The Greatest show in the galaxy and commentary on WHO and it's fans.

[Whofan]

Any thoughts on this classic series serial?


Basically, I think it was intended as the "Love and Monsters" of it's time. The McCoy stories are often deeper than they are given credit for, and while "Rememberance of the Daleks" dealt with intolerance and "Happiness Patrol" with politics, "Greatest show" deals with Doctor Who itself.

In the serial, there is a struggling travelling space circus that is being controlled by "The Gods of Ragnorak" (Basically three weird stone statues). The circus as a result has turned sinister, and is using it's visitors as entertainment for the sadistic deities. Of course the Doctor and Ace wonder into it, as well, and of course stop the Gods and save the day, although not before pretty much all the Circus (including a sadistic clown who is kind of the God's chief agent) is killed off.

There are a number of parrarels with WHO fandom and the show itself. The Greatest show/Psychic circus sort of represents WHO at this point itself (and interestingly, is hardly a thrilling circus-there's no animals, for one!), with the Gods being the audience (or the BBC, who wanted to get rid of the show at this point). But perhaps most telling is the "Geek" character. The geek resembles an outfit that sort of resembles McCoy's sweater, and is a major fan of the Psychic circus. Interestingly, he states at one point, "It's not as good as he used to be". The fortune-telling of the Doctor as 'the hanged man' is ironic considering the show's fate at this point.


Also Captain Cook sort of represents the critics of the show at some points, sort of being stuck-up and snotty.


Both this story, and Love and Monsters are often regarded as some of the worst stories of WHO as a whole, but in other ways, they seem to be sending up WHO and it's fans....

 

[Starkers]

Re: The Greatest show in the galaxy and commentary on WHO and it's fan

Apparently Cook was supposed to be Star Trek! At least that's the suggestion of the review on the BBC's old Who website...

Bottom Line - from The Discontinuity Guide

'Although I never got to see it in the early days, I know it's not as good as it used to be. But I'm still terribly interested.' A return of chaos, magic and surrealism to Doctor Who the story summed up by the scene in which the Doctor walks out of a confrontation amid carnage. Whizz Kid is a (not very subtle) parody of anally retentive, obsessive fans.
It could be said that the whole story is a metaphor about the production of Doctor Who (Cook = Star Trek, the gods = BBC executives, the Chief Clown = Michael Grade, Deadbeat = Blake's 7, etc.). The ideas in this, one of the most iconic stories, are very imaginative and the direction is psychedelic.


linky

 

[DWF]

Re: The Greatest show in the galaxy and commentary on WHO and it's fan

How ironic that this thread was started since TP McKenna just died. I don't think it's considered among McCoy's worst since there's still plenty of other ones that fit that bill. Still it was a nice way to end the 25th season and the show was sadly put on haitus before the next season started airing.

 

[diankra]

Re: The Greatest show in the galaxy and commentary on WHO and it's fan

It's superbly directed, but it still has the same problem as Stephen Wyatt's other script: there's a lot of good ideas and characters, and he's not dropped the ones which don't fit in to the story as it eventually turns out. So it's inventive, but incoherent and contradictory (and not in a Prisoner, Ghost Light, Twin Peaks-style good way).
But superb eerie direction, and frequently acting.

 

[Dukhat]

Re: The Greatest show in the galaxy and commentary on WHO and it's fan

I remember watching it and having no clue what was happening throughout the entire episode. Of course, I felt that way with a lot of McCoy's eps.

 

[23skidoo]

Re: The Greatest show in the galaxy and commentary on WHO and it's fan

Actually, I've never really seen GSITG ranked as one of the worst serials. Maybe it ranked low on that Doctor Who Magazine Mighty 200 poll, or something, but I recall quite liking it. It had a strange feel to it, and the fact it had to be mostly filmed on location and in tents because the BBC studios were closed by an asbestos scare added to the atmosphere.

The only thing I didn't care for was the rap song they composed for it. That was a bit silly. But otherwise, I thought it was quite good. And the aspect of it being a send up of fandom and/or other fandoms actually adds to its appeal. Much like my respect for The Happiness Patrol, a story I used to hate, skyrocketed when I learned how it was a satire on Thatcher's government.

The McCoy era I think ranks as the most under-rated of the entire series. Back in the day the show's fandom was rebelling -- in fact I just recently read an old issue of DWB (Dreamwatch Bulletin) that was calling for John Nathan-Turner to be fired, and I swear the people calling for Berman and Braga to be tossed out in the waning days of the Star Trek TV franchise in 2001-2005 just cut-and-pasted what DWB wrote about JNT. As a result, there's this attitude that the McCoy era sucked, end of story. Yet with the exception, really, of Time and the Rani which was a poor intro no matter how you cut it, I find the stories of the McCoy era, as a whole, more intelligent and risk-taking (perhaps because the show had nothing to lose?) than anything that came before - or really after. The Doctor calling Ace an "emotional cripple" in "Curse of Fenric" is still one of the most chilling moments in the 48-year history of the franchise, and something they'd never have dared doing in nuWho. And "Ghost Light" is such a challenging story even the cast had no idea what it was about, 20 years later!

The only things I hated about the McCoy era was the theme arrangement, which gives me headaches whenever I hear it, and the sound mix used in the original Canadian broadcasts which rendered most dialogue inaudible. (This was a recurring problem I noticed in the early 90s as broadcasters began switching to stereo - I remember watching an entire episode of Twin Peaks that aired with only the music soundtrack, the dialogue soundtrack being cut off. It actually happened again last year with an episode of V that aired up here!)

Alex

 

[Sindatur]

Re: The Greatest show in the galaxy and commentary on WHO and it's fan

Yea, ya know, I actually like alot of McCoy myself. There's some weirdness, but, the Dr became a different kind of character, more devious, more secretive and on an actual mission it seemed, versus stumbling into his adventures (or the Time Lords pushing him into them). I didn't have a problem with this portrayal. He was doing alot of "cleaning up" during McCoy's reign