Confusion cleared up

This is one of the Doctor Who stories that just didn't make sense to anyone. The reason: 1/2 the story isn't there. The authors may have known what they wanted, and what/why the characters were doing whatever, but they failed to get that information into the episode. And they were rewriting as they went. So 1/2 of the story is on the cutting room floor, or in the trash file on someone's computer.
This was part of the mistake of switching from 4-episode stories to 3-episode stories: all the action is rushed, the structure that made the Pertwee, Baker, & Davidson eras so great is gone, and many of the writers didn't have enough time to flesh out their stories. Unlike "Battlefield", "Ghost Light" could actually have benefitted from extending the story and adding information.
The extras and commentary hint at another story that was never made about intrigue in the political houses of Galifrey. Hmmm. Maybe they could get the story to Big Finish.

Speaking of Big Finish, for anyone thinking that Sylvester McCoy was weak as the Doctor, I refer them to BF's production of "The Fearmonger": it will change your mind.

"It was a privilege to drown their dialogue!"

This is one of those stories that turned me into a "Star Trek" fan. Honestly. My first golden age for loving "Doctor Who" came between the ages of 11 and 14. After that I started to outgrow the show (until college), but still watched weekly PBS airings on autopilot. I even survived "Time and the Rani", the first airing of which I found so painful that after 30 minutes, I turned off the TV and inventoried a cigar box full of the 1980 Topps baseball card set instead. Who needs Bonnie Langford when you have Rick Langford in a kelly green baseball jersey?

I even managed to miss "Ghost Light" the one and only time my PBS station aired it. I did, however, buy the novelization in 1990, and struggled through it. The only positive thing I took away was Nimrod. I even wrote an college admission essay about him ("Describe one historical person you'd like to spend an afternoon with") and got accepted into SUNY Geneseo, although I didn't end up going there.

"Ghost Light", when I finally caught up with it on late-night PBS in 1994, then had the honor of being the last of the complete "Doctor Who" episodes I saw -- even later than "Tomb of the Cybermen" -- until "Rose" came out on BitTorrent this year.

However, the DVD set of "Ghost Light" is a keeper. Even if you don't like the story, the DVD provides enough grist for an amusing review (see all below entries). The subtitles are a vast improvement on the US VHS release, the one where Control wanted her "frames". The text commentary is by Martin Wiggins, not Richard Molesworth, so you know it's going to come out of left field with some great trivia.

Mark Ayres, of all people, turns out to be the MVP of the audio commentary, as he critiques his own score (and check out his above quote). The talking over the first episode drags under a few too many unrelated anecdotes, but it improves when all involved announce, at the beginning of Part Two, that they're going to try to explain things. I will say this is the fourth time I've seen the story (fifth, if you count the novelization), and I never knew exactly what Josiah's role in the survey team was supposed to be until last night. It's also interesting to hear from Andrew Cartmel, who laughs so enthusiastically at the gruesome fate of episode straw man Rev. Ernest Matthews. Can we please remake this episode with Sen. Bill Frist in that role?

The 45-minute making of feature intercuts interviews with the Doctor and Ace, Ayres and Cartmel, and four cast members. Also well done is the edited Marc Platt convention panel from 1990 -- editing like this might have come in handy on the "Curse of Fenric" DVD! The raw studio footage ("Shooting Ghosts") reinforces just how tedious it must have been to be director Alan Wareing, who looks about as thrilled to be there as a retired police sergeant relegated to junior high school assistant principal.

One of my criteria for judging a work of fiction is: am I rooting for the bad guys? If I am, it's good stuff. The bad guys here are too much of a mixed bag. Gwendoline's motivation from scene to scene connects together about as well as the color scheme in Tom Baker's scarf. Granted, I like her song, but there's just no reason for her at the end of Part One to stop killing people long enough to play the piano for an audience of none. Josiah never becomes a real threat, not in those Professor Horatio Huffnagle dark goggles. Light could be called a human anticlimax, were he human. The DVD extras do a good job of rehabbing Mrs. Pritchard, at least, as we see how painstakingly Wareing worked to get her into the frame. However, I still wish Rev. Matthews had more to do, and survived further into the story, since John Nettleton did a great job with the role, and with the facial hair. Any chance of recycling his sideburns into a sequel, guys?

This one's a real mixed bag of a grab bag

The restoration team, as always, managed to work wonders to make this story presentable... Shot with poor quality cameras that weren't designed to handle low-light situations (hence the graininess), it's remarkable we got what we did.

But here's the problem: I've been a WHO fan sicne 1978, at the tender age of 6. Along comes 1989. "Ghost Light" is the first story ever that I opted to watch at a later date because it was so uninvolved and unengaging. I don't know why, especially as I managed to survive season 24 without any permanent brain damage and that season was terrible through and through. And how that seasons 25 and 26 were geared toward a mid/late-teen audience rather than the 6 year olds the previous one had tried to court. Of course, "Time and the Rani" is a fun enough romp (though being drunk on a nice cool lager helps considerably), but that review for another day...

So, along comes 1998. I sit down to watch the episode I had taped 9 years earlier. I thought it'd be a good idea to finally say "I'm a dateless geek who's seen them all!"

And sure enough, I became a dateless geek that's seen them all... I somehow managed to sit through it. I think I needed a drink beforehand and I surely did need to down a gallon of Long Island Iced Tea afterward; that always cheers me up... when trying to watch a rendition of chickenscratch scripting, I think alcohol also helps to make even the most schizophrenic writing style that much more coherent... This story isn't just lacking in the engaging category, the writing itself is either convoluted, sloppy, or both. Let's just say "both" and the extra features allude to this inference as well...

I will say this story LOOKS incredibly good (since when does the BBC screw up a period piece anyway? Even the original Doctor Who story, set during the time of the caveman, looked genuine...).

The music is also exceptionally good. Indeed, I bought the standalone soundtrack when it was released in the early 1990s. It's very atmospheric and creepy and worthy on its own. Unfortunately, it can't make second-rate writing come across any better...

This story also cemented the notion (at the time) that the series (sarcastically by annoyed fans) needed to be renamed "Ace Who", given its focus on Ace rather than the Doctor. (it's also ironic to point out that while late-80s Doctor Who is often criticized for giving the companion too much needless background info and development - and it was often needless, the new BBC series (2005) has taken a lot from this era and expanded greatly on it; with people calling it sensational and successful and a triumphant return. Okey doke, having just said that it's time for me to mix a cocktail of my favorite hard liquors and drink 'til I drop: Brandy, Whisky, Vodka, Drambuie, Tia Maria, Cointreau and Grand Marnier. (thank you #6 for those choices!) And if I can stomach watching "Ghost Light", you'll then understand it WILL take a gallon to get me to drop...

But I digress. *hic* There are some rather nice extras on this disc. Especially a great commentary by cast and composer, even with the *hic* writer. There's some insight here, but it's not the best commentary ever...

But if you think the 'deleted scenes' section will *hic* reveal any resolutions to this joke of a plot that makes "Silver Nemesis" seem like Royal Shakespeare by comparison, don't count on it. *hic*

But while the storyline is about as coherent as *hic* an infant attempting to learn English, there are some nice lines - one in particular regarding humanity comes from the Doctor itself. But the trouble is, set pieces and *hic* occasional lines of drool-worthy dialogue can't *hic* make up for a storyline that's a little too fresh from the cow pasture... (hmm, drunk and retching on foul odors, how much worse can this get?)

Also, don't think that the documentary "Light in Dark Places" will be helpful; our mystery writer (it's a mystery that he became a writer) didn't show up for this one to explain it... :-( And, like the 75 minute story itself, this doco is also a bit too long.

This release is obviously for those fans who'll buy every release just for the sake of saying "I have them all, nyah nyah nyah-nyah-nyah" (like myself) or for the true fans of this story, of which there are many on both sides of the *hic* pond...

There, I think I'm *hic* sober again...

It's also been said that repeated viewings can help make sense of this, ahem, DISASTER. This unfortunately goes back to the other point; who in their right mind could truly sit through this even more than once unless they were drawn in by its superficial elements and atypical, bizarre feel (ditto for the new Doctor Who series...)?

Get it on sale if you can, though the 20% off isn't what I'd call terrible. For repeat viewings, for showing your friends as an example of fine quality Doctor Who (or, let's face it, even showing your worst enemies in an attempt to turn them into pillars of salt), this particular story isn't worth the money - but if you're a completist or a reeeeeeeeeeeeal fan of this story, it's worth every penny and then some. As for me, I wouldn't likely even spend a penny on it, but then would I even think of confusing you with British slang? :-)

(one little note: You're more likely to enjoy my little review than you are when trying to watch the story, whose plot revolves around Ace, some one-liners featuring the Doctor, and some bafflegab regarding evolution... it's just another form of sci-fi... and unlike most sci-fi, it's badly written out. (and as a Christian myself, I could care less if evolution is real, if it's part of God's plan, or if it's a load of bunk. Helping other people freely, in good faith, is why I am one.))