Day 348 — December 14th 2021
Dragonfire Parts Two and Three
Dragonfire — Part Two
I spoke a bit the other day about how vital the Tone Meetings are in the production of New Testament Who to make sure that every department is on the same page when putting an episode together, and I don’t think there’s any story which epitomises that quite like Dragonfire. This episode in particular is all over the place. The sets, the lighting, the direction, the performances… they don’t work in conjunction with other bits of their own department, let alone as part of a greater whole.
I think the performances are perhaps the clearest example of this in action. At this time the programme was still being made in the same way it was back at the very beginning — they’d rehearse all week and then go into studio and film a load. I don’t think it was quite as strict as filming episode-by-episode, but the format is essentially the same. What I’m saying is that these actors spent a while together in rehearsals under the eyes of a director, and yet only Sylvester McCoy has decided to pretend he’s slipping around on the icy floors while everyone else just carries on as usual. In response to this, McCoy seems to dial the attempt up to eleven, by dramatically slipping through every doorway. Now don’t get me wrong — I think that’s funny! But it seems so bizarrely out of place when literally no one else is doing it. Did the director not think to say something?
My bigger bugbear with this one is the sets. Frankly, Doctor Who has never looked cheaper than it does in Dragonfire. In some places the ice effect isn’t too bad, but then in others it’s very clearly just sheets of plastic wrap stretched across a frame. It feels like an extra letdown after Delta and the Bannermen was all recorded out in real locations. Add to this the fact that it’s all been lit so flatly (even when they do try to inject a bit of colour to try and pass the same corridor off as different locations), which isn’t slightly forgiving. There’s a bit in Part Three where a character comments on the dragon ‘looming out of the shadows’ and it’s tempting to shout back ‘what shadows?’ in reply. Indeed, I think I did.
My next issue? Iceworld. The clue’s in the title. The whole planet is made of ice, and they’re deep the the coldest ice caverns for much of this episode. So when Mel and Ace stop for a sit down what do they do? That’s right, they both slip their jackets off to cool down. It sticks out like a sore thumb, because it totally undermines any attempt to make the place look cold. This is the kind of thing I’m talking about when I say that he departments all need to work together. You need someone from wardrobe reminding them that this place is cold, and you need the director — frankly — to understand the script he’s working with. That bit really annoyed me. Can you tell?
The sets aren’t the only issue from a design standpoint, either. Kane describes the statue of his lost love as ‘a work of artistry, my friend. Incandescent artistry,’ but given that it’s one of the worst bits of scenery the series has ever seen, and barely resembles a person let alone his lost love, it’s quite hard to take him seriously on that point. The same scene is also home to one of the worst performances in the story, when Kane tells the sculptor that he’s going to be killed and he doesn’t react at all, even as he’s actually put to death.
2/10
Dragonfire — Part Three
I’ve cut my write up of Part Two short because my next issue with this story is something which starts in Part Two but really comes to a head in this episode. Kane has been imprisoned on this planet for 3000 years. He knows the key to release him is hidden there somewhere and guarded by the dragon (but hasn’t, as far as I can tell, put two and two together to discover that the key is hidden inside the dragon’s head). He’s pleased to have it ‘at last’ in this episode, but… I mean why on Earth has it taken him so long? Doctor Who discovered the dragon in about ten minutes, and when Kane’s discovered the secret he has two of his guards kill the Dragon without much hassle at all. Okay, so there’s a back up defence which kills the guards as they try to remove the key but it’s a one-time thing, and Doctor Who is able to remove it himself only minutes later. All the power Kane had in the first episode has totally ebbed away by now — he just comes across as completely useless.
I don’t have an awful lot to add about this episode, because I’ve found it more frustrating than anything. I was expecting this one to see a slight uptick because I knew we were building to one of the very best effects shots the series ever does — the moment when Kane’s face melts away from him. It’s an incredible sequence, and I think if it had happened a decade earlier when the show was still hugely popular then it would be remembered as incredibly iconic like the Maggots from The Green Death are to viewers of a certain vintage. I was expecting this moment alone to salvage the score for this episode, but when it finally arrived it comes a bit out of nowhere.
Doctor Who tells Kane that his home world has been destroyed for two thirds of his imprisonment and there’s no one left for him to take revenge against… and he turns around to commit suicide! There’s no real build up, no moment of reflection, it’s just a case of the episode having run out of time so the main villain is dispatched with. That’s been a bit of a running theme in Season Twenty-Four to be fair — both Paradise Towers and Delta and the Bannermen have suffered from the villain being a little too easily dispatched when the time comes, but this has to be the worst of the bunch on that score.
Then there’s that final scene, in which Mel departs and Ace joins up. It’s another bit I was looking forward to, but actually it’s a bit… awkward, isn’t it? Mel says she’s leaving and Doctor Who just sort of shrugs it off and goes into his wistful dialogue about time. It’s a lovely speech, don’t get me wrong, but he doesn’t even ask her where she’s going! Does he expect she’s planning to stay behind as the manager of Iceworld? It’s an oddly disappointing departure, especially when I was expecting it to be a favourite. Thankfully, his offer to let Ace travel with him is much stronger;
Doctor Who: ‘Ace, where do you think you’re going?’
Ace: ‘Perivale?’
Doctor Who: ‘Ah yes, but by which route? The direct route with Glitz, or the scenic route? Well? Do you fancy a quick trip round the twelve galaxies and
then back to Perivale in time for tea?’
Ace: ‘Ace!’
Doctor Who: ‘But there are three rules. One, I’m in charge.’
Ace: ‘Whatever you say, Professor.’
Doctor Who: ‘Two, I’m not the Professor, I’m the Doctor.’
Ace: ‘Whatever you want.’
Doctor Who: ‘And the third? Well, I’ll think up the third by the time we get
back to Perivale...’
I don’t know quite what I make of the character yet. I know she’s a favourite companion of mine from previous viewings, but the performance and the character in this story feel at odds with the Ace I remember. She’s far more ‘children’s television’ here, but that might also be down to the general ambience of the story. I’m looking forward to the fresh start all the same.
As for this episode, though? I’m afraid it’s a bottom of the barrel 1/10. Season Twenty-Four hasn’t come out as the lowest-rated season for me this time around (that honour belongs to Season Fifteen, and Season Twenty-Two sits below this one too), but it’s certainly not come out as being completely reappraised in the way I was hoping.
