Doctor Who: Ghost Light (Story 157)

Doctor Who: Ghost Light (Story 157)
by Alan Wareing

Doctor Who: Ghost Light (Story 157)

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DVD details

Actor: Sophie Aldred, Sylvester McCoy
Director: Alan Wareing
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 71 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-06-07
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: BBC Video / Warner Bros.
Product features:

London, 1983. An old house mysteriously burns to the ground. One hundred years earlier, the Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and Ace arrive at a sinister mansion, where they discover that Ace's past and the house's future are inextricably linked. (Episodes 1-3, 71 mins) Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:?TELEVISION Rating:?NR Age:?794051221827 UPC:?794051221827 Manufacturer No:?

DVD Reviews of Doctor Who: Ghost Light (Story 157)

DVD Review: The Doctor at his best!
Summary: 5 Stars

GHOST LIGHT is amazing. Watch it once and you'll be befuddled. Watch it twice and you'll be astounded. At the very least it's one of the more complex stories they ever did, simply because they don't stop very often to explain what's going on. Ace was always a bit smarter than the average companion, and here she proves that she can work the plot out on her own without needing to constantly ask the Doctor what's up. Why do all the older companions need to be certifiable idiots? One effect of making Ace brighter is that they needed to make the Doctor smarter to show her up, and Sylvester McCoy is definitely up to the task. He's quiet and cunning and utterly cool.

We get an excellent guest cast. Most memorable for me is Michael Cochrane as Redvers Fenn-Cooper (James Fennimore-Cooper?), a great white hunter gone insane and skulking about a Victorian mansion. The mansion is eerie, populated by weird creatures and weirder humans, and some who aren't quite human. The music is a huge step up from the early-Eighties muzak, and contributes to the gloomy, spooky atmosphere.

Three aliens are living on Earth, in Perivale of all places. One plots to assassinate Queen Victoria while he keeps the other two locked away. One of them, "Control", breaks free and wants to become more human. The third, "Light", gets loose and threatens to freeze all life on the Earth to stop it evolving -- it turns out that these three were a survey team, but their insane, obsessive leader could not deal with all lifeforms on Earth constantly changing and evolving, so they ended up staying much longer than they'd planned. They have a Neandertal butler as well.

The story makes good use of the theory of evolution as well as Victorian anti-evolutionists. The result is a creepy and suspenseful little chamber-drama, the like of which DOCTOR WHO had never quite managed before -- although some episodes of the new series have come close.

DVD Review: My Favourite Story of the '80s
Summary: 5 Stars

Ghost Light is a brilliantly complex and unusual story that benefits greatly from repeated viewings. If you prefer to have a story spoon-fed to you, then it's probably not going to be your cup of tea. On the other hand, if you like a story that makes you think then Ghost Light is for you.

Ghost Light begins the so-called "Ace Trilogy" that consisted of the final three episodes of the original program. For the first time in Doctor Who the companion really becomes central to the storyline, mirroring the way the show would be approached when the new series began in 2005. Sylvester McCoy gives his best performance as the seventh incarnation of the Doctor and Sophie Aldred steps up her game, too, as another layer is added to Ace. The supporting cast is absolutely top notch, as well.

In an era known for its often poor production Ghost Light looks pristine. The atmosphere is suitably dark and gloomy, though the title can be misleading if you take it at face value. Nothing in this story should be taken at face value, however, as layer after layer of mystery slowly unfolds. Don't be surprised if you're a little puzzled on your first viewing, particularly if you don't give it your full attention. In the end, it all pays off in a tale that's become my favorite Doctor Who entry of the '80s.

DVD Review: I Wouldn't Want Not To Have Seen It
Summary: 3 Stars

Even though (as many have pointed out already) the story made almost no sense, it was actually quite enjoyable - even a little suspenseful. What was most disappointing, though, was the big build-up to some unfathomable villain who simply never materialized. The character Light was interesting, but hardly a villain. True, he wanted to extinguish all life (and if he really was "Light", presumably he could do that) - but it was only because he'd grown weary of having to constantly re-catalogue everything rather than from any malevolent intent. The character Control was even a bigger disappointment in that she seemed to be, if not a villain at least an entity that would have to be seriously dealt with before the day could be saved. But no, a fancy pinafore was all it took to subdue her. Bottom line: having concepts as characters never quite works out. Most of all, though, where in the world did the lord of the manor's resolve to assassinate Queen Victoria come from? And why did all that resolve dissipate the moment his invitation to the Queen's Ball was destroyed? On the plus side, Sylvester McCoy's particular Dr Who persona was very well suited to this story - in contrast to the much better story, Survival, wherein he was totally ill suited.

DVD Review: A Gem of a Story
Summary: 5 Stars

I've never bought into the notion that this story is especially difficult to understand, and it amuses me that this view persists. Putting aside the fact that if you're obsessing over the plot-logic in a Doctor Who story, you're probably watching the wrong show, I figured the plot out on my first viewing of the story on VHS, having read/heard relatively little about the serial except that it was allegedly hard to comprehend but that the production values and acting were generally good.

Obviously, the latter point is very much accurate, with a quality of acting and production values at very much the same level as the "serious dramas" the BBC was selling to Masterpiece Theatre at the time. The former assertion, though, is just nonsense as the story is in fact rather straightforward. Indeed, it feels every bit like a classic Doctor Who set-up, except perhaps that McCoy's more proactive Doctor is clearly driving events more so than in other eras of the show. In short, the remnants of an alien survey expedition share a mysterious house in Perivale with an even more dangerous force, and the Doctor wants to find out what they're all up to before too many people get hurt. I didn't need DVD extras or even the Target novelization to work this out.

Regarding the script, which many critics seem to single out for derision, I find it to be among the best of the "original" series' entire run up there with Douglas Adams and company's hallowed "City of Death," David Whitaker's "The Crusade" and Robert Holmes' "The Caves of Androzani." In particular, I find that it strikes a wonderful balance between verbal (and visual) wit and an edge of darkness to make it clear that the stakes are high. Script aside, what I find most amusing about the story is that at its heart what people seem to be criticizing it for is that it's a case where the production team assumed Doctor Who's viewers were smart enough to get it without having every element underlined and emphasized on-screen. It would seem that this is perhaps the one thing about this story that they got wrong.

DVD Review: McCoy's best is still Who's Worst
Summary: 3 Stars

I am an unabashed Who lover and as big a McCoy hater. I just never appreciated him in the role, as his portrayal of the Doctor seemed to be talking down to the viwer and his quirky pronunciation and innunciation drove me nuts. THIS episode however is one of his better ones, and is highly watchable. He seems much more restrained. This may likely be due to the director of the episode who it seems kept him on a tighter leash. It is actually a pretty fun episode, though I can't help but wonder how much better this one would have been with another of the Doctors

Description of Doctor Who: Ghost Light (Story 157)

London, 1983. An old house mysteriously burns to the ground. One hundred years earlier, the Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and Ace arrive at a sinister mansion, where they discover that Ace's past and the house's future are inextricably linked. (Episodes 1-3, 71 mins)

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Extended takes
Featurette
Interviews
Music Only Track
Other
Production Notes

One of the more controversial episodes in the long history of the BBC's Doctor Who series, this 1989 three-part story starring seventh Doctor Sylvester McCoy has generated an equal amount of praise and brickbats for its complex plot. In the serial, the Doctor and his companion Ace (Sophie Aldred) travel to Victorian England, where they encounter a scientist (Ian Hogg) whose research into evolution hides his true identity as an alien determined to assassinate Queen Victoria. Platt's script is rich with dialogue and detail that for some fans, fleshes out the hidden pasts of the Doctor and especially Ace, while others consider it needlessly confusing, but wherever one's opinion falls in regard to the script, Ghost Light stands out as one of the more atmospheric stories from the Sylvester McCoy period, with strong performances by the cast (most notably, McCoy himself, who plays down the humorous aspects of his portrayal) and direction by Alan Wareing (his final turn for the series). --Paul Gaita

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