Carnival of Monsters is a creative yet slightly repetitive story, once again proving that Doctor Who can extend its boundaries and play around with the expectations of the audience.
Story: 7
Robert Holmes expertly keeps up tension and mystery by slowly revealing where the Doctor and Jo have landed. The revelation is quite shocking the first time around. The overall plot of this serial is one of the more playful ones and that helps it stand out.
I've always found the scenes with the blue aliens and Vorg pretty boring and pointless. They explain what's going on but there's not much more to them. What makes those scenes particularly dull is the fact that they don't have anything to do with the Doctor and Jo directly.
In a true Holmesian manner, Carnival of Monsters has a strong political message, although not quite as obvious as in several of his other works.
The second half of the story isn't fully as interesting since both the Doctor and Vorg and company reach a standstill and there is little development in the plot until it's time to wrap things up.
Acting: 6
Peter Halliday appears again, in his weirdest part on the show. He was amazing as Packer in The Invasion (1968) and also provided voices for the Silurians and the Ambassadors in Season 7. He's not quite as good as Pletrac, however.
This serial contains some of the most frustrating alien acting on the series so far. The three blue men look and sound similar, and spend four episodes bickering with each other, while Vorg and Shirna are annoyingly colourful and happy.
The Doctor: 8
We are back to the lovely double-act between the Doctor and Jo. They complete each other perfectly. Jon Pertwee is his dashing self yet again and the way he cares for Jo feels genuine.
The Companions: 8
Jo has a wonderful time joining the Doctor. She's of great help, and while she isn't complete without her faults, she isn't in the way at all. She asks just the right questions to make the Doctor seem more brilliant.
The Monster/Villain: 5
The blue aliens are among the most annoying and useless villains, and if you regard Vorg and Shirna as villains as well, the same goes for them.
The monsters and dangers the Doctor and Jo face are of the same calibre as those faced by the First Doctor and his companions in Planet of Giants (1965), only slightly more interesting. Unfortunately, the serial relies heavily on the Drashigs.
Production: 6
I love the quirky music used throughout this serial. It fits the carnival theme perfectly.
The Drashigs (fun fact: anagram of "dishrag", they must have run out of clever alien names) are puppets that look terrible, and there are more model work and visual effect that look dated today. The overall set design also isn't particularly interesting.
Pacing: 6
Like most four-parters scripted by Robert Holmes, Carnival of Monsters flows quite nicely, if not as good as many other stories of the same length. The scenes outside the Miniscope are mostly boring and slow down things ab hit.
Atmosphere: 7
This is not a particularly exciting story and the initial tension eases out after it becomes clear where the Doctor and Jo have materialized. The scenes outside the Miniscope also take away from the mystery of the story.
Impact: 8
With Carnival of Monsters writer Robert Holmes proves he is quite capable of writing stories that do unexpected things with the Doctor Who formula. He is not only good at utilizing facts, but he's also an expert at breaking them.
Replay Value: 7
I wouldn't pick this as the story to rewatch in the first place, but it's enjoyable enough to survive a replay or two.
Random Observations:
From the case marked "Actors Who Will Appear On Doctor Who Later in More Well-Known Roles": Ian Marter appears in a supporting role here. He is, of course, more well-known as Harry Sullivan, companion of the Fourth Doctor.
Vorg is wearing something I imagine Elton John could have worn.
The Doctor tried to materialize on the planet Metebelis III, which is of great significance in his last story, Planet of the Spiders (1974).
The Third Doctor's electronic screwdriver only works on electronic locks. So, not a complete deus ex machina yet!
Carnival of Monsters is another Doctor Who story with striking similarities to the HBO show Westworld.
The Episode One cliffhanger is another iconic one, and even though it looks silly today, I imagine it was pretty creepy back in the day.
The Cyberman cameo seen in this story is the only time the Cybermen make an appearance during Jon Pertwee's time ion the show.
Review by Theo KallströmVIP 6BlockedParent2020-06-15T12:09:43Z
Carnival of Monsters is a creative yet slightly repetitive story, once again proving that Doctor Who can extend its boundaries and play around with the expectations of the audience.
Story: 7
Robert Holmes expertly keeps up tension and mystery by slowly revealing where the Doctor and Jo have landed. The revelation is quite shocking the first time around. The overall plot of this serial is one of the more playful ones and that helps it stand out.
I've always found the scenes with the blue aliens and Vorg pretty boring and pointless. They explain what's going on but there's not much more to them. What makes those scenes particularly dull is the fact that they don't have anything to do with the Doctor and Jo directly.
In a true Holmesian manner, Carnival of Monsters has a strong political message, although not quite as obvious as in several of his other works.
The second half of the story isn't fully as interesting since both the Doctor and Vorg and company reach a standstill and there is little development in the plot until it's time to wrap things up.
Acting: 6
Peter Halliday appears again, in his weirdest part on the show. He was amazing as Packer in The Invasion (1968) and also provided voices for the Silurians and the Ambassadors in Season 7. He's not quite as good as Pletrac, however.
This serial contains some of the most frustrating alien acting on the series so far. The three blue men look and sound similar, and spend four episodes bickering with each other, while Vorg and Shirna are annoyingly colourful and happy.
The Doctor: 8
We are back to the lovely double-act between the Doctor and Jo. They complete each other perfectly. Jon Pertwee is his dashing self yet again and the way he cares for Jo feels genuine.
The Companions: 8
Jo has a wonderful time joining the Doctor. She's of great help, and while she isn't complete without her faults, she isn't in the way at all. She asks just the right questions to make the Doctor seem more brilliant.
The Monster/Villain: 5
The blue aliens are among the most annoying and useless villains, and if you regard Vorg and Shirna as villains as well, the same goes for them.
The monsters and dangers the Doctor and Jo face are of the same calibre as those faced by the First Doctor and his companions in Planet of Giants (1965), only slightly more interesting. Unfortunately, the serial relies heavily on the Drashigs.
Production: 6
I love the quirky music used throughout this serial. It fits the carnival theme perfectly.
The Drashigs (fun fact: anagram of "dishrag", they must have run out of clever alien names) are puppets that look terrible, and there are more model work and visual effect that look dated today. The overall set design also isn't particularly interesting.
Pacing: 6
Like most four-parters scripted by Robert Holmes, Carnival of Monsters flows quite nicely, if not as good as many other stories of the same length. The scenes outside the Miniscope are mostly boring and slow down things ab hit.
Atmosphere: 7
This is not a particularly exciting story and the initial tension eases out after it becomes clear where the Doctor and Jo have materialized. The scenes outside the Miniscope also take away from the mystery of the story.
Impact: 8
With Carnival of Monsters writer Robert Holmes proves he is quite capable of writing stories that do unexpected things with the Doctor Who formula. He is not only good at utilizing facts, but he's also an expert at breaking them.
Replay Value: 7
I wouldn't pick this as the story to rewatch in the first place, but it's enjoyable enough to survive a replay or two.
Random Observations:
From the case marked "Actors Who Will Appear On Doctor Who Later in More Well-Known Roles": Ian Marter appears in a supporting role here. He is, of course, more well-known as Harry Sullivan, companion of the Fourth Doctor.
Vorg is wearing something I imagine Elton John could have worn.
The Doctor tried to materialize on the planet Metebelis III, which is of great significance in his last story, Planet of the Spiders (1974).
The Third Doctor's electronic screwdriver only works on electronic locks. So, not a complete deus ex machina yet!
Carnival of Monsters is another Doctor Who story with striking similarities to the HBO show Westworld.
The Episode One cliffhanger is another iconic one, and even though it looks silly today, I imagine it was pretty creepy back in the day.
The Cyberman cameo seen in this story is the only time the Cybermen make an appearance during Jon Pertwee's time ion the show.
Score: 68/120