Doctor Who: Countdown To 50- Week Twelve

CARNIVAL OF MONSTERS
If there's one thing that can be said of Doctor Who throughout its fifty year history, it's that it's had its fair share of bizarre stories over that course of time. The Jon Pertwee era 1973 tale Carnival Of Monsters is one such example of a typically off-the-wall adventure for the show, mixing inertly human elements with more wacky alien costumes and concepts. There's plenty to love here, though- in fact, Carnival remains one of this writer's favourite classic Who adventures.

At the heart of the bizarre nature of this series of four episodes is undoubtedly Leslie Dwyer's Vorg. An overconfident money-grabber, Vorg brings along his Miniscope- a device which can trap whole locations, characters and creatures in a minimised world- to a planet full of alien creatures simple enough to be easily entertained. If any of this storyline sounds a little familiar, then you may recall that Vorg's son Vorgennson eventually trapped the Eleventh Doctor in his own Minimiser in Doctor Who Live: Here Come The Monsters! back in 2010! It's an innovative concept, though, and one which works particularly brilliantly in the Episode One cliffhanger when a seemingly giant hand plucks the TARDIS from the Doctor's grip.

Where Carnival falters a little in comparison to its innovative premise and well-rounded cast is undoubtedly in its special effects. The Drashigs certainly aren't the most impressive visual creations that the show has given us, and the alien 'cavemen' equivalent characters on the unnamed entertainment planet harken worryingly close to the stale alien stereotypes of the classic Star Trek series. Our favourite sci-fi show has generally done a great job of distinguishing itself from its rivals, but this is one of the few instances where the series designers seem to lack the budget to continue that distinction.

Nevertheless, Carnival Of Monsters is another brilliant Jon Pertwee adventure. The premise of this story is as innovative as Who gets, Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning particularly shine as the Third Doctor and Jo Grant respectively, and the ending carries an effective level of emotional gravitas for the endlessly trapped crew of the SS Bernice. Doctor Who has had its fair share of bizarre moments in the last fifty years, and no doubt it'll have plenty more to come in the next half-century; if that is the case, though, then future production teams could do well to cite Carnival Of Monsters as a rather glorious reference point.

NEXT WEEK: 1973/1983 ANNIVERSARY SEASONS RETROSPECTIVE