The Greatest Show in the Galaxy closes out Doctor Who's anniversary 25th season, an impressive season in that it was able to learn from and adjust to the mistakes seen in previous years. It is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination; I did not enjoy every story neither is every story well done. However, it does have plenty of creativity and fresh ideas floating about. Not all of them come off, but it is nice to see the writers try to be conceptually more interesting and exciting. With the possible exception of The Silver Nemesis, it's clear that a great amount of time and effort was put into each story to make it the most thought provoking and visually stimulating that it could possibly be, and I, for one, appreciated that.
The producers of the 25th season have changed and altered the show's style quite a bit to make the season a successful one. First of all, they have listened to the voice of the people and limited the amount of humor and clowning that was so prevalent in McCoy's first season. There's still plenty of silliness, but it is now somewhat overclouded by the darker and deeper narratives. Doctor Who's 24th season felt like a pointless fairytale romp into nowhere, whereas in its 25th season it is kept to acceptable limits. Secondly, the series has greatly benefited from having an interesting, well-acted, and likable companion in Ace. She really does make a tremendous difference in the quality of the programming simply because the role of the companion is so darn essential to the series. Ace in particular comes as a relief because the show has not had a strong well-written companion in a very, very long time. I would say she is probably the best companion since the early Tom Baker years. If you do the math that comes out to about 15 seasons!
The producers of the 25th season have changed and altered the show's style quite a bit to make the season a successful one. First of all, they have listened to the voice of the people and limited the amount of humor and clowning that was so prevalent in McCoy's first season. There's still plenty of silliness, but it is now somewhat overclouded by the darker and deeper narratives. Doctor Who's 24th season felt like a pointless fairytale romp into nowhere, whereas in its 25th season it is kept to acceptable limits. Secondly, the series has greatly benefited from having an interesting, well-acted, and likable companion in Ace. She really does make a tremendous difference in the quality of the programming simply because the role of the companion is so darn essential to the series. Ace in particular comes as a relief because the show has not had a strong well-written companion in a very, very long time. I would say she is probably the best companion since the early Tom Baker years. If you do the math that comes out to about 15 seasons!
With this basic understanding of the analogy, the rest of the characters quickly fall into their places. The head clown represents the BBC's middle management, ruthless bullies content to enforce the unfair agendas of their superiors on the unwilling yet powerless entertainers. In Doctor Who terms they might be the equivalent of say, Michael Grade or Jonathan Powell. Every time a "show" is bumped off, the Chief Clown responds simply by waving his hand and delivering what is possibly the creepiest grin ever seen on television. The head clown is brilliantly portrayed by Ian Reddington; he hardly speaks a word but that just makes him more terrifying because we don't understand why he does what he does. With only gentle hand motions and subtle facial features beneath his thick clown makeup, Ian Reddington makes a very strong case for the scariest Doctor Who villain of all time.
Perhaps the most interesting (and obvious) of the characters is the Whizz Kid, a young man fascinated by the circus and all of its going ons. He knows everything about it, and he spends most of his screen-time going about from character to character boring and annoying their heads off talking about it. He represents, you guessed it, the obsessive Doctor Who fan! In addition to perhaps winking at its audience while at the same giving them somewhat a bit of a dig, the Whizz Kid shows several things. First off, the Whizz Kid is completely ignorant of the danger that surrounds him; he just chats his head off all while there are killer clowns and angry gods lurking around the corner. In the same way, the "fan", though he enjoys his shows, has no idea of the figurative blood being spilt trying to keep them on the air. Secondly, remember how he says, "I know the circus is not as good as it used to be, but I'm still terribly interested"? This refers to the general public opinion that the show was waning. The fact that the Whizz Kid gets reduced to a broken pair of glasses upon a fried pile of ash after the Gods of Ragnarok roast him probably suggests the writers were tired of hearing how their show wasn't that good anymore.
The idea of the action taking place at a circus works perfectly with the ideas the story is trying to present. The circus is a symbol of fun, but at the same time its performers use makeup and garish costumes to simulate their happiness. In the same way, most TV shows use superficial means to garner attention for themselves. From the very start of the serial, the audience knows something's wrong with this circus with its off-kilter music and selective lighting. Whatever doubts remain quickly vanish when the ringmaster finishes his song on the innocent line, "you ain't seen nothing yet", but while suddenly staring into the camera with a mad glint in his eye to do it. When the viewer sees that the circus is located in the middle of an isolated desert, and that its clowns preferred choice of car is a hurst, the situation becomes all too clear; the greatest show in the galaxy is a death trap.
What makes this story stand out so much is how visually interesting it is. It's all very atmospheric and stylistically done, perfectly designed to create the most eerie of environments possible. The incidental music is some of the best I've heard in Doctor Who and somehow makes even the most trivial of scenes appear ominous. The lightning is another aspect that is done almost flawlessly; the strange array of colors against the white walls of the tent produce an usual visual effect and are enough even by themselves to suggest the circus is unattractive. The clowns are inspired characters, and once again, Ian Reddington is brilliant. This is a very scary serial, but interestingly enough, we don't actually see much of the violence; it is all done off-screen. We hear the screams, we see the pile of ashes, but we don't experience what's happening. It's all left to the imagination of the viewer, but the tone of the story is set so well, and its ideas so powerful that we don't need to; in fact, it is actually scarier this way.
What makes this story stand out so much is how visually interesting it is. It's all very atmospheric and stylistically done, perfectly designed to create the most eerie of environments possible. The incidental music is some of the best I've heard in Doctor Who and somehow makes even the most trivial of scenes appear ominous. The lightning is another aspect that is done almost flawlessly; the strange array of colors against the white walls of the tent produce an usual visual effect and are enough even by themselves to suggest the circus is unattractive. The clowns are inspired characters, and once again, Ian Reddington is brilliant. This is a very scary serial, but interestingly enough, we don't actually see much of the violence; it is all done off-screen. We hear the screams, we see the pile of ashes, but we don't experience what's happening. It's all left to the imagination of the viewer, but the tone of the story is set so well, and its ideas so powerful that we don't need to; in fact, it is actually scarier this way.
Final Notes:
- In case you didn't know, the scene where McCoy walks away as the circus explodes (which you can see in the picture above) did not go exactly according to plan. The special effects teams ordered waaaay too much dynamite, and it went off waaaay too early. The plan was McCoy would be a safe distance off, but he was only about 15 yards away when it exploded. McCoy knew they would only get one chance to get the shot so he just kept playing it straight, fully aware this was not what was supposed to happen. As soon as he got out of the shot he was engulfed in smoke, and his jacket actually caught fire. Give that man a raise...
-I have to agree with Ace; clowns are very, very scary.