The Greatest Show in the Galaxy Part Four

The one where the Doctor confronts the Gods of Ragnarok...

This final part of both the story and the season aired in January 1989, making it the first of a bumper 15 episodes of Doctor Who broadcast that year. It was watched by a whopping 6.6m people, the highest figure for the McCoy era, and the highest rating since Season 22. Doctor Who was on a role in its silver anniversary year. Season 25 had topped 6m viewers twice, surely a sign that more people were watching, more people were enjoying and more people wanted more? It all felt so encouraging, only for the BBC to renew the show one final time, but decide to bury it for good...

Back to the Psychic Circus, and that gloriously scary cliffhanger in which the Doctor's being menaced by a wolverine Mags. It's a testament to the work of make-up designer Denise Baron that Mags' werewolf look is so convincing, but the make-up has been spot-on throughout the story, particularly for Ian Reddington's Joker-esque Chief Clown. Mags is her masterpiece though (her work on The Curse of Fenric would be great, but not better than this).

The Doctor, rather like the viewers at home, is tired of hearing about Captain Cook's endless adventures on the planets Katakiki or Periboea, and decides to goad him instead. "You're not only a scoundrel and a meddling fool, but you're also a crushing bore!" he says, wounding the Captain's enlarged ego instantly. I love the reaction of the clown behind Cook here, which covers its mouth in a mock gasp. In fact, all of the clown performers have been wonderful throughout the story, choreographed so beautifully and always giving a level of performance despite being in the background.

The whip-wielding Captain encourages the feral Mags to pursue and kill the Doctor, who is chased around the ring relentlessly. Sylvester McCoy does an admirable job swinging across the ring on the end of a rope, then tumbling through the racked seating when the family of three attack him with their suddenly very green eyes. The Doctor's really going through the mill here, and McCoy contributes to the feeling of panic and desperation as the Doctor begs Mags for mercy.

In the end, Mags' revulsion for Captain Cook drowns out the savagery in her heart and she kills him instead. It's a masterfully directed scene, with the Doctor pleading with Mags not to go so far as to kill - "No, Mags! Noooo!" he hollers - but when the deed is done, the devil moon arc light spins out of control, flashing across the faces of the Chief Clown and Morgana, and the horrified Doctor. With that one collaboration with lighting director Ian Dow, Alan Wareing becomes my favourite McCoy era director by far.

Meanwhile, Ace and Kingpin reach the bus and find the eye, but not before the repaired Bus Conductor makes a reappearance ("Tickets please! Ding-ding!"). I find it slightly sinister how Kingpin just looks up at the looming robot and chuckles, while it clutches poor Ace and tries to squeeze her skull. The get-out is a bit of a cheap trick (Bellboy built the robot with a self-destruct on its head, amusingly labelled 'Request Stop') but the resulting explosion is impressive. That Bus Conductor doesn't seem to have much luck!

The Doctor requests that the dark powers open a pathway for him to reach them, and plunges into a vortex between time-spaces represented by a tunnel full of tinsel. The negative video effect laid on top goes some way to disguising the cheapness of this effect, but not near enough. It's a good idea to use tinsel, and its reflective, shimmering effect when treated in the computer, but it just doesn't work sadly.

The Doctor emerges in what's called the Dark Circus, which exists in a separate time-space to the real one. The Doctor recognised the memorial stones circling the ring in part 2, giving him the clue he needed to believe all this was the work of the Gods of Ragnarok - seemingly old enemies of his! "I have fought the Gods of Ragnarok all through time!" he claims. Really, I hadn't noticed! I think it's a bit odd that the Doctor suddenly knows the Gods were behind the Psychic Circus all along, and there's evidence to suggest he prepared for this confrontation (the fact he carries with him the piece of metal belonging to the gladiator's sword, the way he knows precisely when Ace will throw the medallion into the well). We're being told the Doctor planned this all along, but until now there hasn't been a shred of evidence he knew what was going on. A bit more foreshadowing would have been better.

So why does the Doctor say he's been fighting these rocky deities "all through time"? Well, predictably, loads has been written about the Gods in spin-off fiction since, identifying them as Old Ones, a name for the most powerful species from the Dark Times (cross-referencing The Five Doctors and Silver Nemesis here) which also includes the Exxilons, the Eternals, the Jagaroth and the Racnoss. Spin-off fiction has claimed the Gods of Ragnarok created the Land of Fiction as a pet project (New Adventure Conundrum), imprisoned the Master to amuse them (audio The Psychic Circus), ruled the universe during the Dark Times (deleted scene from cartoon The Infinite Quest), and were ultimately destroyed by Sutekh (comic Old Girl). There's so much mileage in these enemies, and that's what's great about the McCoy era - there's always these hints that the Doctor's been up to something elsewhere. Plotting, planning, scheming...

Kids will have loved seeing the Doctor perform magic tricks to amuse the Gods (a new series of The Paul Daniels Magic Show started the Saturday after Season 25 ended), and it feels so fitting for Sylvester McCoy, a very physical performer who pulls the routine off with elan. No other Doctor would have been this suited to doing magic tricks!

When the Gods demand something bigger and better, the Doctor plays his Ace, managing to know precisely when his companion will throw the eye down into the well to emerge in the Dark Circus. Using the mirrored medallion, and the sword of the gladiator who fought and died in the ring, the Doctor reflects the Gods' thunderbolts back at them, ultimately destroying them and reducing their Dark Circus to crumbling dust. Wareing shoots the downfall of the statue Gods and their domain in spooky slow-motion, and the shot of McCoy holding the sword aloft to deflect the thunderbolts has to be the single most heroic shot of the Seventh Doctor ever. He's facing down the Gods like a dude!

The Doctor walks out of the Dark Circus, and out of the real-world circus, an enormous explosion erupting in his wake as he calmly walks away from the wreckage. All credit to McCoy for braving that explosion out because it looks remarkably close and remarkably dangerous, but it sells the scene perfectly, showing the satisfied Doctor cool as a cucumber, walking nonchalantly away from the evil he's thwarted.

Quickies:

• Halfway through the episode the Doctor does "the anti-gravity lean", a wonderful trick popularised by Michael Jackson in his music video for Smooth Criminal where he leans to one side by 45 degrees - a good 20 degrees further than the body could physically endure without snapping or falling over! Jackson filmed Smooth Criminal in early 1987, but the video didn't premiere on MTV until October 1988. The Greatest Show in the Galaxy was recorded in the summer of 1988, which means Jackson committed the visual trick to celluloid long before McCoy, but Doctor Who couldn't have known about it for it to be a tribute. Jackson historians say choreographer Vincent Paterson dreamt up the anti-gravity lean for Smooth Criminal, but the presence of the Doctor's lean suggests an element of serendipity at work. Whatever, Dr Who doing a Michael Jackson dance move in 1989 was pretty damn cool.
• Ace, Kingpin and Mags' sojourn to see Dumbo the robot is a little too pat (what a coincidence she was given the remote control by Bellboy), but the confrontation with the Chief Clown is a fitting demise for one of the era's finest villains. "Do you really believe all that talk of peace and love?" the Clown taunts Kingpin, advancing menacingly with his cohort of robots. In the end, the Chief Clown is shot down alongside his robotic heavies, and Kingpin takes time to mourn his loss - or at least, the loss of what he once was. "He used to be a great clown," he says, in a moment which humanises a bad guy who worked hard not be humane. There's an underlying sadness to the death of the Chief Clown.
• The Captain is brought back from the dead (somehow) for one last job as he tries to regain the medallion from Ace. I love the bit where Mags says: "Captain, I thought you were dead!", and T.P McKenna gives a thoroughly sinister: "I am, my dear. I am."

The final scene - a triumph of computer graphics showing the collapsing Big Top and the neighbouring ringed planet hanging heavy in the sky - sees Mags and Kingpin vow to restart the greatest show in the galaxy, with Mags hoping to control herself enough to become a fearsome new act. The Doctor would be reunited with Mags on Big Finish audio, recreating a brief but effective coupling in The Monsters of Gokroth, The Moons of Vulpana and An Alien Werewolf in London.

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy is a crazy, colourful kaleidoscope of visuals and characters, but writer Stephen Wyatt doesn't overlook the need for backstory, characterisation and emotion. I feel I know the people of the Psychic Circus better than most other characters in the Doctor Who universe, thanks to such good writing, script editing, direction and acting. The serial's another exceptionally well-cast one, with Reddington and McKenna excelling in roles they were born to play. The story brings an end to a phenomenally successful run of stories, probably the best and most consistent since the Tom Baker years, and leaves the 25-year-old programme revitalised for a 26th run.

A week later, Doctor Who's slot was taken by a clip show of the best bits of British films. The Doctor and Ace would return in the Autumn, for the very last time...

First broadcast: January 4th, 1989

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: The Doctor walking nonchalantly away from the exploding Big Top.
The Bad: The tinsel tunnel.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★☆☆ (story average: 8.5 out of 10)

Ace says "Professor": 54 - Just the one, in the final scene.

NEXT TIME: Battlefield...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Part One; Part Two; Part Three

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site.

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Greatest-Show-Galaxy/dp/B007Z10I5E