To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the longest-running science-fiction show in the world, I’ll be taking weekly looks at some of my own personal favourite stories and arcs, from the old and new series, with a view to encapsulating the sublime, the clever and the fiendishly odd of the BBC’s Doctor Who.
Dragonfire originally aired in 1987.
You’re going to go looking for the dragon?
Absolutely.
Oh, cool. Can I come too?
– Ace introduces herself to the Doctor smoothly
Dragonfire is better than Delta and the Bannermen, which is certainly damning with faint praise. Like the rest of Sylvester McCoy’s first season, Dragonfire suffers because of a gap between concept and execution. There is a wealth of good ideas here, but Dragonfire can’t seem to develop any of them to the point where they stand out. Of this troubled first season, it’s perhaps the serial where the conflict between the show’s old-fashioned production and more modern writing are thrown into sharpest contrast. Dragonfire looks like it wants to be a classic Doctor Who episode, even though it’s written like anything but.
“I’m melting!”
Filed under: Television | Tagged: art, bbc, doctor, DoctorWho, Dragonfire, fiction, Ian Briggs, literature, Mel, Online Writing, raiders of the lost ark, science fiction, Sylvester McCoy, Tomb Of The Cybermen | 1 Comment »
