June 18: Carnival of Monsters Episodes Three & Four

Ok, I guess the Drashigs haven't quite found the Doctor and Jo yet.  They hunt purely by smell so it's taking them a bit to track our heroes down.  But only a little bit, and the Doctor and Jo soon find themselves in trouble.  Detonating the marsh gas with the sonic screwdriver delays the Drashigs a bit, but it requires help from above, as Vorg sticks his hand in and waves the Drashigs away, giving the Doctor and Jo a chance to escape back into the circuitry.  Except, like the Mounties, the Drashigs always get their man, and they won't rest until they've eaten their prey.

It's after this that the Doctor works out that they're inside a Miniscope, which were banned by the Time Lords (thanks to the Doctor) due to their capturing of intelligent creatures.  However, it looks like this one was missed (and yes, everyone points out that maybe they've landed in a time before the ban -- but this is the Time Lords, so maybe the ban took place throughout time and space and there is no "before" time).  "And outside there are people and creatures just looking at us for kicks?...  They must be evil and horrible," Jo exclaims, and the joke isn't lost on the audience.  (Well, it's not lost on me, at least.)

But there are bigger problems at the moment, as the Drashigs have broken through into the circuitry in pursuit of the Doctor and Jo and are relentlessly hunting them down.  The Doctor finds the exit, but they'll need rope to get down to it; fortunately, there's plenty of rope on the SS Bernice.  But this means that the Drashigs also make their way on board, which leads to Lt. Andrews, Major Daly, and the rest of the crew frantically trying to fend off these huge, bizarre creatures -- though not until after they've captured Jo again as a stowaway.  But they are successful in their efforts (thanks to some dynamite which causes even more problems in the Miniscope's circuits), and the Doctor uses the opportunity to climb down and escape the Miniscope -- leading to the rather odd cliffhanger of Shirna screaming because the Doctor is free...

The Doctor holds the Inter Minorans responsible for the
Miniscope, as Shirna and Vorg look on. (Carnival of Monsters
Episode Four) ©BBC

Episode four has some great moments, such as the Doctor attempting to out-bureaucrat the bureaucrat aliens by holding them (not Vorg and Shirna) responsible for the Miniscope, and Vorg trying to get the Doctor to admit he's a carnival showman like Vorg is.  This is also the episode where Kalik, who's been quietly conspiring with fellow Tribunal member Orum for the last three episodes, starts to put his plan into action: he figures that by unleashing the Drashigs, a major incident will occur that will lead to the removal of his brother President Zarb from power, thus allowing Kalik to take over.  And so while the Doctor lashes up a machine to get himself back inside the Miniscope so that he can rescue Jo, Kalik lets the Drashigs out, only to be eaten by one (this isn't obvious from the broadcast version, but a deleted scene (as seen on the DVD) makes this clear).  Vorg's quick thinking has him use the Eradicator to destroy the Drashigs, and there's just enough power in the Doctor's lash-up to send everyone and everything inside the Scope back to their natural time and place.  Vorg is now hailed as a hero by the Inter Minorans, and the Doctor and Jo slip away in the TARDIS while Vorg demonstrates a variation of Three-card Monte/Find the Lady (delete according to nationality and/or preference) to Pletrac, taking his money in the process.

Let's make it clear: Carnival of Monsters is wonderful.  However, it's not flashily brilliant (like, say, The Caves of Androzani); it's quietly brilliant, which means that if you're not paying attention then this one might pass you by.  There are no obvious "splash" moments (to borrow a term from comics) and nothing that one can clearly point to and say, "That's why this works."  No, Carnival of Monsters works because it takes the most wonderful Doctor Who-ish idea, of taking radically different environments and mashing them together to see what comes out, and runs with it.  It's the sort of idea you won't get on almost any other show, and Robert Holmes makes it all fit together naturally.

It also gives us the full flowering of Holmes's talents, with lots of witty and knowing dialogue (to adapt a phrase from The DisContinuity Guide) on display and marvelous characterization.  One of the many brilliant things about Carnival of Monsters is that there's no real villain involved; the primary antagonist (other than the Drashigs, who are simply hunting by instinct) is bureaucracy, with a race of literal grey-faced bureaucratic aliens who want nothing more than to deport Vorg and Shirna and their Miniscope, but have to wait until they've filled in the proper forms and received the proper authorizations.  Even Kalik's plans to depose President Zarb come across more as inter-office politicking than any sort of evil intent.  Then Holmes contrasts the Inter Minor officials with the very colorful and free-spirited Lurmans, Vorg and Shirna, who have this magical machine but don't quite know how it works.

As I said before, it's not the most flashy Doctor Who tale, but it succeeds marvelously at what it sets out to do.  If you're not watching these stories in any particular order, then you might not realize the greatness that is Carnival of Monsters -- this is a story that benefits from being watched in context, because it makes its virtues stand out even more; it hardly puts a foot wrong.  One to cherish.