Doctor Who - Paradise Towers [DVD] [1987]

I remember watching Sixth and Seventh Doctor serials when they were first aired, and not liking them much, especially the start of the Seventh Doctor's reign. I haven't seen them again until the DVD releases, and in general (Time and the Rani, Vengeance on Varos etc) I have reassessed my opinion and found lots to enjoy. This however was just as bad as I remember and time has not improved it.

The set up is interesting - The Doctor and Mel try to go to the fabled Paradise Towers for a holiday. When they get there they find instead of a gleaming modern tower block, the place is a dump. The occupants, who were sealed inside, have split up into various societies and gangs, all warring with each other. It's a fascinating set up, and a really great idea. But that's where it ends. Having had this great idea the script writers then had to find some problem for the Doctor and Mel to resolve, and, frankly, the mystery at the heart of Paradise towers is pretty incomprehensible and pointless. It really feels shoehorned in.

There are a few fun ideas - the officious `Caretakers' and their strict adherence to the rule book, the way the caretakers are all named after regulations and the Kangs all named after wall signs, the `Rezzies' and their strange dining habits. But there is not enough here to flesh out the series. Added to which is a misjudged performance from Richard Briers as the main bad guy, it is just too camp and silly to make him seem like a real threat. The main `monsters', the cleaning robots, are just badly constructed and again so laughable that they give no sense of menace, which this overly humorous series badly needed. And there's Mel. Mercifully her stay with the series was a short one, and this series shows just why she is one of the series least liked companions. It's a shame really, as Bonnie Langford has shown how good the character could have been in her work on the Big Finish audio range. Finally there is the rather disturbing scene with the knife wielding grannies - I found this disturbing as an 11 year old, and I still do today.

Sylvester McCoy is still trying to get to grips with his Doctor's character, and generally does a good job with the material given to him. His performance is pretty much the high point of the series, his physical timing is great and leads to some genuinely humorous moments.

In all an interesting set up which has no room for the Doctor, so goes nowhere. Poor monsters and villains, too much humour and Mel at her worst. Sorry, but I have long considered this to be the worst of all the classic Dr series, so can only give the story 1 star.

On the upside, the DVD from 2Entertain is a great job. The usual informative production subtitles, and a host of special features which are well thought out, interesting, and have a relevance to the story. It's quite a package. The picture and sound have been very nicely restored and presented, someone has put a lot of thought into this package. SO another star for the overall presentation, two stars in total.

Many fans, including some of the reviewers here, make out that paradise towers along with the rest of series 24 is silly nonsensical rubbish, but highlight series 26 as McCoy's strongest, so being new to the McCoy era I decided to start there. To my dismay I found that so called classics like Curse of Fenric and Survival were not only very poor and boring, but lacked that spark that makes Doctor who so very different to anything else and In my opinion series 24 was the last series of the original run for a reason. I decided that instead of giving up on McCoy altogether I would delve into the much maligned 24th series, starting off with Paradise Towers. I have to say I was anything but disappointed.

While I admit Paradise Towers does have some cringe worthy moments, you have to look past them to see the magic in this serial. I will start with the doctor himself. The darker manipulative version of the seventh doctor, characteristics McCoy never quite managed to pull off, is no-where to be seen. Instead we have a fresh doctor full of enthusiasm doffing his hat at everyone he meets and always at the centre of the action. Here instead of rebelling against figures of authority like his predecessor he interacts well with all the various factions of Paradise Towers he meets. In the first episode these factions, including the Kangs, Ressies, and caretakers are all pretty much at war with one another. By the time we reach the final episode the Doctor has managed to bring all of them together to face a single evil in the Great Architect.

Another aspect of Paradise Tower's that is often criticised is the performance or Richard Briers as the chief caretaker. In my opinion this is totally unjustified as for the first three episodes Briers plays the roll to perfection, effectively portraying a socialist dictator grasping all the power he can within the small community he in control of. Although he does go overboard in the final episode, his brief was to portray the character as a zombie and I have to say he does that very well.

My favourite aspect of Paradise Towers is without doubt is the warring gangs of teenage girls known as the Kangs. While some find there appearance, mannerisms and language silly and childlike, I find them a revelation. I found their use of phrases like the `un-dead' innovative and unnerving. Doctor who in the 80's desperately needed original characters such as the Kangs to reinvigorate the stories.

Paradise Towers isn't perfect though and there are a few negative aspects to the production. For a start Pex is not well realised as the idea was to have a 80's type muscular action man, that despite all his strength was actually a coward. This idea would have worked if Arnold Schwarzenegger type actor was cast, but unfortunately the rather less muscular Howard Cooke was cast to play the part and so this effect was lost. The monsters in this story were originally conceived to be tentacles coming out of vents and waste disposal chutes, but this was deemed to be impractical and so we ended up with the cleaning robots. When they are detached from their trailers they look quite good, but unfortunately their slow docile movement makes it hare to belief anyone could be scared of one as you could just simply run away.

All things considered Paradise Towers is certainly not a classic, but it is so much better than its reputation suggests and is in my opinion one of the better McCoy efforts. Go on give it a try.

I saw this when I was 12/13,as I recall it was McCoys 2nd story,following the much derided Time and The Rani.Paradise Towers makes Time and The Rani look like the work of Ingmar Bergman spliced with Hitchcock.I saw it on UK gold a few years back,age has not improved this.Only Delta and The Bannermen can be considered as bad.For £3 I'd maybe pay to see the extras,then sell it out of shame.Very possibly the worst Who story ever,it will only annoy you,cringe at the Kangs,be perplexed by Pex,the Rezzie's(old lezzies?),Bonnie Langford being threatened with a 70s aqua toy from Matell or Hasbro or somerhing,awful,even if you swapped Richard Briers,Steven Wyatt and and John Nathan Turner with Lon Chaney,Fritz Lang and Val Lewton this project could not be saved.Nick Mallet and Andrew Cartmell should also be named and shamed.