Carnival of Monsters (TV story): Difference between revisions

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Carnival of Monsters was the second story of Season 10. It saw the Doctor go on his first adventure as a free roaming Time Lord after the end of his exile, and the first appearance of actor Ian Marter in the Doctor Who universe.

Synopsis

The Doctor and Jo arrive the SS Bernice, a cargo ship crossing the Indian Ocean. But things are not what they seem; a monster appears in the sea, events repeat themselves, and a giant hand steals the TARDIS. Investigation reveals that they are in fact inside a Miniscope, an alien peepshow sporting numerous miniaturised environments, which showman Vorg and his assistant Shirna have brought to amuse the populace of the planet Inter Minor.

Plot

Episode one

File:Carnival ep1.JPG

A small problem

At a spaceport on planet Inter Minor, travelling aliens Vorg and Shirna arrive and set up the Miniscope, a device inside which miniaturised creatures exist inside miniature versions of their natural habitats. Although Vorg's intentions aren't hostile, the natives greet him with suspicion and they deny him an entrance visa.

Meanwhile, the TARDIS materialises on the planet Metebelis 3 - so the Doctor says, but when he and Jo Grant explore their surroundings, they discover that they are in fact aboard the cargo ship SS Bernice as it sails across the Indian Ocean in 1926. The Doctor is sure that they are not on Earth, and it seems something is afoot when a plesiosaur rises from the sea. The Doctor and Jo meet Major Daly and his daughter Claire Daly, passengers terrified by the plesiosaur but who then forget about it. When the pair are caught by officer John Andrews, they are imprisoned, accused of being stowaways. Confined to a cabin, Jo notices a discrepancy: a clock in the room has gone back by over an hour in a few minutes. After escaping, they notice that Andrews, Daly and his daughter are repeating things they said and did when they met them before, and have forgotten about the meeting. The Doctor becomes interested in a mysterious hatch made of an alien alloy, and goes back to the TARDIS to retrieve a magnetic core extractor to open the hatch. As they reach the TARDIS, the Doctor and Jo are stunned as a giant hand swoops down out of nowhere and grabs the travel machine.

Episode two

The Doctor and Jo inside the workings of the Scope

Vorg pulls the "bit of bric-a-brac" (the TARDIS) out, but sticks it back inside the machine. Later, Vorg shows the mistrusting natives Pletrac, Kalik and Orum some of the creatures inside the scope, including Ogrons, Cybermen, Tellurians and Drashigs, huge deadly carnivores. As the tribunal members watch the events within the human environment, Vorg shows them the machine's capabilities by adjusting a dial which amplifies the specimens' hostility.

Inside, the Doctor and Jo are captured, but Andrews chooses to fight the Doctor rather than imprison him. Using skills he learned from John L. Sullivan, the Doctor overpowers Andrews, allowing him and Jo to escape. They are chased across the deck, but make it to the hatch and find themselves in a place the Doctor describes as being like "inside a wristwatch".

The Tribunal on Inter Minor chooses to eradicate the illegal specimens inside the Scope, but the eradicator only damages the machine. Suspicious that the Scope contains an illegal transmitter, Orum searches the machine and pulls out the mini-TARDIS. Soon it expands to its normal size, horrifying the Tribunal.

The Doctor and Jo find another hatch inside and open it, and find themselves in another environment, an expanse of marshes, not what the Doctor was expecting. They turn to leave, but a Drashig rises from the marshes, ready for the kill.

Episode three

File:Carnival ep3.JPG

A Drashig breaks through

The Doctor attacks the Drashigs using the sonic screwdriver, and he and Jo run for their lives, enough to reach the inner circuitry again. The Doctor realizes they are in a MiniScope, explaining that earlier in his life he convinced the Time Lords to ban the use of MiniScopes. Jo is horrified that anyone would use such a device. They are troubled to find out that the Drashigs haven't given up their pursuit, and have broken into the circuitry as well. The pair find a deep shaft which leads to the bottom of the circuitry and the way out, so they return to the Bernice circuit to fetch a rope. Jo is caught by Andrews again, who has once again forgotten they have previously met.

There is trouble outside the Scope too. The Tribunal are trying to have Vorg and Shirna deported, while the operators themselves have noticed the Drashigs have escaped from their circuit. When Kalik and Orum hear about this, they hatch a plan to let the Drashigs escape the machine and cause havoc, forcing the President to resign. The Drashigs have now broken into the SS Bernice environment but are shot at and repelled by the crew. With a rope, the Doctor climbs down to the bottom of the shaft and exits the machine, but collapses.

Episode four

The Doctor escapes

There is commotion on Inter Minor as the Doctor grows to his normal size. The Doctor confronts the tribunal about their allowing the Scope on their planet, and is horrified that Vorg and Shirna are more concerned with claiming insurance on the loss of livestock than saving the lives inside the Scope. The Doctor ventures back inside the machine, while Kalik and Orum sabotage the eradicator to leave the city defenceless against the Drashigs, who finally escape and grow to formidable size. Fortunately, Vorg repairs the Eradicator and turns it on the Drashigs, but not before they eat Kalik.

Inside, Jo escapes yet another capture by the crew of the Bernice and is reunited with the Doctor, but the Scope is overheating and they are overcome by the heat. They are brought back by Vorg, who activates the device the Doctor left for him, which also returns the life-forms inside the Scope to their rightful places in space and time.

With the Scope inoperable, Vorg tries to gain enough credit bars to get home by entertaining Pletrac using the old shell trick, while the Doctor and Jo return to the TARDIS, ready for their next adventure.

Cast

Crew

Director/Producer - Barry Letts
Writer - Robert Holmes
Assistant Floor Manager - Karilyn Collier
Costumes - James Acheson
Designer - Roger Liminton
Film Cameraman - Peter Hamilton
Film Editor - Peter Evans
Incidental Music - Dudley Simpson
Make-Up - Angela Seyfang
Production Assistant - Chris D'Oyly-John
Script Editor - Terrance Dicks
Special Sounds - Brian Hodgson
Studio Lighting - Clive Thomas
Studio Sound - Gordon Mackie
Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
Title Music - Ron Grainer
Visual Effects - John Horton

References

Devices

The Doctor has heard of miniscopes. On his homeworld, the Doctor managed to convince the Time Lords to outlaw them, though obviously at least one of them survived.

The Doctor

The Doctor learnt to box from John L. Sullivan.

The Doctor's items

The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to ignite and explode the marsh gas in order to slow down the Drashigs.

Foods and beverages

On board the SS Bernice Major Daly orders a large scotch.

Languages

The Doctor fails to understand Vorg's polari.

Races and species

A Cyberman, Ogron and Drashig are all trapped within the miniscope and all returned to their home times.
Vorg claims he can't control the Drashigs (they're not intelligent) but he can control the Plesiosaur.
Wallarians are known for their gambling.

Planets

The Doctor mentions (for the first time) Metebelis III, "the famous blue planet of the Acteon group".

Story notes

This story features a guest appearance of Ian Marter, who would go on to play Harry Sullivan, and who had originally auditioned for the part of Mike Yates.
Working titles for this story included; The Labyrinth and Peepshow.
It is interesting to note that the title is the same of a Ray Bradbury short story "Carnival of Monsters" published in the 1940's. In it, a millionare on Mars lures several Health Officails into his house where they meet a variety of gruesome fates inspired by different horror writers. However, the title of this episode may be unrelated.

Ratings

Episode 1 - 9.5 million viewers
Episode 2 - 9.0 million viewers
Episode 3 - 9.0 million viewers
Episode 4 - 9.2 million viewers

Myths

The second episode as seen on the BBC video release of this story, which is about four minutes longer than the one originally transmitted and features the abandoned Delaware synthesiser arrangement of the theme music, is a specially extended version. (It is a rough cut that was prepared during the original editing of the story and never intended for public consumption. It still exists only because BBC Enterprises inadvertently included it a package of episodes supplied to the Australian Broadcasting Company. The video release also erroneously includes a version of Episode Four prepared for a repeat transmission in 1981, which has a section missing from the closing scene.)

Filming locations

Tillingham Marshes, Howe Farm, Tillingham, Essex
RFA Robert Dundas (as the SS Bernice)
Carwoods Quarry (now known as Asheldham Nature Reserve), Asheldham, Essex
BBC Television Centre (Studio 4 & 6), Shepherd's Bush, London

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

In episode one the sound of a pencil dropping and rolling across the studio floor can be heard.
The Drashigs are introduced twice in episode two. This was in an earlier longer edit of part 2 inadvertantly sold to ABC TV Australia by BBC Enterprises. Being over length, it features material later edited into part 1 and material cut completely from the transmitted version of part 2, it underwent a further edit to reduce its length for its UK premiere.
When Shirna does her little dance, the wire leading to the Miniscope is visible.
The TARDIS doors are open when the Doctor steps out but instantly close when the giant hand reaches for it.
The back of the Cyberman's head is loose
After entering the Miniscope, the Doctor helps Jo over a piece of equipment. As they walk off, the shadow of the boom mike moves over a white piece of the set in the upper right part of the screen.
Jo sinks waist-deep in the swamp, but by the time she reaches the cave, her trousers are dry.
The table Vorg plays his shell game on is clearly made of spray painted cardboard.
In the final scene, Pletrac's bald headpiece is quite obvious as it has detached from the actor's scalp. Barry Letts fixed this for a BBC2 repeat in the '80s by removing some of the shots and thus several lines of dialogue. Letts' amended ending appears as an extra on the DVD release.
At 3 minutes 12 seconds, when the Doctor steps out of the TARDIS, you can clearly see they are just stepping out of a police box prop, as there is no TARDIS interior wall.
As Jo and The Doctor investigate the chickens in the cargo hold, the camera pans to the right and we can glimpse the edge of the set and the supports behind it.

Continuity

The Doctor's involvement in the banning of miniscopes is also mentioned in MA: The Empire of Glass.
A similar device to the miniscope appears in DW: Nightmare of Eden.
The Drashigs have a brief cameo in Frontier in Space.
The Doctor compares the disappearance of the Bernice crew to that of the Mary Celeste; an encounter between the Doctor and the Daleks was behind the disappearance of the earlier ship's crew, although the at the time the Doctor was unaware of what happened to the crew. (DW: The Chase)

Timeline

This story occurs after ST: Deep Stretch
This story occurs before PDA: The Suns of Caresh

Home video and audio releases

DVD releases

Released as Doctor Who: Carnival of Monsters

Released:

UK July 2002 Region 2
Australia 2nd September 2002 Region 4
US July 2003 Region 1

Notes:

Editing for DVD release completed by Doctor Who Restoration Team.
A Special edition of "Carnival of Monsters" will be released on DVD as part of Revisitations 2 box set, out in Region 2 on 28th March 2011. It will be released with special editions of "The Seeds of Death" and "Resurrection of the Daleks".

UK DVD cover

DVD Australia cover

DVD US cover

VHS releases