"Doctor Who" The Greatest Show in the Galaxy: Part 4 (1989)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Alan Wareing

TV Series:

"Doctor Who" (1963)

Original Air Date:

4 January 1989 (Season 25, Episode 14)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Time Lord | Alien | Renegade | Companion | Eccentric

Cast

Sylvester McCoy	...	The Doctor
Sophie Aldred	...	Ace
T.P. McKenna	...	Captain Cook
Ricco Ross	...	The Ringmaster
Peggy Mount	...	Stallslady
Ian Reddington	...	Chief Clown
Deborah Manship	...	Morgana
Chris Jury	...	Deadbeat / Kingpin
Dean Hollingsworth	...	Bus Conductor
David Ashford	...	Dad
Janet Hargreaves	...	Mum
Kathryn Ludlow	...	Little Girl
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jessica Martin	...	Mags

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Trivia:

This episode was watched by 6.6 million viewers on its original transmission.

Soundtrack:

Water Scenes Op. 13 No 4: Narcissus

"Circus riff-raff, you don't own this planet you know." Strong end to an OK story.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Doctor Who: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy: Part 4 starts with the Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) in the ring of the Psychic Circus performing for his, & his friends lives. He survives & makes his way to where the real evil is, the Dark Circus where the three Gods of Ragnarok preside & wait to be entertained by unwilling participants at the Psychic Circus & when they become bored the unlucky entertainer is killed & another is brought in to replace them. With Ace (Sophie Aldred) trying to retrieve an artifact that will destroy the Gods on the surface of Seganox will the Doctor be able to keep them entertained for long enough for her to get it to him so he can use it against them & put an end to their murderous ways?

This Doctor Who adventure was the last story from season 25 & it aired here in the UK during the first week of 1989, directed by Alan Wareing I was getting bored & a bit annoyed with The Greatest Show in the Galaxy up to Part 3 but I have to say Part 4 was easily the best episode & much more like the Doctor Who I know & like. The script by Stephen Wyatt at last gets to the point & reveals exactly what's going on in the Psychic Circus & it's suitably daft & it works quite well, if only the previous episodes had been a bit better The Greatest Show in the Galaxy could have been a great story, as it is I think it's an OK story & nothing that special. More should have been made of the robotic clowns in my opinion & why would anyone put a self destruct button on the top of a robots head?

There's some fun to be found in this episode particularly as the Doctor performs all sorts of magic tricks to try & keep the Gods of Ragnanok entertained so they won't kill him, hey it did the trick for me. The Gods themselves look pretty good actually & are quite menacing in their own silly way, unfortunately the terrible looking robot from Part 1 makes an appearance again. The way the Gods Dark Circus ring collapses is pretty good & I just wished the previous episodes were as fun as this one. I also rather liked incidental music or The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy overall as a Doctr Who story gets a 6 stars out of 10 from me across it's four episodes which vary in quality, it's worth watching but uneven.