Who Review: Dragonfire

On the dark side of the planet Svartos is a space trading colony called “Iceworld.” The ruler of this cold neck of the galaxy is Kane, a man whose heart is as cool as the rest of his body. He lives in his underground control room, and buys followers, some of whom he subjects to deep freezing, erasing all memories, and subjugating them to his will as soldiers in his army. Select followers are denied the cooler, but have his mark of ownership on their hand. The Doctor and Mel pick up a tracking signal coming from Iceworld and, suspicious of what’s going on, materialize to investigate. They find themselves in a place that’s a cross between a cafe and a supermarket freezer section. There they encounter Sabalom Glitz, the bounty hunter wheeler-dealer, from previous adventures, and a bored young waitress, Ace, looking for adventure. Glitz owes money to Kane having done badly in a card game. Kane has given him 72 hours to pay his debt or Glitz will lose his spaceship, the Nosferatu. Glitz has a map to a secret treasure, guarded by a legendary dragon, that could be the key to repaying his debt and leaving Iceworld. It seems he won the map in a card game. But Glitz doesn’t want to risk exploring the lower parts of Iceworld, even if the Doctor thinks it sounds like an exciting adventure. With the Doctor’s buy-in, however, Glitz is finally convinced to go. What they don’t know is there’s a tracking device on the map’s seal, planted by Kane. He intends to use Glitz and his friends to find the treasure. Once whatever evil guards the treasure has dealt with them, he will take the riches for himself…

SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those that haven’t seen this serial. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!

Written by newbie script writer (at least to Doctor Who) Ian Briggs, “Dragonfire” is a good story that suffers from some bad editing choices, and some of the same cost-cutting that has been the bane of Classic Doctor Who from the beginning. Of particular interest is the return of Sabalom Glitz, the dodgy-dealer from the previous season’s “The Mysterious Planet” and “The Ultimate Foe.” Glitz was one of the bright spots of the “Trial” season, brilliantly played by Tony Selby, so it’s nice to see him back. Also, this story sees the departure of Mel and the introduction of new companion, Ace.

When we meet Ace, she’s complaining about her job and getting ticked off at customers. She befriends Mel and tells her some of her background. Her real name is Dorothy and she’s originally from twentieth-century Earth. She loves explosives and has developed her own enhanced version of nitroglycerin, which she calls “Nitro-9.” It seems she was working with explosives when she accidentally caused a time storm in her room, sending her to Iceworld. She says she doesn’t have parents, and all her time on Earth she felt like she didn’t belong, that her real home was beyond the stars. Briggs will come back to Ace’s history in “The Curse of Fenric,” the penultimate story of the Classic Series.

Suffice to say, Ace comes across as a bolshy, aggressive street urchin, but with the capacity to befriend someone as different to her as Mel. I think Sophie Aldred plays up the attitude a bit too much in her first few scenes, especially when she rounds on Mel and tells her she doesn’t need anyone else, “It’s just me, alright?” While I’m sure the words are right, it comes across as something punk kids are supposed to say. Sophie doesn’t quite own it. As the story progresses, though, I think she grows into the character more and demonstrates she has the acting chops to make Ace a memorable character, worthy of the TARDIS.

There are some good special effects and design. The ice caves and Kane’s domain are all very well realized. The “dragon,” however, is not as convincing to me. But, to be fair, it’s about as good as you get for Classic Who. They rarely could afford costumes that didn’t look ultimately like a man in a rubber suit. Nice try, though.

Episode one has a dual cliff hanger. The first is when Ace and Mel first encounter the “dragon.” Ace does a bit of an awkward jaw-drop, while Mel screams loud enough for both of them. It seems that was intended to be the cliff hanger. But someone made the decision that having a literal cliff hanger, with the Doctor hanging on to his umbrella over the side of a sheer ice-rock face, would be more… exciting? Humorous? I’m not sure. Either way it doesn’t work. Why did the Doctor climb over the rail in the first place? According to Ian Briggs, the script originally said that the Doctor couldn’t go any further, so his only alternative was to climb down to the ledge below, which turned out to be a lot further down than he thought. And yet, in the resolution, Glitz appears to climb over the ledge, and help the Doctor from below. If that’s as far down as the ledge was, the Doctor could have dropped and landed on his feet! That whole sequence is probably the worst part of the entire story. It makes no sense, and there’s no attempt to explain any of it.

Edward Peel does a great job with his portrayal of Kane as a stern authoritarian who you dare not cross, yet with that quiet delivery that is, perhaps, more powerful than if he had shouted his lines. The scene where he’s trying to convince Ace to take the coin that will mark her as his is excellent. Kane’s insistent voice, Mel’s pleading for Ace not to listen, and the fear and confusion on Ace’s face as her hand reaches for the coin. I wonder how deliberate it was that they refer to the imprint left on the hand by the coin as “the mark of Kane”–a play on Genesis 4:15, perhaps?

The story elements tie together well at the end. We find out that Kane is, in fact, a prisoner on Iceworld, and the “dragon” is actually his guard. The “treasure” locked away inside the “dragon”‘s head, the “dragonfire,” is a power source that can be used to leave because… “Iceworld” is really a humongous spaceship! Kane wants to use the dragonfire and return to his home planet of Proamnon. But during his 5,000 year exile, Proamnon was destroyed by its sun. So Kane has nowhere to run. For some reason, not fully explained–whether desperation or despair–Kane opens a window shield, letting in direct, unfiltered sunlight. It had been established previously that Kane can only survive in sub-zero temperatures. When the sunlight hits his face, he melts. The face melting effect is quite gruesome and very well done. So well done, the BBC received letters of complaint!

The last scene of the story deals with Mel’s departure and Ace’s boarding. I’m afraid I don’t buy Mel leaving with Glitz. She has shown nothing but contempt for him throughout the story, so why on Earth would she want to travel with him? And she tells him up front that she intends to stop his dodgy dealing, so why on Earth would he take her? And why does Mel all of a sudden want to leave? It comes out of the blue, with no prior warning. Even though Peri didn’t get to return home, she at least indicated at the beginning of her last story that she was missing Earth. Ace, on the other hand, gets a much better welcome aboard from the Doctor, promising to take her back to Perivale by the scenic route, unlike the direct passage offered by Glitz.

As I said at the beginning, “Dragonfire” is good Who, but not perfect. There are things that could be done better, but it’s worth watching.