TV Review: Doctor Who: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy (1988)

Doctor Who: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy (1988) written by Stephen Wyatt and directed by Alan Wareing

The Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and companion Ace (Sophie Aldred) go to the planet Segonax for the Psychic Circus, the titular Greatest Show in the Galaxy. Ace hates clowns so she is reluctant. More reluctant is two of the circus regulars who flee the big top only to be hunted down by the Chief Clown (Ian Reddington). The regulars split up, resulting in the capture of one and the death of the other when she stumbles upon an abandoned hippie bus with an evil android ticket-taker. The Doctor and Ace stop at a roadside fruit and snack stand run by a local who is down on the circus and anyone who wants to go. They have to leg it to the tent. On the way, they discover famous explorer Captain Cook and his companion. The captain is trying to unearth a giant robot. Or at least his companion is, while Cook blathers on about his exploits. The Doctor and Ace eventually move on, making it to the circus. They find a very small audience (a family of three). The Doctor is immediately recruited to be a performer, though it's the sort of command performance that involves a jail cell.

The plot is all over the place at the beginning in a surreal and disjointed way. The first (of four) episodes introduces a lot of characters and I was nervous that they wouldn't get pulled together. The story became a lot more coherent in short order. McCoy's goofy comic sense shines and he gets to do a bit of very credible-looking stage magic (nowadays they'd just use CGI or quick cuts). Like Patrick Troughton and David Tenant, McCoy has the knack for seamlessly switching between comedic and  dramatic performing as the Doctor. Reddington is good as the Chief Clown with a performance that is sinister and just under over-the-top (a very hard mark to hit). The rest of the cast is good, too. The circus setting is fun and sets up an interesting and creative shift at the end.

Recommended--the patience you need to get through the set-up is highly rewarded.