“Carnival of Monsters” is an adventure of the tenth season of “Doctor Who” classic series, which aired in 1973. It follows “The Third Doctor” and it’s a four parts adventure written by Robert Holmes and directed by Barry Letts.
The story
The exile of the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) is finally over and the first stage of his new journeys is Metebelis 3. The Tardis, however, still doesn’t appear to be under the Doctor’s full control so he brings Jo Grant (Katy Manning) on the ship SS Bernice. However, it seems impossible that the two travelers are still on Earth and soon they realize that something strange is happening.
Vorg and his assistant Shirna arrive on Inter Minor with a machine that is meant to entertain people. Suspected of being spies, they’re blocked by the three members of the tribunal. Vorg tries to convince them that he and Shirna are there only for harmless purposes and shows them that the machine contains miniaturized environments in which there are also living creatures. In one of them there’s the ship SS Bernice.
Extras
The original edition contains a fair amount of extras while the Special Edition contain a good amount of extras. In both editions there are typical contents such as production subtitles and a gallery of pictures from this adventure. The Special Edition also contains the Radio Times Billings and a promo of the “Doctor Who” DVDs soon to be published.
There are various comments in the adventure alternative audio track of both editions by protagonist Katy Manning and producer / director Barry Letts. The Special Edition has a further alternative audio track with comments by actors Peter Halliday, Cheryl Hall and Jenny McCracken and audio effects creator Brian Hodgson.
The original edition contains:
Extended and Deleted Scenes. Some scenes cut in part or completely from the second episode transmitted by mistake in Australia in the mid ’70s.
Delaware Opening Titles. A version of the opening titles with a different musical arrangement then discarded.
Both editions contain:
Behind the Scenes: Looking In. A short clip about this adventure that was part of the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the BBC.
Trailer: The Five Faces of Doctor Who. A trailer that promotes a series of repeats of some of “Doctor Who” adventures aired in 1981.
Director’s Amended Ending. For a 1981 repeat Barry Letts asked for a cut at the end of this adventure.
Model Sequences / Visual Effects Models. Various tests of special effects. In the Special Edition there’s an extended version of this extra.
CSO Demo. Barry Letts shows the potential of CSO technology.
TARDIS-Cam No.2. One of the animations for the BBC website that show the potential of CGI effects. The flier in the original edition indicates it as simply TARDIS-Cam but the clip is the same in both editions.
The Special Edition also contains:
Episode 2 – Early Edit. A longer version of the second episode. It includes the extras Extended and Deleted Scenes and Delaware Opening Titles of the original edition and the “Easter egg” of the original version with the countdown.
Destroy All Monsters! A documentary about 23 minutes long about the production of this adventure. For once it’s honestly of limited quality compared to the average of these “Making of” because it almost contains more clips of the episodes than interviews with cast and crew.
On Target: Ian Marter. A documentary about 16 minutes long remembering Ian Marter. The actor made his “Doctor Who” debut in this adventure but later became known in the fandom because he was among the many actors “recycled” when he played Harry Sullivan at the beginning of the Fourth Doctor era. Marter also wrote the novelization of various adventures of the show. Sadly he died at the age of 42 because of a heart attack.
The A to Z of Gadgets and Gizmos. A tongue-in-cheek list of gadgets seen in “Doctor Who”. Honestly I think it’s a filler.
Mary Celeste. A documentary about 18 minutes long about some of the mysteries concerning ships, starting with the Mary Celeste.
Both editions contain an “Easter egg” which displays a “clean” version of the titles. The original edition also contains a countdown.
After two seasons of exile on Earth with only occasional trips on a mission for the Time Lords, the Doctor was given to the component needed to operate the Tardis and had his memories about space-time travel restored.
Robert Holmes, who had already written the stories with the Autons, was commissioned to write the first adventure with the Doctor’s new journeys. Producer Barry Letts decided to direct himself what became “Carnival of Monsters”. The result, though qualitatively good, tends to be overlooked although it has a good reputation among fans. Probably the fact that it followed a special adventure such as “The Three Doctors” didn’t help.
“Carnival of Monsters” is essentially a comedy with various satirical elements. Typically, Robert Holmes used a double act to insert comedic moments in his screenplays, in this adventure there are the Doctor and Jo, the entertainers Vorg and Shirna and there’s even a triple act made up of three members of the tribunal.
There were always comedic moments between the Doctor and Jo and the duo Vorg / Shirna is explicitly comedic but the three members of the tribunal are a different case. These bureaucrats always behave in a very serious wasy but for thhis reason they’re funny with their pomposity and their way of expressing. They’re xenophobic but their manners are always ostentatiously polite.
Vorg and Shirna’s unorthodox arrival on the planet Inter Minor disrupts the tranquility of an isolationist society. For the three members of the tribunal who must decide what to do with the two travelers the entertainment machine they brought on the planet becomes a big problem but also an opportunity for some political scheming.
The contrast between the two parties is remarkable and is stressed by their appearance: the members of the tribunal are wearing gray suits and their skin is the same color whereas Vorg and Shirna wear colorful costumes. Despite this, they are similar in some ways because on Inter Minor the class of the Functionaries is exploited as slave labor and the living creatures, even sentient, miniaturized in the machine of the two travelers are exploited for the entertainment of others.
Doctor and Jo’s adventure initially seems totally disconnected with what’s happening on Inter Minor but already in the first episode the connection becomes clear. The mystery of the SS Bernice is soon revealed but for them the dangers increase when they try to get out of that miniaturized environment.
Despite the dramatic elements, “Carnival of Monsters” is mainly a comedy and a satire with sparkling dialogues. The script is of high standard with well-defined characters but the success of this adventure is certainly also given by the cast’s skill in performing the dialogues and interacting with each other in the best way to get the comedic effects.
“Carnival of Monsters” is based on a lot of special effects, typically a sore point in the original “Doctor Who” series. In this adventure there are several ups and downs from this point of view but all in all for a product of the early ’70s it’s well done. If anything, it’s surprising that some costumes of the Inter Minor’s inhabitants are of a quality not adequate.
In my opinion, “Carnival of Monsters” isn’t considered a classic “Doctor Who” mainly because the members of the tribunal’s scheming seems to go nowhere and the ending is rather weak. It’s too hurried and therefore a bit disappointing after building throughout the adventure the parallel stories inside and outside the machine.
“Carnival of Monsters” is still a gem of the Third Doctor era that rightly has a good reputation. The original edition of the DVD was a limited prodact containing material from that time. The Special Edition is indeed better, although the new extras aren’t extraordinary. If you don’t have it yet, I recommend buying the Special Edition.
In Region 2 nations, the Special Edition is part of the “Revisitations 2” box set – available on Amazon UK
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