briers’ performance is brilliant from start to finish although his demise is somewhat disappointing. He was one of the best things in this story. I suppose that it’s a good thing that there is just one episode left.

I think that this episode was the first time since Sylvester McCoy became the Doctor that we saw the Doctor as most people remember his Doctor to be and like. There is a distaste for what is going on in Paradise Towers. It seems that McCoy is starting to get to grips with his role and what he wants to achieve with it. Even Bonnie Langford seems to be better in this episode although I do think some of this is sympathy because she is stuck with Pex.

It’s been a more watchable episode but I will still be glad when this serial is over with. It just hasn’t lived up to any of the potential. I still don’t like the shot of the tower at the beginning of the episode and think that they made a mistake getting rid of the Chief Caretaker but the worst thing apart from that about this episode is that it just isn’t connecting with me.

(659) Paradise Towers - Part 2

I think that any goodwill that I had with this serial has well and truly gone. My heart started to sink when the first thing that is shown is a picture of what Paradise Towers is suppose to look like. The inside definelty looks better than the outside. The Doctor is about to be killed by the Chief Caretaker but as luck would have it the Doctor is spared whilst the Chief goes somewhere else. There is a funny scene with the Doctor and the Deputy Caretaker. The Doctor uses his intelligence to outsmart him and the other guard. This is one of the few enjoyable moments in the entire serial.

The incidental music is rather good. This was apparently a last minute addition from Keff McCulloch as a previous contribution proved unpopular with JNT. I haven’t been a fan of McCulloch’s contribution in the past but the theme tune and the music in this episode have made me change my mind.

As well as Tabby and Tilda, we are introduced to Maddy who is played by Judy Cornwell. I know Cornwell from playing Rose in the BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances. They are happier to see Mel return and I thought that this was slightly annoying because Mel has spent a long time running around trying to find the Doctor and just missing him. The backwards trend that the character is taking continues to frustrate me.

The Chief Caretaker seems to be working for a monster that has neon lights for eyes. It’s very much a 1980’s idea and one that doesn’t work. I think that they would have been better to not show him at all and just have the voice. Sometimes less is more.

Pex starts off the idea that he is an annoying prat but we learn that he is a bit of a scardey cat which makes sense. No one likes Pex and so I really cant understand why we are suppose to find him interesting or feel sorry for him when the Kang’s start to pick on him. I think if she had the chance, Mel would try and get rid of him. I think sitting with Tabby and Tilda would be preferable to spending time with Pex.

The cliffhanger is rather disappointing. It’s not just because its Mel but because I don’t feel like there is any danger or tension in the cliffhanger. It’s been an episode with lots of potential but sadly it is wasted. For a moment I thought that I was further in the story than I actually was and so was disappointed when I realised that I still had two more episodes left to endure. I am sure that at some point there will be something in this season that shows me that I was wrong about my original ideas about the twenty-fourth season.

(658) Paradise Towers - Part 1

Paradise Towers is a story that like most in this season isn’t one that I rate very highly. I don’t know why and hope that watching this serial over four days might shed some light on it. The Doctor and Mel are on their way to Paradise Towers which seems to be a lovely place to go but we get to see that it’s not as nice as they think. What I find amusing about the state that they find it in is that you have Mel as a perky bubbly person and yet finds herself in such a dump.

The Kangs are really annoying. The Red Kangs are the first group that we meet and the noticeable thing is that they are all women which isn’t something that has been seen in the show before. There is a bit of dancing that wouldn’t have come straight from Adam Ant’s Prince Charming music video if I didn’t know better. Another thing that doesn’t look quite so well is the cleaner which doesn’t seem to be interested in cleaning the tower block up but more interested in killing people and disposing of their bodies. Pex is introduced quite late in this episode and seems to be a sort of Rambo style character but unfortunately Howard Cooke who plays Pex is nothing like Sylvester Stallone and so I don’t believe that he is a tough guy. Even Mel isn’t impressed with him. It’s slightly disappointing the way that the role of Mel has been devalued in the past five episodes. She was quite inquisitive with Colin Baker’s Doctor and yet seems to have taken several steps back.

There are things that I think did work well in this episode. Firstly there is the idea that there is a tower block that has become a rather unpleasant place because it seemed to mirror the feelings of tower blocks at that time and perhaps even today. Richard Briers is another good thing for this serial because at first we don’t see him but just hear him and the character sounds like rather soulless individual. Briers is perhaps best known for appearing in the BBC sitcom The Good Life (1975-78) and an appearance in Torchwood. The Chief Caretaker assumes that the Doctor is the Great Architect.

Something that has changed in my opinion is that of Tilda and Tabby who seem like two nice old ladies but have a rather sinister dark side. A first clue is some bones on a table that Tilda tells Tabby to get rid of before Mel comes in. A question is raised when its clear that they are living in a rather nice apartment whereas everything outside of that apartment is horrible. How are they able to live like this and seemingly have a normal life?

As an episode it was a slightly (just) better than I remember it. There are things that are going to bring this story down and there are things that are going to maintain my interest. After being very underwhelmed with the last story, its good to report that things have got better. To be fair they couldn’t get any worse but there is a long way to go before the show can get back to where it was even at the previous series. I mentioned in a previous review that Doctor Who was now up against Coronation Street. The ratings for the first episode of Time and the Rani was 5.1 million whereas Coronation Street got 14 million. Now for this episode it was watched by 4.5 million and the Corrie episode was being watched by 15.5 million so it was clear who was winning this ratings war.