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The Greatest

Show in the Galaxy

14TH DECEMBER 1988 - 4TH JANUARY 1989

(4 EPISODES)

In the tour de force that is Season 25, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy is an inexplicable blip that would have been much more at home in the previous season. Playing on the commonly-held fear of clowns, this four-parter is for the most part a string of second-rate shock horror moments, with just a little bit of humour thrown in to boot. I didn’t like it in 1988, and I like it even less now.

Sylvester McCoy clearly

relished the opportunity

to show off his conjuring

tricks here, but as bright

and as colourful as this

production is, its tone is incredibly grim. Sadly

though, it’s grim in the

same way that Paradise

Towers tried to be grim. Writer Stephen Wyatt again creates shallow and uninteresting characters with stupid names. Some of them, such as the geek Whizzkid and the abhorrent Nord are amusing for the first few minutes, but that’s about it, and Nord isn’t even really an original creation – I’m sure that fans of Only Fools and Horses will recall Daniel Peacock playing pretty much the same character in the episode It’s Only Rock and Roll, right down to his propensity for biting off people’s ears!

In the end, it’s only the strong partnership between the Doctor and Ace that makes this serial watchable. The masochistic Gods of Ragnorok may have been an interesting idea on paper, but when they only show up towards the end of a long and dreary tale it just isn’t enough. The only thing that really makes The Greatest Show in the Galaxy worth a peek is the explosion at the end. McCoy’s cool exterior betrays only the slightest discomfort, despite the fact that his coat is on fire - quite an appropriate metaphor for the whole story, I feel.

Copyright © E.G. Wolverson 2008

E.G. Wolverson has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

Steve Lyons’ later novel, Conundrum, would posit that the Gods of Ragnorok created the Land of Fiction first seen in The Mind Robber.

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