The Doctor has promised Jo a holiday on Metebelis 3, but the TARDIS materializes not on the famous blue planet, but in the cargo hold of the SS Bernice, sailing to India in 1926. Despite all appearances, the Doctor insists that they are no longer on Earth, but Jo's not convinced, at least not until a sea dinosaur attacks the ship! Millions of miles from Earth, a traveling showman named Vorg and his lovely assistant have arrived on Inter Minor to bring a little sunshine into the humdrum lives of the Minorian officials and functionaries. The dilapidated device they've brought looks rather unpromising until Vorg explains that the entertainment the Scope offers is "live"- it holds actual, miniaturized, living creatures kidnapped from every corner of the universe. There are Cybermen, Ogrons and even a party of rare Tellurians aboard a quaint steamship.DVD Features:
Alternate endings:Episode 4
Audio Commentary:Actor Katy Manning and producer-director Barry Letts
Deleted Scenes
Featurette:Behind the scenes, model sequences, archival featurette by Barry Letts on CSO (blue screen)
Production Notes
"Carnival of Monsters" finds Jon Pertwee's Third Doctor and Jo Grant (Katy Manning) materializing on the SS Bernice in the Indian Ocean in 1926, on the very day the ship is about to give rise to a famous sea mystery. Passengers and crew, including Ian Marter (who would return as companion Harry Sullivan two years later), are reliving the same few moments over and over again, and there is a plesiosaur in the ocean. Meanwhile two traveling show people, Vorg (Leslie Dwyer) and Shirna (Cheryl Hall), have arrived on the planet Inter Minor with an illegal Miniscope peepshow. In a variation on the miniaturization plot of Fantastic Voyage (1966), and harking back to Doctor Who's own "Planet of the Giants" story from 1964, the Doctor and Jo have materialized within the Miniscope's compression field and are trapped inside. As the second story in the 10th season of Doctor Who, this fast-moving, witty, and surreal adventure slots into series continuity between "The Three Doctors" and "Frontier in Space." A longtime fan favorite, the four-part thriller remains one of the most enjoyable of the Jon Pertwee-era stories. --Gary S. Dalkin
Login
Add tags