During the commentary for the fourth episode of "Carnival of Monsters," producer-director Barry Letts mentions SURVIVOR and BIG BROTHER, equating the Miniscope peepshow, which allows paying customers the chance to watch trapped living creatures in their native habitats, with reality TV series. While this thematic comparison may not be as apt as, say, the comparison between SURVIVOR and the DW episode "Vengeance on Varos," it's an original way of looking at a somewhat underrated story from the show's Pertwee era - and it proves, as usual, that writer Robert Holmes' themes still resonate even thirty years later.
The story begins with the Third Doctor and Jo Grant (Katy Manning) materializing on the SS Bernice in the Indian Ocean in 1926, on the same day in history that the ship supposedly disappeared without a trace. The passengers and crew, including Major Daly (Tenniel Evans), his daughter Claire (Jenny McCracken), and Lieutenant Andrews (Ian Marter), are reliving the same few moments over and over again - and for some reason, there's a plesiosaur in the waters. Meanwhile two carnies, Vorg (Leslie Dwyer) and Shirna (Cheryl Hall), arrive on the planet Inter Minor with an illegal Miniscope peepshow, making the drab and (literally) gray inhabitants, including Kalik (Michael Wisher) and Orum (Terrence Lodge), very nervous. But even more nerve-wracking is Vorg's discovery that there are suddenly new specimens in his "reality TV" machine, as well as a strange blue box...
Several things make "Carnival" stand out - for one thing, it's the first story in which the Doctor has full use of his TARDIS again, after the Time Lords have reversed his sentence of exile, and thus the first story in which he's traveling to other worlds without being guided by them. (This also means, happily, that the UNIT "family" is nowhere to be seen, as their presence in the series has become somewhat stale by this point.) It's also a Robert Holmes script, which immediately puts it ahead of the pack, despite the fact that, as Letts puts it, it's more "science fantasy" in parts than "science fiction." (This disc also ensures Holmes' place as the writer whose stories have been most released on DVD, with five so far in the US.) And finally, it's a good outing for Jo Grant, a character I've often found more annoying than enjoyable. Holmes, as the first writer to use her in a story back in "Terror of the Autons," seems to have a feel for the character that only Malcolm Hulke ever seemed to match. On top of that, there are notable guest appearances by Marter, later to become companion Harry Sullivan, and Wisher, best known for his Dalek voices and as the creator of the Daleks, Davros. And finally, despite its strong reliance on CSO, the special effects aren't half-bad, given that this story was produced over three decades ago. It may not have the weight and heft of other Holmes scripts such as "Talons of Weng-Chiang" (which will be released on disc next year), nor does it have any sort of colossal, universal threat for the Doctor to face, but it's a fun jaunt, and Jon Pertwee and company seem to enjoy it.
So do Letts and Manning, who provide the commentary for this story. Manning in particular is a revelation - she's not seen the story since it originally aired, yet she gets into the spirit of the piece with gusto, all the while adding her own recollections of the production process and making some very keen observations about whether the show would've been more successful with a larger budget, as Letts claims at one point. I don't care for Jo most of the time, as I've said, but I adore Manning - releasing more Jo Grant stories on DVD would be worth it just to have her along for the ride again. By comparison, Letts often comes off like an elderly uncle a bit embarrassed by a rambunctious young niece, though as both producer and director of this particular story his insights and recollections are often more helpful than hers. On the downside, if you're used to watching these discs with the commentary and the optional subtitled production notes turned on at the same time (as I do), you'll find that Letts covers the exact same ground as those notes - and at times in near perfect sync! However, on their own, the production notes do provide the sort of background information that interested fans will want to hear - though coming from Letts they're just a bit more interesting, especially his story of Pertwee's theft of a compass from the ship they used on location.
The rest of the extras are interesting only from the technical point of view, as the CSO demo that Letts hosts from some point in the '70s is surprisingly dull and the behind-the-scenes footage shot for a contemporary documentary is far too short. It's a pity that Episode Two has lost the Delaware-themed version of the opening sequence that it boasted on the VHS release (the episode accidentally aired in Australia with the experimental opening and closing sequences), but at least it's still here on the disc, in addition to the Easter Egg inclusion of a "clean" version of the Pertwee credits sequence. (Pressing left when you reach the "Delaware Title Sequence" option in the Special Features menu gets you there.) Pressing to the left of the Subtitles On/Off button will bring up the other Egg, a countdown clock for Episode 2 with a rather cheeky PA counting down - good for a quick laugh, but not for much else. Same with the visual effects test film, which is hardly revealing.
The disc also features the trailer for the "Five Faces of Doctor Who" season in 1981, in which this story appeared - but if you haven't watched it yet and don't want any surprises spoiled (which is hardly likely), don't watch this! With a spoiler promo like that, it's amazing that as many people as Letts reports tuned in as they did. The extended and deleted scenes are the same as those included in the VHS release, so nothing new there, while the director's amended ending is simply a reedited version requested by Letts for the story's 1981 retransmission to edit out Peter Halliday's bald cap coming loose. The photo gallery follows the same trend as the other recent US releases by adding a story-specific set of sound effects to the pictures, which is pretty damned annoying. Surprisingly, the coolest extra is the TARDIS-cam short, a computer-generated clip of the TARDIS dematerializing, traveling through the Vortex, and then reemerging into real time - if a new series could be produced with effects like this, then the BBC's worries about being shown up by American-produced SF shows would be completely unfounded. So, while the extras may be no great shakes this time out, the story itself is worth buying the disc for, especially to see it in its original transmitted form, and with a quality of sound and picture far better than it enjoyed even in 1972. The commentary's the real icing on this cake, though - give us more Katy!
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