Why you forgot about it:Because the show sucked then, didn't you know? Why You Should See It Again:It's a flawed masterpiece. In a way, the ENTIRE Sylvester McCoy (7th Doctor) era is underrated. The show had barely survived a fight for its own life that saw it close to cancellation. And the 6th Doctor was a casualty - He was fired in no uncertain terms. With fewer episodes than ever a year (14 x 25 min. episodes; so 4 stories tops), the show really seemed to continue out of respect to the past and what it had done for the BBC in the 60s and 70s. (And what the booming VHS and merchandise sales were doing for it in the present.) After a solid 25th anniversary year with only one dud story (The Cybermen clunker "Silver Nemesis") Season 26 got underway....with the lowest first broadcast ratings EVER (3.1 million). The story wasn't much to write home about, and though things picked up the writing was on the wall after such a disastrous start. "Doctor Who" bowed out with a decent story that had a rather well-fed Master (That new costume may have been cheaper then letting out his classic velvet number) and some so-so cat people costumes (This WASN'T "New Earth"). It was probably time, right? Well, maybe not. Two other stories aired that year. "The Curse of Fenric" is a celebrated tale that features Future-Vampires, Old Gods from the dawn of time, and a setting in WWII-era Britain. Plus, the Doctor's companion (Ace) pretty much facilitates her own birth! It's wibbley-wobbley and timey-wimey 18 years early! As this story does much for the legacy of a scheming, omniscient Doctor that was always a couple moves ahead of his opponents, it's very favorably remembered. The other story is "Ghost Light". And it's INSANE. "Ghost Light" is what happens if you let David Lynch conceptualize Doctor Who. Anyone waiting for that to happen really only need seek out this story. This story is dark and subversive with its themes and its humour. If the general public was paying more attention, it probably would've created an outcry. Want two examples? -At one point, Ace and Gwendoline (the daughter of the household) step out to "dress formally" for dinner. They show up basically in drag, hair tapered back in full tuxedos. Messrs Davies and Moffat, your sexually themed jokes have been trumped. -There is a Police Constable who's been saved as a "specimen" for the aliens cataloguing life in this story. He's killed and served as soup to the house and the guests, INCLUDING the Doctor. You may have noticed that I've said very little about the plot. It's actually that much more mad if you go in knowing less; but the Doctor takes Ace to a Victorian Manor to teach her a lesson about herself. The alien life there is.....VERY much unlike any encountered on the show before or since. "Ghost Light" is not for everyone. But isn't that what we want? If this show just becomes the Doctor defending humanity from Daleks/Ice Warriors/Taran Wood Beasts, doesn't it just become some lame "Monster of the Week" show? Yes, we want space, time travel, and adventures, and I too get excited when Nick Briggs starts yelling orders about Rels through a Ring Modulator. But I want new adventures too. And this.....this is pretty uncharted territory. "Doctor Who" went down fighting. It got one classic in ("Fenric") and then made sure we knew it had more places to go with "Ghost Light". Enjoy, and mind the soup.
In a parallel universe where game shows' final jackpots and consequent fortunes depend on knowledge of obscure music trivia and Jon Pertwee/Tom Baker Doctor Who episodes, I've probably gone rich, insane, and am now a powermad despot. But happily we're not there, so I'm actually rather pleasant. Really.
