Inspirations - The Greatest Show in the Galaxy

The greatest show in the galaxy delivers a story called The Greatest Show in the Galaxy. According to this, its biggest fan is a bit of a nerd, and the show isn't as good as it used to be...

Doctor Who did once before take a self-referential look at itself, when Robert Holmes wrote Carnival of Monsters. This featured characters talking about the Miniscope as though it was the programme itself - not understanding how people could be entertained by seeing people threatened by monsters, although children love them, and the manipulation of the viewers' emotions by increasing moments of aggression - just as a writer or script editor would spice up an episode when it needed a bit more excitement. Holmes was looking at TV in general - with mentions of people not being interested in watching a blob in a snowstorm, back in the days of analogue TV when next door's car starting up could cover your TV in static - and this programme in particular. What has Doctor Who been all these years, if not one long carnival of monsters?

This story, originally intended for the middle of the season but shifted so that Silver Nemesis could open on the 25th anniversary date of 23rd November, had come in for some criticism from certain sections of fandom because - if it is referring to Doctor Who, and I think we know it is - it isn't terribly complimentary.

Fandom is represented by the nerdy character of Whizz Kid, who has outdated fashion sense and wears specs. They ought to have gone the whole hog and put him in an anorak (though the story was filmed in very hot summer conditions, so Adrian Mole actor Gian Sammarco might have objected). It's Whizz Kid who states that the show isn't as good as it used to be - just like fans were claiming at the time.

Whizz Kid is also a fan of Captain Cook, who is presented as a Doctor-like figure whose travels with a companion are followed by others. Trouble is, he's a crashing bore, who's not really worthy of fandom.

The first producer to actively engage with organised fandom was Graham Williams, whose tenure coincided with the formation of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society (DWAS). Previous regimes had entertained the Doctor Who Fan Club and individual fan clubs set up in honour of individual Doctor actors, inviting representatives to visit the studios and meet the cast, but things really took off with the DWAS and with Williams. He attended the first DWAS convention at a church hall in Battersea. He quickly came to regret this wooing of fandom, as it was reported that he found increasingly frequent set visits disruptive. He also disliked the fact that many fans who had been entertained in this way then went on to write very uncomplimentary pieces on his stories. When JNT took over, he also attempted to get organised fandom on his side. He did love his conventions did JNT.

Like Williams, however, he soon came to regret this. On learning that Matthew Waterhouse was a fan of the show, he became quite suspicious when he interviewed him for the role of Adric - worried that he might be a DWAS member. JNT liked to manage news about the show - but it had to be on his terms. He was not keen that a member of the cast might leak stories to fandom and bypass the mainstream media.

When Tom Baker's final scenes as the Doctor were being filmed, JNT had public viewing galleries closed off - only to discover that some fans had wormed their way into one of the technical areas of the BBC and had watched events from there.

The love affair between fans and JNT took a nosedive when it came to the events of the hiatus, and the delayed and truncated Season 23. The show's current show-runner, one Chris Chibnall, was amongst a panel on a TV show laying into Season 23. he was introduced as a local DWAS group member, so this wasn't just individual fans complaining - Chibnall and his friends appeared to be speaking for the whole DWAS. JNT adopted the mantra around this time of "The memory cheats", to try to convince fans that his current era was no actually worse than any previous one. No-one believed him, however.

Fans who had previously been encouraged to bombard the BBC with calls to bring the programme back were now being asked to bombard the BBC with calls to sack JNT. Criticism continued into Season 24, with a senior fan figure writing a national newspaper article slagging off Time and the Rani in particular, and the current state of the programme in general.

And then Remembrance of the Daleks happened, and Ace came along, and Andrew Cartmel came along, and all was right with the world again.

It should be remembered that JNT had thought that Season 20 was going to be his last - bowing out on the high of the 20th anniversary year and moving on to other projects (of a decidedly soapy nature). Every year he thought it was going to be his last year, but the BBC get telling him to stay and refusing to offer anything else. he could have quit and gone freelance, but he failed to do this and so stayed a BBC employee - forced to do what was asked of him. Assuming that the 25th anniversary year might finally be his last one on the show, it's no surprise that he didn't veto any criticisms apparent in this story, and might have secretly been happy that they were there for anyone in the know to see.

There's a condition called Coulrophobia - which a phobia about clowns or anyone / anything which looks like a clown. Sarah Jane Smith suffered from it. It's very common, and horror writers have tapped into it for years (most notably Stephen King with Pennywise from his book It). In recent years there has been a spate of sightings of people dressing up as clowns and deliberately trying to freak people out. It's easy to see why someone like Ace might hate clowns, as they tend to have deathly white faces, which can have a skull-like appearance. The elaborate make-up creates a warped parody of the human face, which many people find disturbing rather than funny.

A lot of the story is unoriginal. It's lifted wholesale from The Circus of Dr Lao, the 1935 novel by Charles G Finney. In this a travelling circus takes over a town and a pagan god is worshipped. There's even a werewolf amongst the circus creatures, called Maggie. There was a film version with Tony Randall in 1964, called The Five Faces of Dr Lao. As well as playing Dr Lao, Randall portrays a number of the circus creatures.

The story also has something to say about the corruption of the Hippie peace and love movements of the 1960's.

Lastly, the villains of the peace are said to be the Gods of Ragnarok. This derives from Norse mythology. Ragnarok is a series of tumultuous events, including a great battle, which will see all the major gods (Odin, Thr, Loki etc.) perish, and the world drowned by water. The surviving gods will then meet the last two humans, who will, Adam and Eve style, repopulate the world.

Next time: the Arthurian one. Was Merlin really the Doctor?