Quotes
====================================
"Oh, you lucky, lucky people. You are the chosen ones, the elite, specially selected to join our force of mercenaries and create fear and terror wherever you go." ~ Kracauer"I've regenerated. The difference is purely perceptual." ~ The Seventh Doctor
"Do you feel like arguing with a can of deodorant that registers nine on the Richter scale? Run!" ~ Ace
"Oh, he'd slice his own mother up to make a point. If he was a mortician, the corpses would keep their eyes open." ~ Glitz
Sabalom Glitz: What, do you want to go here, the Lake of Oblivion?
The 7th Doctor: Where?
Sabalom Glitz: Depth of Eternal Darkness? Dragonfire? I should stop at home, if I were you.
Ace: Cor, this sounds brill.
The 7th Doctor: My sentiments precisely.
"Wicked. And the bilge bag said this was too dangerous for girls." ~ Ace
Sabalom Glitz: Well, now that we've found the Dragonfire, what's next on your list of tourist attractions, Doctor?
The 7th Doctor: Well, I'm not absolutely certain this one's over yet.
"Lay one finger on the dragon, bilge bag, and I'll rivet your kneecaps together." ~ Ace
Sabalom Glitz: No need to perambulate back to Iceworld, Doctor. These passages have their own star charts. The Ice Garden. I found it, remember?
The 7th Doctor: A primitive star chart. Missing constellations, orbital calculations, I imagine. Ah yes, I would like to see this.
Ace: Here, how'd you do that, then?
Mel: Well, it's bigger on the inside than the outside.
The 7th Doctor: There is no planet Proamon.
Mel: It's transcendentally dimensional.
The 7th Doctor: Ace, where do you think you're going?
Ace: Perivale.
The 7th Doctor: Ah yes, but by which route? The direct route with Glitz, or the scenic route? Well? Do you fancy a quick trip round the twelve galaxies and then back to Perivale in time for tea?
Ace: Ace!
====================================
Trivia
====================================
"Dragonfire" is notable as being the last appearance of Bonnie Langford as Mel, as well as being the first appearance of Sophie Aldred as Ace. It is also the last time the character of Glitz appears in Doctor Who.
Langford was a well known child actress before accepting the role on Doctor Who but she'd been typecast through most of her career. This caused an emotional crisis which resulted in her taking a year off from acting. Langord would again portray Mel (Melanie Bush) in the 1993 special Dimensions in Time.
Aldred was 10 years older than her TV character when she took the role Ace. She is the last regular companion in the classic series which started in 1963, staying until it was cancelled at the end of it's 26th season. She has been active in the Who Universe, putting in appearances in Dimension in Time, as well as the Five(ish) Doctors Reboot, the TV Mini-series "Doctor Who: Death comes to Time", and the TV short series "Doctor Who Online Adventures". She also appeared as a character named Mari, in the video "Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans", which involved the war between the Rutons and Sontarans, and which was written by Terrance Dicks.
Gliz was not originally intended to appear in the series. The main guest lead was a original character called Razorback but John Nathan-Turner thought as the character was quite like Glitz so he had the part rewritten. Glitz previously appeared opposite the Six Doctor in Trial of a Time Lord episodes "The Mysterious Planet" and "The Ultimate Foe".
Working titles for "Dragonfire" included Absolute Zero, Pyramid In Space, and The Pyramid's Treasure.
Script writer Ian Briggs' original outline involved a fourteen year-old financial genius and his sidekick, Mr Spewey, who seek a treasure - revealed to be a living creature - in the depths of an ice planet.
Briggs had included in the back story for "Dragonfire" that Ace had recently lost her virginity to Glitz. The plot point was, unsurprisingly, not included in the episode as shot. Paul Cornell later semi-canonised the event in his New Adventures novel Happy Endings. Ace was also to have a stuffed dog named Wayne that she carried about, but that also was dropped.
A pair of scenes in which Glitz accidentally triggers a trap in the corridors beneath Iceworld, and must be rescued by the Doctor were removed from the script for time.
Producer John Nathan-Turner and script editor Andrew Cartmel had decided to tone down some of the more overtly comical aspects of the new Doctor's personality, so the trait of the Doctor mixing up proverbs, was removed.
The literal cliffhanger in which the Doctor lowers himself over a guard rail to dangle over an abyss from his umbrella for no apparent reason comes under frequent criticism for its seeming absurdity. As scripted, the Doctor did have a logical motivation for his actions. According to Cartmel in a later interview, the passage leading to the cliff was meant to be a dead end, leaving the Doctor no option but to scale the cliff face. As shot, however, this reasoning became unclear.
Cartmel encouraged his writers to read the academic media studies textbook "Doctor Who: The Unfolding Text" by John Tulloch and Manuel Alvarado to acquaint themselves with the series. Briggs incorporated passages from it in his dialogue.
The Iceworld cafeteria was inspired by the canteen from the 1977 film Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope.
Glitz's ship Nosferatu was named after for the 1922 film, Nosferatu. This is the second story in a row to feature a full vehicle exploding, killing everyone on it. In "Delta and the Bannermen" it was a bus; in "Dragonfire" it's Glitz's ship.
====================================
Links (Watch on DailyMotion.com)
====================================
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Doctor Who: Dragonfire (Story 151) DVD is available at Amazon.com
or watch via streaming at Hulu Plus
No comments:
Post a Comment