Dragonfire

Three Episodes
Aired between 23rd November 1987 and 7th December 1987

Written by Ian Briggs
Produced by John Nathan-Turner
Directed by Chris Clough

Synopsis

On the dark side of an ice planet called Svartos, there is a supermarket called Ice World. It is run by a megalomaniac called Kane. Not everyone knows this, but supposedly, there is a myth of a dragon in the caves underneath Ice World, and the Doctor takes Mel to the planet in the hopes of finding it.

They start in the cafe adjacent to the supermarket, and find their old friend, Sabalom Glitz, being harassed by the waitress, a young human girl called Ace. 

The Doctor and Mel make their acquaintances, and it's not long before Kane's henchmen soon turn up, led by officer Belazs. She tells them that Sabalom Glitz owes Kane 100 crowns for trying to pass off rotten fruit to her employer.

She suggests he repays back the 102 crowns he gained from selling his own crew into slavery to Kane, but Glitz reluctantly admits that he lost it at cards.  Belazs gives him 24 hours to come up with the money. If he doesn't, his ship, the Nosferatu will be destroyed.

It just so happens that Glitz has acquired a treasure map in that same game of cards, and it's believed to lead to the treasure guarded by the dragon.  He agrees to go with the Doctor to find it, but he refuses to let Ace and Mel go with them. 

Little does Glitz know that Kane made sure he lost the 102 crowns at cards, and he made sure he got the map as Kane doesn't want to risk his own neck personally. The map has been tagged with a tracking device and Glitz will inadvertently lead Kane to the treasure.

Once left  alone, the restless and obnoxious Ace ends up getting fired for pouring milkshake on a customers head. She takes Mel to her quarters and explains that she's actually human from 20th century Earth. She has a passion for making explosives, and was messing around in the school lab one evening when she was whisked away in a time storm and ended up on Ice World. She still has a passion for explosives and shows Mel her home made Nitro 9 - "like Nitro Glycerine but with more wallop".

Ace shuts down really quick when Mel asks about her parents, but she does admit that her real name is Dorothy.

Ace takes the cans of explosive and uses them to help the guards break through an iced up doorway to get to the Nosferatu. Belazs is called and arrests them, taking them to Kane.

It turns out that Kane has supernatural powers and can generate extreme cold from his hands.  In turn, he must keep himself cold and periodically goes in a chamber to keep his temperature down.  When he speaks to the girls, he offers Ace a golden crown - a regular occurrence to the people he has in his employment.

It's cold from his touch and would burn the shape of it into the skin of whoever touched it.  Ace refuses to take the crown and threatens them with some Nitro 9, allowing her and Mel to escape.

Meanwhile, in the ice caverns, the Doctor and Glitz are going around in circles.  The Doctor (for some reason) loses Glitz and decides to climb over a railing and dangles himself into an abyss, realising that his grip isn't as strong as it could be and he begins to slip down his umbrella.

Lucky for him, Glitz finds him and rescues him. He tells the Doctor that he'd rather take his ship away from Kane and then he will help the Doctor find his treasure. The Doctor agrees.

Kane has ordered the Nosferatu destroyed, but Belazs secretly countermands the order, as she intends to take the ship for herself. She finds the Doctor and Glitz on board the ship, but is convinced to let them both go. 

She then turns one of the other soldiers against Kane and they try to turn up the heat in his chamber, killing him. This fails and he ultimately kills them both, but not before the heat melts a statue of a woman called Xana he had specially made.

Once recovered, Kane sends his cryogenic frozen slaves (who lose their memory and become like zombies for a time) after the Doctor and the gang.

Ace and Mel continue to run, and come up against the Dragon, which looks more like an alien that shoots laser beams from it's eyes.

They run away from it and eventually meet the Doctor and Glitz.

The Doctor communicates with the dragon and convinces it to be friendly to them. It kills the cryo-zombies as they come after them though.

The dragon takes the group to its lair, and plays them a pre-recorded hologram of a recording. This recording spells out that Kane is from Proamon and is part of a criminal gang with Xana.  He was taken here as a prison. The supermarket is pretty much a ship, and the Dragon is his jailer.

The fabled gold of the dragon is actually a crystal in it's head and it's a sort of key that will allow Kane to start the supermarket space ship and allow him to leave the planet.

Thanks to the bug on the map, Kane thinks he's won his freedom.

He sends his soldiers to get the crystal and orders the rest to attack everyone in the supermarket, driving them onto the Nosferatu. The only one's to escape this are a young girl called Stella and her mother.  Once on the ship and it's launched into space, Kane blows it up with everyone onboard.

A couple of Kane's soldiers manage to kill the dragon and remove it's head, but when they discover the crystal, they're killed from it's energy discharge, leaving the Doctor to pick it up.

Kane captures Ace and does a deal with the Doctor: her life for the crystal. The Doctor has no choice and Kane activates the ship. 

He takes off and tries to set a course for Proamon, but discovers that he's been imprisoned for so long, the planet has been wiped out. In despair, he opens the blast shields and kills himself.

With Kane dead, Glitz claims the large Ice world ship and renames it Nosferatu II.  He agrees to give Ace a lift back to Perivale (her home town) on Earth.

As the Doctor prepares the TARDIS for departure, Mel announces that she is going to stay with Glitz instead to keep him out of trouble, but suggests that Ace doesn't really want to go home.

The Doctor tells Ace the good news, and promises to take her back to Perivale via the scenic route.

As they depart, Stella is re-united with her mother, but watches the TARDIS de-materialise, an act which makes her giggle.

Trivia

• A lot of the character names were taken from film theory with famous people in the industry becoming character names. There's also more than a little reference to the movie "Aliens" in this story, as well as the white uniformed soldiers giving a nod to Stormtroopers

• Ace was named Dorothy as a reference to the  Wizard of Oz, given that she was whisked off in a storm to a distant and alien land.

• In the original script, Ace was actually to have slept with Glitz before the TARDIS arrived. Yuk!  Thankfully, this bit of background never made it to the screen. It was however referred to in a New Adventures novel.

• The script had someone of similar character to Glitz hunting the treasure. When John Nathan-Turner discovered this, he encouraged the return of Glitz instead.

• The eponymous cliffhanger seems pointless on screen, but the corridor he was on was supposed to have been a dead end, leaving the Doctor no choice but to go down

• Amazingly, the melting head scene didn't attract much in the way of complaints. One opinion is because people didn't really watch it as much.

The Review

Although Bonnie Langford's background is in theatre and having a reputation for being an obnoxious child star, her character, Mel began life as a much needed breath of fresh air.  This story is a harsh treatment for her then, a fact that detracts from the overall feel of it, because she goes in such a ludicrous, nonsense way.

In fact, truth be told, there are only two reasons to watch this story at all.  First. to see Ace come on the scene. Second, to watch Kane's head melt.  That's it.  The story is simple and very poorly executed to the point where it doesn't matter about the hunt. The sets are awful, and the concept of it all pretty bonkers (I mean, how bored must Kane have been to waste his time making an evil supermarket instead of hunting the dragonfire?).  And speaking of supermarkets it also doesn't make sense because like Dracula, he could have taken his coffin onboard any ship that arrived (the Nosferatu shall we say) and then left that way. 

The ONLY redeeming feature of this otherwise terrible story is the introduction of Ace. In stark contrast to Mel, we have a character with some back story, who is a bit edgy and like nothing we've seen yet from a companion.  For this reason only, it deserves a watch, but will unlikely be brought out again for a long time.

Rating

4 out of 10

Re-watchability Factor

4 out of 10 

Watch this if you liked...

• The Brain of Morbius

• The Pirate Planet (The Key to Time Part 2)

• Terminus

• Aliens

Delta and the Bannermen

Three Episodes
Aired between 2nd November 1987 and 16th November 1987

Written by Malcolm Kohll
Produced by John Nathan-Turner
Directed by Chris Clough

Synopsis

On a distant planet, a group of mercenaries known as the Bannermen rage war on the last of an alien race known as the Chimerons (pronounced Shimmerons).

Delta, the last surviving female Chimeron and the last surviving Chimeron male make a break for the Bannermen's ship, finding Gavrok, The leader of the Bannermen, waiting for them. Gavrok kills the male Chimeron, but is injured and falls from the ship before he can kill Delta.  Cradling her partner, Delta is given a metalic orb to keep safe. The male dies and Delta takes off, leaving the planet.

Meanwhile, the Doctor and Mel have a rare stroke of luck, when a brief visit to Toll Port G715 results in the Tollmaster telling them they are the ten billionth customers and have won a trip on a fabulous 50's tour to Disneyland on Earth in 1959, courtesy of Nostalgia Tours. 

Their companions will be a group of Navarino's - a species of alien that are effectively purple blobs.  They pass through a transformation arch and are "converted" into humans, wearing 1950's period clothing.

The Tollmaster tells them they will be travelling on a flying bus, but the Doctor suggests that he'll follow along in the TARDIS whilst Mel can ride the bus.  Just before it takes off, Delta crash-lands at the port and rushes onto the bus. The Tollmaster mistakes her for a Navarino who is a late arrival.

On Earth, 1959, two American Agents (Hawk and Weismueller) are in Wales, instructed to track the new satellite they're launching. This Satellite effectively hits the Nostalgia Tours bus, knocking it off course.

Thanks to the Doctor, he uses the TARDIS to help them land safely.

The tour soon discover they've been forced down, not in Disneyland, but in "Shangri-La" a holiday camp in Wales. The camp leader, Burton, mistakes the group as another party and invites them all to stay.  The driver looks at the damage and thanks to the Doctor, has a crystal part that needs to be "re-grown" which will take 24hrs.

 During this repair, the Doctor meets Billy - a local mechanic, and his biker friend, Ray (a girl who obviously is an unrequited love).

Mel meanwhile is billited with Delta and soon discovers that she's not a normal tour participant. She sees the strange orb and has a gun pulled on her in fear when the dinner gong sounds. 

At dinner, Billy sits with Delta and they immediately begin to strike a rapport, much to the dislike of Ray.

After dinner, they are all invited to a dance, where Billy is a performer.

Billy dedicates a song to Delta and Ray gets upset, running off into a laundry room to cry.  The Doctor goes after her to comfort her, but they run into one of the Navarino's who an informer and mercenary himself. 

They catch him calling Gavrok to tell him Delta is in Wales. The mercenary spots the Doctor and Ray and prepares to shoot them, but Gavrok, having the information from the mercenary decides to eliminate him with a beam of energy.

Delta goes back to the room meanwhile and Mel sees the strange orb open and a reptile baby emerges.  Billy, looking for Delta, arrives at the room and finds out she is an alien (and takes it all in his stride).

Together, Delta, Billy and the new Chimeron baby go off on his motorbike whilst Mel is asleep.

The Doctor and Ray, knocked out by the blast that killed the Mercenary, regain consciousness and find Mel, explaining that the Bannermen are on their way and that the Navarino's need to leave the holiday camp asap. They go to see Burton, being very frank about what's coming, but he doesn't believe them.

It takes the Doctor showing Burton the inside of the TARDIS for him to finally be convinced and start an evacuation of the holiday camp.  With that in hand, the Doctor and Ray go off to find Billy and Delta.

Out in the countryside, Delta shows Billy that the child grows very fast.

Being a young girl already, the Chimeron child starts to emit a high pitch sound. Delta says it's a song, and a defence mechanism. Delta says that what the Bannermen are doing is illegal and if she can get a case to the brood planet, they will be punished.

The Doctor and Ray eventually find Delta and Billy, warning them what's to come.

The Bannermen arrive, witnessed by Weismuller and Hawk and a quickly take the pair hostage.

Back at the camp, the bus is repaired and ready to set off. Mel tells the driver that she will stay behind and wait for the Doctor. The Driver reluctantly agrees and sets off, only to be destroyed by Gavrok and his Bannermen. Mel, taken prisoner, bluffs that Delta was on the bus.

That is quickly discovered to be a lie as the Doctor and the rest arrive back at the camp and are spotted. Gavrok instructs his men to keep Mel as bait as Delta and the others escape.

The Doctor, Ray, Billy, Delta and the Chimeron child are on the run. Guided by Delta's ability to communicate with bees, they arrive at a beekeeper's house. He is called Goronwy and allows them to stay. The Doctor tells them all to wait there whilst he goes to try and talk Gavrok into leaving Delta alone.

He does Parley with Gavrok, who lets Mel and Burton go, but as they get on the bike, the Bannermen take aim. 

They don't fire, but the one's guarding Weismueller and Hawk see the bike go past and they shoot a tracking device onto the bike.

Once back at Goronwy's, they make plans.  Delta feeds the child Royal Jelly from the Chimeron source. She claims that the child will grow again, soon. When nobody's looking, Billy eats some of the jelly. The guards arrive to attack Delta, but the child has grown and emits a high frequency sound that hurts the guards and blows out the windows. Delta shoots one of the guards and the other escapes, leaving them time to depart themselves.

Gavrok and the rest of the Bannermen go to the tracker, but find that the Doctor has found it and placed it on a goat instead.  The surviving guard finds them and takes them to Goronwy's house but it's discovered that they have left.

The Doctor and co meanwhile, make it back to the holiday camp, finding that the TARDIS has been booby trapped.  The Bannermen arrive before they can disable it, and the Doctor is forced to improvise. He rigs a speaker onto the roof of the camp building and the Chimeron child emits the high frequency sound again, scrambling the Bannermen's brains. Gavrok, near the TARDIS when this happens, walks into his own booby trap and is destroyed.

The rest of the Bannermen are tied up by the Americans.

Because Billy has eaten the Jelly, he has turned into a Chimeron male. With Delta and the Child, he agrees to take the Bannermen ship and take the prisoners with them back to the brood world to face trial.

With them departed, the Doctor and Mel say their goodbyes and leave.

Trivia

• This story and Dragonfire were filmed together as the original series was meant to end on a six part story. They used the same crew but different sets, obviously.

• This is the first story to feature the Seventh Doctor's question mark umbrella, it would stay with the Doctor for the rest of his tenure.

• The mercenary who nearly kills the Doctor is one of the Flying Pickets, a band that to this day have annual fame when their song "only you" is played on most Christmas song playlists around the UK

• Bonnie Langford had decided to leave by this point, and the writers were asked to put in potential characters to go along in the TARDIS. Ray was one of those potential characters, as was Ace in the next story. Ultimately, it was decided to go with Ace.

• Sophie Aldred originally auditioned for the role of Ray, but was cast as Ace because she stood out from the rest

• There was an idea suggested for a sequel, when Gavrok's brother turned up, but it never came to anything

• It's the last time in the series that the soldier helmets used in Earthshock are seen.

The Review

Delta and the Bannermen is one of the few stories in this era that is stand alone. Whilst that could be something to celebrate, it sort of suffers from having bonkers and frankly, improbable concepts as story hooks.  Trying to move away from the old style of continuity so put in place by Ian Levine, the new crew play fast and loose with the story. Whilst on one hand it is a breath of fresh air, and does make it "fun", introducing more expanded universe links, this story feels more at home in the pages of a comic book than it does on screen.  The flying bus, the purple aliens and the less we say about Ken Dodd, the better. 

Thing is, as fun as it is, it does feel disappointing that they've gone too far the other way. It's blase the way that the space bus is there and offers commercially available time travel, along with the ability for purple aliens to shape change without too much effort.  The effect on the universe having this kind of technology could be staggering. I mean, what if Delta simply went through that transformation arch?  What if a Sontaran or other ill meaning race did?  The potential for messing up the timeline is immense to the point where I find it hard to believe that the Time Lords would be letting this happen. They didn't in the Two Doctors.

Overall the story is "Blah". It's novel for the way in which it handles aliens, but everyone in it acts goofy, and a lot of the scenes are pointless.  Definitely one to miss if you have better options.


Rating

4 out of 10

Re-Watchability Factor

3 out of 10

Watch this if you liked...

• The Leisure Hive 

• Remembrance of the Daleks 

• The Idiot Lantern (Doctor Who, Series 2)

• Smith and Jones (Doctor Who, Series 3)

Paradise Towers

Four Episodes
Aired between 5th October 1987 and 26th October 1987

Written by Stephen Wyatt
Produced by John Nathan-Turner
Directed by Nicholas Mallett

Synopsis

In a grotty corridor, a girl dressed all in yellow hides from others looking for her. Whilst they don't find her, something menacing and robotic definitely does. Later, an officer - Caretaker 345/12 subsection 3 reports to his superior, the Chief Caretaker about finding a bloodied yellow rag on the floor. Not long afterwards, he also finds a deadly fate at the hands of a robotic "Cleaner".

In the TARDIS, Mel is studying a video guide to a luxury apartment building - Paradise Towers. She says she's looking forwards to trying out the swimming pool at the top of the tower. When they get outside however, they see that things aren't as they should be - the area is a dump, with graffiti and grime everywhere. 

It's not long before they are confronted and threatened by a bunch of women called the Red Kangs. As their name suggests, they wear all red, and they have funny names such as bin liner and fire escape.

The Kangs explain there are three types of people in Paradise Towers - the Kangs, the Old Ones, and the Caretakers. The Kangs find the other types annoying and therefore they take the Doctor and Mel prisoner. They're being taken to their base when the Caretakers show up to arrest them all for Wallscrawling. The Doctor falls and is captured but the rest escape.

Rushing away from the Caretakers, Mel is taken in by two "old ones" - Tabby and Tilda. They are residents in the tower and they invite Mel inside for tea and lots of cake that they insist she eats.

Shortly afterwards, a man bursts through the door and points a gun at them, asking if they're being bothered.  He introduces himself as Pex and fancies himself as a lean, mean, fighting machine, patrolling the streets of Paradise Towers and putting things to rights. Mel explains no one was in trouble and she goes to look for the Doctor, Pex going after her.

The Doctor meanwhile, after narrowly escaping an encounter with a robotic Cleaner, is taken to see the Chief Caretaker. Once there, the Chief pronounces that the Doctor is in fact the great architect, come to make Paradise Towers clean and lawful once more. Then he orders him killed. The Doctor protests of course, but the Chief insists. He is called away to investigate the disappearance of Caretaker 345 and tells the Deputy Chief Caretaker to guard him.

Whilst being guarded, the Doctor outwits the Deputy Chief Caretaker by putting some new rules in the book, allowing him to escape whilst they are obeying them. On the streets, he breaks an old payphone and gets some money from it.  The Cleaners turn up and he's forced down a garbage chute.

Elsewhere, Tilda and Tabby are visited by another Resident - Maddy.  She says there's another Caretaker missing and worries that it's not normal. The two ladies agree, covering up their suspicious looking meat for dinner.

The Doctor meanwhile wakes up in the Red Kang's HQ. He uses the money he got to work an old vending machine, winning their trust by giving them lemonade.  He asks them about the cleaners that they've depicted in their wallscrawls, but the Kangs don't know anymore than he does.

The Chief Caretaker meanwhile is acting very unusual. He visits the basement where another robotic creature dwells. He refers to it as his pet, and he as it's "daddy". The creature is hungry and he is clearly fearful of it. He promises to feed the Great Architect to it.

Mel and Pex are in due course captured by the Blue Kangs before they can reach the pool at the top of the towers. The Kangs make fun of Pex and tell Mel he was meant to go off and fight in a war with all the other middle aged people in their society, but he stowed away in the shuttles bringing the others to Paradise Towers. therefore, he's a "scaredy-cat". Pex can't handle the name calling and leaves. Mel goes after him, but finds herself back with Tilda and Tabby.

The ladies begin to feed her again, but when she goes to leave, they tie her up and threaten her with a toasting fork. They clearly intend to eat her! Tabby goes to get the cooking instruments ready and she's dragged down the garbage chute by a robotic arm.

Pex shows up but is scared to confront a manic Tilda. She throws a knife at him but misses. When she goes to get the other knife, she is also dragged down the chute.  Pex unties Mel and they run off to find the "great pool in the sky" where she agreed to meet the Doctor.

Meanwhile, the Doctor is found by the Caretakers. He buys the Kangs time enough for them to escape, but he is taken once more before the Chief Caretaker.  The Chief Caretaker explains that the Great Architect disappeared shortly after creating Paradise Towers, and he believes the Doctor to be him. He is called away with the reported death of Tilda and Tabby and orders the Deputy Chief Caretaker to guard the Doctor once more. This time, the Doctor is freed by Bin Liner and Fire Escape who turn up and knock all the guards out.

The Chief Caretaker talks to Maddy who makes a fuss of the continuing disappearances. The Caretaker insists everything is under control and offers her a bigger apartment to keep quiet.

Mel and Pex avoid the Cleaners and make it into the lift. They are dropped to the basement, and hear ominous sounds of "soon I shall be free". They decide not to investigate and work on fixing the lift to get them to the swimming pool.

The Doctor does some investigation into the Great Architect. It turns out it was a man called Kroagnon. He built many structures but went mad, allegedly killing some of the residents in his buildings.

Mel and Pex make it to the swimming pool, but the Doctor isn't there. Mel decides the water is lovely and goes for a swim, but Pex is very afraid of it and says they shouldn't be there. His fears prove true as soon Mel is attacked by a giant yellow lobster robot.  She begs Pex to shoot it but he's too scared, so she has to free herself and shoot it herself.

The Doctor meets up with the Blue Kangs and has to convince both Blue and Red gangs to stop arguing and work together as he believes Kroagnon is still out there, causing problems. He gets the Kangs to agree to take him to the basement (where they have seen strange things) and sure enough, they find a robotic monster there. It gets the Chief Caretaker who is upset at the creature for being too greedy and obvious. The creature reveals itself as Kroagnon and determines that it will possess the body of the Caretaker and finally be free.

The Doctor and the Kangs run off, and the Caretaker emerges, silver-faced and zombified.

The now Zombie Caretaker is the new body of Kroanon. It reveals that it was imprisoned there after it tried to stop the use of Paradise Towers and now it is free, it will use the cleaners to kill everyone in the towers.

Mel and Pex are about to leave the pool area, but are joined by the Doctor, the Kangs, the Residents and the Caretakers - all banding together in desperation as Kroagnon moves his way up the towers, killing everything in sight.

Using some explosives that were stashed in the towers for the Caretakers, the alliance of residents and staff come together and start destroying the Cleaners, laying a trap for Kroagnon. The trap requires someone to lead Kroagnon to them. Pex finally finds the bravery within himself and agrees to be the one to do it.  He succeeds and the Doctor tries to shove him down the garbage chute with a chunk of dynamite but fails. It's left to Pex to be the one to do the deed, sacrificing himself in the process.

The survivors hold a ceremony afterwards, honouring Pex's bravery. The Doctor is gifted a red and a blue scarf as thanks from the Kangs as he and Mel leave in the TARDIS.

Trivia

• Apparently, the story came together from a conversation that Andrew Cartmell and Stephen Wyatt had in the pub whilst discussing possible ideas for the show.

• The original version of the story had all the Caretakers as fat, old men, which was disappointing to Wyatt when they got young fit men instead.

• Roger Daltrey was considered for the role of the Deputy Chief Caretaker

• The music for the first episode was produced by a different person, but John Nathan-Turner asked for it to be re-scored as he found it too monotonous and repetitive

• The only outdoor scenes were the swimming pool. It was in the grounds of a mansion held by an Arab Sheik. The water was freezing and Bonnie Langford had to be kept warm between takes with hair dryers!

• The scenes with the Cannibals - Tabby and Tilda drew complaints as they showed the potential use of knifes as weapons. 

The Review

So as opposed to the previous story, Paradise Towers has a lot to like that is let down by only a few things.  Where it's similar is that at least half of those things are in the execution.

The concept of a bright-future high rise turned into a dystopia is good and is very reminiscent of Judge Dredd and the British Sci Fi scene of the 80s.  The whole stuff about Kroagnon though is there to justify a monster of the week. It would have been far better without it in every respect.

The concept of gangs, cannibal women and someone who tried to escape but get trapped in someplace far worse is also good.  The execution is terrible however, with childish acting adult women, terrible, terrible dialogue and overacted cowardice that destroy any credibility.  Even Bonnie who was relatively good up to now, has gone full Panto and overacts every scene.

The Caretakers were actually good, especially Richard Briars, although that all goes out of the window, once the ones who look like Village People turn up and start acting stupid. Also, once Briars turns into a zombie, it goes decidedly downhill.

The swimming pool is meh, because it doesn't do anything other than have a way for people to meet there, and how Mel and Pex couldn't see the giant yellow lobster robot I'll never know!

All in all, it's a good concept that I would have loved to see work, and there's some truly entertaining characters within it (the cannibals and the Chief Caretaker), but it is a bit of a let down through execution.

Rating

6 out of 10

Re-Watchability Factor

5 out of 10

Watch this if you liked...

•  The Krotons

• Robots of Death

• Vengeance on Varos

• The God Complex (Doctor Who, Series 6)