| PARADISE TOWERS by Stephen Wyatt |
| Story 148 Synopsis: Promising Mel a swim, the Doctor lands the TARDIS at Paradise Towers, which have sadly become derelict. They become separated, Mel falling into the hands of the Rezzies, and the Doctor into the care of the Caretakers. Pex saves Mel, and offers to be her guide. The Chief Caretaker believes the Doctor to be the Great Architect, and orders his execution, though it is delayed. The Doctor escapes from the Deputy Chief, and has an encounter with a robotic Cleaner. Escaping it, he rejoins the Red Kangs. But when the Caretakers move in, they turn sour. He buys them time to escape, and they later repay him by rescuing him. He finds evidence that Paradise Towers was built by Kroagnon, a brilliant but crazed scientist. Visiting the basement, the Doctor finds that Kroagnon is still alive. He takes over the Chief Caretaker, and instigates a policy of total human wipeout. Mel reaches the Pool, where the Kangs and the Rezzies and even the remaining Caretakers band together to fight Kroagnon. The Doctor devises a booby trap to blow up Kroagnon, and Pex is tasked with bringing the baddy to his doom. But he panics, leaving the Doctor's plan incomplete. Pex completes the circuit by pulling Kroagnon into the trap, blowing himself up in the process. Pex is honoured by the Kangs at last, as the Doctor and Mel leave. |
| Review:- With a turbulent first adventure behind him, the Doctor is more himself when he plans to treat Mel to a swim. But his choice of locale leaves a lot to be desired... This is possibly a good example of a love/hate story, as whilst there is much to admire in it, there is also an awful lot that is irritating. The setting is good. There's no reason why a story in a tower block shouldn't work, and as a social comment that a place claimed to be so special to live in has descended to a rather brutal reality, it is more true a nod to the reality of Britain's tower blocks in the 1980's than might be seen as politically comfortable. Those who point to The Happiness Patrol as a shining parable of Thatcher's Britain seem to overlook the equal claims for this story. The Cleaners are a very effective and well-designed monster. Their vocal silence and multi-talented killing abilities make them frightening. The Rezzies are a double-edged sword. The bland, likeable ones like Maddy are dramatically null, and the carnivorous baddies like Tilda & Tabby are grotesque and gruesome, whilst straying over the top. The Caretakers on the whole are quite faceless, except of course for the Chief and his Deputy. Both excel in their own way, with the latter proving his ability does not overshadow his humanity, whilst the former has let his zeal consume him. He is also acting against his duties by organising killings, so his eventual comeuppance is quite fitting. The Kangs are very irritating, their repetitive phrases grating quickly (as do the Caretakers rules, to be fair), and their characterisation stinks. Having said that, we again have the political overtone of groups coloured Blue, Red and Yellow (with Yellow being the least). Cast them as the main political parties in England (and the Libs in '87 were doing very badly), and a worthy point is made. These 4 groups are changed by 4 figures who stand aside from the bickering and work to change things. Kroagnon himself is against everyone, manipulating the Chief Caretaker into doing his bidding. Pex is outside of everyone, who consider him ridiculous. The sad reality is that he lives down to this blighting reputation, only proving himself at the last. The Doctor works chiefly to impress the Kangs, and elude the Caretakers, whilst Mel has to handle the Rezzies and Pex. Both manage to combat the impressions that are forced on them, and show that the various groups need to be honest with each other. When it comes down to it, I found this quite a tiresome story to watch, but the low opinion was saved at the end, when Pex achieves his moment of glory in the death of Kroagnon. I cried, and I'm not ashamed to say so. But despite this, and it being a very clever story, there is a lot of dross to put up with. |
| Disclaimer: I've seen the video, and read the book. |