Doctor Who: The Psychic Circus

The second release in a thematic trilogy that sees the Seventh Doctor face off against renegade Time Lords, this is also, as is apparent from the cover, a sequel to TV story The Greatest Show in the Galaxy. Or, at least from the perspective of the external universe, a prequel. It's largely telling the story of how the Circus got going in the first place, and throwing the Master into the mix.

It doesn't really do this very well.

For most of the story, there are two separate plotlines, which only meet up in the final quarter. One is directly about the establishment of the Circus, with the original actors playing Deadbeat and the Chief Clown reprising their roles. For the most part, this is reasonably effective, showing how early ideals can end up being corrupted, although the fact that this is driven by the Master slightly takes the edge off it. There's also quite a jump in the narrative early on where something major happens off-screen and is never properly explained. It's very talky, with more discussion than action, but at least it's coherent.

It's the plotline with the Doctor that brings it down, however. This really doesn't make much sense and, while there is some in-story justification for the weirdness it ends up feeling more disjointed and confusing than anything else. It's obviously an attempt at conjuring up a dreamlike state where you're not sure what's real and what isn't, but there isn't enough in it to make that engaging. The lack of a companion may not help here, with nobody for the Doctor to bounce off of other than an uncommunicative robot.

If you're a big fan of The Greatest Show in the Galaxy there's probably a lot to like here. We get to see some of the background to that story, and there are a few direct callbacks even outside of the return of some of the characters. Unfortunately, it's not one that I really like, and there isn't enough else here to make me want to reappraise anything.