Carnival of Monsters

Jo: Do you ever admit that you are wrong?
Doctor: No, that would be impossible too.

If you were to stack the six stories Robert Holmes wrote prior to his becoming script editor, Carnival of Monsters would be neck and neck with Spearhead from Space as the fan favorite. When I first ran through a bunch of classic episodes that were available on Netflix, I think this was the first one that really grabbed my attention in that fun sciency-action sort of way. Going back a second time gives a better insight into the wit of the story that can easily be missed the first time around.

Plot Summary

On the planet Inter Minor, a spacecraft lands and is unloaded by the local workers, called functionaries. Their work is overseen by officials, Orem and Kalik, who also oversee the approval of visitation visas. Getting off the ship are two entertainers, Vorg and his assistant Shirna and a piece of equipment called a miniscope. As they set up, preparing to entertain the workers, a fault light lights up on the miniscope.

Meanwhile, the Doctor and Jo, attempting to head to Metebelis 3, land in the hold of a cargo ship. Jo is convinced the Doctor has made a goof and they've gone into the past. The Doctor, believing himself to be better than that, is convinced that something else is going on. They sneak around the ship and eventually spot two passengers, Major Daly and his daughter Claire. Claire is taken for a walk around the deck by the second officer, Lt. Andrews, while the Major attempts to read a book, but dozes off instead.

Jo swipes the Major's newspaper to find that it is 1926 but the Doctor still suspects something odd. They are about to leave the room when a plesiosaur surfaces, causing Andrews and Claire to retreat into the cabin and the crew to arm themselves. Andrews runs out to help while the Major comforts Claire. The Doctor and Jo try to sneak out but are spotted. They try to pass themselves as passengers but Andrews returns and notes them as stowaways.

Andrews takes the Doctor and Jo below deck to lock them in Major Daly's cabin while he consults with the captain. In the hall just outside Daly's cabin, the Doctor spots a metal plate that is out of place. He asks Andrews about it but Andrews insists there is nothing there. He locks them in the cabin where the Doctor notes the name of the ship, the SS Bernice, and the date on a calendar Daly has been marking off.

Back on Inter Minor, the two officials are joined by a third, Pletrac, bringing word of new laws being considered by President Zarb. He observes Vorg and Shirna setting up and is taken aback by them revealing themselves as entertainers. Entertainment is forbidden on Inter Minor as a waste of resources but has received word that Zarb is considering overturning that law. The three officials vote but decide 2-1 to deny visas. Vorg appeals, claiming to have license from Zarb, although a completely different Zarb. Pletrac takes the credentials to consider the matter.

The Doctor reveals to Jo that the Bernice went missing on that particular day marked on Daly's calendar. Jo also notes that the clocks have jumped backwards so that something strange is definitely happening. Jo produces a set of skeleton keys and they escape the cabin. The Doctor examines the plate which is made of an alien metal and secured with high technology. He needs equipment from the TARDIS to open it.

The Doctor and Jo sneak back to the lounge where Major Daly, Claire and Andrews are repeating the events from earlier. They wait for the plesiosaur to surface and Andrews to lead the men after it, then slip away when Claire and the Major are not looking. They get back to the TARDIS where the Doctor heads in to gather the equipment. Jo cries out and the Doctor exits to see what is the matter. As he does so, a giant hand reaches in and pulls the TARDIS out of the cabin. The Doctor and Jo head back above deck to try and get to the access plate.

Vorg pulls the miniaturized TARDIS out and sets it in a storage cubby within the machine. His actions peak the curiosity of Orem and Kalik and Vorg gives them a demonstration. He flashes through the different areas of the machine showing humans (whom he calls Tellurians), Ogrons and Drashigs. He comes back to the boat just as the plesiosaur attacks. The Doctor and Jo duck back into the lounge and are spotted by Major Daly. The Doctor tests him and finds that Major Daly has no memory of their earlier encounter, even when the Doctor uses the same excuses.

Vorg gives an extra demonstration by turning up the aggression levels. This causes Lt. Andrews to fight the Doctor though the Doctor is able to knock him down. He and Jo run off and Andrews fires his rifle at them. As the Doctor and Jo run back below, Andrews gathers the crew and chases after them. He catches them as the Doctor has nearly unsealed the plate. Vorg then turns the aggression down and Andrews and his men withdraw. The Doctor and Jo finish undoing the plate and drop down into the circuits of the miniscope.

Pletrac returns informing Vorg that his papers are fraudulent. After hearing about the creatures in the miniscope, the officials decide to have the scope destroyed and bring in an eradicator ray. Despite Vorg's protests, they fire at the machine. The machine smokes and heats up, cooking the Doctor and Jo a bit, but remains undamaged. Vorg goes over to inspect the machine and nearly spears the Doctor when trying to repair the visualizer.

The officials panic over the failure of their weapons and fear that Vorg and Shirna may be spies with superior technology. They threaten Vorg and look over the machine, pulling out the TARDIS. Once free of the compression field, the TARDIS expands to it's normal size. Shirna correctly guesses that the TARDIS is the transport for the Doctor and Jo, the two humans she recognizes as new to the habitat.

A fault light comes on and when Vorg investigates, he finds the Doctor and Jo have gotten into the Drashig habitat. The Doctor and Jo explore, looking for a way out when a Drashig appears up out of the ground. It initially misses their scent, but it picks it up as they head back towards the cave. Jo gets stuck in the mire and the Doctor buys a short amount of time by igniting the marsh gas. The Drashig's get their scent and advance as he tries to pull her out. Watching, Kalik suggest Vorg intervene and he reluctantly sticks his hand, distracting the Drashigs long enough for Jo and the Doctor to get back through the cave and into the guts of the machine.

Unfortunately, the Drashigs keep on their scent and burst through the containment walls of their pen. They chase the Doctor and Jo through the guts of the miniscope but the Doctor buys time by cutting through passages too narrow for the Drashigs. They come upon a deep shaft that looks like the way out but they decide they need rope to get down. As they have come back near the Earth container, they sneak back in there to find rope.

Pletrac heads back to see President Zaab to get permission to send everything off planet rather than just Vorg and Shirna as regulation demands. Kalik informs Orem that he is hoping that the Drashigs escape and attack the city. The resulting damage will weaken support for Zaab's policies of bringing in entertainments to quell the functionary uprisings and he, as Zaab's brother, will move to replace him as president.

The Doctor and Jo find rope in the hold but are forced to hide when Andrews and Major Daly enter, having heard the Drashig's roar. Jo is spotted and taken up to the lounge. After they leave, a Drashig bursts through the wall and nearly eats the Doctor. But it only knocks him down to a place it can't get to. It pulls through and bursts up through the hull of the ship. Andrews and the crew grab rifles while Major Daly takes a tommy gun. The bullets drive it back down while Andrews goes back to the hold for dynamite.

The Doctor comes too as Andrews finds and ignites the dynamite. He hurls it through the hole and it explodes, killing the Drashig. It also damages the scope and power begins to fail throughout the device. Believing Jo safe, the Doctor hurries through the hole and rappels down the shaft he and Jo found earlier.

Back on the boat, Jo is astonished that not ten minutes after the Drashig attack, everyone has gone back to their normal routine. They don't even notice her sitting in the lounge until she speaks up. However, her prompting seems to jog vague memories in Claire.

Pletrac returns with permission to expel all things, including the TARDIS. However, as they approach the Doctor emerges from a panel at the base of the miniscope. Pletrac believes the Doctor should be eradicated but Kalik and Orem outvote him. The Doctor interrupts their discussions with questions about where he is and who owns the miniscope. Pletrac is flustered and blames Vorg. Vorg in turn downplays it, admitting that he won the machine while gambling.

Their arguing over responsibility is cut short by Shrina reminding them that the power is failing. The Doctor steps in and decides to hook the miniscope up to the TARDIS. That would provide sufficient power to keep the machine going a bit longer and, when a secondary circuit is activated, would send all the creatures within back to their points of origin.

While Pletrac is distracted, Kalik has Orem remove a vital part from the eradicator gun. Orem places it in Vorg's bag to ensure they will not be blamed if something goes wrong. Kalik notices that one of the panels is bulging as the Drashigs try to get through. He sends Orem to keep Pletrac distracted while he loosens the panel to let the Drashigs out.

On the ship, Jo is captured once again while trying to get down into the hold. Andrews takes her to the Major's cabin and locks her in for a second time. She then pulls out her keys and unlocks the door and resneaks back to the hold.

Fishing for some of the miniscope parts, Vorg finds the missing piece of the eradicator, very much like the gun he used while in the army. He pockets it as the Doctor give instructions. He activates the first circuit which transports the Doctor back into the miniscope to get Jo. After a few minutes Vorg is to activate the second circuit which will return everyone to their origins. The Doctor activates the circuit and disappears. Pletrac, not understanding what is happening, thinks something sinister is afoot and fires his stun gun, damaging the Doctor's machine. Shrina stops him and Vorg immediately tries to repair the damage.

Vorg makes some progress, but before he can finish, Kalik succeeds in loosing the panel and two Drashigs pop out. They grow to their normal size and immediately attack. Kalik, caught off guard by their size and ferocity is attacked and eaten while Orem runs away. Pletrac tries to fire the eradicator but finds it won't work and also runs. Vorg seizes the gun and installs the missing component. He shoots down one Drashig and then kills a second that had cornered Pletrac.

In the miniscope, the Doctor finds Jo climbing out of the hold through the hold the Drashigs made. They make their way back but collapse, as do all the creatures in their various circuits, as the life support systems in the miniscope begin to fail.

With the Drashigs killed, Vorg returns to the machine and activates the second circuit before the power fails completely. The machine activates and all the creatures disappear, with Jo and the Doctor appearing just outside the miniscope. This includes the S.S. Bernice returning to the Indian Ocean where Major Daly finishes his book and marking the day as complete, with his daughter having a vague feeling of much time passing.

With the miniscope destroyed, Vorg sets about recouping some money by challenging Pletrac to a shell game, which Pletrac easily falls for. Amused, the Doctor and Jo depart, determined to get to Metebelis 3.

Analysis

I think the only people that don't like this story are those folks who get hung up on the limitations of production due to lack of money or technology. Admittedly, there are some limitations in that regard. But overall, this is an excellent story and a fun one to go along with.

The Doctor is enjoyable as always in his pompous way, but what really stands out well in this story is his interaction with Jo. There is no real condescension their interaction and she gives just as good as he does. Both depend on each other and they each bring different perspectives to help solve the ultimate problem of where they are and how to resolve it. About the only instance where Jo falls into the "needing saving" role is when she gets stuck in the mire with the Drashigs. But that is counterbalanced by her supplying the keys that allow them to escape the ship, which she does both with the Doctor and without. Also, unlike the Doctor, she takes an active role in trying to awaken the ship's passengers to the nature of their plight. Even if it doesn't work, it displays more practical compassion than the Doctor does for all his lobbying to ban miniscopes.

As enjoyable as the Doctor and Jo are, the true strength of this story is in the secondary cast. The Doctor and Jo do effectively nothing in Episode Two other than wander around and get attacked by the Drashigs. So the driving interest in the plot is taken up by team of Vorg and Shrina and the three-way between Kalik, Orem and Pletrac. All are quite good though I think I find Pletrac the most amusing as he is the most stereotypical of all the bureaucrats. I can't help but be amused that Kalik, the plotting one, is played by the same actor who would go on to play the original Davros. It is rather fitting. But the interaction between him and Orem and their tag team efforts against Pletrac to try and gain power is also quite amusing.

Vorg himself is also quite amusing. Shrina is a little bland but a showman's assistant would be expected to be more about the visuals than the substance. Still, she is the most compassionate of all of them, taking the time to actually notice the appearance of the Doctor and Jo and petitioning Vorg in help them out when threatened by the Drashigs. Vorg is that loveable rogue where you know that he is a conman and a thief but you can't help but like him. It helps that despite his protestations of cowardice and self interest, he does go out of his way to help the Doctor as well as actively working to stop the Drashigs rather than just running in terror. You can easily tell how he is living in a bit of nostalgia about his army days when using the eradicator gun against the Drashigs and that just makes him more interesting and relatable.

Speaking of the Drashigs, you will get a bit of a mixed opinion of them amongst fans. Some deride them as obvious hand puppets while others laud them as some of the scariest monsters that have ever appeared on the show. I'm not sure if they are the scariest monsters I've ever seen but I would lean more towards scary than silly. For what they are, they do a good job of displaying menace and both the Doctor and Jo's reaction to them does a good job in expressing that. My only real caveat about them is that they seem somewhat selective about what they can and cannot break through. We are shown several times where they burst through metal walls without difficulty. However, the Doctor and Jo are able to get distance between themselves and them due to taking smaller passageways which the Drashigs opt not to burst through, despite their obvious ability to do so. Also, how did the Doctor make his way out of a panel in the base of the miniscope if the Drashigs couldn't burst their way through and needed the help of Kalik to get out?

The crew of the ship was pretty good as well, doing a decent job of people either in a time loop or in a goldfish bowl. Even though there is limited time and they are constantly repeating the same actions, you get a sense of who these people are and are interested in their welfare. Enough so that it is highly amusing to see Major Daly taking on a Drashig with a Tommy gun and also satisfying to see Daly and Claire finally advance out of that day once they are returned to Earth.

I thought the production of this story was pretty good as well. There are a few blatant CSO moments, especially with the Drashigs but those are in line with the times and not so bad as to distract from the action. The makeup on the bureaucrats is a little shoddy, but again, not so bad as to be distracting. I actually found Vorg and Shrina's costumes to be amusing and fitting with that crazy showman style that you might expect from a couple of hucksters. All of these are things that you sort of expect given the knowledge of the budget and the limits of 70's technology.

Overall, I think this is a very good story. It's well written, fairly well directed and well acted. More importantly, it zips along and even though the Doctor and Jo are not really in the story for lengthy stretches, you get invested enough in the secondary characters that you still enjoy the story. This is an easy story to go back to and watch multiple times and would also make for a pretty good story to introduce someone to the Third Doctor to, if not Doctor Who in general.

Overall personal score: 4.5 out of 5