5. Carnival Of Monsters
Episode: Season 10, Episode 3
Companion: Jo Coming from the pen of Robert Holmes (who also wrote The Time Warrior) this is one of the more thought-provoking tales of the Third Doctors era. The Doctor and Jo are trapped in a miniscope of alien life run by the 'galactic showman' Vorg who in turn is being manipulated as part of a political struggle on Inter Minor. It's to the huge credit of Holmes that he manages to make these two seemingly completely opposite tales intertwine so perfectly with characters criss-crossing between the two worlds it almost feels the type of story NuWho would do. Episode 1 is particularly fascinating as our two heroes land on the mysterious SS Bernice trapped in an endless loop of boxing matched and marine animals from millions of years ago. It sets up the mystery of the next few parts with a pretty shocking cliffhanger the TARDIS apparently being yanked away by a giant hand! There are so many good points to this episode the dialogue between the Inter Minorians, Pertwee's lovely lecture to Jo on the miniscope, the last scene and a great monster in the Drashig which despite a couple of special effects disasters in the last episode are terrifyingly brilliant and look great throughout.