Story #147 - Dragonfire (1987)

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...

Story #146 - Delta and the Bannermen (1987)

Harry -
Nostalgia. That is the one word that describes the entire "Delta and the Bannermen" experience for me.

You will recall that I missed the entire Sylvester McCoy era until after my turbulent teen years. By the early 90s, Doctor Who was no longer on TVOntario, but started popping up on various cable channels here (YTV and Space being two) and was on at all hours of the day.

I distinctly remember watching my first Seventh Doctor story -- "Delta and the Bannermen" -- on a summer's afternoon. The weather outside matched the sunny feeling of the story. Everyone is so cheery in this one. I can't help but feel nostalgia for a story that itself is steeped in nostalgia.


Sarah -
I'm fairly certain that I haven't watched "Delta and the Bannermen" since it first aired on WTTW. I didn't remember much about it going in, which was a pity. A bit of nostalgia may have made it less painful to watch.

It's almost the opposite of "Paradise Towers". "Paradise Towers" is a story with an interesting premise and mostly solid script, which is let down by the production. "Delta and the Bannermen" is an absolute crap script that is buoyed by an aggressively cheerful production attempt. It made my brain hurt.


Harry -
The story begins with a couple of classic Who tropes: a mysterious battle on an alien planet, and the Doctor and his companion going on a holiday.

In this case, Delta, the Chimeron Queen is fleeing for her life from the evil forces of Gavrok, a real baddies' baddie. His Bannermen look like a militarized version of Devo, which amuses me to no end. I also liked how the Chimeron troops looked like living versions of those green plastic toy soldiers of days past. The final couple of them help Delta steal away in a Bannermen war ship, which she pilots to a nearby spaceport.


Sarah -
Are we not Devo? We are Bannermen!

Harry -
Hee hee!


Sarah -
JN-T totally missed a stunt-casting opportunity there.


Harry -
At the spaceport, the Doctor and Mel have been greeted by JN-T's stunt-castiest stunt casting ever, Ken Dodd! No surprise, Ken plays a wacky tollmaster at the spaceport, decked out in a wildly elaborate uniform. (Incredibly, Ken continues to perform his marathon variety shows around England at the ripe old age of 88.) Ken congratulates the Doctor for being the 10 billionth customer and winner of a free holiday time travel package to Disneyland in 1959. In terms of prizes, it's like awarding a beginner's cooking lesson to a Michelin chef. Mel however is delighted. They will be joining a Navarino tour group aboard a specially decked-out bus. The Doctor chooses to follow in his TARDIS, and they set off to the sounds of "Rock Around the Clock." Just before the bus departs, Delta jumps aboard and the two opening threads come together.


Sarah -
The spaceport scene is hysterical. Apparently, Ken Dodd was beyond excited to have been asked to do Doctor Who. His performance is so over-the-top that it almost come around the other side. The Doctor actually looks slightly terrified by the whole situation.


Harry -
Imagine how overwhelming Ken and his teeth must be in person.


Sarah -
As amusing as I found the spaceport scenes, the forced joviality the bus scenes made me so uncomfortable. Being on that bus may now be one of my worst nightmares.


Harry -
It's as if the director told everyone who was playing a happy character to play a HAPPY HAPPY CHARACTER. And everyone who was playing a baddie was told to play it as a BAD BAD BADDIE. The contracts are striking.


Sarah -
Most of the passengers don't seem to be suspicious when Delta hops on the bus at the last minute, despite her being the only one not in period garb. Mel introduces herself and tries to befriend Delta, which attracts the attention of Keillor -- a bounty hunter who happens to find himself conveniently on the bus with Delta. 

Fun Fact: Brian Hibbard, who played Keillor, was a member of The Flying Pickets. Doctor Who was one of his first acting jobs before he went on to Coronation Street.


Harry -
Wow, The Flying Pickets. Whatever happened to them?


Sarah -
Before I found out he was a member of the Flying Pickets, I was thinking of the unnamed character as "Joe Strummer, Bounty Hunter."


Harry -
This turns out to be Mel's strongest story. She's gotten used to being around Sylvester's more cautious, quieter Doctor, leaving her to take the initiative more often. And she only screams once in the entire story, when Delta's child hatches out of its egg. Understandably so! It was the calm, take-it-in-stride reaction by Billy which seemed out of place when he walked in on the scene.


Sarah -
It really is her best story. Poor Mel is yet another name of the list of under-utilized Doctor Who companions. I might feel bad about this being her penultimate story if I didn't know who was coming next. But, let's stay focused on where we are now. In Wales, 1959.


Harry -
Oh Billee! What a rock and roll rebel. With his guitar and his Vincent motorbike, it's no wonder Ray was so smitten. It was sad watching her heart get broken after Billy had his head turned by Delta. You mentioned Corry Street. There's so much emotional backstory going on here it almost feels like a soap opera.


Sarah -
There's a lot of drama going on here and I think it gets to the heart of what annoys me about the script. While Ray's crush on Billy makes complete sense, Billy's decision to run away to another planet with Delta within a few hours of meeting her is baffling. The whole story is so uneven.


Harry -
It's a victim of the 14-episodes-a-season limit imposed by the Beeb, which resulted in each of Sylvester's seasons having two 4-part stories and two 3-parters. These quickies would be equivalent to present day two-parters, but back then short adventures were still the occasional exception and unfamiliar territory. It really made for some fast-paced plot development here.


Sarah -
I'm not sure an extra episode would have improved the storytelling. Even at only three episodes, the episode recaps felt especially long at the start of parts two and three.


Harry -
The Doctor finds Ray weeping in the laundry room and consoles her. Keillor the bounty hunter corners them and can't believe his luck when both the Chimeron Queen and a Time Lord fall into his lap. He radios up to Gavrok at the spaceport, eager to confirm his successful tracking and collect his reward. Gavrok rewards him by sending a signal that detonates the bounty hunter's radio, killing him instantly. Gavrok also delights in having Ken Dodd killed. They killed Ken Dodd! The vile bastards!


Sarah -
Surely the most heinous crime in the history of Doctor Who!

For comic relief, we have the American CIA agent double act, Weismuller and Hawk. I was stunned to find Stubby Kaye in Doctor Who and kind of hoped he'd break into a chorus of "Sit Down You're Rockin the Boat!" While I'm not sure CIA agents would be wandering around Wales wearing their Yankees gear -- especially in a time when men still wore suits to games -- they helped lighten the mood of the story. A bit.


Harry -
Yes, even the Yankees' trainers probably wore suits and fedoras back then so Weismuller's fanerific fan gear (mesh trucker hat!) was out of place.


Sarah -
Perhaps they were actually visitors from the future.


Harry -
There must have been a subplot to the CIA agents that was completely lost on me, unless the whole point was for Hawk and Weismuller to ham it up between chase scenes.


Sarah -
It's a shame Kaye is no longer with us -- Weismuller and Hawk could be the next Big Finish hit!


Harry -
Ho boy, there are an awful lot of chase scenes in this one. Not even chase scenes, more like a lot of rapid toing and froing on motorbikes. Here at last, the late-80s jingly-jangly score worked.


Sarah -
I wish I could agree. The hamming it up on the motorbike to yet another annoying score was particularly disheartening.


Harry -
The fun takes a momentary break when the Bannermen warship lands. Hawk and Weismuller are immediately captured, and Gavrok sets off to find Delta at the holiday camp. Fortunately, the Doctor has managed to convince camp leader Burton to evacuate the place.


Sarah -
Burton is my favorite character in this story. He reminded me of Uncle Bryn (portrayed by the brilliant Rob Brydon) on Gavin and Stacy, which was also set on Barry Island.


Harry -
Burton is the Classic Welshman of the story, and a happy one at that. The staff all get away in time, but the Navarinos are too slow back to their bus. The Bannermen arrive and blow the whole thing to smithereens. Vile bastards!


Sarah -
What a horrible moment! It has to be one of the largest massacres in Doctor Who history.


Harry -
This sets up Sylvester's first big moment as the Doctor: his confrontation with Gavrok (played ever so nastily by Don Henderson, another of the many Doctor Who - Star Wars crossover actors). 

Though not memorable for any classic lines, it's all in Sylvester's performance as he looks the bully right in the eye, gives him a bit of stick, loudly, then takes off with Mel and Burton. All in all it was a very Doctory moment.


Sarah -
Syl finally gets his "I AM THE DOCTOR" speech and it's a brilliant moment. And then, being Syl, he follows it up with comedic second-guessing.


Harry -
The second guessing was amusing. I couldn't believe Gavrok let them go after that.


Sarah -
Right? I was waiting for a laser beam to take out someone.


Harry -
Maybe he was in a food coma after gnawing on that ham. Good grief!


Sarah -
That had to be the most disgusting shot of the story.


Harry -
After we watch some more motoring about, our friends converge at the home of Goronwy the happy beekeeper. Another in the string of amusing characters, Goronwy was played by Hugh Lloyd. He welcomes everyone and offers up some samples of honey from his large store.


Sarah -
Another odd character. Apparently, there's a fan theory that Goronwy is actually an exiled Time Lord. He certainly takes to the idea of invaders from space without many questions.


Harry -
More than anything, Goronwy reminded me of Tom Baker's Curator, another enigmatic character who knew more than he let on.  But that's too timey-wimey for now and the Bannermen are on the way.  The Doctor concocts an escape and a trap, using Goronwy's supplies. Thinking they'd cornered Delta at last, Gavrok and his troops end up bombarded by falling honey jars and attacked by a swarm of bees. The pursuit continues all the way back to the holiday camp. By now, Delta's child has grown into a child, at the accelerated rate of their species. She emits an ear-splitting cry, amplified via the camp's sound system, and Gavrok ends up falling into his own sonic mine. He blows up real good, and without their leader the Bannermen surrender.


Sarah -
Meanwhile, Billy has been sneaking the Chimeron Princess' food serum and seems to have become a Chimeron himself.


Harry -
What a ridiculously impulsive guy.


Sarah -
So, it's off into space for the newly formed Chimeron family! Billy takes his guitar, but leaves his Vincent behind in Ray's competent hands. She didn't get her man, but she got his bike.


Harry -
Not a bad consolation prize.


Sarah -
She's probably better off with the bike. Meanwhile, the Americans get their satellite back!


Harry -
President Eisenhower will be relieved.  And cue the musical finale! That had to be a first for Doctor Who.


Sarah -
Good Grief.


Harry -
I loved it.


Sarah -
I'm glad one of us did! Before we move on, we should acknowledge that this is the first appearance of the question mark umbrella!


Harry -
And the Doctor's signature look is complete.  I warned you at the start that I'd be gushing over the nostalgia I feel for this story, and it remains undiminished after a fresh viewing.  This one goes down as one of my (not so secret anymore) secret favourites.


Sarah -
Best Line: "You are not the Happy Hearts Holiday Club from Bolton, but instead are spacemen in fear of an attack from some other spacemen?"

Favorite Moment: The spaceport welcome.

Lasting Image: Ken Dodd!

4/10


Harry -
Best Line: The Doctor's rant at Gavrok.

Favourite Moment: for sure it's Ken Dodd at the spaceport.

Lasting Image: the Bannermen!

7/10

 



Our marathon continues with Story #147: Dragonfire...

Story #145 - Paradise Towers (1987)

Sarah -
Build High for Happiness, Harry!

I have to admit I've always had a bit of a soft spot for "Paradise Towers".


Harry -
Build High for Happiness, Sarah!

"Paradise Towers" is a story that I watched once, many years ago, and I forgot most of it. How timely to re-discover it now, when High-Rise has just been made into a movie. In the DVD making-of featurette, Andrew Cartmel and Stephen Wyatt confirm that the Doctor's adventure was absolutely torn from the pages of J.G. Ballard's dystopian epic. That's ice hot!

So... who's best, Red Kangs, Blue Kangs, or Yellow Kangs?


Sarah -
Alas, the Yellow Kangs are clearly out of the running -- what with the whole being unalive thing. The Red Kangs have spirit, but I think I lean towards the Blue Kangs on the basis of fashion alone.


Harry -
Too bad there weren't Green Kangs, that's my favourite colour.


Sarah -
It's my favorite, too! Green Kangs would rule the Towers.

"Paradise Towers" gets bashed a lot in fandom, which I find quite unfair.


Harry -
Very unfair!


Sarah -
It's just one in a long line of Doctor Who stories with a lot of great ideas that are let down by the production. If you look past the bad effects and try to ignore the awful music, it's a really interesting story. 

The concept of a society that has developed from the left-behinds is classic science fiction. When all the adults and young men went off to fight, "Paradise Towers" was left with teenage young women, elderly women, and a small, seemingly all-male police force. It's such a dark concept that I can only wish the production matched that tone. Can you imagine this story in another producer's hands? Imagine "Paradise Towers" in the Graham Williams era!


Harry -
Yes, the music of this era is distinctive, but unsuitably fast and jingly. Something slower and more goth or darkwave would have been a fantastic mood-setter here.


Sarah -
Exactly! The story would be so much more respected with better music.


Harry -
The sets were pretty realistic. As the entire story takes place in a huge tower of flats, some graffiti and rubbish strewn about captured the scene perfectly. The super-clean swimming pool area was a nice contrast to the hellscape of urban decay below.


Sarah -
I really like the sets. They feel very lived-in.


Harry -
The cleaners were your typical big lumbering Doctor Who thing. They've been around since "The War Machines". The caretakers were probably the most disappointing aspect of the production, with their comedy SS uniforms. It's too bad because Richard Briers and Clive Merrison acted like gangbusters. The Chief Caretaker was played with a polite intensity that hinted at an explosive rage beneath. When his body was occupied by the Great Architect, Briers changed gears and played it over the top, slurring Kroagnon's voice as it boomed out of his zombie body. What a great performance. Merrison was the typical number two, who could adhere ferociously to the rules at one moment, then switch sides just as easily when the tides shifted.


Sarah -
They're both fabulous.


Harry -
So many good performances in this one. Brenda Bruce and Elizabeth Spriggs were chilling as the batty old flatmates driven to cannibalism.


Sarah -
They are my favorite part of the story. Their archetypal British grannies routine is the perfect cover for the murdering cannibals. I love the scenes when they lure Mel into their lair and ply her with tea and baked goods. 

We mustn't forget Judy Cornwell's Maddy -- adding another Keeping Up Appearances actor to the Doctor Who pantheon.


Harry -
She was delightfully distressed.  Howard Cooke was fascinating as Pex, the "cowardly lion" of Paradise Towers.


Sarah -
I love Pex and adore the moment when he finally gets to be the hero.


Harry -
And of course the Kangs, the slang-talking, colour-fighting, Clockwork Orange-esque gangs of young women who roam the floors of the towers. With so many strong characters in the story, it's no surprise that the Doctor and Mel were almost reduced to supporting roles.


Sarah -
It feels like McCoy is still searching for his characterization here, but he holds his own as he rallies all the factions to work together.


Harry -
In that sense it was a perfect story for Sylvester. The garbled sayings have been dropped from his lines, replaced by the face-pulling for which he will become better known. He does love whipping that straw hat off and whacking it back on at funny angles.


Sarah -
Mel has some nice moments, too. Her scenes with the grannies are all the more terrifying because she's so sweet and has no idea what's going on. I really like her scenes with Pex, from her disappointment at his cowardice to her ability to inspire him to save the day.


Harry -
It was sad to see the misery that the residents of Paradise Towers were forced to live in. Desperate for food, frightened to leave their safe places, treading through squalor -- those cleaners didn't do much cleaning, did they? The fact that the Kangs didn't know what a soda machine was was head-shakingly sad.


Sarah -
I'm not sure director Nicholas Mallett understood that he was telling a dystopian story.


Harry -
Way less screaming from Mel this time. With Pex as her jittery sidekick, her natural assertiveness came to the fore as they worked to get to the swimming pool at the top of the building.


Sarah -
She finally gets her moment in the sun, but it's disconcerting that she's still obsessed with swimming after all they've gone through to get there. Being faced with the nightmare of Paradise Towers, my first instinct would be to get the hell out of there -- not going for a swim. Pity the Doctor had to jettison the TARDIS swimming pool.


Harry -
The pool scene seemed to exist just so that Mel could be attacked by the pool cleaner, and Pex could be cowardly again. There were some other weak moments. The Doctor using the rulebook to talk his way out of confinement pushed the satire beyond the boundaries of belief. There were some black comedy moments too. Tabby and Tilda both being pulled into the disposal unit was hilariously macabre.


Sarah -
The rulebook scene was like something out of The Three Stooges. Tabby and Tilda are brilliantly macabre!

And then we get to the Great Architect. The Chief Caretaker initially believes the Doctor to be the Great Architect and sentences him to death. We soon discover that the Great Architect is actually the beastie in the basement with the neon-sign eyes. The Chief Caretaker has apparently been feeding him human bodies for a while now, apparently with a strong focus on the Yellow Kangs. For reasons that are never quite explained, he needs more and more bodies, until he takes over the Chief's body.


Harry -
This is where they took Ballard's urban dystopia and made it into science fiction. It wasn't explained very well what exactly Kroagnon was. A computer? An alien? A disembodied intelligence? Whatever it was, it wanted to take corporeal form, settling on the Chief Caretaker's body. It was also extremely misanthropic, wanting to wipe all the humans out of Paradise Towers, presumably to let its work exist unblemished by inhabitants.


Sarah -
Every architect's dream!


Harry -
Unlike High-Rise, in which floors of residents degenerate into primal war bands, the people of Paradise Towers are pulled together by the Doctor and Mel to fight their common enemy.


Sarah -
One can only wonder what they would have done if the Doctor and Mel hadn't shown up!


Harry -
Forced ever higher by the slowly rampaging cleaners, the residents devise a scheme to flush Kroagnon into the open, so he can be lured into a booby trap. After being ferociously teased (bad Kangs!), Pex volunteers to be the lure. He tells Kroagnon that he can take him to the Doctor. Face to face at last, the Doctor is unable to physically force the monster into the booby trap. In his moment of supreme bravery and sacrifice, Pex hurls himself at Kroagnon, but they both end up in the trap and it kills them. Such a tragic end to a character who finally overcame his weakness.


Sarah -
While Pex's cowardice has been demonstrated for us over and over, my heart broke every time the Kangs hassled him about it. I love that he managed to rally and prove himself as brave as a Kang. In the words of Bin Liner, "Hail Pex. Hail the unalive who gave his life for the Tower. In life he was not a Kang, but in death he was brave and bold as a Kang should be."

I've watched "Paradise Towers" at least four times. It's not a great Doctor Who story, but it's always fun to watch.


Harry -
After a fresh viewing, my opinion of it has improved greatly.  Great story, great performances.  I'm looking forward to seeing High-Rise now more than ever.  Also, the next story in our marathon is one of my secret all-time favourites, so I'm really looking forward to that too!


Sarah -
Best Line: 
Pex: "Are these old ladies annoying you?"
Mel: "No"
Pex: "Are you annoying these old ladies?"

Favorite Moment: Pex's moment of bravery.

Lasting Image: the Kangs in their finery.

7/10


Harry -
Best Line: "Ice hot!"

Favourite Moment: Tilda and Tabby meet their fate in the trash disposal.

Lasting Image: Tabby in her easy chair, roasting a giant crumpet over an open fire.

7/10

 


Our marathon continues with Story #146: Delta and the Bannermen...