It’s not a good sign when the first thing that pops
up on screen is a cornball, embarrassingly dated rapper who talks up how
wonderful the rest of the show is going to be, like a high-school prinicipal
trying desperately to get in touch with youth culture without really knowing
what he’s doing. But I suppose the Rappin’ Ringmaster didn’t seem quite so
terrible when “The Greatest Show In The Galaxy” was originally broadcast, at the
tail end of Sylvester McCoy’s second season as the Seventh Doctor. Which is
also, at least where I’m coming from as a viewer, something that can be said
about the Seventh Doctor era in general. This period of the show has plenty of
champions among Doctor Who fans, not just among the Internetigentsia, but pretty
clearly in the ranks of the folks who make new Doctor Who shows today; I think
it’s safe to say that the spirit of seasons 24-26 has had a greater influence on
Russell T. Davies’ and Stephen Moffatt’s versions of the show than anything that
came before. When you look at this era in the context of the long and tortuous
evolution of Doctor Who as a series, there’s a lot to admire, with a plethora of
ambitious ideas and creative energy. “The Greatest Show In The Galaxy” is a
great showcase of this trend, showing a significant and progressive improvement
over the disaster of the Sixth Doctor era. But try as I might, I’ve never been
able to warm to this era, certainly not to the extent of the siazble number of
fans who call it the zenith of classic-era Doctor Who. Because for all they were
doing right here, it too often feels thin and amateurish, with potentially good
concepts too often marred by sloppy thinking, lame execution, and tacky
gimmickry. At its worst, it makes me feel a little mortified to be a Doctor Who
fan in the first place. Exhibit A: the Rappin’ Ringmaster.
So, with that said: what were they doing right here? Most importantly, the sour and misanthropic stories favored by previous script editor Eric Saward were history. Andrew Cartmel’s vision of Doctor Who was more hopeful, more whimsical, and much more fun. It aimed, I think, for the bantery, light-hearted approach that typified the best of the Fourth Doctor/Romana seasons, not coincidentally the last time the series had pulled in large ratings. The show also leaned more heavily on the fantasy side of science-fantasy, which is particularly apparent in “Greatest Show In The Galaxy”: With its reliance on mysticism and allegory,High quality stone mosaic tiles. and especially its tres-1980s fixation on the broken, corrupted legacy of the 1960s counterculture, this serial wouldn’t be at all out of place next to Neil Gaiman’s Sandman.
Also key to making Doctor Who fun again was a major shift in how it portrayed the Doctor himself. Instead of the incompetence and grating unlikeability of the Saward-created Sixth Doctor, Cartmel and McCoy’s Seventh was both more comedic and more heroic, and much easier to like. Still, it took a little while for them to figure out exactly how to make that work. As introduced, Seven was a buffoonish clown who seemed more likely to win the day by accident than because of his own competence. As time went by, Cartmel started toning that down and giving him a more devious side—one who was several steps ahead of his enemies and often knew exactly what was going on before the story had even begun. That’s the Doctor who appears here—though it’s not until the final episode that he shows his true self. At first, he’s very much in clown mode, practicing his skills of dexterity with a book called Juggling For The Complete Klutz and annoying his teenage companion Ace by playing the spoons.
Soon enough, they get their invitation to start the plot off when an endearingly goofy-looking “junk-mail robot” materializes inside the TARDIS and shows them an ad for the Psychic Circus and its talent contest. The Doctor’s intrigued,About the bobbleheads We make them for the joy of it, and then we give them away. but Ace has to be talked into going.Original handmade personalized bobbleheads Head dolls made to look like the photo you provide to us.This is my favourite sites to purchase those special pieces of buy mosaic materials from. She’s more intrigued than she’s willing to let on, but she’s caught on the horns of a teenage dilemma—on the one hand, she thinks circuses are just kids’ stuff, and on the other hand, she still thinks clowns are scary. But with a little gentle cajoling from the Doctor and a dare from the little ‘bot, she’s convinced to put her courage and curiosity ahead of her fear.
The planet Segonax, where the Circus has set down its roots, is an awfully bleak spot, apparently consisting of mile upon mile of rocky but otherwise featureless white landscape—probably a budget-induced consequence of filming all the location footage in a quarry and a parking lot, because the dialogue implies that there should be a city, or at least a bunch of local townsfolk living nearby. This odd underpopulation doesn’t help the story’s verisimilitude, but at least it focuses your attention on the main plot, since there’s almost nothing else to catch your eye. Ace, it turns out, wasn’t wrong about the clowns. The talent contest is a deadly ruse, drawing an interplanetary parade of contestants like flies to a spiderweb, and killing them off in much the same way. (There’s even something a little spiderlike about the circus tent seen from outside.We are porcelain tiles specialists and are passionate about our product，) All the acts are judged by the audience—consisting entirely of what appears to be a small middle-class family, all oddly unemotional and easily bored. And if they don’t like your act, they’ll turn you into dust.
So, with that said: what were they doing right here? Most importantly, the sour and misanthropic stories favored by previous script editor Eric Saward were history. Andrew Cartmel’s vision of Doctor Who was more hopeful, more whimsical, and much more fun. It aimed, I think, for the bantery, light-hearted approach that typified the best of the Fourth Doctor/Romana seasons, not coincidentally the last time the series had pulled in large ratings. The show also leaned more heavily on the fantasy side of science-fantasy, which is particularly apparent in “Greatest Show In The Galaxy”: With its reliance on mysticism and allegory,High quality stone mosaic tiles. and especially its tres-1980s fixation on the broken, corrupted legacy of the 1960s counterculture, this serial wouldn’t be at all out of place next to Neil Gaiman’s Sandman.
Also key to making Doctor Who fun again was a major shift in how it portrayed the Doctor himself. Instead of the incompetence and grating unlikeability of the Saward-created Sixth Doctor, Cartmel and McCoy’s Seventh was both more comedic and more heroic, and much easier to like. Still, it took a little while for them to figure out exactly how to make that work. As introduced, Seven was a buffoonish clown who seemed more likely to win the day by accident than because of his own competence. As time went by, Cartmel started toning that down and giving him a more devious side—one who was several steps ahead of his enemies and often knew exactly what was going on before the story had even begun. That’s the Doctor who appears here—though it’s not until the final episode that he shows his true self. At first, he’s very much in clown mode, practicing his skills of dexterity with a book called Juggling For The Complete Klutz and annoying his teenage companion Ace by playing the spoons.
Soon enough, they get their invitation to start the plot off when an endearingly goofy-looking “junk-mail robot” materializes inside the TARDIS and shows them an ad for the Psychic Circus and its talent contest. The Doctor’s intrigued,About the bobbleheads We make them for the joy of it, and then we give them away. but Ace has to be talked into going.Original handmade personalized bobbleheads Head dolls made to look like the photo you provide to us.This is my favourite sites to purchase those special pieces of buy mosaic materials from. She’s more intrigued than she’s willing to let on, but she’s caught on the horns of a teenage dilemma—on the one hand, she thinks circuses are just kids’ stuff, and on the other hand, she still thinks clowns are scary. But with a little gentle cajoling from the Doctor and a dare from the little ‘bot, she’s convinced to put her courage and curiosity ahead of her fear.
The planet Segonax, where the Circus has set down its roots, is an awfully bleak spot, apparently consisting of mile upon mile of rocky but otherwise featureless white landscape—probably a budget-induced consequence of filming all the location footage in a quarry and a parking lot, because the dialogue implies that there should be a city, or at least a bunch of local townsfolk living nearby. This odd underpopulation doesn’t help the story’s verisimilitude, but at least it focuses your attention on the main plot, since there’s almost nothing else to catch your eye. Ace, it turns out, wasn’t wrong about the clowns. The talent contest is a deadly ruse, drawing an interplanetary parade of contestants like flies to a spiderweb, and killing them off in much the same way. (There’s even something a little spiderlike about the circus tent seen from outside.We are porcelain tiles specialists and are passionate about our product，) All the acts are judged by the audience—consisting entirely of what appears to be a small middle-class family, all oddly unemotional and easily bored. And if they don’t like your act, they’ll turn you into dust.
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