Harry -
Imagine a Whoniverse in which JN-T signed off on a 25th season of Doctor Who featuring Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor with his companions Mel, Sabalom Glitz, and Ace.
The face-pulling Doctor, the loveable rogue, the angry teen and her super-thoughtful surrogate big sister. What a motley crew!
Sarah -
I would sign up to watch that TARDIS team in action. Alas, all we have is "Dragonfire" to show us what could have been.
Harry -
This is one of those "watched it once ages ago" stories, so it was practically brand new to me. All I remembered was that there was a companion switcharoo at the end, and the villains wore immaculate white uniforms.
Sarah -
I had the same reaction. I remembered little about it other than it being Ace's first story, Mel's last, and Sabalom turning up again. And the milkshake. I remembered Ace dumping the milkshakes over the customer's and her boss's heads. Who hasn't wanted to do something like that?
Harry -
It's quite the look the ruling corps have going on Iceworld. Kane and his minions march around in pristine whites complete with high boots and spiked helmets. An interesting mishmash of imperialist styles.
I must have missed the detailed explanation behind it, but Kane literally holds the touch of death in his hands.
Sarah -
There was some exposition in there from the hologram lady, but it kind of went past me. The upshot is that the dragon is Kane's jailer, but also his only means of escape. He needs to get the crystal in the dragon's head to be able to activate his ship and escape. Somehow, he hasn't managed it yet, but he's found time to launch a refrigeration sales empire.
Harry -
The sudden cut to a freezer store was odd.
Sarah -
Kane is a big creepy creep of the type we tend to find on remote planets in Doctor Who, but I was really confused by this planet. Why does an ice planet need a refrigeration sales store? Why is there an ice cream parlor that feels like a spinoff of the Cantina on Tatooine? Why is it taking so long to meet Ace?
Harry -
"Dragonfire" is the first story in the Andrew Cartmel era to feel like a Cartmel-era story.
Sarah -
It really is. I've been reading Cartmel's Script Doctor and he addresses the challenges of coming into his first season with so many scripts already in progress. "Dragonfire" is very much his vision of where the show was going.
Harry -
The big reveal of who and what Kane is doesn't come until the end, with a surprising finish. Early on, all we know is that he is a ruthless tyrant and he's after a treasure hidden deep below Iceworld -- the aforementioned dragon. Glitz happens to have his greasy paws on a map to said treasure, and it doesn't take much to coax the Doctor's curiosity into joining the hunt during the cantina scene.
Sarah -
Dragons! Maps! There was really no way he could resist.
Harry -
And there she is: Ace! Swept onto Iceworld by a time storm and earning her keep as a cantina waitress -- don't you hate when that happens?
Sarah -
It's really such a bother.
Harry -
While the boys are off on their treasure hunt, Ace and Mel do some bonding.
Sarah -
The Doctor and Glitz are an excellent double-act in their scenes together. Bringing Tony Selby back to play Glitz was JN-T's idea. Ian Brigg's original script had a similar character, so it seemed to make sense to slot Glitz in. The problem is that when we meet Glitz, he's just sold his entire crew into slavery, which really diminishes the "lovable" part of the lovable rogue. (Or bilge bag, as Ace would have it.)
Mel immediately falls into the big sister role. I love that they follow the Jo Grant approach when being told to do something they don't want to -- nod and smile and then go off and do what you wanted to do anyway.
Harry -
In Outside In Volume 1, there's a great analysis of Mel's character in the review of "Dragonfire". In her short time as a companion, she came off as confident, intelligent, assertive, thoughtful, patient and friendly. It's a shame that she's remembered mostly for her screaming. That was certainly the memory I had of her before we re-watched her stories. My opinion is much more favourable towards her now.
Sarah -
I just reread that essay and mostly agree with it. I disagree that "real girls" don't carry baseball bats and always fold their laundry, but I very much agree that Mel is the sort of person you want to have as your best friend. She's absolutely lovely and I've always liked her, despite her character never really allowed to develop. Also, I adore her outfit in "Dragonfire". I want that jacket she's wearing right now!
Harry -
Did you recognize who Belazs was? It was driving me nuts until I googled it.
Sarah -
I did -- and I found myself taking a jump to the left and a step to the right! Patricia Quinn is just the right combination of evil and tragic in her performance. If you haven't heard it, do have a listen to her Gallifrey One interview on Radio Free Skaro on which she's brilliantly wacky.
Harry -
It was interesting how Kane was presented as this utterly cold, emotionless character, and whenever there was something tactile involving him, it was painful or deadly. Belazs and Kracauer may have looked the part of Iceworld stormtroopers, but they were little more than pathetic puppets at Kane's behest. Their attempts at thwarting their master's influence ended tragically.
Sarah -
They really weren't the best conspirators, were they?
Harry -
There was another thing I remembered about "Dragonfire". The cliffhanger. No, literally, the cliffhanger, where the Doctor inexplicably positioned himself on the edge of a cliff, then hung on for his life. What in the hell was that all about? Clever wordplay rendered in action? The Doctor falling victim to his own enthusiasm? I don't know. It was just silly. Good thing Glitz came along to haul him out of that dilemma.
Sarah -
There was no good reason for him to climb over that cliff. It's an amusing image -- and was iconic enough to make it into "The Name of the Doctor". Are we to assume that Clara found a way to get Glitz to the cliff to save the Doctor?
Harry -
We must have just missed her!
Sarah -
This brings me to another small, but annoying, thing. While Sylvester McCoy is sliding all over the place on the faux ice, everyone else is just walking normally. Was Chris Clough even paying attention at this point?
Harry -
Maybe everyone else's footwear had rubber soles.
Sarah -
The story does have it's charming moments. I love the Doctor's philosophical conversation with a guard he's distracting while Glitz sneaks onto the Nosferatu:
DOCTOR: Excuse me. What's your attitude towards the nature of existence? For example, do you hold any strong theological opinions?
GUARD: I think you'll find most educated people regard mythical convictions as fundamentally animistic.
DOCTOR: I see. That's a very interesting concept.
GUARD: Personally, I find most experiences border on the existential.
DOCTOR: Well, how do you reconcile that with the empirical critical belief that experience is at the root of all phenomena?
GUARD: I think you'll find that a concept can be philosophically valid even if theologically meaningless.
DOCTOR: So, what you're saying is that before Plato existed, someone had to have the idea of Plato.
GUARD: Oh, you've no idea what a relief it is for me to have such a stimulating philosophical discussion. There are so few intellectuals about these days. Tell me, what do you think of the assertion that the semiotic thickness of a performed text varies according to the redundancy of auxiliary performance codes?
DOCTOR: Yes.
It's brilliant. I can only hope the guard survived the coming bloodbath.
Harry -
That was a great moment. Ian Briggs must have loved seeing that come to life.
When our friends finally reunite and encounter the dragon, they discover its secret and the rest of the story devolves into a series of chases as Kane closes in. In my notes I commented again how these quickie three-parters remind me of contemporary two-parters. There's a late flurry of action as Kane rallies his troops, they storm the cantina, blow up the Nosferatu filled with fleeing citizens, then Kane corners our friends, seizes Ace and forces a standoff. He demands the dragon's treasure in exchange for Ace.
Sarah -
The massacre of the citizens is awful. And then we get an odd, and occasionally amusing, series of scenes with Kane's lackeys, McLuhan and Bazin, and their very large guns as they hunt the dragon.
Harry -
The ridiculously oversized guns were wonderful, like something out of a video game.
Sarah -
Things don't turn out so well for them, what with the energy bolts killing them after they kill the dragon and try to remove his crystal.
This is the second time Ace has encountered Kane and she's just as brilliant as she was the first time, when he offered her a coin in exchange for entering his employ.
Harry -
And finally, Briggs lets us in on Kane's secret. He and his partner Xana (whom he immortalized in sculpture) were criminals. She committed suicide and he was exiled from their home planet, swearing that one day he would escape his prison and get his revenge. When the Doctor informs him that his planet was obliterated 2,000 years ago, Kane sees that his wait has all been in vain. Defeated by time itself and swept up by a final destructive urge, Kane opens a screen and allows himself to be bombarded by rays of sunlight, which kills him. The "melting" shot was icky fun.
Sarah -
It really was gruesome.
Harry -
So with Kane no more, the remaining people of Iceworld can piece together their lives. Our fantastic four repair to the TARDIS for what turns out are some final farewells. At first, it seems that Glitz is about to set off in a new ship with Ace, promising to return her to Perivale. The Doctor doesn't seem too keen on that idea, then Mel suddenly jumps in and announces that she's departing with Glitz.
Sarah -
What the What? It's like Leela all over again!
Harry -
Did not like this at all. You'd think that after all these years JN-T would have gotten better at the art of companion goodbyes. Mel teaming up with Glitz might have sounded like an intriguing concept, but the presentation fell flat onscreen. It came off as a tacked on resolution. Don't get me wrong, Doctor Who companion goodbyes more often than not feel like a tacked on resolution. Wouldn't it have made more sense if Mel took it upon herself to help the people of Iceworld get back on their feet again. If that cantina manager might have survived, I could see Mel joining up with him to re-open a new, improved cantina that offered a healthy assortment of juices and smoothies. For once, the "I'm staying behind" departure would have been believeable. Instead, she's off with Glitz of all people. For Pete's sake! Glitz sold his own crew!
Sarah -
Sex. I've decided that's the only reason Mel would go off with Glitz. She's tired of being a good girl and wants to get in his pants. Exhibit One -- well, really the only exhibit I have to offer -- is this racy dialogue:
MEL: Well, I was thinking of going a bit further.
GLITZ: How much further?
MEL: How much further are you going?
Oh yeah, Mel. You go as far as you want!
Harry -
I'm sure there's some fan fiction out there...
As for the Doctor, he invites Ace to join him in the TARDIS and she readily accepts. Anywhere but Perivale, it seems. Perivale must be a total dump.
Sarah -
It doesn't seem to be a place one would want to be.
Harry -
Overall this was a story with potential, but the production seemed to fall flat. Too much skittering about those Iceworld sets that looked like a department store at Christmas. Kane and Belazs were brilliant and I would have like to see more of the conflict between them, but too little time. "Delta and the Bannermen" worked pretty well as a romping three-parter, but "Dragonfire" felt short changed.
Sarah -
It's an interesting idea with some great performances. It's unfortunate the direction was so flat.
Harry -
It's neat that we enter the Ace era, just as Bill has been introduced as the current Doctor's new travelling companion. Comparisons have been drawn, and hints have been made that Bill might even be from the same time period as Ace. We've yet to find out for sure, but for now I'm looking forward to two more seasons of the Sylvester McCoy years.
Sarah -
I look forward to getting to know Bill, and am delighted that we finally get to spend some time with Ace. I was an 80s punk-rock girl when Ace stepped into the TARDIS, so she's always been a favorite.
Harry -
Best Line:
DOCTOR: Hello. Not interrupting anything, am I?
BELAZS: What are you doing here?
DOCTOR: That's a very difficult question. Why is everyone round here so preoccupied with metaphysics?
GLITZ: I think she's going to kill us, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Ah. An existentialist.
Favourite Moment: when the dragon mimics the Doctor doffing his hat.
Lasting Image: Kane and Belazs in their pristine uniforms.
5/10
Sarah -
Best Line: That's right, yes, you're going. Been gone for ages. Already gone, still here, just arrived, haven't even met you yet. It all depends on who you are and how you look at it. Strange business, time.
Favorite Moment: The look Ace gives Mel when she suggests they and Glitz pass time by playing I Spy. I laughed so hard I had to rewatch it several times.
Lasting Image: Ace in full gear with her Nitro-9
5/10
Our marathon continues with Story #148: Remembrance of the Daleks...
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