Carnival of Monsters

Robert Holmes has done it again! The Third Doctor's era looks shiny through his unique lense and season ten seems to be going from strength to strength. Carnival of Monsters has the a lot of the same scale and ambition as Frontier in Space due to the beautiful clash of multiple settings and cultures. Unlike Frontier however, this is backed up by an ingenious plot and rich characters which kept me intrigued and hooked throughout.

Wonderfully, Holmes had the confidence to put The Doctor and Jo into a sub-plot for most of the story. The pacing is perfect in virtue of the characters from both worlds being explored in great detail. The events on the SS Bernice are being manipulated, despite this every character is given a fully rounded personality, heart and believable relationships. These individuals contrast wildly with those on Inter Minor, giving this story a unique mixture of flavours. Seeing these credible characters 'forget and repeat' on an hourly basis is ingenious. It is easy to forget by the end of the story that this is the central mystery of episode one!

Its magical when you see the showman Vorg from outside the miniscope controlling the level of hostility among his subjects. The beauty is in seeing these two intricately built storylines interacting in a slight and novel way. A worse writer than Holmes would have had the two worlds collide more obviously - instead Vorg only affects their lives on a purely macro level.

The three bureaucratic and humourless pen pushers from Inter Minor are a perfect counterbalance to the bright and bubbly Vorg and Shina. We get to witness the historic moment where Inter Minor get their first alien visitors and see how poorly equipped they are to deal with this. This element of the story is wonderful political allegory for which a whole four parter could have been dedicated to - instead it is indulgently sewn into this beautiful adventure.

Jon Pertwee gets so much to do, including a proper fist fight! I loved his righteous indignation when he finds out that a banned miniscope is still functioning, though he thankfully softens when it is revealed that the sympathetic Vorg barely knows how to use it and won it without knowing of its illegality. I also loved The Doctor's battle of words with the Inter Minor elite, letting them know that he was not going to let them consider him an "insignificant form of life", even for a second. Pertwee absolutely laps up this script - perhaps he is relieved after a much poorer season nine.

By the time The Doctor and Jo begin to interact with the main plot-line we already know the characters they have yet to meet very well. The Doctor never even learns of the insubordination which has occurred between the three main Inter Minor characters, but does get to catch Vord save the day from the menacing Drashigs.

I love this kind of world building - we will never step on this planet again, or meet any of these characters again, but I was left wanting more. This was a truly fabulous piece of television. The Drashigs could have been realised better on screen, but if this is the strongest criticism that can be leveled at the story then I simply just don't care. Any disappointment there is more than made up for by brief glimpses of Cybermen and Ogrons.

Oh how I wish I could have watched this story as a child in 1973 - it must have been so exciting.

A really clever and unique story, concerning the Doctor and Jo being transported inside a miniature world, known as the Miniscope. This serial makes some quite novel comparisons to zoos and Petri dishes with its central concept, and the Drashigs make for a fun monster.

I can see why Carnival of Monsters has its fans, but I found it more tolerable than anything astounding. The effects are a little dated compared to other episodes of this era, and Vorg's costume is just ridiculous to me. I enjoyed the story and mystery around the SS Bernice, and it is always fun to just have the Third Doctor and Jo in any old adventure. Yet, the other side of this story with the Minorians and Vorg far less fun and endearing. Still the idea and dynamics around the Doctor and Jo being shrunken down in this machine were interesting, there are solid moments of callbacks to other monsters that I think shows good resourcefulness from the producers, and it is an easy enough story to get through. It's not bad, it was hardly a chore to watch, and I definitely think it manages to use its unique plot and setting effectively in a way that makes it very memorable and stick out a bit among Third Doctor stories in a positive way.

It also is a nice follow-up to the Three Doctors, paying off this idea that Jo and the Doctor no longer have to be Earthbound pretty well, and setting up a new series of stories a lot more free in their potential going forward. It wouldn't always pay off and there is a bit of a delay on the TARDIS being used effectively again, at least not fully in my opinion, but Carnival of Monsters felt like a good start and had me excited for the rest of the Third Doctor era.

Carnival of Monsters has fun set pieces, delightful costumes, and a pretty solid plot. It's not life-changingly good but not everything has to be.

I liked it :]