Who Review: Ghost Light

The Doctor takes Ace to a manor house, claiming it’s a test of her intuition. She is supposed to deduce where and when she is from what she sees. She correctly guesses it’s Victorian England, and that they are in a child’s play room. But as she eventually finds out, this is no random test. Ace has always had a fear of haunted houses, ever since she was traumatized by one when she was thirteen. The Doctor has taken her to Victorian Perivale, to the same house she visited, but 100 years in the past. He wants to find out the source of the evil Ace felt, and help her face her fears. Ace’s anger at the Doctor soon gives way to intrigue at the current residents of the house. Josiah Smith appears to be obsessed with evolution, and has a Neanderthal called Nimrod as a butler. Then there are Mrs. Pritchard and Gwendoline, who seem charming, but are devoutly loyal to Smith. Stories of disappearances, and fear from the rest of the staff of staying in the house after sunset add to the mystery. The key to it all seems to be something lurking in the cellar. As the Doctor and Ace investigate, they accidentally awaken a force that could prove deadly to all creation…

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!

When it comes to “Ghost Light,” there are three types of Whovian:

• The Whovian who hasn’t a clue what’s going on.
• The Whovian who understands the story, and always has from the first time they saw it.
• The Whovian who didn’t get it the first time, then watched it three or four more times, then heard Andrew Cartmel’s explanation of the plot, or read the novelization, or a blog like this, and eventually got it.

With no offense intended, let me tell you, only the first and third type of Whovian are the honest ones. If you’re in the third category, hats off to you for your dedication. If you’re in the first category, I hope by the time you get to the end of this review, you have moved up to the third. If you’re in the second category, you’ve probably stopped reading, shamed that you’ve been outed. HA! Serves you right!

So, here’s the basic plot of “Ghost Light” as I understand it. “Light” is surveying the universe taking notes and samples of the various light forms. He/it–let’s go with “it,” even though we see “Light” in a sort-of masculine form–visits Earth in the early days of man’s supposed evolution (I’m not an evolutionist, writer Marc Platt clearly is, let’s move on…). As usual, he takes a sample of the dominant life, a Neanderthal, and continues his quest. The crew of Light’s ship consists of an entity that will go out onto each planet and evolve into the dominant life form, to get a better understanding of how that life form functions. He/It is the “survey agent.” As with every good scientific experiment, there’s also an entity that is the control, called “Control.” This “Control” stays on board the ship, never evolving into anything, so it can provide a comparison against the evolved life form. At the time of “Ghost Light,” Light has gone into hibernation, and the survey agent has taken over the ship. He liked Earth, and so he goes back, this time ending up in Victorian times. The ship ends up (somehow–not sure on that point) in the basement of the house, which the survey agent then takes over. He evolves into Josiah Smith, the Victorian gentleman, since that appears to be the dominant life form. In the process of evolving, the survey agent sheds husks of his old forms (the insect creatures on the ship are such husks, still retaining vestiges of life). Josiah takes over the household, and brainwashes the occupants to do his will. Eventually he forms a plan to take over the world, starting with the British Empire and the assassination of Queen Victoria, which he will use one of his mesmerized subjects to carry out (Redvers Fenn-Cooper). Now, when Light is awakened, he wants to wrest back control… but Control escapes, and is angry at Josiah because he locked her/it up while he went off to take over the world. Control evolves into a Victorian lady (or “lady-like”), and threatens to upset Josiah’s plans. Meanwhile, Light is having a crisis, unable to handle the fact that life on Earth has evolved, rendering his survey incomplete. The Doctor convinces Light that everything changes–why, even Light has changed since leaving the ship, adopting an angel-like form. This is too much for Light who dissipates into a billion molecules, floating about the house. This is the “evil” that Ace felt on her first visit. Redvers, no longer under Josiah’s brain control, sides with Control and together they take over the ship. Control is now a fully-evolved Victorian lady, so Josiah becomes the new Control. Together, the three leave to continue the work of exploring the galaxy and cataloging all the life forms.

Got it now? I hope so.

As I hope you can tell, it’s actually a good story, certainly a good idea for a Who adventure. We get a darker side of the Doctor, trying to “help” Ace face her fears without any thought to the fact that Ace might want to face her fears on her own terms. By now we have a really good sense of the Seventh Doctor’s character. He can clown around and be quite mischievous. But he also has a dark, mysterious, and somewhat scary side. Both of these are on show in “Ghost Light.” Indeed, in this and the next two stories, often referred to as the “Ace Trilogy” because they center around Ace and her past, we really see how this Doctor is distinct from his previous incarnations. And we are teased with what might have been if there was a Classic Series 27… *sigh*

If “Ghost Light” is so good, why is it so incomprehensible on screen? Editing. This should have been a four-parter, but producer John Nathan-Turner was only allowed fourteen episodes of Who, and eleven had been assigned to other stories. All that editing does make for a pacy story, which is good, but it also means you have to pay attention to grasp as much as you can of what’s left. There’s some helpful exposition in episode three; but there’s a lot that’s too lightly hinted at that (we are assured) would have been clearer if they could have gone lighter with the scissors.

“Ghost Light” is definitely worth watching. The sets and costumes are superb (the BBC knows how to do period drama), though you can see some of the joins on Nimrod’s face make-up. The acting is excellent, and, armed with the Cliffs Notes, you should be able to follow the plot. So enjoy! There’ll be a quiz after. 🙂