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BBC Paradise Towers |
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| Episodes | 4 |  |
| Story No# | 149 | |
| Production Code | 7E | |
| Season | 24 | |
| Dates | Oct. 5, 1987 - Oct. 26, 1987 |
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With Sylvester McCoy, Bonnie Langford.
Written by Stephen Wyatt. Script-edited by Andrew Cartmel. Directed by Chris Clough. Produced by John Nathan-Turner. |
| Synopsis: The great Paradise Towers, filled with homicidal cleaners, zealous guards, colorful 'kangs', and something evil locked in the basement. |
Ice-Hot! by Connor Devlin 16/1/11
After the rambunctious but utterly fun Time and the Rani, it was time the Seventh Doctor explored some darker elements. In a way, Stephen Wyatt's piece, Paradise Towers, is just that - and then it's not. It's a script crackling with allegories and innuendos, but it is a piece bogged down by the horrible direction (ironcially by Nicholas Mallet, who did fantastic stuff with The Curse of Fenric).
The story is rather simple. Mel wants to go swimming, and since they jettisoned the pool from the TARDIS (damn leaks), the Doctor takes her to Paradise Towers, which he is also interested in. What they come upon is a dump, filled with Kangs (basically female teenagers), Rezzies (basically female old people) and the Caretakers (the only freaking men), and with a secret lurking about.
It doesn't take long for things to get interesting, but it also doesn't take long to spot some flaws. The sets are the first up to the bat. While they aren't anything to write home about, they're not so bad in some places as people say. The halls work; Tilda and Tabby's apartment is pretty nifty, but the pool is utter crap, and there's a feeling barely any of the budget was used.
Keff McCullough's music is at its best. Personally, I know people who hate it (Deaf McCullough they call him...) but I thought Paradise Towers had a good soundtrack. The only exception was that irritatingly bouncy and horribly out of place theme used for the robots. It just didn't fit and killed the writing.
There is also a blend of wonderful characters and so-sos. Pex, a 'musclehead' coward is horribly miscast and so his character comes off as annoying. The Kangs work well and the Rezzies (especially Tabby and Tilda) are fantastic. Richard Briars as the newly awakened Croagnon is horrible and almost killed the episode for me with that HORRIBLE VOICE. Like nails on a chalkboard!
The Seventh Doctor continues to shine, showing a more comedic side yes, but he's still serious, and the scene where he tricks the Deputy Chief Caretaker is golden. Mel is at her best, as she is finally given something to do, even if it's wandering about hotel hallways and almost getting eaten by two old people. It works for me; personally, I don't loathe her, I just feel she is underused immensly.
In the end, Paradise Towers, with all its flaws, is still good. The directing takes away from the deep meaning of the script and the thing just feels uncertain at times. There's good action, but there's also laughable stuff, like a pool cleaner crab attacking Mel (how did she not see that?). The Robot Cleaners could've been creepy, but the music killed that, though something about them is still eerie. The whole cannibal rezzie thing was flat-out scary though, and Part 2 had a fantastic cliffhanger.
I enjoyed Paradise Towers. It suffers from a multitude of things, but nothing that everything else in this era wasn't suffering from. Add on a director who didn't get the script, and the thing sometimes comes off muddled. But it's enjoyable, and a great episode for the seventh Doctor.
With that, I give it 8/10. I also dub it the best episode of season 24 (if that's saying much). While some people hate this episode, I think it's fantastic in its own right, and it's better than it looks.
Here's a question though: WHEN IS THIS COMING OUT ON DVD? Come on BBC! Release this and The Greatest Show in the Galaxy in a boxset or something!