Head Games |
BBC Dragonfire |
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| Episodes | 3 |  |
| Story No# | 151 | |
| Production Code | 7G | |
| Season | 24 | |
| Dates | Nov. 23, 1987 - Dec. 14, 1987 |
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With Sylvester McCoy, Bonnie Langford, Sophie Aldred.
Written by Ian Briggs. Script-edited by Andrew Cartmel. Directed by Chris Clough. Produced by John Nathan-Turner. |
| Synopsis: A tyrant unleashes his power on Iceworld, where a dragon guards powerful treasure. |
A Bang and a Whimper by Oliver Thornton 1/5/98
This was a relief to me at the end of Season Twenty-Four, which had some of the weakest stories of Doctor Who's later years. The story itself is not a great improvement, although it is fun. The main change was with the companions. Ace's debut was incredible, explosive (literally as well as figuratively) and she was already a fun and complex character. Mel, on the other hand, was still the same as always -- although portrayed as being strong-willed, when it came to the actual business of facing the dangers, she was just another screamer.
The premise of the story is by no means secure, but it is strong enough to support the action involved so far as it goes. The return of Sabalom Glitz is well orchestrated, but he often lacks any real purpose in the story, save to give Mel a reason to leave the Doctor at the end ("I'll look after him -- make sure he stays out of trouble!") and to help resolve a cliffhanger ending.
The macabre humour that characterised the Sylvester McCoy era is in evidence, most notably where he distracts the guard with a deep discussion of philosophical schools of thought, and then refers back to it when threatened with a gun by the guard's returning partner.
Dragonfire probably serves as a step up into Season Twenty-Five, the story still being fairly weak, but here certainly able to stand alone. Also, the introduction of Ace as companion is achieved all the way through the story -- as it unfolds, more and more of Ace's background is revealed, and her personality is built up into 3-D right the way through.
Not a classic in itself, but makes the transition ready for the next, altogether stronger, season perfectly. From whimper to bang!
A Review by Stuart Gutteridge 29/6/99
Although not the best tale of season twenty four (that honour falls to Delta And The Bannermen), Dragonfire is certainly very enjoyable. Chiefly remembered for the introduction of Ace, one thing in its favour, the story is not without its bad points. The reintroduction of Sabalom Glitz may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but it was too soon since his debut in The Trial Of A Time Lord, and the character was in danger of being overused; plus the fact that he doesn`t serve any real purpose in the story - he is just there.
Secondly, the oft-quoted ending to the first episode, with its oh-so literal cliffhanger. It doesn`t further the story, and just seems tacked on; besides it had been done before (in both The Daleks and The Stones Of Blood). In Dragonfire`s favour is the introduction of Sophie Aldred as Ace, and while she doesn`t convey the strengths of the character as she would do in later tales (this due largely to some of the dialogue she is given), she certainly leaves a lasting impression due to the fact that Ace is a companion with a personality.
Bonnie Langford leaves during this story, which in some ways is a shame as Melanie and Ace work very well together. She also gets a great leaving scene, although why she`d want to leave with Glitz is anybody's guess. Sylvester McCoy also seems to have found his feet here, creating an equal balance between humour and mystery for his Doctor.
Best of all however, is Edward Peel as Kane, an outstanding villain, who is not entirely unsympathetic. Something else worthy of mention are the effects, the melting of Kane and the Dragon (sorry bio-mechanoid) are achieved to a high standard. On the whole then Dragonfire is a highly enjoyable tale, despite not being up to the standards of the later McCoy tales.
How Sophie Aldred Almost Saved the Dayby Sean Homrig 22/7/99
True fans of Doctor Who will generally sit through any episode, even the bad ones, just to see our favorite hero in action. However, there are a few stories that we're too embarrassed to admit are part of the series and, unfortunately, many of those stories are from the McCoy era.
No offense to McCoy himself. He and Ace undoubtedly had the best chemistry than any of the other previous Doctors and their companions, but the Doctor and Ace were just stuck in such horrible stories. Right before Colin Baker left, it seemed as though the creators gave up any efforts to take their show seriously, the result being something akin to Batman. Don't get me wrong, Batman's a great show, it's just not what Who fans want to see. Well, at least that's true for yours truly.
Dragonfire seems to be the last gasp the scriptwriters made before jumping ship and leaving everything in the hands of McCoy and Aldred. Perhaps the best thing they did was get rid of the hyperactive little Mel before she cracked any windows with that squeal of hers. The story has a decent villain (a little too much in common with a certain villain from a certain aforementioned show to be completely original, though), a neat setting, a cool new sidekick, and an interesting return by an old character (although after one episode it seems Glitz is only there for window dressing, which proves to be true when we learn he was probably thrown in to provide Mel with a reason for leaving). It seems the creators had the tools to make a great story here, but they lost their concentration halfway through it.
For instance, I will personally reward anybody a billion dollars if they can tell me exactly what's happening at the end of the first episode. What in the world is the Doctor doing with his umbrella? One moment he purposely puts himself in peril and then next moment he's safe again. Huh? And was I the only one who find the little girl annoying? The old King Kong-Fay Wray relationship between monster and girl is old (it didn't even work well in Robot, barring the horrible Barbie doll shot), and it's just completely hokey here. For me, 'hokey' seems to describe quite a lot of the elements of the series from this point on.
All in all, this is a story that would look pretty good in a treatment on paper, but the filmed result is pretty pathetic. Unfortunately, I think it's one of the best of the McCoy era. Even The Curse of Fenric and Remembrance of the Daleks didn't do any thing for me. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the writers don't wait until the last five minutes of Dragonfire to quickly explain what's going on, as they did in those episodes. It's such a pity that the relationship between the Doctor and Ace wasn't allowed to blossom in more decent stories. Thank God we have the novelizations to have a glimpse of what could have been.
A Review by Rob Matthews 22/2/02
Okay, a confession: Dragonfire is actually one of my favourite Doctor Who stories. This in spite of my better judgement, of course. For one thing, its plot has a fatal flaw which makes the whole thing a nonsense. For another, the affection bestowed upon Sabbalom Glitz is really rather sick when you remember that he's a coldblooded killer. Both quite big problems.
But it's one I enjoy rewatching, and that's something I can't honestly say about certain stories that I know are far better, like Inferno or Caves of Androzani. Dragonfire's light and fun and gets by on a mix of atmosphere and being generally good-natured. The rapport between the four leads makes me want to shrug off the plotting problems and to forget that Glitz was introduced as a killer and therefore no better than a Dalek, Sontaran or anything else. I'm happy to let this loveable Del Boy Trotter in Space-type take precedence over that memory because everyone seems to be getting on so well.
The sets are pretty good, and the backgrounds mocked up with visual effects done well. Dominic Glynn's music is just wonderful, completely evocative of the icy barrenness of the Iceworld colony. Some fans moan about the synthesiser scores used during the eighties, but I that's probably just because of the generally hideous way Keff McCulloch did them. And since so many fans bemoan the loss of Dudley Simpson's clarinet-and-xylophone-type scores from the seventies, I'm gonna point out to the contrary that those scores always sounded the same and weren't that good. Dominic Glynn and Mark Ayres' contributions to the show far surpassed them.
Another superficial-but-good element of the story is the sound effects themselves. They're easy to overlook, but they too improved immensely in the show's final years - helped, no doubt, by the introduction of stereo sound. Think of the high-pitched hiss as Kane squeezes people's faces to death, the wham of power as his long-dormant spaceship starts up, or the echoing winds of that ice abyss the Doctor dangles himself so very pointlessly over.
(other examples from later series - the explosion of Skaro's sun, which gives the scene an awesome effect that the visuals can't match. The background winds of Terra Alpha, which evoke the feeling of being outdoors in a big, brooding city in spite of the patently fake sets).
Perhaps what's most interesting about Dragonfire is its ease of reference. After Ghost Light it's maybe the show's most multi-referential story. But where Ghost Light did it deliberately and literately (evoking Dracula, Heart of Darkness, Jekyll & Hyde, Kafka's Metamorphosis, Alice in Wonderland etc), Dragonfire does it seemingly accidentally, almost reflexively. Without drawing attention to itself its saturated with pop culture reference - the cantina scene from Star Wars, the creature from Alien, Mr Freeze from Batman, the ice fortress from the Superman movie (including the crystalline technology and the holograph), the subtle Wizard of Oz references (Dorothy brought to Ice World by a storm, the villain melting and leaving only his clothes behind). The scene where Kane melts even does a two-for-one, reminiscent as it is of that scene in one of the Indiana Jones movies. Derivative as hell, perhaps, but DW was never shy about nicking its ideas.
The literal cliffhanger to episode one is bollocks, but I think accusations of postmodern ponciness are misplaced. I read in David J. Howe's guide to the Seventh Doctor era that it was simply a script idea that transferred badly to the screen. Apparently the Doctor was supposed to be getting down onto another ledge below and misjudged it. This an odd show of directorial incompetence given the nice touches added to other aspects of the production, such as Glitz's furry dice and stolen artworks, or the little puppety creature that snaps at the Doctor in the cafe. In the background of the ice-jammed docking bay there are extras milling around on what is clearly part of the set of Kane's control room, but I appreciate the effort to make it look like part of a busy spaceport.
Ace is introduced here, displaying all the laboured 'streetwise' qualities that made me initially dislike her, but also the acting skill and dedication to the character that would - almost as soon as her next story - make her one of my favourites. In fact, revisiting this one you notice certain subtle things that you didn't the first time around, like her never referring to anyone by their real name unless she really means it. The scene where Kane tempts her into joining his mercenaries immediately shows that the scripts are going to lavish more attention on her than they did on Mel or Peri. I'm so glad they chose her over that soppy bint from Delta and the Bannermen.
Kane was also the only believable villain in this entire season. Okay, there was maybe the Rani too, but she was characterised pretty much by her disinterest. She was a callous meddler, whereas Kane is bitter and cruel and tragic. An improvement on the one-dimensional thug Gavrok or the none-dimensional Kroagnon.
Good thing the series lasted long enough to show that it could do better than this, though. Even if no sod was watching anymore.
Doctor Who in a nutshell by Joe Ford 14/5/02
I am here to testify that Dragonfire is the ultimate Doctor Who story, a virtual blueprint for the majority of the series and a relief to end the somewhat diabolical shambles known as season twenty four.
Episode one introduces the principal players….we have the grouchy Doctor, bubble'n'squeak Melanie (soz, couldn't resist) leading the show arriving on the freezer centre Iceworld. We are soon introduced to the sulky teenager who calls herself Ace and the intergalatic porker Glitz. Can this place be as wonderful as it suggests? Obviously not, sinister goings on are afoot below the freezer centre where a real nasty piece of work called Kane is freezing up more than meat in his chests! Glitz and The Doctor set off on their quest to discover the 'Dragonfire' leaving the girls behind to pour milkshakes over innocent patrons. Revealing a little more of Ace's past we discover she is angst ridden, parent bashing teenager (erm, but then which one isn't?) with a penchant with explosives. Of course our innocent girlies are soon in hot water and dragged up in front our 'chilling' adversary. After escaping the choice from hell, they come face to face with the big monster of the show…and The Doctor in a moment of utter insanity decides to commit suicide by hanging off his brolley over a sheer ravine….cue dramatic music!
Episode two shows the sheer stupidity of just about everybody involved in the story. Not only does The Doctor scream at Glitz that he's about to plummet to his death (then why did he jump over then!!!!) but Ace starts wowing the big scary monster instead of bloody well running away. It appears are not all well in the enemy camp as scheming Belazs plots Kane's death. Fortunately Ace has giant step ladder in her bag so they can pursue the Doctor with ease (and a flask too…what is that…the never ending rucksack?) but alas they are being chased by evil zombiffied mercaneries…who glitter and sparkle in the light (ahh pretty). The Doctor and Glitz discover that appearances aren't all they seem…the dragon is actually a pretty cool guy/gal and wants to help. Kane is understandably miffed at the assasination attempt and proceeds to use his frosty hands to dispose of the traitors. The Doctor, Glitz, Ace and Mel all, bump into each other just in time to get the plot explained to them and the big twist of the show…the evil Dragon is in fact Kane's jailer on this icy planet! And inside his jigsaw head is the key to escape….!!!
Episode three has our villain realising his error and sending out two of his guards with funny hats out to kill the dragon (or a two foot scorpion depending on what they find first!). The Doctor realises something is wrong with the whole situation and takes a trip back to his trusty spaceship to check a few starcharts. Ace stupidly goes off on her own to get captured. Glitz visits her room (knowing where she sleeps ay? Wey-hey!). The creature hangs out with a little girl for a bit before having his head chopped off. A little miffed the head proceeds to kill the funny hat gaurds. We are now set up for the finale, the confrontation with the bad guy. He has Ace captive, Mel has the key to his escape and The Doctor has a trick up his sleeve. After a exchange of words Mel decides being called 'Doughnut' isn't so bad after all and gives Kane the Dragonfire for her mate's life. But alas Kane's plan is thwarted by 'a quirk of time' as it transpires his planet he wants revenge on went kaboom years and years ago! Gutted! So he opens the blinds and melts away like a cornetto in the sunshine leaving a soggy mess on the floor for Glitz to mop now the colony belongs to him. Trusty companion Mel decides for no good reason hanging out with The Doctor isn't cool anymore and decides that bearded criminal Glitz would be more of a laugh. The Doc, realising he can't go into another adventure without someone to sprain their ankle decides to offer Ace a lift around the universe. The little girl almost joins them but is stopped by her surprisingly unfazed mother. The end.
That's Dragonfire in a nutshell, littered with silly moments, poor comedy and terrible sets. And it's GREAT. A villain with hands that kill stealing the show, a snappy arrogant Doctor, three companions (the good, the bad and the ugly…not sure which is which!), loads of corridors, silly cliffhangers, nice effects, a decent ending, great lines ("Tempus fugit, I want to be back in time for tea") and loads of faceless gaurds and zombies…sounds like an archetypal Doctor Who story to me. And after the ridiculous (Time and the Rani), the disapointing (Paradise Towers) and the 'all style no substance' (Delta) it came as a shocking relief.
Bonnie works wonders with Aldred (mind you there are times when they have a 'who can stress their lines more' competition) and it is very promising that she was kept on. McCoy is starting to get a feel for the role and imbues more of that snappy Doctor-ness than previous stories and Glitz is always a laugh.
It was a firm reminder that JNT could still make Doctor Who. Enough said.
Paddingfire by Andrew Wixon 26/7/02
Changing of the guards time for the seventh Doctor, as the quintessentially Season 23 characters of Mel and Glitz show up to say hail and farewell - the hail to Sophie Aldred's quintessentially Cartmelish Ace, and the farewell to the series in general. Dragonfire seems to have acquired a reputation as the best of a bad lot (not that I'd consider Season 24 a bad lot in any way, of course). And why? Well, I suppose because it's not obviously jokey or campy, and it has a straightforward plot and a strong villain.
Well, I'll grant you that Edward Peel is very good as Kane, although you have to wonder at the character's thought processes ('I am imprisoned on an ice planet, with the only way off guarded by a lethal cyborg. What shall I do? I know, I'll open a supermarket!'). But as for the other two... Well, this story has more jokes written into it than any other of the season - all the cross-talk between the regulars, the excruciatingly droll scene with the philosophical guard, right down to crass slapstick as the milkshakes go flying every which way. And as for the plot...
To say Dragonfire is heavily padded is a major understatement. I think episode two could quite easily be edited out without anyone noticing. All the stuff with Glitz trying to steal his ship, with the ice-zombies, and with Belasz and Kracauer's attempt to kill Kane is completely incidental to the story. Ian Briggs has to introduce a couple of virtual lookey-likeys to replace them for the final episode. And as for all that stuff with the creepy little girl freeze-drying her teddy... ugh. But having said that, the Doctor's 'pay back the debt' speech shows the first inklings of the deeper characterisation of the next two seasons and Ace's autobiographical monologue is Sophie Aldred's finest moment in the story (most of the time she seems to think the camera and boom mike are half a mile away from her).
So an enjoyable story, but really just a signpost in the evolution of the Cartmel style. (A seventh Doctor story with too little plot? Wonders will never cease.)
A preview of things to come by Michael Hickerson 22/8/02
After three stories that are all over the map, it's nice to see the McCoy years finally begin to settle down a bit and offer us the first glimpse of just how good they could be with Dragonfire. Don't misunderstand me -- Dragonfire is far from perfect Who, but compared to the other three stories of season 24, it's positively Shakespeare.
With two of the first three McCoy stories being little more than pantomimes, it's nice to see the series return to its roots a bit and begin to come a bit more into focus. For the first time in the seventh Doctor's era, the entire production team seems to be on the same page and the result shows on screen. McCoy turns in his best performance of season 24 -- it's amazing to see how natural and confident he appears as the Doctor here in comparison to Time and the Rani only three stories earlier. I think part of that is that he's given some strong supporting characters to play off and doesn't have to carry the entire load himself.
Overall, the performances in the story are universally good. Tony Selby does a nice job with Glitz and the give and take banter between the Glitz and virtually everyone else in the story works rather well. Sophie Aldred comes in and immediately lights up the screen as Ace, though the character is still in the formative stages and does have a few wince-inducing lines. It's easy to see why the producers chose to go with Ace as the definitive companion of the McCoy years. And the villains are pretty well done from the sarcastic Belazas to the memorable (if for the opening lines only) henchman who declares the luck of Glitz's crew.
But the real acting credit of the story has to go Edward Peel as Kane. Peel takes what could have been a one-note character and really delivers a fully balanced performance. Yes, Kane is a bad guy, but Peel is able to make us feel a bit of sympathy for him. As with all good bad guys, Kane is motivated to do villainous things because to his way of seeing things, he's doing the right thing. I find this type of villain far more effective than the Snidely Whiplash type of villain who twists the moustache and rubs the palms together. Kane just works as a villain because they get the little things right -- the steam pouring off his victims when he freezes them to death is a very nice touch. Peel is superlative in moments that could have been campy or over the top -- such as the scene where he tries to convince Ace to talk the sovereign or at the destruction of his ice statue in his secret lair. Had it not been for Peel, Dragonfire might have been an average story instead of a good to middling great one.
And finally the incidental music of for the McCoy years begins to take shape a bit. After the embarrassingly bad music from Delta and the Bannermen, the score to Dragonfire is a breath of fresh air. The music serves to enhance the mood, add tension and give the viewer a real sense of drama. One particularly effective passage is every time Kane's soldiers are out on the hunt, that their footsteps are timed to a beat in the music, thus giving the scene a bit more tension. Dragonfire is a great example of what incidental music should be.
In a lot of ways, the story feels like a preview for the great things that Ian Briggs will do later in season 26 with a story that is my personal favorite from all of Doctor Who, The Curse of Fenric.
All that said, there are some things that just don't work as well in Dragonfire as they should.
For one, the characterization of Glitz. How the character has changed since the days we first saw him in Mysterious Planet. In Mysterious Planet, Glitz is little more than a mercenary with his side-kick Dibber. And while I can believe that people change, the radical change in Glitz's character is a bit hard to take here. He goes from being a cold-blooded killer to being comic relief to the Doctor and Ace. I can understand that the character was a strong one and they wanted to bring him back, but it's almost at the expense of the character we met in Mysterious Planet.
Next up, there's the setting of Ice World. The sets are marvelous to view and well done on the limited budget that Doctor Who has. But beyond Kane and his goons, very few people seem concerned that the planet is made up of ice. Mel runs around in short sleeves and no coat, Ace in shorts and the little girl, Stellar runs around in a dress. It's hard to believe that it's really actually cold on the planet if none of the people on screen takes steps to look as if they're cold. Yes, there are moments when the cast slip around the floor to indicate they are walking on ice, but they don't show that it's actually as cold as it should be.
And I'd be remiss if I didn't point out how incredibly silly the (literal) cliffhanger to episode one is. The novel of Dragonfire attempts to explain why the Doctor chooses to go down the cliff. However, here we have no such explanation. The cliffhanger is forced, contrived and rather silly. And again, my big complaint about the early McCoy years crops up again here -- there are several, better points for a cliffhanger from a dramatic standpoint. Imagine how much more effective the end to episode one would be if it were Kane trying to convince Ace to take the gold sovereign rather than the Doctor hanging at the edge of his umbrella. I think we'd be looking at one of the all time great cliffhangers of all time instead of one of the most derided in all of Doctor Who history.
Finally, while I love Kane as a villain, the ending to the entire story seems a bit rushed. Kane finds out his planet is gone and then commits suicide. The story seems to be taking the easy way out, in a rush to wrap this story up in three episodes. Yes, the Kane melting sequence is pretty darn spectacular for Doctor Who, but it's more about the effect than why it makes sense of the character to do that. And since Doctor Who is built more on the quality of the scripts than the special effects, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense as to why Kane does this.
But, despite all these flaws, Dragonfire does one thing right -- it brings the fun back to Doctor Who. There's a serious villain, some good Doctor/companion banter and a strong supporting cast. It's a preview of just how good the McCoy years can be and will become as the series celebrates it's twenty-fifth anniversary.
A Review by Will Berridge 18/4/03
Dragonfire is a story favourably comparable to previous material in season 24 - Time and the Rani (AAARGH!), Paradise Towers (Ouch!), and Delta and the Bannermen (Hmm...), but still a long way off the superfluous later stories of the era - Curse of Fenric, Remembrance of the Daleks, Battlefield, Curse of Fenric, Ghost Light, Curse of Fenric...
Its transitional nature is best highlighted in that it's the story that kicks out Mel (hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah), and brings in Ace, and, erm, starts of the whole mysterious Fenric plot, sort of. Several aspects of her character are a bit confusing, however, not least that she doesn't seem to know what her age is. She tells Kane "I'm six... eighteen!" but conveniently changes it back to sixteen again when trying to persuade Mel she's too young too die. And all that stuff about her parents not being her real ones doesn't fit in with the events of Curse at all - she seems pretty sure "Audrey" is her mother when Fenric tells her she's just saved her life and hence created her own future. Incidentally, doesn't she seem terribly blase about the fact she has been whisked off to a far out planet in a timestorm anyway. (Well it was only to a department store.) This is the only story where her Brill!/ Ace! moments are overdone (and I don't mind the second one so much as it's her own personalised exclamation) and her explosive moments more than make up for this. I don't think a companion ever gets a better "face up to villain" moment than Ace's "How do you feel like arguing with a can of deodorant that measures Nine on the richter scale?" (TO Mel) "RUNNNN!". Just look at the comparative reactions of Mel and Ace in the cliffhanger at the end of Episode 1 and decide which one you prefer. If you wanting this and like treating the programme with a degree of respect (you deluded fool), then pretend Bonnie Langford just isn't there. She makes absolutely no difference to the plot.
The plot is daft but never mind. For one of the greatest criminal masterminds of the universe, Kane seems to have been given a bit too much opportunity to escape, dumping him on a commercial planet with the very means to get his spacecraft of it, a very achievable challenge for him as all he has to do is get some of his minions to zap the dragon for him. One wonders why it took him 3000 years. He must have got very bored. Also, the brief trip off to the Nosferatu ends up as a pointless diversion, as Glitz, Belasz and the Doctor manage to get past the guards but the first two are taught by the Doctor that stealing is wrong. And it seems they agree with him and walk off. I'm especially surprised at Glitz, whose attitude towards the Ten Commandments is probably that they're alright without the "not"s. At least this section has Sylvester McCoy at his comic best, with much joking about metaphysics, theology, semiotics (whatever that is) etc. Though it's hardly an area of expertise for me, I can hardly see how the fact Belasz wants to kill the Doctor and Glitz makes her an existentialist, however. (I suppose existentialists are just like that.) It's a pity only this comic side of McCoy appears in this as opposed to the more grim (maybe there's a bit of this in the conclusion) and mysterious element that characterised his successful later years. It combines well with the rogueishness and dodgy machinations of Glitz, however, who has especially great fun taunting him as he's about to "plummet to his death" (or down a few feet onto a small ledge we didn't notice was there). Actually, almost all the figures in the plot are well characterised, even those two who seem to be rather artificially brought in for Episode 3 to replace Kracauer and Belasz. But the young girl and her stuck-up mother are just another of the pointless diversions that seem to like appearing in this period, like half the things that happen in Silver Nemesis. Where was the mum whilst everyone was getting massacred, anyway? The lavatories? To maintain credibility the dragon/"bio-mechanoid" sacrifices all ability to communicate (even when the Doctor discusses star charts with it I don't think it's nodding its head), meaning it only functions effectively as a monster with zappy eyes. Best of the lot is probably Kane, a, erm... chilling villain so cold he even manages not to ham up the "You stupid girl!" line. In fact the whole scene where he tempts Ace with the Golden sovereign was probably the best in the series for quite some time. He also gets bonus marks for killing the architect who carved the statue of his lover without a second thought. The bastard!
One of the most disappointing aspects reviewing McCoy stories is I don't get to slag off the effects, certain "Bassets" rip-offs apart. (Oh come on, we all get perverse pleasures from doing it! Why else do so many reviewers write "strictly speaking the effects should not matter in a programme like DW but I'm going to complain anyway"). In Dragonfire I'll just have to content myself praising them, which is far less satisfying. Particularly, the modelling of the Kane's starship and the accompanying music as it takes of create an epic feel. The Nosferatu's take off and explosion is almost equally well done. I can't think off the top of my head of a better effected stunt in DW than the melting away of Kane's face. I was about 6 when I watched both the VHS of this and whatever Indiana Jones film it was a similar effect happens, and to Dragonfire's credit, I always used to get them mixed up. And they both scared me witless. At 6, that is.
Dragonfire is a season 24/25 hybrid. Fortunately the acting, design and music transcend the panto-ish nature of the rest of the season. McCoy is funny in this one but has a long way to go to being the "dark manipulator" of later years, and the plot is nowhere near as absorbent as the likes of Remembrance of the Daleks, Curse of Fenric, or Ghost Light. 7.5/10
Dull embers by Tim Roll-Pickering 12/7/03
Wrapping up Season 24 is this subdued tale which sees the 'Dark Doctor' version of Sylvester McCoy's portrayal emerge ever more whilst handling a relatively lightweight adventure and encountering both old and new friends. Dragonfire was billed as being the 150th Doctor Who story, a highly contentious numbering, but there is very little in it that makes it feel like an anniversary story in any way. Sabalom Glitz returns, a move presumably intended to remind viewers that despite the change of Doctor, title sequence and style the series does still take place in the same universe as the previous season, but otherwise links to past adventures are non existent. Instead we get an interesting story of long harboured revenge, but which fundamentally makes little sense. Why does Kane wait 3000 years before trying to find the Dragonfire, especially if his troops can so easily destroy the dragon? What is the whole point of the subplot involving Stellar, which never really connects to the main story at all? How on earth can a sixteen year old generate a time storm in her bedroom from a chemistry experiment? (Okay I know someone's going to mention The Curse of Fenric, but that story came two years later.) And, of course, why does the Doctor climb over a cliff and slip down his umbrella for no reason whatsoever?
Dragonfire is an unfortunate example of padding extending a story beyond its natural length, even when there are only three episodes. The result is that an incredibly simplistic plot is drawn out by pointless running around in corridors, philosophical scenes such as the Doctor's conversation with a guard and aborted assassination attempts on Kane that contribute nothing at all to the story and so simply protract it further. The concepts of love and hate are paid brief service to, but don't really give enough of an insight into Kane so it is a wonder that Edward Peel is able to give such a strong performance going on so little. Few of the other guest cast give good performances, whilst Bonnie Langford's final performance as Mel doesn't stand out in any particular way and so her departure is unmemorable despite a good speech from the Doctor. Sophie Aldred debuts as Ace in this story and gives a good performance as a companion with a difference from before, feeling a lot more real than many earlier companions. Sylvester McCoy's performance veers between being manic at times but at other times seeming more subdued and manipulative as shown by the way in which the Doctor sets up the climax as Kane discovers his revenge is futile and is then talked to his death.
The production of Dragonfire ranges from good modelwork and visual effects that create an excellent dragon and a wonderful shot of Kane's face shrivelling up, to the more mundane. The whole thing is lit like a supermarket, even the sections that aren't supposed to be one, and there's relatively little atmosphere. This music tries but fails to build up tension in key scenes such as the one where Ace decides whether or not to accept Kane's sovereign, whilst the sets are mainly drab. Dragonfire is ultimately a rather dull and boring adventure that may have a few little good moments but is otherwise a poor end to a season and in no way a celebratory story. 3/10
"Doctor Who -- The Unfolding Subtext" by Jason A. Miller 19/3/04
One of the first things I noticed about Dragonfire this time around is that the central console in Kane's lair looks extraordinarily like the central console in the Doctor's TARDIS. Then I started thinking about other similarities between Kane and the Doctor. Both have a penchant for young girls. Kane, for instance, tries to buy Ace by tempting her with whispered speeches about "the twelve Galaxies". The Doctor successfully wins Ace as a companion later on by using the same line.
Fittingly, both Kane and the Doctor also "drop" older female companions who've worn out their welcome. This is the episode that wrote out Bonnie Langord (Mel), the companion who never had anything to do, the companion who never seemed to be acting on the same show as Sylvester McCoy. At the same time, Kane kills his aging female companion, Belasz, who wears out her welcome after nearly 20 years at his side -- by trying to mastermind his death, to be fair to Kane. Similarly, one could be forgiven for believing that Mel was trying to mastermind the Doctor's incipient deafness.
Dragonfire is also about revealing the person behind the person. It's been said that Ace was supposed to have lost her virginity that galactic rogue, Sabalon Glitz. That's never explicitly stated on screen, but there are a couple of oblique hints in Ian Briggs' own novelization. And, on this, my fourth viewing of the story, that explanation made more sense: why else would Ace harbor such bitterness for the guy? Yes, she's only using lame epithets like "bilge bag", but that was the best the BBC could give us in 1987. Clearly she meant some other kind of "bag". Even the fact that Ace is blatantly borrowed and updated from "The Wizard of Oz" seems like a neat idea, and it's not her fault that a faction of the subseuqent DW novel writers insisted on pinning her with the surname "Gale".
My favorite complex character is the Neanderthal-looking security guard that McCoy tries to hoodwink in Part Two. The diminutive Doctor can't figure out how to trick this behemoth away from his post, so he tries to baffle him with doubletalk about the "imperial critical belief that experience is at the root of all phenomena". Only in this story, though, could that security guard turn out to be an armchair existentialist who banters back, polysyllable for polysyllable. With scenes like that, Dragonfire gets away with some of the most complex humor in all of Doctor Who. And, of course, with names like McLuhan and Kane and Nosferatu (and, in the novelization, Eisenstein), the subtext appropriately becomes the text.
Finally, doesn't Glitz look just the slightest bit like 1980s-era JNT?
Even the story's faults are relatively benign. The sets have been criticized for looking cheap and overly bright, but I quite like the opening shot: a dozen extras in uniform march away from the camera into a multi-level set shrouded in dry ice. Kane (Edward Peel) is hardly Doctor Who's most demonstrative villain: he's given to reciting lengthy speeches, and even his Part Two cliffhanger rant is hardly worth the electronic scream. But, in a season where the other lead villains were serial overactors (Kate O'Mara, Richard Briers and Don Henderson), Peel merely reminds one of a more sensible Bond villain, like Julian Glover in "For Your Eyes Only", or the Telly Savalas Blofeld. Not memorable, but competent enough for the production at hand.
In the end, Dragonfire was eventually consumed by its own subtext. On TV, Mel was given a charming, extended departure scene. McCoy beeps her on the nose and they both hug. They both get interesting nonlinear dialogue, and for the first time since Terror of the Vervoids, Bonnie Langford really seemed like a companion who belongs on the show. Even her pairing up with Glitz would have made a great spinoff. Instead, however, the later novel writers decided that Mel didn't deserve a proper depature, so they retroactively tinkered with the Doctor's motives: what really happened is he mind-controlled her out of the TARDIS, into such a bad situation that she wound up miserable and destitute (and, several dozen novels later, dead).
Somehow, I don't believe Ian Briggs' experience was at the root of that particular phenomenon.
A Review by John Anderson 28/9/04
There is a temptation that when an award is subject to a public vote, to proclaim the result a reflection of popular opinion. This is of course not entirely true; as the old saying goes there are lies, damn lies and statistics. What the so-called public vote represents is the opinions of the people who chose to take part, and is therefore subject to the agendas and prejudices of the sample pool. And that's before you even get into the sticky problem of all the "don't knows/don't cares/go aways" that such samples are subject to.
So when the DWAS and DWM used to have seasonal polls to find the most popular story of a season, the poll might have been on a much smaller scale but the same principle applies. Now, for better or worse, Doctor Who fans are remarkably conservative in their tastes, we always (and I mean ALWAYS) err on the side of caution. So back in the heady days of early 1988, what should find itself coming out top?
Dragonfire.
Apparently Dragonfire achieves the rare distinction among its season 24 brethren of being the most like 'traditional' Doctor Who. I'll quote Tim Munro from his review in DWB No. 51, dated January 1988 (which the Howe/Stammers/Walker triumvirate loved too; they used it in The Television Companion): "It was the only story which came anywhere near to recapturing the unique atmosphere of 'real' Doctor Who." Ok, so he says "real" rather than "traditional," but it's still a great quotation. Especially good is the way our man Tim hijacks the expression "real Doctor Who" and uses it to mean whatever he wants it to mean. It would be facetious of me to say "real Doctor Who, as opposed the imaginary kind that you've been watching for the last eleven weeks," but playing on such a nebulous concept as "real," or my preferred "traditional" smacks of sloppy, tabloid journalism. What he really means is "the Doctor Who I used to watch when I was young and the Yeti were ten feet tall and it was SOOOO scary and everybody at school didn't laugh at me for being such a saddo."
Anyway, since when did being "traditional" warrant celebration? Dragonfire is traditional in the sense that it has the "it's the last serial of the season and oh my God we've run out of money what are we going to do?" look of cheapness about it. Overall, season 24 looks a lot more expensive than season 23 did (space station excepted), but of the four serials from this year, Dragonfire suffers the most from poor design. It is something of a cliché to wheel out the old "BBC are great at costume drama" chestnut but if Cartmel learnt anything from this season, it was that the designers of the day liked to keep things real. A decaying tower block has a real world connection, as does the 1950s, but obviously ice caves and spaceships are still a bridge too far for BBC design teams circa 1987.
You would think that if your sets are shoddy that you'd want to hide the damn things as much as possible, ergo, turn the lights off. A little bit of suspense can go a long way, just ask Chris Carter; Mulder and Scully spent most of season two of The X-Files pottering about in the dark; you begin to wonder if the pair of them are nocturnal. As a consequence every single ice cave scene in Dragonfire has no sense of space whatsoever. People wander around what is supposed to be underground, cramped, unlit, naturally formed, poorly ventilated and freezing cold ice caves as if they've walked into the post office. Sylv is the only member of the cast to remember this, but as he is the ONLY one, his slipping comes across as a piece of misjudged slapstick.
So much of Dragonfire comes across as misjudged. The newfound confidence that was on show in Delta has been retarded and the series is back on the uneven ground it occupied during Paradise Towers. Nowhere is this more apparent than THAT cliffhanger. I can't decide whether Chris Clough betrays a lack of faith in the material or simply cannot give a toss. If the latter is true then the man should never have been allowed to work on the show again, but - having read the revealing interview with Eric Saward in DWM recently - on set in 1987 there were probably a hundred good reasons for it at the time. It's just a shame that none are readily apparent.
A slew of good ideas are undermined by this slapdash approach, the Alien-influenced biomechanoid dragon just one. I always appreciate Doctor Who's efforts to punch above its weight and so tend to be more forgiving when high concept ideas fall a little flat. Yes, the dragon is a man in a rubber suit, but Graeme Harper had just such an unwieldy creature in Androzani and got away with it. Just.
It may seem like I've belatedly joined the queue of season 24 bashers after giving the three preceding serials a relatively easy ride but that's not the case. Taken in a wider perspective the last serial of season 24 is much better than the first and although I personally prefer Delta, Dragonfire still feels like part of an uphill trend. Plus points are Sylvester's increasing melancholy, particularly in Mel's leaving scene - Mel's leaving of course being a big plus in its own right, if I feel so inclined to return to my previous facetiousness. A helpful reminder that yes, this is the same character who will declare war on the evils of the universe for the next two seasons.
Ace, despite some clunky dialogue, proves to be a good addition to the programme. She is conceivably the first pro-active companion since the second Romana and her ability to carry her own sub-plots is a blessing that will only become apparent in the future. Paired with Mel for a lot of the action gives you the chance to directly compare the two; of Mel, Ray and Ace I still think the production team made the right decision.
Tony Selby remains tremendously watchable. He never hits the heights of the Holmes-inspired wit that he's given in part thirteen of Trial, but he's playing the part with just the right amount of tongue-in-cheek bravado that the furry dice in the cockpit of the Nesferatu seem perfectly in character. I can also justify his inclusion in the narrative in the wider scope of the programme at the time. With time becoming a premium in the three parters, it becomes essential to get through the establishing scenes with expediency. One of the ways of doing this was to have the characters already know each other and the vast majority of the three parters follow this pattern. Witness it is Ace's friends who are abducted in Survival, Lady Peinforte has met the Doctor before; more so in the three parters than the fours, the history of the two leads is a driving force behind the narrative as much as the plots of the respective antagonists.
It's easy to say that this is very much a transitional story between the froth of Delta and the introspection of Remembrance but that is lazy and quite frankly bollocks. Dragonfire is the last time we see the Doctor crashing round the universe, finding injustice and then fighting the good fight. From here on, the Doctor has a plan. He goes on the offensive. Doctor Who is never quite the same again.
A Review by Terrence Kennan 1/9/08
Tell me, what do you think of the assertion that the semiotic thickness of a performed text varies according to the redundancy of the auxillary performance codes?
Dragonfire is about many things: Ace's introduction, Mel's goodbye, enough film references to choke a horse, a nod to the recent past (Glitz) and a step forward to the future.
It also plays like Doctor Who identikit: a grumpy, deductive Doctor; alien world done on the cheap; Scary Monster who's not so scary; screaming companion; gleeful raiding of lots of other sci-fi/fantasy works; a few arch performances; a literal cliffhanger; and much, much more.
Similar to The Horns of Nimon, you get the sense that the cast and crew know there's no money to do the sets properly, but that they're still going to go full tilt boogie to make it work. I admire that. Although, I think that director Chris Clough could have done more to make it less "television-y". A few odder angles and some darker lighting would have given Dragonfire more atmosphere. Clough does deserve credit for having his cast play what is an obvious comedy script straight and not OTT, which means that the genuine laughs in the script seem funny and part of the story, not just thrown in for a reaction. My favorite scene is when the Doctor distracts the guard with a bit of pseudo-intellectual nonsense and the guard responds to the Doc as if he's found a lostsoul.
Bonnie Langford gives her best performance as Mel. Having Ace to bounce off of gives Bonnie an extra kick in her performance. Sophie Aldred, despite being saddled with some dodgy dialogue, definitely makes a positive impression as Ace in her debut. McCoy finally finds his way as the Doc and gives one of his best performances. He does grumpy very well, and the final confrontation with Kane is brill. The guest cast are in good form, with Edward Peel's Kane topping the bill. Kane is underplayed slightly, which makes him far more believable, and more than just a one-dimensional baddie. Tony Selby gives us a slightly different Glitz from the year before, but is still fun to watch on the screen, even if the character is a complete bastard if you think about it.
One last note: I've never been one for dissing bad special effects in Who. It's part and parcel of the original run and, personally, if you can't handle them then you need to piss off and watch some other show. However, when you get something as good as Kane's face melting death scene - which is as good as the one in Raiders of the Lost Ark - then major props should be given to the crew for pulling this off.
Dragonfire is a good one. Worth popping into your video and checking out again.