Four episodes
Aired between 14th December 1988 and 4th January 1989
Written by Stephen Wyatt
Produced by John Nathan-Turner
Directed by Alan Wareing
Synopsis
As the TARDIS is flying through the universe, a junk mail drone appears in the console room and invites them to go to the Psychic Circus. Ace hints that she doesn't want to because she doesn't like clowns, but is goaded into it. They set their course for Segonax, the planet where the circus is running.
On Segonax, a man and a woman (bellboy and flowerchild) flee from clowns chasing them in a hearse. They split up, and Flowerchild hides in an old painted bus. She searches for, and finds an old box, but is killed by a robot. One of her earrings falls in the dust. The clowns meanwhile, eventually find Bellboy and bundle him into the hearse.
The TARDIS arrives on Segonax and as they make their way to the circus, they meet an old lady who is selling food from a cart.
They find that many "outsiders" come and go to the circus, something that really annoys the locals. On their way, they briefly meet Nord, a motocycle ganger,
Captain Cook (an intergalactic explorer) and a companion of his called Mags whom he treats more like a primitive species.
As they make their way to the circus, the group (minus Nord who goes off ahead without them), come to the painted bus. Ace pockets the earring, and they soon encounter the robot bus conductor. Captain Cook looks on nonplussed as the rest try to find a way not to be killed.
The Doctor eventually outsmarts the robot and destroys it with its own laser shooting ticket machine.
Disgusted by Cook's apathy, they split up. Mags and Cook arrive at the circus, just in time to see Bellboy get punished by a sole family of three in the otherwise deserted big top for his escape. They are eventually imprisoned.
Ace and the Doctor get to the circus and sit down, commenting on the almost deserted ring. The show begins and the Doctor is invited to take part in the show which he accepts, despite Ace asking him not to. He is also duped and imprisoned with Mags, Nord, and Captain Cook.
As this is happening, Ace is chased by the Chief Clown who recognises the earring. She loses the clowns in the corridors of the circus and finds Bellboy tied up. He is taken away by the Chief clown to help repair some robots he's supposedly created.
Back in the cage, Nord is chosen (with help from Cook) to go into the ring. He fails in entertaining the family and is obliterated. Not long after this, a geeky boy on a bike (whizkid) turns up.
He too is imprisoned, but is too obnoxious and naive to realise it. The Dcotor and Mags escape into the circus to find Ace, but Cook refuses to go.
The Doctor and Mags find some stone corridors where there is a chasm with spewing energy and a great psychic eye at the bottom.
Before they can figure out what it is, Captain Cook and a bunch of clowns find them and capture them. Cook helped because he has no intention of going in that ring and will do whatever it takes to stay alive, including sending in the others first.
Ace meanwhile has been recaptured and locked up in a room with a load of clown robots.
She faces her fears and defeats them, finding Bellboy in there also. He tells her that the circus was once much different, before they came to Segonax. He gives Ace a remote control for a large robot he built and helps her get out of the room.
Back in the circus, Whizkid has his turn in the ring, also disappoints the family and is obliterated.
The Doctor escapes again, thanks to a distraction set up by Mags, and meets Deadbeat, the Janitor. He is dumb and speaks little, but seems to spark some kind of memory in him. He leads the Doctor through the corridors and they find Bellboy and Ace. Bellboy recognises Deadbeat as "Kingpin" the former leader of the circus, and realises that something's happened to their memories. He remembers too much and urges the Doctor, Ace and Kingpin away, whilst he orders the robot clowns to kill himself so he doesn't have to live with the memory.
The trio make it to the chasm with the psychic eye. Once there, Kingpin shows them that the eye is somehow connected to a mirrored eye necklace he wears. They realise that the medallion is incomplete, the eye shape is missing the eyeball. The Doctor figures out that it's what Flowerchild was trying to find. The clowns start coming after them and the Doctor instructs Kingpin and Ace to go to the bus whilst he improvises.
The Doctor is captured again, but suggests to Mags and Captain Cook that they all go into the ring together to buy the others time. They all agree, but once in the ring, Captain Cook turns on a "moonlight" spotlight on Mags and she turns into a werewolf.
She chases the Doctor for a bit, but ultimately kills Captain Cook before turning back.
Out on Segonax, Ace and Kingpin reach the bus. They find the eye piece, which restores Kingpin's memory.
The conductor robot comes back to life and attacks them again. Kingpin tells Ace to hit the self destruct on its head which she does. They start heading back to the circus.
Back in the ring, the family are getting restless and are clearly not human. The ringmaster and fortune teller are sacrificed by the Chief Clown to appease them before he runs out to find Kingpin and Ace.
Mags leaves the circus and meets up with Ace and Kingpin and they lay a trap for the clowns.
The Doctor confronts the family and unveils them to be the Gods of Ragnarok, alien beings that feed on entertainment.
He nevertheless starts a bunch of tricks to entertain them.
Back in the desert, Ace, Mags and Kingpin find the big robot that Bellboy built and use the remote control to turn it against the clowns. They kill them all and the group steal the hearse to get back to the circus. They look for the Doctor but can't find him. Kingpin fears he may be in the "dark circus" an extra dimensional space where the beings come from. It can only be accessed by the stone corridors and the psychic eye. They go there, but before they can use the medallion they fight with a resurrected Captain Cook.
He takes the medallion and Mags shoves him into the chasm.
The medallion materialises at the Doctor's feet. Fearing him, the gods fire energy at him but the eye protects him, their attacks set off a chain reaction that destroys the "dark circus". He gets out just in time as it all blows up and meets Ace, Kingpin and Mags in the wastes as they watch the circus get destroyed.
Now free of the gods' influence, Kingpin says he's starting the circus up again to travel the galaxy. Mags agrees to join him, but Ace and the Doctor decline as they have other adventures to go on.
Trivia
- The story was filmed on location in a (you guessed it) quarry. Once all the outdoor shots had been completed, the crew went back to do the studio shots, only to find that a large quantity of asbestos had been found in the studio ceiling and the place was shut
- With fears of this becoming another Shada, John Nathan-Turner and co wracked their brains for a solution, eventually coming up with the idea to hire an actual big top and put it in a BBC car park and film the interiors there!
- As if you needed to guess, the character of Whizkid was the crew making fun of the geeky Anorak wearing Dr Who fans - a bit of a cheek really
- The Great Soprendo (TV magician of the 70s and 80s) was brought in to teach Sylvester all the tricks he performed in the dark circus
- When filming the final scene of the circus being destroyed, Sylvester was given assurances that he would be safe and to casually walk out of the tent. What nobody knew was that the demolition team had put in a lot more explosives than everyone else thought, so when it went up, it really went up! McCoy was very professional and never flinched, but when the shot was over, feared that the clothes of his back would be on fire!
- Finally, it's interesting to note that the ringmaster is Frost from Aliens
The Review
Okay, as with a lot of the Seventh Doctor stories, this one has a good potential, but the execution leaves something to be desired. The sinister circus is a staple of a great horror story and the fear of clowns is deep rooted in most of western society (there's a reason IT did as well as it did). Because of this, the show should be a sure fire hit.
The story has some good moments and even though a lot of the first episode is walking through a desert meeting wacky people, it works really well, to the point where you have to wonder if Douglas Adams actually wrote it. The characters are funny and quirky and interesting. The Chief Clown is also superbly acted and really makes you feel creeped out at times.
The story then is mainly let down by a failure to capitalise on this promising start. It feels half-arsed. The entire bit with the eye medallion, the Gods of Ragnarok and the climax is just cobbled together with very little reasoning or thought - it was done with a "it'll do" mentality. Now, that's likely because of the stresses of the studio being shut down, but still, the thing suffers greatly from it.
One saving grace is that for those who look at the bigger picture as you do when you watch the show in order, this is a key story in which the Seventh Doctor is manipulating and working on things. The very fact that the junk mail robot appears inside the TARDIS and isn't blocked by the inter-dimensional force field means that he wanted it to come. He manipulates Ace into agreeing to go, even though he knows she hates clowns, and seems to be aware of the Gods. We will be seeing far more of this manipulation in the coming season.
Overall, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy is not, it's merely The Okay Show in the Galaxy, but it's worth watching, even if for the missed potential.
Rating
5 out of 10
Re-Watchability Factor
5 out of 10
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