DOCTOR WHO, SEASON 24 SERIAL 4:

DRAGONFIRE

Doctor: Seventh (Sylvester McCoy)

Companion: Mel

And introducing...Ace

February 2024

So no, it doesn’t quite work.

Still, there’s great ideas at play here: the concept of Iceworld, as a consistently frozen planetoid run as a sort of space mall, is lovely, as is the visual design of the cops and Kane, their frigid leader, as well as their base. The opening sequence is nice for this reason, as well as rather brilliantly introducing everything you need to know in one fell swoop.

Sabalom Glitz is back, which is an interesting choice. I haven’t seen the episodes he was in in quite some time, even longer for the episodes (episode?) in which Mel co-starred opposite him, but I remember enjoying him as a character. It’s always interesting to see someone come back, but Glitz doesn’t really gel in this episode excellently—for one thing, because Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor is a lot worse at getting angry at him, and Glitz tends to be the sort of character who exists (script-wise) to be gotten angry at. Here he’s mostly paternally misogynistic to Mel and Ace, who (respectively) get a little mad and a lot mad at him for it, but don’t actually stop him from leaving them behind or anything, which makes the ending sort of odd.

The main thrust of the episode is also sort of half-formed at best: I didn’t really know what was going on until the very end, even, which doesn’t make for the best story. There's an absurd first episode cliffhanger where the Doctor seemingly puts himself in mortal danger for no reason at all (which is admittedly quite funny). Characters bob and weave in and out of the plot, getting killed off seemingly at random and with no regard for their absence, there’s a young girl who shows up halfway through for little to no apparent reason, and overall it’s just sort of less than the sum of its parts. Disappointing, after coming from Delta and the Bannermen, which had similar problems but managed to infuse it all with such chaotic joy in the doing that it was lovely to watch.

In fact, just about the only thing that works consistently well throughout the episode is the character of Ace—weird “time storm” backstory and all. Ace is downright amazing: she feels like a punky 16-year-old kid, and she immediately inserts herself into the narrative right from her very first scene with great success. Overall thoughts:

I don’t know —I’m having difficulty saying too much about this one. Happy about Ace. Mel, you deserved better, from your very first episode. Glitz is less fun to watch than he has been, which is disappointing, but he’s still alright. It’s not as much fun as Delta and the Bannermen, but it’s still decidedly better than Time and the Rani, to be clear—maybe partially because it’s an episode shorter. But you don’t really need this one for any reason other than the companion changeover, and oh hey! Another Glitz special. Watch it for Ace and Iceworld, or don’t necessarily bother.

Oh, and I forgot to mention: there's also a shockingly grisly moment right at the climax, that comes out of pretty much nowhere. Watch out for that.