Well, its time for yet another post and this one will be a new one again with new content (on a roll here!) and I will be reviewing a story from the Sylvester McCoy era of Doctor Who, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.
So, how does this serial stand up after 30 years??? Well, let's take a look and find out.
And yep the usual warning is coming up...
PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
STORY
So, the story begins with the Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and his companion Ace (Sophie Aldred) are invited to the psychic circus on the planet Segonax. On arrival, the Doctor and Ace find that the circus itself is strangely empty with only a few stagehands around aswell as the Ringmaster (Ricco Ross) and the fortune teller, Morgana (Deborah Manship) and the only audience are a family of three, a father, mother and daughter, who are all stoic in personality.
However, the Doctor and Ace soon discover that they are infact supposed to perform at the circus and those that fail to entertain are killed. Not only that but escape is almost impossible as the circus is lead by the Chief Clown (Ian Reddington) who with a group of robotic clowns, round up anyone who tries to leave. The Doctor and Ace while they are held captive by the circus members also meet up with fellow captives, Captain Cook (TP McKenna) an intrepid explorer and his companion Mags (Jessica Martin).
So, its from here that the Doctor and Ace must try and find a way to survive this circus from hell and discover who and what is behind it all....
THOUGHTS
The Great Show in the Galaxy is certainly one of Sylvester McCoy's strongest stories as it is a very good one that shows plenty of imagination and interesting characters aswell as a pretty sinister villain in the form of the Chief Clown. Its a story that really grabs the viewer's attention and it was a refreshing change from previous stories although it echoed a similar idea to the story from the same season, The Happiness Patrol, where people were forced to be happy all the time or else. But the whole idea of the the survival of the fittest as Captain Cook at one stage puts it, is what makes the story so intriguing overall and its example of showing the Doctor using his wits once again to fight for his and Ace's lives.
PERFORMANCES (Warning: Although there won't be too many notable scenes here I will still possibly mention a few SPOILERS!).
As for the performances they are all very good and its a solid cast all round.
Starting with Sylvester McCoy who by this time had really grown well into the role as Seventh Doctor and here he get's to show again the Doctor's bravery, wit and resourcefulness. McCoy himself even performs some magic in the story as he was taught by the magician, Geoffrey Durham (aka the Great Soprendo!) and its used later on near the end but I won't say anymore than that for now!
And Sly has his share of good moments in the story but I will try and only mention a few such as the scene where the Doctor meets with one of the occupants of the circus, Deadbeat (Chris Jury) who has been affected mentally by the events that have taken place in some way or other.
So, the Doctor stares at Deadbeat who appears to be in a trance like state and he says "Hello, Deadbeat. Fancy meeting you here. Small world, isn't it. It frightened you to see that eye, didn't it. It means the powers behind it are on the move again. Something happened to you here. You haven't always been like this. Did you try and find something out? Were you punished? Can you understand anything I'm saying? Well, there's one thing I do know, Deadbeat. You're not going to give me away to the others. Are you?" and Deadbeat shakes his head and says "I wouldn't" and the Doctor smiles and says "Lead on, Deadbeat!".
WARNING: BIG PLOT SPOILER COMING UP!
Then there is the scene where the Doctor is about to confront the real baddies, the Gods of Ragnarock, who he is forced to entertain to stay alive. So, just before the Doctor enters their realm he says "I must prepare for my entrance. Never keep your audience waiting! I'm coming. Open a pathway for me. Once small step for mankind, one great leap, or words to that effect!". The Doctor soon then appears in what appears to be an arena where he is face to face with the stoney figures of the Gods of Ragnarock.
So, the Doctor addresses them and says "And here we all are at last. I'm surprised you brought me here. It must be very difficult for you, trying to exist concurrently in two different time spaces. I know the problem myself. No wonder those memorial stones looked familiar. The Gods of Ragnarok, I presume!".
And this is then followed on by the scene where the Doctor asks the Gods "How many people have you destroyed, I wonder, before Kingpin was lured down here. Poor Kingpin. That's what you like, isn't it. Taking someone with a touch of individuality and imagination, and wearing them down to nothingness in your service!". The Doctor then says "Now let me see. You want me to..." and the Mum and Dad God figures say "Entertain us or die" so the Doctor grins and says "Predictable as ever, Gods of Ragnarok. As I think it's been said before, or was it after? Anyway, you ain't seen nothin' yet!".
Sophie Aldred is also very good in her role too as the Doctor's companion, Ace (and she looks pretty good too!) the plucky teenager, who in this story reveals she has a fear of clowns and is none too keen to head to the psychic circus and rightly so!
And Sophie has some good scenes aswell but I will only mention one of them for time which is the one near the start where the Doctor and Ace receive their invitation to go to the circus and Ace is less keen.
So, the Doctor says to her "Oh, Ace, I thought you'd be interested in going to the circus" and Ace glumly tells him "No, kid's stuff. I went once. Didn't even have any tigers. It was naff and it was boring. Apart from the clowns, of course" and the Doctor asks "What, did you find them funny?" and Ace says "No, creepy". The video advert that plays for the circus then suddenly talks back to Ace and asks her "Scared to take part?" and Ace taken aback says "No, of course not!" and the advert then says "If you are then go ahead, ignore me. I'll understand!" and Ace looks on disbelief and says "I don't believe it! Junk mail that talks back!". So, Ace gives in and says to the advert "OK, junkbox you win! I'm not scared of anything!".
As for the supporting cast, T.P McKenna is by the far the real standout of the show here as he gives an excellent performance as the intrepid galactic explorer, Captain Cook, who appears to have some ulterior motives of sorts.
I will mention a couple of McKenna's scenes that include the one where the Doctor is trapped inside a cage with Cook and his assistant Mags and the Doctor is angry with himself for falling for it.
So, the Doctor frustrated says "Its a trap! I've fallen into a trap!" and Cook nonchalantly tells him "Yes, I know, old boy. Never mind. Have some tea. A very similar thing happened to me once, you know". The Doctor angrily however says "Why let me be trapped?! I could have saved you, Nord and Mags!" and Cook says "I wouldn't be too sure about that, Doctor. These circus chappies are pretty smart customers for all their let it all hang out mumbo jumbo!". Cook then tells the Doctor "Save your energy, Doctor. You'll soon see why. Anyway, all of us in here have developed a survival philosophy, which is why we welcomed you in". The Doctor confused asks "What is all this, then?! I thought there was a talent contest going on!" and Cook says "Well, yes, but in a way it's more like a survival of the fittest!".
WARNING: SPOILER COMING UP IN THE NEXT TWO PARAGRAPHS!
And then there is McKenna's best scene, which is also an excellent cliffhanger in part three where the Doctor, Cook and Mags all go on stage together to perform for the audience of three (i.e. the mum, dad and daughter).
So, as they step on, Cook announces "Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, but before we start I would like to make one small request from stage management. A special lighting effect!" and Mags looks on in horror and says "No!". Cook then asks "Could you perhaps give us that old devil moon effect?" and a crescent moon suddenly shines down on the rig, causing Mags to shriek in terror "No! No!" as she begins to snarl and fall to her feet as she sprouts fangs and claws and becomes a werewolf. So, Cook menancingly says to the Doctor "You really were extremely stupid this time, Doctor. I told you she was an unusual specimen. The growling, the snarling, reaction to the moon. Surely you should have guessed?!!".
Cook then continues and says to the Doctor "I hate it when this happens. She can't control herself, of course, and like all her kind she'll destroy whatever comes in her path. Which, I'm afraid, in this case has to be you!". This prompts the family to all give the act a score of 9 and Cooks rants on "This circus is only the half of it, you see, old chap. These hippy fellows weren't quite so dumb as they look. Did you come here just for the fun of it? Well, some of them did, but they're all dead!". And as the Doctor tries to evade Mags's attacks, Cook keeps her at bay using a whip to hold her back from him. So, the Doctor while trying to avoid Mags shouts "You're meddling with things you don't understand!" and Cook then shouts back "No, Doctor, YOU are! Once you're out of the way, I shall make my deal with the powers that be, whoever they may be!".
Ian Reddington is also excellent in his role as the chief clown and he manages to create one of the show's most sinister and creepy villains for which Reddington produced his own little visual flourishes, which really add to his performance here.
Reddington's dialogue is a mixture of creepily gleeful comments where he greets visitors and acts to enter the circus and he points and waves people in and says "This way please!". However he also has some very sinister moments too, such as the one where Ace tries to leave the circus at one point and she is surrounded by the Chief Clown and his robot clowns as the CC has spotted Ace is wearing an earring she had taken from a dead body earlier. So, the Chief Clown asks her "Where did you get that earring?" and Ace asks "Are you a robot too?" and the Clown says "No" and Ace says "Pity" and Chief Clown sinisterly asks her "Tell me where you found it?!" but Ace manages to get away and the Chief Clown then says to his robots "After her!".
Ricco Ross also does pretty well in his role as the circus ringmaster although I'm not entirely sure what the writers were thinking when it comes to the ringmaster doing a rap as he introduces the acts to the audience every time! However, despite how cheesy that aspect of it is, Ross just about manages to pull off the rapping somehow!
And to give you one example of the sort of stuff that Ricco says in his ringmaster raps, there is his scene at the very start of the story. So, the Ringmaster raps "Now welcome folks, I'm sure you'd like to know, we're at the start of one big circus show. There are acts that are cool and acts that amaze. Some acts are scary and some acts will daze. Acts of all kinds, you can count on that, from folks that fly to disappearing acts. There are lots of surprises for the family at the Greatest Show in the Galaxy! So many strange surprises, I'm prepared to bet, whatever you've seen before, you ain't seen nothing yet!".
Deborah Manship is also pretty good too here as Morgana, the circus's fortune teller, who in reality is having serious reservations about how the circus is being run.
And Debora has some good moments too but I will for time only mentione one, which is where Morgana is being bored to death by the young Whizzkid, who has shown up at the circus and is a big fan of the show. So, as Whizzkid prattles on, Morgana is keen to get rid of him and says "Would you like to be getting along inside?" and Whizzkid, amazed asks "You mean I can go in, just like that?" and Morgana gives a fake smile and says "Yes, Go right now, please!" and Whizzkid excitedly says "Oh, wow!" and he goes in leaving Morgana rolling her eyes in dispair.
Jessica Martin also does very well as Mags, Captain Cook's companion, who has something of a dangerous hidden secret which we find out about later on and Jessica looks pretty cute in her outfit I have to say and has a pretty cool 80's hairdo here!
NEXT PARAGRAPH ALSO REVEALS SPOILERS!
Chris Jury is also pretty good in his role as Deadbeat, who's real name is later revealed as Kingpin and was a circus master that arrived on Segonax in search of power but on finding it, it drove him mad.
And I will only mention one of his scenes where Deadbeat finally snaps out of it mad mode as he places a small blue eye onto his medallion, which restores his memory as Kingpin while Ace is struggling against the robotic ticket conductor.
So, in the scene, Deadbeat says "I remember now!" and he shouts to Ace "Its beneath the cap!" and Ace shouts "What is?!" and Deadbeat shouts "Knock its cap off!" which Ace does and asks while struggling "Now what?!" and Deadbeat tells her "Bellboy put a button on that says Request Stop. Press it!". So, Ace with some struggle manages to hit the button, which sends the conductor haywire and Deadbeat shouts "Now stand back!" and Ace crawls away in time just before the conductor blows up. So, Ace, says to Deadbeat "Now we're getting somewhere! You really are Kingpin, aren't you?" and Deadbeat says "Yes, thankfully. But no one is safe until we get this...(holds the medallion) back to the Doctor!".
Christopher Guard does pretty well too in his role as Bellboy, who is responsible for creating and maintaining the clown robots for the circus but he too is tormented by goings-on there and he ends up losing his girlfriend, Flowerchild to the robots. In fact Guard himself in his outfit looks across between Adam Ant and Matt Bellamy from the rock band Muse!
And I will mention only one of Guard's scenes, which is the one where Bellboy starts to remember what happened to him and the rest of the circus as his memories have been suppressed by the traumatic events he'd been through.
So, Bellboy tells the Doctor and Ace as he tries to remember the past "Yes, some of it's coming back now. Not all of it. He was Kingpin. He was the one who persuaded us to come here. There was something he wanted, something he knew about. And we all trusted him, and..." and the Doctor offers "Something went wrong?" and Bellboy tells him "Yes, something went very wrong! Its this place, it does things to you". So, the Doctor says "And a friendly hippy circus was turned into a killing trap" and Bellboy says "Yes. Even our own kind. That was after Kingpin was no longer Kingpin. Something went. Something went with him...".
Gian Sammarco is also very good as Whizz Kid, an innocnet yet annoying fan of the Psychic Circus and his naivety ends up getting himself into big trouble.
So, I will mention quickly two of Gian's scenes, first off the one where Whizz kid bores Morgana near to death with his admiration for the circus. So, Whizz kid excitedly says to Morgana "It must be awfully exciting working for the Psychic Circus, Morgana. Particularly when you did your tour of the Boreatic Wastes. I think that most of your admirers would agree with me that that was one of your finest ever gigs. Well, in so far as you can tell from the posters...". Morgana at this point has had enough and says to Whizz kid "Would you like to be getting along inside?" and Whizzkid a little surprised asks "You I can go in, just like that?" and Morgana in her fake Russian accent says "Yes, go right in please now!" and he says "Oh wow!" and goes in leaving Morgana rolling her eyes at him.
And lastly there is the scene where Whizzkid meets his end as he steps into the circus and the Ringmaster introduces him to the trio audience "Now welcome, folks. I'm sure you'd like to know we've got a brand new act for your circus show. Now welcome please with all the warmth you can, the Psychic Circus' greatest fan!". So, Whizzkid innocently walks and with much excitement says "This is the most exciting day of my life. My dream come true. I'm standing in the ring of the Psychic Circus!". And then we see the trio audience of the father, mother and daughter all hold up cards that say zero and the next thing we hear is a clasp of thunder and we cut back to see all that remains of Whizzkid are his charred glasses.
Daniel Peacock does well too as Nord, a performer who drives a pretty cool bike to the circus but soon finds out like the others its all down to the survival of the fittest.
And I will mention just one of Daniel's scenes and its the one where Nord turns up on his bike at a snack stall where he get's off to check out his bike. So, Ace impressed by Nord's bike goes up to him and says "Need a hand? I reckon it could be a stuck valve" but Nord rudely tells her "Get lost!" and Ace says "Its a great bike" and Nord warns her "Go on, hop it, before I get angry!". Ace however continues to try and help and says "Well, if you don't want to save yourself some time, then it's up to you. Course, it could be a valve..." but Nord turns to her and says "I've told you, girl, get lost! Or I'll do something horrible to your ears!". And when the Doctor asks a little later if Nord will give himself and Ace a lift to the circus he rudely turns them down and shouts "No one rides with me! For I am Nord, vandal of the roads!".
And last of all are the trio of David Ashford, Janet Hargreaves and Kathryn Ludlow as the Father, Mother and Daughter respectively who are all very good in their respective roles and we soon find out in time who they really are! And the three of them provide suitably creepy performances as the family are all very stoic and convey very little emotion and basically complain about the poor quality of the acts throughout.
DIRECTOR AND MUSIC
Moving onto the director, Alan Wareing does an excellent job here with the story as he keeps pacing nice and tight throughout although being a four parter, the story never really lags and is just the perfect length. So overall Alan serves the story very well here and he even provides one of the voices of one of the Gods of Ragnarock in the final episode.
As for the music score it was written by Mark Ayres and it is an excellent one, which is again very much synthesizer based like all the scores where during the John Nathan-Turner era of the show. Ayres score however here has plenty of atmosphere to it aswell as a sense of mystery and it definitely stands out as one of the best scores from the McCoy era and it easily puts Keff McCulloch's cheesy efforts to shame.
FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)
As for flaws...yeah The Greatest Show in the Galaxy despite its title, still has some.
For starters I find certain aspects of the plot a bit confusing in places, most notably is the one where the Ringmaster uses a device on Captain Cook and Mags, which appears to be some sort of mind control, which causes Mags to scream. However, its never really properly explained as to just what the Ringmaster was actually really doing with that device and we are all just left to guess what it is but my guess would be mind control, unless of course I missed something in watching the story.
Another issue is to do with the scene where the Doctor uses the medallion to deflect the Gods laser beams back at them but if you notice the beams are bouncing all over the place, so basically what is there to stop those beams hit the Doctor himself?! However this is never a problem for the Doc here as the beams seem to just bounce around him rather than actuall hit him but even by the Doctor's standards, it seems a bit unlikely that he would be invulnerable to being hit by a flurry of laser beams! And it also has to be said that the computer effects (or Quantel effects I think) look pretty naff and cheesy here too!
I also felt that the character of Whizzkid was a bit pointless, the young geeky teengaer, who is a big fan of the circus and of course of Captain Cook, whom he bores to death later on aswell as the fortune teller, Morgana. Basically this kid is just used as an excuse for some canon fodder later in the story and while he might be a little sympathetic due to his innocence and his death is even memorable (in fact its the most memorable bit for me from when I originally saw it all those years ago back in its original broadcast!) he's basically just a redundant character.
And last of all is of course the Ringmaster's rapping...yep its pretty cringeworthy isn't it??? To be fair, Ricco Ross who plays the Ringmaster does what he can with the rapping and that he's African American, he makes the rap a little better but its still a pretty daft inclusion in the story. And I don't know if it was added to reflect the popularity of rap and hip-hop music around that time but either way its certainly an aspect of the story that didn't need to be there.
Anyway so that's it for the flaws.
SUM UP
So to sum up, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy is undoubtedly one of the best stories from Sylvester McCoy's era as the Seventh Doctor and its premise is quite imaginative and intriguing with a circus employing a survival of the fittest method and the story also has one or two pretty good twists in it. The cast are also all on good form with Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred as good as ever and they share a nice chemistry together onscreen and the supporting cast are all very good, particularly T.P. McKenna as Captain Cook, who is the real standout here.
And yeah there are still some niggles with the story and yep that Ringmaster rapping is a bit cheesy to say the least but if you can forget all that then this is still a strong story and if you haven't seen it yet, it worth a look.
Right, so that's it for now and I will be back again soon with another post of some sort other.
Till then its bye for now!
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