The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
Story 151, Episodes 678-681, Season 25 Episodes 9-12
Doctor: Seventh Doctor
Companions: Ace McShane
For the first time in years, Doctor Who delivers a masterpiece of a story, perfectly melding Sylvester McCoy’s talents with an epic, well-directed tale.
The Review
It’s finally here, the next truly great story after Caves of Androzani which feels like a lifetime ago. The Doctor and Ace find themselves drawn to the Psychic Circus, a rather cheap looking tent on a very barren but sufficiently alien looking world. The build up to the circus is excellent, with the Doctor and Ace encountering a crazy biker and then T.P. McKenna’s perfectly played Captain Cook and the goth young werewolf Mags. Captain Cook is dressed like an old British colonialist, and is some intergalactic explorer, constantly having boring anecdotes all ending with how actually bored he was. The combination of Cook and a circus are both perfect foils for the Seventh Doctor, last season he cut a very generic figure, here this is the first story that simply must be a Seventh Doctor story. In fact, once the circus’ overlords the Gods of Ragnarok are revealed, the Doctor distracts them with some skills we know Sylvester McCoy possesses himself.
Ace has less to do than usual with this excellent cast of characters, but she still holds her own and is always wonderful on screen. We have Deadbeat, formally Kingpin, the leader. There’s the Ringmaster and Morgana, supposedly in a relationship chafing under their rule. There’s Bellboy, the reject who created the circuses’ robots. There’s a ‘super-fan’ of the circus, a perfect parody of nerd culture that manages to not be disrespectful. Seeds sown in part one come back in part four in brilliant ways, and finally, we must discuss the Chief Clown played by Ian Reddington. Emotionally turning on a dime, always fearsome, he is the truest villain of the story. Despite often looking like it’s someone’s home video, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy is fresh, bursting with new ideas, an evil circus perfectly suited to the Seventh Doctor. I almost forgot what great classic series stories felt like.
The premise seems ridiculous, the sets bargain basement, but incredible ideas and performances and direction make this an absolute classic and remind us that at its peak Doctor Who is absolutely the greatest show in the galaxy.
10/10 Finally, another perfect story. It’s been years in real life time. I think Doctor Who is going to have a great 1989.
Reviewing Doctor Who from Start to Finish 