| DRAGONFIRE by Ian Briggs |
| Story 150 Synopsis: The TARDIS lands on Iceworld, a freezer centre built on the cold side of the planet Svartos. There, the Doctor and Mel meet an old friend, Sabalom Glitz, and make a new acquaintance, a waitress from Earth, known as Ace. Iceworld is run by a man named Kane, an exile from the planet Proamon, who cryogenically freezes people to become soldiers obedient to him. He has some free-thinking staff, but Belasz and Kracauer turn against him, so he kills them both. He has been seeking a treasure known as Dragonfire for 3,000 years, and Glitz has a treasure map with which he intends to find it. The Doctor, Ace and Mel join in the quest, and find a bio-mechanoid resembling a dragon. It holds the dragonfire, a crystal power source for Iceworld, which is in fact a spaceship. Kane forces all the customers of Iceworld onto Glitz' ship, the Nosferatu, which he then destroys. Kane captures Ace, and has two troops sent to bring back the dragonfire. They kill the mechanoid, but the dragonfire kills them. The Doctor brings the crystal to exchange for Ace, and Kane starts up the spaceship. But the Doctor has discovered that Proamon was destrpyed 2,000 years earlier when its sun turned supernova. Distraught, Kane commits suicide. Glitz takes over the spaceship, which he renames Nosferatu II. Mel decides to leave the Doctor, and Ace takes her place. |
| Review:- This was the big moment for the final 3 years of Doctor Who on television. This story would cast off the unpopular Bonnie Langford, and introduce a hip new companion for the Doctor who would set the show on its way into a new realm of mystery. What a shame that this is such a plodding lot of nonsense. Kane's plan is a reasonable one. He makes a great villain, with nasty special killing powers, a ruthless attitude to all he orders, and a single-minded dedication that marks him out as a right nutcase. What a shame that that plan is wrapped up in so much drivel. Just to show that space is as boringly normal as Earth, we get to visit a freezer centre. Thankfully the story picks up with old face Glitz adding some long-term continuity, and a basic runaround plot to find some treasure. That the dragon isn't a dragon, and the treasure is kept in a very secret place makes for some gloss, but it's still a pretty thin tale. The Doctor manages to hold it together, and Glitz works a treat, only slipping for the tiresome Emotion when Kane destroys the Nosferatu. Mel just about clings to credibility, but there are three clunking disasters that rather spoil any enjoyment. Firstly, we have Belasz and her feckless sidekick Kracauer. It is a wonder that Kane puts up with either of them for as long as he has. When he kills them both after a pretty rotten attempt at murder, I hope the audience was cheering. On a side note, I commend Mr Briggs for his amusing trick of naming characters after famous film luminaries, but by the time we get to Pudovkin, it's just a joke that isn't funny anymore. The second clunk is Stellar the twee child who escapes massacre by hiding under the table. As anyone who has shuddered through similar sequences in Jurassic Park will know, the survival of children is one of drama's most unreal quirks. When she goes walkabout in episode 3, it becomes a weak joke, and her final watch of the disappearing TARDIS rates 11 on the ickiness scale. That her mother is oblivious to the vanishing of everyone around is also too ridiculous to be taken seriously. The final chink in the armour is of course new companion, Ace. Badly written and not acted a lot better, Ace gets the sack within moments of meeting our heroes, when it seems miraculous she ever held the job down. Her dreadful scenes of emoting at her past are supposed to endear her, and show she is a developed character (unlike Mel, of course), when in fact they make her seem even more fake. Her explosive habits are also a joke (especially when she blows up the blockage in the loading bays, as if anyone would actually do that, and expect thanks!). Her movement into the TARDIS suggests that Glitz got the better deal... On the whole, this is a forgettable tale marred by too much attempted cleverness that falls hopelessly flat. |
| Disclaimer: I've seen the video, and read the book. |