The A-Z of Classic Who | Ghost Light: Deciphering Incomprehensibility

The final two seasons of classic Doctor Who, while far from perfect, are generally a step up from the average quality of stories throughout the 1980s, and is of course an absolutely massive step up from Season 24. Although simply yelling the word 'penis' over and over again into the camera would be an improvement on Season 24.

Anyway, the point is that I do appreciate the improvement for these last two seasons, and that the production team were genuinely trying to make good Doctor Who - obviously I'm not saying previous production teams weren't, but the results of said effort are more obviously on the screen in these last two years. Essentially, this is all one big caveat that I like these seasons and am not being harsh for the sake of it. Because, unfortunately for you if you like this story, I am going to be a bit harsh.

Battlefield is the only other story from these two seasons we've covered so far, which attempted to be a grandiose, epic tale with a number of time-spanning complex plots.... most of which failed. But Battlefield made up for it by being a fun romp which involved the Brigadier and space knights. Ghost Light similarly tries a grandiose plot which doesn't quite work, but doesn't have simple fun to fall back on in the same way. It's just a bit confusing and weird.

Now I will be fair and say there are quite a few positives to look at in this story as well and said positives will be given their fair share of limelight. But Ghost Light's problems are more obvious than its positives, and thus the former will be looked at in more detail. Fair? No but I've never claimed to be fair. So get used to it.

Not everyone agreed with The A-Z of Classic Who's analysis

Ghost Light's biggest problem is that it is at best difficult to follow and at worse completely incomprehensible. The central plot of Light, his survey of life on Earth and how because of the constant inevitability of evolution it will never be completed, as well as how it links to the story's general theme of evolution, are just about discernible, and fairly well done I might add, but the eight or nine hundred different plot threads aren't simply given enough time to be developed. The origins and motivations of Josiah, Control, Fenn-Cooper, Gwendoline, the Police officer who's name I forget... hell, basically everyone except the Doctor, Ace, Light and Nimrod, are unclear and never properly explained, if at all. The precise nature of all those characters, plus the house itself, the spaceship, Light... it's just never explained, and the audience is left completely guessing. It's made all the more infuriating by the fact that the Doctor knows completely what is going on from the beginning (as this Doctor tends to) and Ace seemingly learns it all as the story chugs along - which would be great, if the audience was learning at the same rate as she was. Which it's not, because as I believe I mentioned, nothing is explained, which means the Doctor and Ace leave at the end of the story happy in their knowledge of all that has happened and all of us watching can't join them.

The only part of the plot which is explained properly is Ace's relationship with the house and the way it links with her relationship with the Doctor, and it's not coincidence that it's the best part of the story. The theme of evolution is carried on through the Doctor's test of Ace that runs throughout the story and her emotions at the meaning the house has to her are well conveyed and believable - it helps of course that Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred play it with sensitivity and depth. But it works because the story thread is explained throughout the story, therefore the audience learns at a workable pace all the information they need to know. We sympathise with Ace and understand her feelings because we know what they are, which can't be said of everyone else in the story. 

Another thread that is handled well is that of Nimrod - his origins and motivations are established throughout the story through some effective dialogue. His story is a believable one and his origin makes sense, as does his ending - his decency wins over his worship of Light and he's able to help the Doctor save the Earth, to be rewarded by gaining the ship to explore the universe. It's a satisfying character arc for a likeable and unique character. 

Ace was enjoying this 'Fifty Shades of Grey' lark

The same is not true of basically everything else. Who's Josiah? What's his relevance to Gwendoline and her mother? Why does her mother think she's a housekeeper? Where do the night staff come from? Where do Josiah's powers come from? Why has the policeman been kept in a cupboard for two years instead of just 'sent to Java' like everyone else who's been a nuisance to Josiah? Who's Control and what is her relevance to both Josiah and Light? Why do the stuffed animals' eyes glow? What was the relevance of the snuff-box in Part One? Why does Smith want to take over the British Empire given its heavily implied he is not a human and such trivial human ambition logically shouldn't interest him? Why does he think simply assassinating Queen Victoria will get him the Empire, rather than him being arrested and her actual heir taking over? Why does he think assassinating Queen Victoria will get him the Empire when the power was not concentrated in the monarch by this point in time? What precisely are the insect-men and who controls them? Control? Josiah? Simple lines of dialogue could have explained much of this and yet all of it is left up to guesswork, leading to the most common reaction to this story being 'huh?' It's especially annoying considering the potential at work here - the central concept is a strong one, particularly when combined with the Doctor-Ace interactions, but it's unfortunately let down by the lack of explanations. I'd love to know the true nature of Light and how he relates to Josiah's powers and all the rest of it - the concepts at work are intriguing and its even more galling therefore that the whole thing feels like one draft away from the finished article.

The blame for this has to come down to the person who put the script together, and that comes to either writer Marc Platt or script editor Andrew Cartmel. Platt later showed his ability to write phenomenal Doctor Who in Spare Parts, so... I might have to pin this one on Cartmel, especially as under-explained, over-complicated plotlines are sort of his thing. Which is a shame because the man clearly had some excellent ideas that just needed polish that never happened. Like this story.

Now, to be fair, Ghost Light is a three-parter and I think much of it could have been explained had Platt had an extra episode to play with - being able to flesh out most of the secondary characters and spending longer explaining some of the key concepts would have really elevated this story. Come to think of it, wasn't Battlefield a bit drawn out? Couldn't that have been a tighter three-parter and this one had a much needed fourth episode to flesh out the concepts? Would have done wonders for both stories.

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To return to the positives, most other things apart from the plot work well. All the side characters are written and performed in an engaging manner - for instance, Josiah's story might be incomprehensible but he's a cracking villain nonetheless, delightfully menacing and played wonderfully. He never goes too over the top but is enjoyable to watch while seeming like a genuine threat until Light comes along and dwarfs him. Nimrod, as I mentioned, is an engaging and sympathetic character, Gwendoline has an interesting and ultimately tragic arc (although I feel like her relationship with Ace could have been much stronger; again a fourth episode would have helped) and Control's character journey strongly echoes that of the story's overall theme of evolution, as well as being strong in its own right, especially considering her decision to turn against Light like Nimrod. It's just a pity it's not explained what she is or why she's doing any of it.

The set of the house is convincing and atmospheric, the soundtrack is eerie and effective and the production values are far from bad given the budget they were working on at this point. Although the insects look a bit shit and neither cliffhanger is all that great, but nothings perfect. I will say that the picture quality for this story isn't great either - very grainy and noisy. Having a read of the Restoration Team's efforts on the story, they obviously did their best but there was only so much they can do and it does unfortunately affect viewing quality. I am going off the DVD and not the new Blu-Ray so maybe it's improved there.

The Doctor needed Light to fistbump him

Ghost Light is also notorious for being the final story of the classic era to be produced. Two more would be transmitted after this one, but this was the final one to be made. It's not notable when it comes to actually watching the story, but it is a fact I think that bares repeating - this was it. The next time a Doctor would in front of the camera after this would be Paul McGann in Vancouver 7 years later. The next time it would happen in the UK would be Christopher Ecclestone 15 years down the line. Things would never be the same again, and well, we all know my opinion on NuWho, so dare I say things would never be as good again. The story's theme of evolution ended up being remarkably prescient - Doctor Who needed to evolve and adapt to survive, something it would eventually do.

Ghost Light isn't an example of brilliant Doctor Who. Frankly, it's very untypical of Doctor Who. The basic themes and ideas are there but complex thematic tales was never Doctor Who's bread-and-butter. As we saw last time, Genesis of the Daleks proved that they can work and work phenomenally, but that was on the strength of its themes being on the back of a fundamentally simple premise and being tied to an entertaining and engaging story. Conversely, Ghost Light gives a very simple theme, that of the importance of evolution and change, and places it in with an unbelievably complex and unfortunately, mostly unexplained, plot, which is not only nearly impossible to follow, but also fails to provide a cracking adventure despite it. It's hardly bad, but the story succeeds or fails on the basis of understanding its plot, and well... I don't want to say it fails but it doesn't succeed either.

Ghost Light's does have strengths, namely the character work  between the two leads, the strength of the supporting characters and a mostly solid production. So with good elements balancing the bad, surely I'd say its average, like I've done for stories with a similar positive/negative balance, right?

Ghost Light isn't typical Doctor Who and therefore to call it average would probably be inaccurate.It's Doctor Who that tries to be bold and complex, and almost succeeds - but falls tantalisingly short. Therefore, I have to give it a score that usually reflects average Doctor Who. Being average Classic Who is not a bad thing - an average story is still enjoyable, but what's most frustrating about this story is that it's so close to being so much more.

Final Score: 5/10. A strong central concept let down by being confusing, unfocused and poorly explained, but with good character interactions and production buoying it up. It receives an average score, but this is far from an average story.

Next Episode: Horror of Fang Rock