3.16: Carnival of Monsters

In which Doctor Who goes meta.

Broadcast: January-February 1973

Watched: April 2020

Carnival of Monsters, Episode One

Funny the things that affect how we feel about stories. I remember being stuck in an airport reading the novelisation of this aged about 10 and feeling bored out of my brain. This was probably more about the airport than the book, but it may have leaked into my feelings about the story, as I didn’t like it when I saw it either. 

But that episode was really good. The first people we see are almost our first proper aliens in colour; the design work makes me think of Douglas Adams for some reason. The structure, with it being incredibly vague how the two plots link up, is intriguingly unusual.

Are the entertainers consciously intended to parallel/parody the Doctor and Jo? The latter is now being written as quite sharp, incidentally. She’s grown since her debut.

Ian Marter! How many people have been cast as Who regulars shortly after playing one off roles? Off the top of my head I’ve got Purves, Marter, Llala, Colin, Freema, Gillan, Capaldi. Courtney as well, I guess, but that feels different as Lethbridge Stewart was not created as a regular. Funny how often it happens though.

One odd thing about this episode. Why didn’t the TARDIS take off at the start of the last one, as a sort of cliffhanger/to encourage the audience?

The cliffhanger in this one – the giant hand – is amazing though.

Carnival of Monsters, Episode Two

“Not yet, I’m only half cooked.”

Love Pertwee’s camp boxing match in a frilly green shirt. Also the walk round the studio pretending to be miniscule circuitry.

The blue people jump from “our machine didn’t work against the miniscope” to “the president has betrayed us and must be deposed” a bit sharpish.

The compression field, outside which objects return to their normal size, was clearly invented to ensure the writer didn’t need the regulars to be worrying about being 3mm tall when they escaped the miniscope.

Weirdly slow cliffhanger – the Drashig appears and then the reaction shots go on for hours. The last one was weirdly fast.

Carnival of Monsters, Episode Three

The plotting among the blue people would be more interesting if it were possible to remember which of them was which. Funny that attempts to overthrow a planetary government are basically a C plot here. Is there a 19th century Japan thing going on?

The Drashigs would be scarier if we ever saw them eat someone. Also what was the dinosaur in aid of? It’s never explained.

The joke about the old Eternal Perpetual Company (“They're designed to last forever. That's why the company went bankrupt”) is brilliant.

LOVE that the cliffhanger here is “a tiny Doctor Who appears”.

Carnival of Monsters, Episode Four

“One does not wish to be devoured by alien monsters, even in the cause of political progress!”

Are the blue men meant to be terrified of germs and tasked with preventing them? Entirely missed that piece of setup.

The polari stuff is a bit weird.

The last scene on the SS Bernice, with the old man finally finishing his book and marking off his calendar, is quite lovely. 

Again the thought occurs that something that [writer Robert] Holmes does well is *thickness*. His script always have a lot going on, lots of characters and ideas and twists. But I think he also avoids the Bob and Dave trap of it not being clear what’s at stake.

Is this also the first story that sort of doubles as a meta commentary on the show’s ridiculous set up?