📝4/10

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"Paradise Towers: Towers of Trouble"

Paradise Towers takes a bizarre swing at social commentary but lands somewhere between overcomplicated and childish, resulting in an uneven, often frustrating story.

The premise revolves around a dystopian tower block governed by absurdly convoluted rules, a satirical take on bureaucracy run amok. It’s a concept with potential, but the execution falters. The factions—Caretakers, Kangs, Rezzies, and Pex—are presented in an overly convoluted manner, and their childish dialogue feels like the writers forgot Doctor Who wasn’t just for children. Worse still, the story’s attempts at pretension don’t mask its lack of truly engaging substance.

Sylvester McCoy begins to settle into the role of the Seventh Doctor here, showing glimpses of the fiercer, more serious side that will eventually define his incarnation. While the “goofy clown” aspects linger, McCoy feels more confident and enjoyable than in Time and the Rani. Bonnie Langford’s Mel also fares slightly better, though her intelligence and capability are sidelined by pairing her with the woeful Pex—an utterly uninspired “hero” who drags every scene down.

The guest cast is a mixed bag. Richard Briers brings some energy to the role of the Chief Caretaker, but his performance collapses into farce after being possessed by Kroagnon. Elizabeth Spriggs, Brenda Bruce, and Clive Merrison feel out of place, their delivery stilted. Howard Cooke’s bizarre attempt at channeling Bruce Willis makes Pex unintentionally laughable rather than sympathetic.

The Caretakers, clearly modelled as caricatures of authoritarian regimes, are almost comically ineffective, led by a Hitler-lite figure. The Cleaners—slow, clunky machines—are embarrassingly poor imitations of the War Machines, and Kroagnon, the villain of the piece, feels like a recycled Xoanon or Macra. A mad computer brain that’s little more than a plot device, Kroagnon fails to bring any real menace.

On the production side, Paradise Towers is serviceable but uninspired. The sets are functional, if unremarkable. The visual effects, while passable, lack impact, and the music—though marginally better than Time and the Rani—bafflingly insists on sampling the theme tune throughout, to diminishing effect.

The pacing begins at a steady clip, and while the second half picks up speed, the repetitive plot prevents it from fully taking off. What begins as a strange political allegory shifts awkwardly into low-budget B-movie horror. While there are moments of tension, the wooden direction and lacklustre production sap the story of its credibility.

Ultimately, Paradise Towers suffers from its tonal inconsistency, lacklustre acting, and underdeveloped ideas. While McCoy shows improvement as the Doctor, the story fails to provide the series with the fresh foundation it desperately needed. Despite a few interesting glimpses of potential, Paradise Towers is another misstep, leaving little desire for a repeat visit.

Random Observations:

• The Doctor mentions the TARDIS swimming pool being jettisoned, but it miraculously reappears in his eleventh incarnation.
• Kroagnon’s concept is reminiscent of Xoanon from The Face of Evil (1977).

This story is ice hot! It's fun, it's camp, it has interesting concepts and great costuming - everything I could want in a story! It was the first time I actually enjoyed a serial in full in, oh, eight seasons? Not a dull moment. I'm not even sure where to start with this review.

At the beginning, I suppose. From the first moment we see Paradise Towers we're clued in on the kind of story it's going to be. The corridors are eery and provoke and instant sense of unease, especially as we see the last yellow Kang running for her life. There's a quick tone shift, but that sense of unease remains for the rest of the story as it becomes clearer and clearer that there's something wrong with every single part of the Tower.

I love the Kangs. I really like the colour-coded costuming and their fun names. I think the slang is realistic and natural (hell, people today have started using unalive!), and considering we see older people use the same terms I suspect it was a general shift of language between the 1980's and the 21st century, when this is set. I think it's perfectly reasonable.

I also really like the old ladies. It's made clear that they're all cannibals, and while that does make me question where the Kangs get their food if they don't know how to work a vending machine and the Rezzies have resorted to cannibalism, I think it's an interesting touch. It adds to the general uneasiness but as it leans pretty heavily on the fairytale image of a witch fattening up children to eat, it remains lighthearted.

The Caretakers are also an interesting concept. You'd think that sticklers for the rules who follow them to a T would be dull and no fun to watch, but somehow they make it work. The Chief Deputy's change of heart towards the end is great.

Then there's the weak link, and the reason I couldn't rate this story 5/5. I don't like Pex. I find him grating for most of the story. Neither his false bravery nor his cowardice is endearing, and for the most part the only thing I could think when he died was "Good riddance."

The villain is also a bit of a weak point. The machine the Great Architect is trapped is doesn't have a particular interesting design and mostly feels like a knock-off Audry II the first time we see it. Once he takes over the Chief's body there's a bit more personality, but for the most part he feels like a generic villain with a side of zombie.

But that doesn't take away from the rest of the story for me. The sets are jam-packed with details and the whole place feels lived in. The atmosphere is expertly crafted. I would happily recommend this serial to all my friends. Maybe I could get a Kang cosplay group going....

In my opinion, Paradise Towers is an ice hot serial! I really like the way it manages to construct its setting in a natural yet detailed way throughout the four episodes. The worldbuilding is probably my favourite bit. The slang made up for the story feels realistic to me (and some of it has even entered modern usage, like "unalived", which I'm not saying is a good thing but it is somewhat interesting). I also think that the plot is largely solid with a cool concept and lots of nice suspense. The sets and costumes also look excellent, and I love the score! I also find it quite funny, and I think that it's a great introduction to the Seventh Doctor's character (Time and the Rani doesn't count...). The main critisism I have is that some aspects of the plot don't seem to make total sense to me.

Despite being targeted at younger viewers, there's a lot here for everyone and much more depth than initially meets the eyes.

Considering when this was written and filmed, the thinking about the show at the BBC back then, and the meagre funding; the finished product is amazing.  A set with multiple levels and a cleaner robot that travels smoother than K9 ever has.

There is a wealth of ideas in the script, even 'gang language' that makes you cringe but, then again, the expressions we used to say when I was young do the same.  They add a depth to this world.

Elizabeth Spriggs shines in particular.

I love the idea of a scared hero (subverting the stereotype and opposite to the Doctor).  Weirdly I found the bullying more unpleasant than the cannibalism!

The story isn't perfect:

• why doesn't anyone simply leave?
• I appreciate why the women in the gangs are women and not the children I imagine they were in the script, but it would work far better with teenagers and I struggled to suspend my belief about this,
• The Great Architect in the basement is underwhelming, and
• Richard Briars choice of character/s is... curious

but the story is a fun ride at a good pace.

A great concept with some ideas that aren't particularly well executed but the characters are interesting and it was the show trying to do something different at least. The performance from Richard Briers in episode 4 is as awful as people say however.