The Greatest Show in the Galaxy: Part One
- Episode aired Dec 14, 1988
- TV-G
- 25m
IMDb RATING
7.2/10
518
YOUR RATING
The Doctor persuades Ace to visit the Psychic Circus on the planet Segonax despite her fear of clowns.The Doctor persuades Ace to visit the Psychic Circus on the planet Segonax despite her fear of clowns.The Doctor persuades Ace to visit the Psychic Circus on the planet Segonax despite her fear of clowns.
- Director
- Writers
- Stephen Wyatt
- Sydney Newman(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaNear the beginning, Ace briefly appears wearing the Fourth Doctor's trademark scarf and Mel's top, as seen in Paradise Towers: Part One (1987).
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Show Must Go On (2012)
Featured review
Not the Greatest Story in the Galaxy of Who (but far from the worst)
Review of all 4 episodes:
There are interesting ideas in this story as well as dark, macabre content which is a real strength. Sadly the budget, lack of technology, time constraints, production problems and the bad taste of the era lead to the potential not being reached in my opinion.
The first 2 parts of the story, especially the first part, are reminiscent of the previous season's horrible pantomime feel mixed with a surreal nightmare. The production is like a farcical, weird stage play with odd, anachronistic characters and settings, bizarre situations, embarrassing scenes of action, some zany dialogue and dodgy effects. There is a slight Neil Gaiman feel with a dark, gloominess merged with crazy surrealism and it holds enough fascination and potential to stop it sliding to the low levels of Season 24. Once it gets to Part 3 things pick up and Part 4 is much much better. To some extent the weirdness of the story is explained away by the psychic elements and the suggestion that at least some of the odd goings on are perceptions projected by the villains who turn out to be the 'Gods of Ragnarok'. These later episodes lift the whole story but do not totally wipe away some of the inadequate scenes, silly characters and rather lame acting.
The final part especially is ghoulish fun with creepiness and humour mixed together. McCoy does his full vaudeville style clown/W.C. Fields act while strange, scary clowns and gothic villains threaten imminent death.
You could not accuse this of being boring or ordinary, it is striking and different and has ideas which with more care and budget could have been a twisted classic. As it is, this is a reasonable effort but not as successful as it could have been.
My ratings: Part 1 - 5.5/10, Part 2 - 6/10, Part 3 - 7/10, Part 4 - 8/10. Overall - 6.63/10.
There are interesting ideas in this story as well as dark, macabre content which is a real strength. Sadly the budget, lack of technology, time constraints, production problems and the bad taste of the era lead to the potential not being reached in my opinion.
The first 2 parts of the story, especially the first part, are reminiscent of the previous season's horrible pantomime feel mixed with a surreal nightmare. The production is like a farcical, weird stage play with odd, anachronistic characters and settings, bizarre situations, embarrassing scenes of action, some zany dialogue and dodgy effects. There is a slight Neil Gaiman feel with a dark, gloominess merged with crazy surrealism and it holds enough fascination and potential to stop it sliding to the low levels of Season 24. Once it gets to Part 3 things pick up and Part 4 is much much better. To some extent the weirdness of the story is explained away by the psychic elements and the suggestion that at least some of the odd goings on are perceptions projected by the villains who turn out to be the 'Gods of Ragnarok'. These later episodes lift the whole story but do not totally wipe away some of the inadequate scenes, silly characters and rather lame acting.
The final part especially is ghoulish fun with creepiness and humour mixed together. McCoy does his full vaudeville style clown/W.C. Fields act while strange, scary clowns and gothic villains threaten imminent death.
You could not accuse this of being boring or ordinary, it is striking and different and has ideas which with more care and budget could have been a twisted classic. As it is, this is a reasonable effort but not as successful as it could have been.
My ratings: Part 1 - 5.5/10, Part 2 - 6/10, Part 3 - 7/10, Part 4 - 8/10. Overall - 6.63/10.
helpful•21
- A_Kind_Of_CineMagic
- Nov 29, 2019
Details
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content