'Doctor Who: Dragonfire' (1987)

It's going to be a bit of an odd week, this week, kicking off with my Year End Review tomorrow. They never turn out as bad as I expect them to but it always kicks my anxiety up a few notches while I'm waiting for the meeting with my boss. Any plans that I had for reading over the weekend took a bit of a hit then (plus I was playing Roblox and watching 'Delta and the Bannermen' with my eldest, priorities and all that) so I'm moving another 'Doctor Who' post into today instead. I hope you don't mind ;o) I'll see if I can get a couple of books read this week as well...

It's always a bit of an odd feeling when I look back at these stories and realise that a story that still feels fresh in my head is a lot older than it has any right to be, you know what I mean. Like 'Dragonfire' for instance, a quick look (at the back of the DVD case) shows that it aired midway through my first term at high school and is approaching its thirty fourth birthday. There's nothing like a 'Classic Doctor Who' story to really make you feel old. Or to make me feel old anyway... But what else does 'Dragonfire' do, apart from making me confront my own mortality...? ;o) Nothing else that dramatic...

At the Iceworld Trading Colony on Svartos, the Doctor and Mel are about to make a new friend, meet an old friend, confront an imprisoned crime boss and attempt to get to the bottom of an intriguing mystery, not necessarily in that order though. Will Sabalom Glitz get his spaceship back? Will the Doctor, Mel and Ace evade the clutches of Kane and his 'ice zombie' mercenaries? And what is the secret of the 'Dragonfire' treasure? A secret that Kane will kill to make his own...

At only three episodes long, 'Dragonfire' doesn't really have a lot of choice other than to just get on with it and tell it's story. The result is (funnily enough) a very tight, no nonsense tale that does it's job with no fuss and bother. That's not to say that I didn't have issues with it, I did. If Kane really wanted the treasure that badly, why didn't he just build up his army a little more then flood the lower levels with mercenaries until the dragon was found? And having reached a dead end, what on earth possessed the Doctor to try and climb down a cliff face using just his umbrella? Just one look over the edge should have told him to just go back the way he came and see if he missed a turning somewhere. But no... While it was a cliffhanger in the most literal sense, it didn't actually make any sense...

These are small quibbles though when you see the Doctor and friends up against Edward Peel's Kane, a chilling (no pun intended) villain with a line in smooth lines and the ability to freeze you to death with his hands. It gets to the point where you'll see his gloves come off and you just know that someone is going to die. Edward Peel really makes the most of limited screen time (in terms of the whole story, that is) to give us one of the more eye-catching 'one off' Doctor Who villains. For a story that's only three episodes long, a lot happens and all of it demands your attention. 'Dragonfire' is very easy on the eye in that respect. It's also notable for introducing us to Ace and her love of homemade explosives. Ace is pretty much the opposite of Mel and gives the story a little spark in all the right places; she may not come into her own until a little further down the line but Ace is a lot of fun here in the meantime.

'Dragonfire' is also, for me anyway, one of the 'Doctor Who' stories that has the weird distinction of pushing through budget limitations while also being held back by them, all at the same time. The death of Kane (and the story is thirty something years old so it's not really a spoiler to say this) absolutely nails that little, melting, nod to 'Raiders of the Lost Ark, albeit in a slightly (and I do mean 'slightly') more family friendly way. At the same time though, the little nod to 'Aliens' is held back by both the set and the cumbersome rubber alien suit (it's really not the tense moment that it wants to be). It's interesting to see how the story can go between these extremes very quickly.

'Dragonfire' ultimately worked for me but it was almost despite itself. The story is limited in some ways but compelling in others; I'm a fan so that was always going to tip it for me. I'm not going to pretend the flaws aren't there though.