Dragonfire (Doctor Who)
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''Dragonfire'' is the fourth and final serial of the 24th season of the British
science fiction television Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary ...
series ''
Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...
'', which was first broadcast in three weekly parts from 23 November to 7 December 1987. This serial marked the departure of
Bonnie Langford Bonita Melody Lysette "Bonnie" Langford (born 22 July 1964) is an English actress, dancer and singer. She came to prominence as a child star in the 1970s, when she had a notable role in the TV series ''Just William''. In the 1980s, she played c ...
as
Mel Bush Mel, also sometimes referred to as Melanie, is a fictional character played by Bonnie Langford in the long-running British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. A computer programmer from the 20th century who is a companion of the ...
and the introduction of
Sophie Aldred Sophie Aldred (born 20 August 1962) is an English actress and television presenter. She has worked extensively in children's television as a presenter and voice artist. She played the Seventh Doctor's companion, Ace, in the television series ''D ...
as companion
Ace An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the c ...
. In the serial, the criminal Kane (
Edward Peel Edward Peel is an English television and stage actor. He was described by ''The Times'' in 2010 as a "veteran star of TV dramas" and "a familiar face on television for the past 40 years". Early life and education Peel trained as an actor at Ro ...
), exiled to the planet Svartos three thousand years ago, seeks to find the power source for his prison ship, which has since become a trading colony called Iceworld, so he can use it to return to his home planet.


Plot

The
Seventh Doctor The Seventh Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', and the final incarnation of the original Doctor Who series. He is portrayed by Scottish actor Sylvester McCoy. W ...
and
Mel Mel, Mels or MEL may refer to: Biology * Mouse erythroleukemia cell line (MEL) * National Herbarium of Victoria, a herbarium with the Index Herbariorum code MEL People * Mel (given name), the abbreviated version of several given names (including ...
arrive at the trading colony Iceworld on the dark side of the planet Svartos. They soon run into
Sabalom Glitz Sabalom Glitz is a fictional character from the long-running British science fiction television series, '' Doctor Who''. Glitz is a rogue from the planet Salostophus in the Andromeda Constellation. Glitz's first love is money, and he is often ...
, who is on Svartos to work off a debt that he owes to the crime lord Kane, and is preparing to explore the depths of Svartos to locate a treasure reportedly protected by a dragon, aided by a map given to him by Kane; in exchange, Kane will return Glitz's ship, the ''Nosferatu'', and clear him of his debts. The Doctor and Mel offer to help, but Glitz asserts the expedition is too dangerous for Mel, and she stays behind at a local diner. She befriends
Ace An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the c ...
, a young woman who turns out to have actually come from 20th-century Earth, propelled forward in time when a mysterious time storm appeared in her bedroom while she was trying to experiment with "Nitro-9", an explosive of her own creation. The two eventually become weary of waiting and follow the Doctor and Glitz. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Glitz follow Glitz's map, unaware that Kane has implanted a tracking and listening device into it. Kane controls a large number of beings that had been unable to repay their debts, their memories wiped and turned into cold-proof henchmen by Kane's touch. Kane has a number of these follow the Doctor and Glitz so as to grab the treasure once it is found. The Doctor and Glitz eventually encounter the "dragon", which turns out to be a biomechanoid that can shoot lasers from its eyes. When Mel and Ace arrive and are pursued by Kane's men, the "dragon" helps to protect the two and defeat the men. The "dragon" leads the four to a control room where it plays a holographic message. The message explains that Kane is one half of the Kane-Xana criminal gang from the planet Proamon. They were chased down by authorities, and Xana, Kane's lover, killed herself in the process, while Kane was exiled to Svartos. The message continues that the Iceworld spaceport is really a giant spacecraft, whose power source lies in the "dragon"'s head, and Kane seeks this as to be able to escape Svartos. The Doctor suspects Kane must have been trapped here for millennia. Kane, overhearing this, sends more of his forces to seize the "dragon"'s head, while causing chaos among the spaceport, including destroying the ''Nosferatu'' with numerous escaping passengers aboard. Kane's men succeed in decapitating the "dragon" before they are killed, and Kane uses a communicator to tell the Doctor and the others to bring him the head. The Doctor does so, accompanied by his allies. Kane uses the head to initiate Iceworld's engines and it detaches itself from the planet. Kane attempts to set course to Proamon, but finds the computers unable to do so; the Doctor explains that Proamon was destroyed a thousand years after Kane was exiled on Svartos when the sun it was orbiting went
supernova A supernova is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. It has the plural form supernovae or supernovas, and is abbreviated SN or SNe. This transient astronomical event occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star or when ...
. Driven insane by this revelation, Kane commits suicide by purposely allowing his body to be exposed to the light of a nearby star, which causes him to melt into a puddle of water. As order is restored on Iceworld, Glitz declares himself owner of the vessel, and renames it ''Nosferatu II''. Mel decides to stay with Glitz, while the Doctor offers to take Ace home to
Perivale Perivale () is an area of Greater London, west of Charing Cross. It is the smallest of the seven towns which make up the London Borough of Ealing. Perivale is mostly residential, with a library, community centre, a number of parks and open ...
via the "scenic route".


Production

Working titles for this story included ''Absolute Zero'', ''The Pyramid's Treasure'' and ''Pyramid in Space''. In one scene, the Doctor distracts a guard by engaging him in a philosophical conversation. One of the guard's lines, about the "semiotic thickness of a performed text", is a quotation from ''Doctor Who: The Unfolding Text'', a 1983
media studies Media studies is a discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history, and effects of various media; in particular, the mass media. Media Studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but mostly ...
volume by John Tulloch and
Manuel Alvarado Manuel Bernardo Alvarado Green (15 March 1948 – 30 April 2010) was a Guatemalan-born British academic, who specialized in media studies. During his career he was secretary of the Society for Education in Film and Television and the editor of '' ...
. Story editor
Andrew Cartmel Andrew J. Cartmel (born 6 April 1958) is a British author and journalist. He was the script editor of ''Doctor Who'' during the Sylvester McCoy era of the show between 1987 and 1989. He has also worked as a script editor on other television serie ...
had suggested that writers read ''The Unfolding Text'' to familiarise themselves with ''Doctor Who'' and its history, which inspired Ian Briggs to quote the academic text in his script, in a playful self-reference. The literal
cliffhanger A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode or a film of serialized fiction. A cliffhang ...
at the end of episode 1 in which the Doctor lowers himself over a guard rail to dangle over an abyss from his umbrella for no apparent reason comes under frequent criticism for its seeming absurdity. As scripted, the Doctor did have a logical motivation for his actions. According to Cartmel in a later interview, the passage leading to the cliff was meant to be a dead end, leaving the Doctor no option but to scale the cliff face. As shot, however, this reasoning became unclear. This original intention is reinforced in the next episode when Mel and Ace contemplate the same climb. For the effects shot of Kane's death, a wax bust of Edward Peel's screaming face was made and filmed being melted down to a skull within, this footage being sped up to achieve the effect. Though this is very similar to the death of Toht in '' Raiders of the Lost Ark'', for the family audience of ''Doctor Who'', the colour red was carefully avoided in the bust.
Ronald Lacey Ronald William Lacey (28 September 1935 – 15 May 1991) was an English actor. He made numerous television and film appearances over a 30-year period. His roles included Harris in ''Porridge'' (1977), Frankie in the Bud Spencer comedy '' Ch ...
, who had portrayed Toht in the film, was director Chris Clough's first choice to play Kane, but was unavailable.Fact of Fiction, Doctor Who Magazine Issue 444
John Alderton John Alderton (born 27 November 1940) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in '' Upstairs, Downstairs'', '' Thomas & Sarah'', '' Wodehouse Playhouse'', ''Little Miss'' (original television series), '' Please Sir!'', '' No, Hones ...
and
David Jason Sir David John White (born 2 February 1940), known professionally by his stage name David Jason, is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Derek "Del Boy" Trotter in the BBC sitcom '' Only Fools and Horses'', Detective Inspector ...
were also considered for the part of Kane, but neither were available for the role.


Broadcast and reception

On UK Gold (now known as
Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
) in 2003 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of ''Doctor Who'', over a weekend DrWho@40weekend was shown which consisted of the best serials of each Doctor voted by the viewing public. ''Dragonfire'' was the serial chosen as the best Seventh Doctor serial. DrWho@40weekend also included interviews with the cast and crew of the series overall. The
Doctor Who Appreciation Society The ''Doctor Who'' Appreciation Society (DWAS) is a society for fans of the television series '' Doctor Who''. It was founded in May 1976, emerging from the Westfield College ''Doctor Who'' Appreciation Society and the editors and readers of the ...
voted the serial to be the best one of its season.
Paul Cornell Paul Douglas Cornell (born 18 July 1967) is a British writer best known for his work in television drama as well as ''Doctor Who'' fiction, and as the creator of one of the Doctor's spin-off companions, Bernice Summerfield. As well as ''Docto ...
, Martin Day and
Keith Topping Keith Andrew Topping (born 26 October 1963 in Walker, Tyneside) is an author, journalist and broadcaster. He is most well known for his work relating to the BBC Television series ''Doctor Who'' and for writing numerous official and unofficial g ...
said the serial was "an interesting attempt to do what ''Doctor Who'' does best: mix monsters with semiotics and philosophy. It doesn't quite come off, but it's a very useful launch vehicle for Ace (despite some overdone dialogue)." David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker were critical of the cliffhanger end to episode one, "which must surely be the most ludicrous ever presented in ''Doctor Who''." They conceded, however, that "''Dragonfire'' actually succeeds in a great many respects. One of the principal reasons for this is that all the cast seem to take their parts seriously."


Commercial releases


In print

A novelisation of this serial, written by
Ian Briggs Ian Briggs (born 31 October 1958) is a British television writer, author and manager, whose work includes scripts for the BBC drama series ''Doctor Who'' and '' Casualty''. Writing Briggs wrote two serials for ''Doctor Who'', '' Dragonfire'' and ...
, was published by
Target Books Target Books was a British publishing imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company. The imprint was established as a children's imprint to complement the adult Tandem imprint, and became wel ...
in March 1989.


Home media

''Dragonfire'' was released on VHS on 29th December 1993, alongside the Tom Baker story ''
Planet of Evil ''Planet of Evil'' is the second serial of the 13th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. It was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 27 September to 18 October 1975. The serial is set on and ab ...
''. It was released on
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
on 7 May 2012, coupled with ''
The Happiness Patrol ''The Happiness Patrol'' is the second serial of the 25th season of the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in three weekly parts on BBC1 from 2 to 16 November 1988. The serial is set on the Ea ...
'' as part of the ''"Ace Adventures"'' box set.DWM 433 In June 2021 it was released as part of the Doctor Who: The Collection Season 24 blu-ray box set, which includes an optional extended cut of all three episodes. This serial was also released as part of the
Doctor Who DVD Files This is a list of ''Doctor Who'' serials and episodes that have been released on DVD and Blu-ray. DVD Release Most ''Doctor Who'' DVDs have been released first in the United Kingdom with Region 2, and released later in Australia and Ne ...
in Issue 123 on 18 September 2013.


References


External links

*


Target novelisation

* {{Seventh Doctor stories, selected=Television Doctor Who serials novelised by Ian Briggs Doctor Who serials written by Ian Briggs Seventh Doctor serials 1987 British television episodes Fiction set in the 7th millennium or beyond