DOCTOR WHO STORY GUIDE
Regular site contributor Chad Moore has begun his own personal journey through the entire series of Doctor Who, starting at the very beginning. Alan Siler watches shows sporadically and reviews in no particular order. Together they will chronicle the entire run of Doctor Who. Use the menu at the left to select a particular story, and the menu to the right to jump to a different page.
"Paradise Towers" 4 episodes (05 Oct 1987 - 26 Oct 1987)
Written by Stephen Wyatt
Directed by Nicholas Mallett
Sylvester McCoy - The Doctor
Bonnie Langford - Melanie Bush
Review by Alan Siler
Having never seen this adventure start to finish before (it was the only gap in my DW viewing), James and I sat down to give this one a spin. And I can now honestly say that I've seen the absolutely worst thing ever produced bearing the name Doctor Who.
Like "Ghost Light" and "The Happiness Patrol" in later seasons, this is a story of an isolated, enclosed, in-grown society and the bizarre way in which it has evolved; in this case, a futuristic tower block designed by a galaxy-famous architect. And like those other stories, this one has everything going for it, all the elements that should add up to a gripping, engaging story: armed Caretakers who patrol the corridors; Residents who maintain their truly British politeness but, for lack of food and supplies, have turned to cannibalism; a group of abandoned children who grew up to form rival gangs; and robotic cleaning machines that have been turned upon all of them by...someone.
This story fails to deliver at just about every possible turn: writing, direction, staging, and acting all conspire to rend the story to shreds. It fails in tone as well: horrific story elements like the ones above are rendered completely impotent by being given a comedy setting; a horror story would have been incredibly strong, a dark comedy could have had an edgy, satirical quality about it. The problem here is that, as a simple one-dimensional comedy, the comedic element undermine the strength of the horror and turn the whole thing into a pantomime. Plus, its much more cring-worthy than funny, so it fails even as comedy.
Its hard to decide who the chief offender is in this wayward production. There are so many names to choose from. Writer Stephen Wyatt is certainly due a good portion of the blame, not only for the weird story but for writing lines of diaologue like Mel excitedly exclaiming "Oh look, Doctor, look!" (his script the following year for "Greatest Show in the Galaxy" was much improved on almost every level). While I'm not one of the knee-jerk Mel haters so common in Who fandom, here Bonnie Langford proves that not all the criticism is misplaced by completely exaggerating every line, every facial expression, every action. Whomever came up with the Kang's ritualistic choreography (their greetings, their burial rites, etc) provided far greater laughs than character depth. So I guess that my vote for "Biggest Boob" for this story would be a tie: composer Keff McCulloch for yet another of his drum machine-y, hand clappy, Casio Keyboard-inspired synthesizer scores which do nothing to support the drama of the story (or 'drama' in this case), but make them all sound like children's plays (in all fairness to Mr. McCulloch, I did like his score for "Remembrance of the Daleks"); and Richard Briers in his role as the Chief Caretaker. His portrayal in the beginning of the story is wry and occasionally amusing, but once the CC has died and his body is inhabited by the disembodied Great Architect, Brier's performance as a walking dead is laughable if not downright embarrassing.
This is McCoy's second story, and its seems that he has his grip firmly on the character of his Doctor, but in truth it would take him most of his first season to find his feet, and he doesn't really begin to shine until "Remembrance" at the beginning of his following year. Its always seemed to me that McCoy shifted his performance each story depending on the tone of the script (rather than the character adapting his behaviour to the settings of the stories); if its silly, he becomes silly, if dark, his Doctor proves to be dark. For that reason, his Doctor was never the central, unifying figure that most of the others were, and we see a prime (and early) example of that in "Paradise Towers".
In spite of all its innumerable and insurmountable flaws, this story is definiltey worth the time to watch, because there's always something special about even the worst Doctor Who story. And if it just gets too bad, make a drinking game out of it! Slug back every time Mel goes on about the pool, or every time a Kang declares something "ice hot". Or every time you feel like switching it off when it becomes too atrocious to bear. Which ever game you choose, you're sure to be plastered by the end of episode 4!
"The Greatest Show in the Galaxy" 4 episodes (14 Dec 1988 - 04 Jan 1989)
Written by Stephen Wyatt
Directed by Alan Wareing
Sylvester McCoy - The Doctor
Sophie Aldred - Dorothy "Ace" McShane
Review by Alan Siler
First of all, let me set the stage for you. I do, in fact, love the McCoy era of the show. However, having said that, I think they were guilty of a number of small crimes, chiefly that they tried too hard to be clever, cryptic, mysterious, etc. In many cases, this takes precedence over the story itself. The story gets lost behind quirky characters, indecipherable plot, weird dialogue and other things. These things, in and of themselves, are not bad. But when you employ devices like these, you have to give the audience something to grab onto. There must be some character in the story that the audience can connect with, sympathize with. Some McCoy stories do this successfully and some don't.
"Greatest Show" is absolutely terrific. It has its faults, certainly, but works on almost every level. We are presented with a truly bizarre set of characters, very eccentric in their own ways, and absolutely alien on the surface. They are, in fact, more colourful than they are quirky. But none of them are so different, so alien, so weird, that we cannot identify with them on some level. We understand the old lady with the cart ranting about weirdos. We 'get' Captain Cook's plain and unmasked (and, indeed, gentlemanly) manipulation in order to stay alive. We feel Mags' trepidation. And of course we identify with the fanboy Whizzkid.
What I find so intruiging about "Greatest Show" is that it is completely analogous to the series as it existed in 1988. Its a story about a huge, famous phenomenon called the Psychic Circus (ie Doctor Who) which had a long, successful history, but its audience had dwindled to nothing and is on the brink of folding (ie being cancelled). New talent, new life had to be found to make the thing successful again to please the dark, powerful masters that they served (ie the BBC). But all the while, there's still the true fan, the hanger-on, who still attends (watches) the show even though he recognizes that its no where near as good as in the old days before he was born. Whizzkid stands in the ring in front of absolutely empty stands, reveling in "the happiest day of my life", apparently oblivious to the corruption and decay all around him. What a fascinating way for the show to mark the end of its landmark 25th Anniversary season.
Like many great Doctor Who stories, "Greatest Show" has a troubled Part 4. The Doctor's magic act, the silliness of Mags' transformation into a werewolf simply because someone shined a spotlight on her, and the key to the whole mystery having been hidden in a wrecked bus all threaten to bring an otherwise wonderfully fun story to a weak end. And we're also presented with a trio of malevolent, all-powerful superbeings who apparently hold the fate of all cosmos in their hands that the Doctor has apparently met repeatedly before, but this time seems to defeat them rather easily and handily. Neat, huh?
But as weak as these elements are, its hard for them to detract from an otherwise clever, original and enjoyable tale.
"Ghost Light" 3 episodes (4 Oct 1989 - 18 Oct 1989)
Written by Marc Platt
Directed by Alan Wareing
Sylvester McCoy - The Doctor
Sophie Aldred - Dorothy "Ace" McShane
Review by Alan Siler
"Ghost Light" pretty much fails at every turn. Oh, it has some nice moments, and I realize that its one of the popular McCoy's, but for me, its utter crap. And what's most interesting is that it sounds so good: its a period piece that deals with evolution; it references Darwin, Lewis Carroll, the Bible, and even makes a supremely clever Douglas Adams quote. Its dark, rich with imagery, and just the right length.
However, its so dark and so cryptic and so clever that it leaves the audience behind. None of the characters are the least bit understandable, much less plausible. I found myself not caring one bit about Control's desire to become "a proper lady-like", or Reverend Matthews' attempts to confront Josiah (a truly wasted character there), or all that silliness about Redvers Fenn-Cooper. The characters include an educated Neanderthal, a couple of old snakeskins that come to life, a constable that's been in a chest of drawers for 2 years, and a pack of silly aliens. However, there are two truly effective moments in the whole piece. The first is when Redvers reveals that he's on a new expedition, sponsored by Josiah Smith, and it is to find and kill the rare Crowned Saxe-Coburg (aka Queen Victoria). The second is when Gwendoline and Mrs Pritchard are awakened from their trance and realize that they are mother and daughter. As it slowly dawns on Pritchard that her husband is gone because Gwendoline killed him, her face is one of anger and disgust but also a recognition that it wasn't Gwendoline's fault. Also, the "changing of the guards" is nice, with the day staff making certain to leave by 6:00, when the über-creepy night maids appear literally from the woodworks. Plus, we get some really nice peeks into Ace's background, which happened in every story in Season 26.
I think that for me where this story failed is that it takes a really fascinating concept and completely fails to make it work. It all simply comes across as silly, pointless, insulting crap. In fact, half-way through Part 3, I suddenly yelled "This is so stupid!" and almost turned it off. However, I drudged onward 'til the end.
Another nice thing is that Josiah is not an all-powerful supervillain. He doesn't have dreams of galactic conquest or universal supremecy. Hell, he doesn't even want to take over the world...his goals are simply to control the British Empire! What a refreshing attitude!
However, that brings us to Light. An all-powerful supervillain who holds the fate of the world in his hands. Uh, didn't we see that in "Curse of Fenric"? And what about the Destroyer in "Battlefield"? And the Gods of R-R-R-R-Ragnor-r-r-r-rok in "Greatest Show"? This is getting just a bit tiresome!
The one element of this production that can't be argued with is the design work. The sets for the mansion are absolutely superb, lush with detail and depth. In general, the performances are good as well, but it comes across on screen that the actors really aren't sure what they're taking part in.
Like so many other McCoys, "Ghost Light" had extraordinary potential, but was let down in the execution. "Style over substance" is such a catchphrase these days, but it really does sum up much of the Seventh Doctor's era.
