Comments | arkinspace: Story #1: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy

victorylime in arkinspace

Story #1: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy

Aug 06, 2010 00:47

Written by: Stephen Wyatt
Script Editor: Andrew Cartmel
Director: Alan Wareing
Serial Number: 151
Number of Episodes: 4
Year/Season: 1988/Season 25
The Doctor: 7th (Sylvester McCoy)
The Companions: Ace (Sophie Aldred)
Synopsis: The Doctor and Ace are coerced into coming to the "Psychic Circus" on the planet Segonax, but soon find themselves in a ( Read more... )

Comments 4

victorylime August 14 2010, 01:00:13 UTC

So! What are your thoughts on this story?

If it's your first experience with the 7th Doctor/Ace, how did you like them?
Was this story able to realize the potential of the idea behind it, or did it fall short? or was it just naff altogether?

spoilers, obviously spaced_oddity August 14 2010, 02:59:30 UTC

This story wasn't my first experience with the Seventh Doctor and Ace, but I enjoyed it! It felt a little bit silly at first, but took on a much darker tone at the end of the first episode. I think that darker tone was necessary for the story to be successful. It was unabashedly creepy at times, and it was another story in which most of the minor characters end up dead. I mean, the only two (aside from the Doctor and Ace) alive at the end were Mags and Kingpin. Oh, and that dumb fruit stand lady.

I don't think it's a detailed representation of Ace's character, partially because Mags seemed like a stand-in for Ace a lot of the time. It was a good episode for the Doctor, though. Sylvester McCoy got to do some magic tricks and that was rad.

It would be interesting to imagine this story being part of a different Doctor's era. How would they handle it nowadays, I wonder?

Re: spoilers, obviously angagaladiel August 15 2010, 03:50:10 UTC

This was my first time seeing Seven/Ace (well, even just Seven), and they've definitely got an adorable relationship going on. The Doctor was really great (I think my favourite part was when he barked at the mime). I know that I'm going to want to see more Ace, hopefully with a bit better writing. I didn't know about the asbestos, pretty neat bit of trivia Nick! And having that shot inside would have been disaster, you could even tell in some of the scenes in the circus tent that they were actually shot in a tent outside, which definitely added to it ( ... )

Re: spoilers, obviously victorylime August 15 2010, 04:08:58 UTC

The show tended to do a lot of 'Aha, [villain], I have met you before', in order to give credence to the idea that the Doctor has a lot of adventures that we don't see. It's also possible they were trying to establish a bunch of continuity on the fly, as there was a definite feeling I got with this story that they were trying to say 'Hey guys, this is still Doctor Who!' What with Whizzkid and the scene where Ace is seen wearing Tom Baker's scarf and Mel's jacket. It definitely felt like they were trying to draw people back into the show.