Doctor Who - Carnival of Monsters "Roll up, roll up, roll up!" (400th Blog Post!)

Right, well we are into October now and this is something of a special post as its actually the 400th post on this blog so far.  So I figured I might aswell do a revisitation of sorts to one of my oldest posts on this blog, which is Jon Pertwee era, Doctor Who story, Carnival of Monsters.  So you can expect another pretty big rewrite here coming at you!

So with that being said let's take another look at this fondly remembered classic of the original TV show....

And the usual warning applies....

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!

STORY 

So...... the story begins with the Doctor (Pertwee) and his assistant Jo Grant (Katy Manning), who make a trip in the TARDIS to what the Doctor hopes to be Metebelis 3 (this turns out to be their first trip since the Doctor has been given back his freedom by the Time Lords).  However when they look around at their surroundings, they appear to be on a large cargo ship, which turns out to be SS Bernice, which as it turned out was a famous ship that went missing in the Indian ocean back in 1926 (although in reality this is fictitious and for the purpose purely of the story).  The Doctor and Jo however keep getting repeteadly caught as stowaways by the crew, and on escaping they get caught again, only to find the crew have no memory of the Doctor or Jo.

However the Doctor and Jo soon manage to find a white hatch in the floor of the ship, which none of the crew members can see, which they escape through, only to find themselves inside what appears to be a giant machine circuit board, which they try and navigate their way through to find a way out.  On breaking through a part of the wall of the machine, the Doctor and Jo find themselves in a marshland which is populated by deadly creatures called Drashigs, which the two of them have a close call with, but they escape back into the machine's circuit again.

And the Doctor soon twigs what has happened as he realises they are inside a miniscope, which keeps inhabitants in a miniaturised form, within their own habitats.  And the miniscope itself belongs to a travelling showman, Vorg (Leslie Dwyer) and his assistant Shirna (Cheryl Hall) who have arrived on the planet Inter Minor, and are looking for a permit to work there, however they are suspected as spies by the planet's tribunal panel members, Pletrac (Peter Halliday), Kalik (Michael Wisher) and Orum (Terence Lodge).

Regardless of this though, two of the tribunal members, Kalik and Orum quietly express their discontent at the present power situation on Inter minor with the current president, and on learning about the drashigs, Kalik is intruiged by them, and plans on releasing them from the miniscope to wreak havoc and force the president to resign.  Before Kalik can do this however, the Doctor eventually finds his way out of the miniscope and eventually reverts to his full size (as people and object return to their normal size when they are taken out of the miniscope's compression field).

The Doctor expresses his disgust and concern about the miniscope and he insists that he try and rescue Jo and the people inside and return them to their proper places in time and space.  And as the Doctor goes back inside the miniscope to rescue Jo, Kalik outside opens the panel to let the drashigs out, who soon emerge into Inter Minor to cause chaos and destruction, and its up to the Doctor to rescue Jo and get out of the miniscope before its too late......

THOUGHTS 

This is a nice leisurely Doctor Who story from the Pertwee era, and for me one of the most enjoyable things about it is that its tone is quite lighthearted, despite the threats and plottings of Kalik and the dangers of the drashigs (if you want to call it that!).

But the story itself, written by Robert Holmes is also very creative and intelligent, and once again the veteran Doctor Who writer provides some great ideas, the main one being the miniscope itself, and how it allows people to be within their own miniaturised environments.

Although the one thing that does at times threaten to bug the narrative is the repetition of the events on board the SS Bernice, as the ship crewmembers keep seeing the Doctor and Jo time and time again, but they have no recollection of them, and each time they lock them up, after they escape again, they forget who they are again.  But it also neatly shows that clearly the miniscope environments only last for a short period of time before they repeat themselves again, and that's the whole point I guess.

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)

As for the cast, well they are all in fine form here and starting with Jon Pertwee who is great as the Doctor and he has his share of good scenes and lines.

And as one or two examples there is the scene where the Doctor enters a fistfight with Andrews onboard the SS Bernice.  And as the two men prepare to fight, Andrew warns the Doctor "I think I ought to warn you, I used to box for my school" and the Doctor replies "And I thought I ought to warn you that I took lessons from John L Sullivan himsefl!".  So when the Doctor quickly gains the upper hand in the fight, he hits Andrews below the heart who falls and the Doctor promptly says to everyone "Good afternoon!" and runs off with Jo.

Then there is the scene where the Doctor finally twigs that Jo and himself are in a miniscope and he says to Jo "By jinjo, I've got it!  I know what this is!" and Jo asks "What?" and the Doctor says "We're in a miniscope!".  The Doctor then continues to explain to Jo "Yes, you know, Jo, it's like, it's like one of those things, those glass cases that people keep colonies of ants in" and Jo asks if they are in some kind of peep show, which the Doctor says yes.  

Jo however is disgusted at the notion but the Doctor asks her "Well, haven't you ever been to the zoo? Have you never kept goldfish in a bowl?" and Jo says "Well, yes but that's slightly different.  We're not animals".  However the Doctor says to Jo "We are to those creatures up there, Jo" and he puts on a circus voice "Roll up! Roll up! Roll up! And see these funny little creatures in their native habitat! Watch them go through their funny little tricks! Poke them with a stick and make them jump!". 

And lastly there is the moment where the Doctor emerges from the miniscope and is restored to full size not long after but the leader of the tribunal on Inter minor, Pletrac is worried that the Doctor, whom he refers to as a "creature" may become hostile.  So the Doctor sharply replies "Will you kindly stop referring to me as the creature, sir, or I may well become exceedingly hostile!".

Katy Manning also does a fine job once again as Jo Grant, the Doctor trusty companion, and Katy and Jon Pertwee always made a great team, and you can see their fondness for each other on screen is apparent.

And one of Katy's best scenes with Jon in fact is where the Doctor and Jo are trapped inside a storeroom, and the Doctor says "If only we had a skeleton key", to which Jo produces a large bunch of skeleton keys with a big a smile she says "Allow me, Doctor!" and the Doctor grins back.

And lastly there is the moment where the Doctor tells Jo that they are both in a miniscope and tries to explain it to her and Jo soon get's the idea of it.  So Jo says to the Doctor "Well, wait a minute. Do you mean that that Major Daly and all those people on the ship are in a sort of a peepshow?!" and the Doctor says "That's right and you and I are both inside its works".  And Jo asks the Doctor "And outside there are people and creatures just looking at us for kicks?!" and the Doctor says "That's right" and Jo, disgusted says "They must be evil and horrible!" and the Doctor "Not, necessarily, Jo, thoughtless, maybe".  

So, Jo wearily says to the Doctor "So, here we are all cosily wrapped up with the other specimens!" and the Doctor tries to reassure her "Yes, but not for long, Jo. We'll soon get out of here".  However Jo doesn't share the Doctor's optimism and says to him as the Drashigs can be heard shrieking in the background "Will we? Seems to me we have a choice of being shot by those idiots on the ship, or eaten by those horrors out there!".

The supporting cast are also very good starting with Peter Halliday as the neurotic Pletrac, who is so concerned with procedures and doing everything by the book.

Halliday has some fun moments in the story that include the one where Pletrac first enquires about what Vorg and Shirna do with the miniscope.  So Pletrac asks "From your data discs, it appear that you travel from planet to planet performing some kind of ritual with this machine? For what purpose?" and Shirna replies "We're entertainers" and Pletrac asks "Entertainers.  Explain the term".  So Shirna cheerily says "We put on a show.  You understand?" and she does a little tap dance and Pletrac, clearly unimpressed says "No!".

Michael Wisher is also excellent as Kalik, the conspiratorial tribunal member, who wants to have a revolution in order to overthrow the president of Inter minor and he enjoys a good bit of conspiratorial banter with Terence Lodge who nicely plays Orum, Kalik's fellow tribunal member who supports him.  

Wisher has some good moments too that include the scene where Kalik says to Vorg how it was his suggestion to help the Doctor and Jo escape from the miniscope.  And Vorg changes his tune from be accusational to flattering when Kalik admits to the suggestion and he says to Kalik "And a most merciful and compassionate gesture, your worship!".  And Kalik's conspiring tribunal member, Orum quietly says to Kalirk "Merciful and compassionate??" and Kalik smiles and says smugly "One has twinges!".

In fact its worth pointing out that the Inter minor tribunal trio keep saying "one" all the time in their sentences such as "one must deal with the aliens!" or "one has no wish to be devoured by alien monstrosities!" etc.  Again its an example of an alien species speaking with perfect RP! (received pronounciation of course).   

Leslie Dwyer is great as the showman Vorg, who wears one of the most ridiculously garish costumes in the history of the show, which would probably give anyone a migraine just to look at it!  Dwyer has alot of fun playing Vorg and it shows as he plays Vorg as a charmer who is always chancing his luck and he also falls back on blaming Shirna if she suddenly starts talking real sense and he says "My assistant is an imagintive girl!".

Dwyer has some fun moments that include the scene where Vorg shows his relishment for the Drashigs and what an attraction they are in the miniscope.  And Vorg says to Pletrac and the other tribunal members "We will shortly be seeing the prize of my collection. The Drashigs!

They are, without doubt, the most evil, the most vicious and undoubtedly the most frightening form of life in the whole of the universe!".

However Dwyer's best scene in the story comes near the end when the miniscope is damaged and he tries to repair it, so he asks Shirna to check a wire on the scope by saying "Well, put your finger on there for a minute, will you?".  And as Shirna points to a wire she asks "Here?" and she puts her finger on it and there is a spark and a loud crackle and Shirna yelps and Vorg says "Good!  That must be the live terminal!".      

Cheryl Hall is also great as Shirna, Vorg's assistant, who wears a pretty colourful and kind of sexy outfit and her character actually speaks alot more common sense than Vorg himself does!

And Cheryl has some good moments that of course include her moment where Shirna tells Pletrac that she and Vorg are just entertainers and that "We put on a show.  You understand?" and she does her tap dance for Pletrac and he say "No!".  

And later on there is the scene where Shirna tells the Doctor how Vorg won the miniscope and doesn't really know how to work it.  And Shirna says to the Doctor "He won it, Doctor" and Vorg says it was during a great "Wallarian exhibition" and Shirna says to the Doctor "You know what gamblers the Wallarians are. Well, Vorg had the magum pod concession". 

The other supporting cast members include Ian Marter, who does very well in his first appearance in the show as Lt Andrews, one of the naval officers onboard the ship and his personality and manner is not entirely far removed from that of Harry Sullivan during the Tom Baker era when you think about it!

Ian has some good scenes also that include one where due to Vorg manipulating the settings on his miniscope, makes Andrews behave in a violent manner.  So in the scene Andrews prepares to fight the Doctor in a boxing match and he angrily says "Right!  I'm going to thrash this fellow within an inch of his life!".  And as Major Daly, one of the passengers onboard the SS Bernice asks the Doctor "Still sticking with that stupid story?" the Doctor says "Afraid so, old chap!" and Andrews then says to the Doctor "You'll regret it, sir. I think I ought to warn you, I used to box for my school!". 

Tenniel Evans is great as the old fashioned Major Daly and he delivers all his "old boy" lines with gusto.  And my favourite line of Evans in the whole story comes when we see the recurring sequence when all of a sudden a dinosaur appears and Daly's daughter, Claire screams and after it disappears, Daly comforts her.  And Daly says "There, there, there, my child. You'd better come and sit down. I've never seen anything like it in me life. I wonder if it'll come back?" and he comments on the dinosaur with the best line ever "What a head, eh? Gad, I'd love to have that on the club wall, what?!".

And last of all Jenny McCracken does a good job as Major Daly's attractive daughter,  Claire who is also a passenger onboard the SS Bernice and she also appears to romance with Andrews in the story.

Jenny's most notable scene however comes near the end of the story where after (SPOILER!!) the Doctor has restored all the inhabitants of the miniscope to their proper places in time and space that we go back to the SS Bernice where Major Daly and Claire chat with one another.  And in the scene they both seem to have a sense that they have had a very long and repetitive journey and Claire says to Daly "It does seem to have been a long trip somehow" and she suddenly thinks and asks "Daddy?" and Daly says "Hmm?" and Claire takes a moment as if she is trying to remember the events of the miniscope but then says "Oh, nothing!". 

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC

As for the direction, Barry Letts, takes the directing duties this time round and he does another great job as he perfectly paces the adventure and with it being a four episode story it never really lags at any moment.  However due to the production system of the time Letts could only be credited with one role at a time during the credits so his role was noted as being the director of the story and not also the producer.  Regardless of this, Letts had already directed several of the Pertwee stories and he does another fine job this time around.

Music wise the story features a pleasant, jaunty score from the regular show composer, Dudley Simpson, who provides his usual mix of string sections and electronic tracks that do date it to the period of the early 1970s it came from but its still an enjoyable score.  However I would have to say its definitely a score that is dependent on the story itself and its not really one I would go out of my way to listen to on its own, but that aside its fit for purpose.

Its also worth mentioning that a new version of the original Doctor Who theme music at the time had been arranged by Paddy Kingsland, who later worked on the show during Tom Baker and Peter Davison eras.  However the version of the theme tune was rejected by BBC executives at the time as it was pretty awful and the Delia Derbyshire version was used again although the alternate version did feature in an episode of this story that was added in error when the story was shipped to and broadcast in Australia.  This version can now also be heard on the BBC DVD release for what its worth!

FLAWS 
 
As for the flaws.... yes Carnival of monsters has one or two and to start off the main one is simply the Drashigs, who as the main monsters are pretty laughable, as they are just puppets, and Barry Letts, the director/producer once again shows his over enthusiam for CSO (Colour Separation Overlay, a popular special effects technique in the 1970s) and how naff it looks.

And just how bad the Drashigs CSO looks is particularly noticeable in the scene where the Drashigs break free from the miniscope (with help from Kalik) and lay an attack on the others however Vorg manages to save the day using the disintegrator gun.  And at this point you can't but help laugh and cringe at just how ridiculous these creatures look as they hardly the stuff that would make you crap yourself!    

Another issue is to do with the somewhat repetitive nature of the narrative, especially with the crew of the SS Bernice, which does threaten to become tiresome pretty quickly, but to the credit of the story's writer, Robert Holmes, it just about manages to keep moving along well enough so it doesn't drag too much.

Then there is the pretty silly subplot about Kalik wanting to overthrow the president of Inter Minor, by using the Drashigs especially as Vorg manages to kill them off with the disintegrator gun, it doesn't make them that threatening as they were made out to be.  And the subplot was just a pretty naff excuse to release the Drashigs out of the miniscope, and you get the impression it doesn't have much relevance or bearing on the story other than that.

Anyway that's it for the flaws!

SUM UP

So to sum up, Carnvial of Monsters remains one of my favourite stories from the Pertwee era as it is light hearted, moves along at a plesant pace, features some fine performances from the regular and the supporting cast and its basically great fun.

And yes it does have some silly moments here and there and the Drashigs are just laughable as the main monsters of the story but that aside there is still plenty to enjoy in Carnival of Monsters and its still well worth checking out to this day.

Right so that's it for now and I will be back sometime soon with another un (post that is) and here's to a hundred more.     

Anyways till the next one, bye for now!