Dragonfire is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in three weekly parts from November 23 to December 7, 1987. This serial marked the introduction of Sophie Aldred as the Doctor's new companion, Ace and the departure of Bonnie Langford as Melanie Bush. Sylvester McCoy (born Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith August 20, 1943) is a Scottish actor. ... The Seventh Doctor is the name given to the seventh incarnation of the Doctor seen on screen in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. ... Bonnie Langford Bonita Melody Lysette Bonnie Langford (July 22, 1964) is an English actress and entertainer. ... Melanie Bush, or simply Mel, is a fictional character played by Bonnie Langford in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... Sophie Aldred (publicity photo from 1992) Sophie Aldred (born 20 August 1962) is an English actress and television presenter, best known for her portrayal of the Doctors assistant Ace in the television series Doctor Who. ... Ace (given name Dorothy) is a fictional character played by Sophie Aldred in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... Ian Briggs is a television writer who has written for BBC programmes Casualty and Doctor Who. ... Andrew Cartmel Andrew Cartmel is a British science-fiction writer and journalist. ... John Nathan-Turner. ... “Doctor who episodes” redirects here. ... November 23 is the 327th day of the year (328th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 38 days remaining. ... December 7 is the 341st day (342nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Delta and the Bannermen is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in three weekly parts from November 2 to November 16, 1987. ... Remembrance of the Daleks is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from October 5 to October 26, 1988. ... “Doctor who episodes” redirects here. ... A broadcast of the long-running and popular British science-fiction series Doctor Who. ... Doctor Who is a long-running British science fiction television programme (and a 1996 television movie) produced by the BBC. The programme shows the adventures of a mysterious time-traveller known as the Doctor, who explores time and space in his TARDIS time ship with his companions, solving problems and... November 23 is the 327th day of the year (328th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 38 days remaining. ... December 7 is the 341st day (342nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sophie Aldred (publicity photo from 1992) Sophie Aldred (born 20 August 1962) is an English actress and television presenter, best known for her portrayal of the Doctors assistant Ace in the television series Doctor Who. ... Companion, in the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, is a term used to describe a character who travels with and shares the adventures of the Doctor. ... Ace (given name Dorothy) is a fictional character played by Sophie Aldred in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... Bonnie Langford Bonita Melody Lysette Bonnie Langford (July 22, 1964) is an English actress and entertainer. ... Melanie Bush, or simply Mel, is a fictional character played by Bonnie Langford in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ...

Synopsis

The Seventh Doctor and Mel arrive at Iceworld on the planet Svartos, where they struggle to overcome the icy Kane. The Seventh Doctor is the name given to the seventh incarnation of the Doctor seen on screen in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. ... Melanie Bush, or simply Mel, is a fictional character played by Bonnie Langford in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with List of Doctor Who monsters and aliens. ...

Plot

Belazs, employee of Kane

Iceworld is a space trading colony on the dark side of the planet Svartos. It is a mysterious place of terror and rumour ruled by the callous and vindictive Kane, who buys supporters and employees and makes them wear his mark iced in to their flesh. Kane’s body temperature is so cold that one touch from him can kill. In Kane’s lair is a vast cryogenic section where mercenaries and others are being frozen and stored, with their memories wiped for future unquestioning use as part of an army; including a freezer cabinet into which Kane deposits himself when he needs to cool down. There is also, most peculiarly, an aged sculptor who is carving a statue from the ice. Image File history File links Belazs. ... Image File history File links Belazs. ...

The TARDIS materialises in a refrigeration sales section on Iceworld and the Seventh Doctor and Melanie Bush venture outside. They soon meet up with their roguish old acquaintance, Sabalom Glitz, who owes Kane a substantial amount of money. Glitz has come to Svartos to search for a supposed treasure guarded by a dragon. It is located in the icy caverns beyond Iceworld and by chance Glitz has a map which he won from Kane in a gamble – indeed, Kane wanted him to have the map because he wishes to use Glitz as a pawn in his own search for the treasure. Thus the map contains a tracking device in its seal. Kane in return has Glitz’s ship, the Nosferatu, which he orders destroyed. Without realising he is being used, Glitz heads off on the search with the Doctor in tow – though women are not allowed on the expedition so Mel stays with a young, rebellious waitress they have met called Ace. It is only a matter of time before Ace behaves appallingly to customers and is fired. Mel is stunned to hear that Ace is a human from late twentieth century Earth who only arrived on Iceworld after a bizarre chemistry experiment caused a time-storm in her bedroom. The Seventh Doctor is the name given to the seventh incarnation of the Doctor seen on screen in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. ... Melanie Bush, or simply Mel, is a fictional character played by Bonnie Langford in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... Sabalom Glitz was a fictional character from the long-running British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. ... Ace (given name Dorothy) is a fictional character played by Sophie Aldred in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s The 20th century lasted from 1901 to 2000 in the Gregorian calendar (often from (1900 to 1999 in common usage). ...

Kane’s staff are not happy. Once they have taken his coin they are his for life – as Ace wisely realises when she rejects such an offer. Officer Belazs was not so clever, and is keen to escape Kane’s service. She thus arranges for the Nosferatu not to be destroyed, hoping to use the craft to escape Iceworld. When this fails she tries to persuade Officer Kracauer to help her overthrow Kane, but he is one step ahead. Their attempt to alter the temperature in his chambers and kill him fails, so Kane exacts his revenge and kills them both. The same fate awaits the ice sculptor who has now finished his statue, which is of a woman called Xana.

In the ice caverns it has taken time but the Doctor and Glitz have encountered the dragon, which turns out to be a biped which did not so much breathe fire as fire lasers from its eyes, but not the treasure. Mel and Ace have now ventured into the caverns too and they meet their allies and are actually defended by the dragon, which guns down some of Kane’s cryogenically altered soldiers who have been sent into the ice caverns to kill them. The dragon takes them to a room in the ice which is some sort of control area and contains a pre-recorded hologram message. The hologram explains that Kane is one half of the Kane-Xana criminal gang from the planet Proamnon. When the security forces caught up with them Xana killed herself to avoid arrest, but Kane was captured and exiled to the cold, dark side of Svartos. It turns out that Iceworld is a huge spacecraft and the treasure is a crystal inside the dragon’s head which acts as the key that Kane needs in order to activate the ship and free himself from exile. The dragon is thus both Kane’s jailer and his chance of freedom.

Kane has overheard the location of the key through the bugging device on the map and now sends his security forces to the ice caverns to bring him the head of the dragon, offering vast rewards for such bravery. He also uses his cryogenic army to cause chaos in the Iceworld shops, driving the customers out and towards the docked Nosferatu. This is brutally accomplished. When the Nosferatu takes off Kane blows it up. The only survivors are a young girl called Stella and her mother, who have become separated but both survive the massacre. Shortly afterward two of Kane’s troopers succeed in killing the dragon and removing its head, but are killed in the process.

The Doctor has meanwhile realised that Kane has been a prisoner on Svartos for millennia. He retrieves the head of the dragon and is then told by intercom that Kane has captured Ace but is willing to trade her for the “dragonfire”. The Doctor, Glitz and Mel travel to Kane’s private chambers for the exchange. Kane rises to the Doctor’s taunts but still powers up Iceworld as a spacecraft which now detaches itself from the surface of Svartos. However, when Kane tries to set course for Proamnon to exact his revenge he realises he has been a prisoner so long that the planet no longer exists. In desperation, he opens a screen in the surface of his ship and lets in hot light rays which kill him.

The Doctor now loses a companion but also gains one. Glitz has claimed Iceworld as his own spacecraft (renamed Nosferatu II) and Mel decides to stay with him to keep him out of trouble. The Doctor acquires Ace instead, promising to take her home to Perivale via the “scenic route”. Perivale is a place in west London in the London Borough of Ealing. ...

Cast

• The Doctor — Sylvester McCoy
• Melanie — Bonnie Langford
• Ace — Sophie Aldred
• Sabalom Glitz — Tony Selby
• Kane — Edward Peel
• Belazs — Patricia Quinn
• Kracauer — Tony Osoba
• McLuhan — Stephanie Fayerman
• Bazin — Stuart Organ
• Arnheim — Chris MacDonnell
• Pudovkin — Nigel Miles-Thomas
• Zed — Sean Blowers
• Anderson — Ian Mackenzie
• Customer — Shirin Taylor
• Stellar — Miranda Borman
• The Creature — Leslie Meadows
• Archivist — Daphne Oxenford
• Announcer — Lynn Gardner

Doctor Who or, see History of Doctor Who. ... Sylvester McCoy (born Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith August 20, 1943) is a Scottish actor. ... Melanie Bush, or simply Mel, is a fictional character played by Bonnie Langford in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... Bonnie Langford Bonita Melody Lysette Bonnie Langford (July 22, 1964) is an English actress and entertainer. ... Ace (given name Dorothy) is a fictional character played by Sophie Aldred in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... Sophie Aldred (publicity photo from 1992) Sophie Aldred (born 20 August 1962) is an English actress and television presenter, best known for her portrayal of the Doctors assistant Ace in the television series Doctor Who. ... Sabalom Glitz was a fictional character from the long-running British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. ... Tony Selby (born 26 February 1938 in Lambeth, London) is a British actor. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with List of Doctor Who monsters and aliens. ... Edward Peel is a British actor. ... Quinn with Richard OBrien and Tim Curry in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. ... Tony Osoba is a black Scottish actor, born in Glasgow, Scotland. ... British actor, best known as Mr Robson in the childrens TV drama Grange Hill. ... Sean Blowers (born in 1961) is a British actor. ... Shirin Taylor is a British actress, best known for playing Jackie Ingram in the television soap opera Coronation Street from 1990 to 1992. ... Daphne Oxenford (born c. ...

Cast notes

Features a guest appearance by Patricia Quinn. See also Celebrity appearances in Doctor Who. Several celebrities have made guest appearances in Doctor Who. ...

Continuity

• This story marks the final appearance of Bonnie Langford as a regular cast member. Langford would only reprise her role as Melanie Bush once on television, in Dimensions in Time (1993). The character of Melanie Bush has been considered by many fans to be one of the most unpopular companions to be featured in the programme. Contrary to popular belief, Langford departed the series of her own volition after being dissatisfied in the role. In recent years, she has reprised the character in several audio plays by Big Finish Productions, including playing an alternate universe version of Mel in the Doctor Who Unbound audio He Jests at Scars....
• This story also marks the first appearance of Sophie Aldred as Ace. Aldred actually auditioned for the part of the tomboy Ray from Delta and the Bannermen (1987), but lost the part to Sara Griffiths.
• The Doctor's acceptance of Ace as a companion is part of a larger game that would see its culmination in The Curse of Fenric. In the Virgin New Adventures novel Head Games by Steve Lyons it is revealed that the Seventh Doctor mentally influenced the brighter and more idealistic Mel to leave so that he could become the darker and more manipulative Time's Champion.
• This story marks the only farewell scene between the Seventh Doctor and one of his companions. Mel's departure scene was adapted from Sylvester McCoy's screen test, where Janet Fielding was hired to act as a departing companion and a villain.^[1] McCoy stated that he always liked that particular screen test script and he lobbied for its inclusion in Dragonfire. Ace's departure from the Seventh Doctor was never seen on screen due to the fact that Ace was still a member of the TARDIS crew when the series concluded at the end of Season 26.
• The character Sabalom Glitz, who first appeared in The Trial of a Time Lord, is featured in this serial. Mel makes her departure and leaves with Glitz to explore the Galaxy.
• Briggs, who had created the character of Ace, had stated in Ace's character outline for Dragonfire that she had slept with Glitz on Iceworld.^[2] The Paul Cornell-written New Adventures novel Love and War implies (and his later novel Happy Endings confirms) that Ace lost her virginity to Glitz.

Dimensions in Time was a charity special crossover between the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and the soap opera EastEnders that ran in two parts on November 26 and 27, 1993. ... Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces audio plays released straight to compact disc, based on British cult science fiction properties. ... He Jests at Scars. ... A tomboy is a girl who behaves according to the gender role of a boy. ... Delta and the Bannermen is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in three weekly parts from November 2 to November 16, 1987. ... Sara Griffiths (born 1969) is an English actress who has appeared in several British shows like, Emmerdale as Isla Forsythe, Holby City, The Bill and Doctors. ... The Curse of Fenric is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from October 25 to November 15, 1989. ... The Virgin New Adventures (often referred to simply as NAs within fandom) were a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, which had been cancelled in 1989, continuing the story of the series from where the television programme had left off. ... Head Games is an original novel written by Steve Lyons and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... Steve Lyons is a British writer. ... Janet Fielding (publicity portrait). ... The Trial of a Time Lord is the on-screen title for all fourteen episodes comprising the 23rd season (1986) of the original Doctor Who series. ... Paul Cornell appearing on Doctor Who Confidential Paul Cornell (born July 18, 1967) is a British writer best known for his work in television drama as well as Doctor Who fiction. ... The Virgin New Adventures (often referred to simply as NAs within fandom) were a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, which had been cancelled in 1989, continuing the story of the series from where the television programme had left off. ...

Production

• Working titles for this story included Absolute Zero, The Pyramid's Treasure and Pyramid in Space^[3].
• The (literal) cliffhanger at the end of episode 1 — where for no apparent reason the Doctor lowes himself over a guard rail to dangle over an abyss from his umbrella — 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.^[3].

For other uses, see Cliffhanger (disambiguation). ...

Outside references

In one scene, the Doctor distracts a guard by engaging him in a philosophical conversation. One of the guard's lines, about the "semiotic thickness of a performed text", is a quotation from Doctor Who: The Unfolding Text, a 1983 media studies volume by John Tulloch and Manuel Alvarado. Story editor Andrew Cartmel had suggested that writers read The Unfolding Text to familiarise themselves with Doctor Who and its history, which inspired Ian Briggs to quote the academic text in his script, in a playful self-reference. Media studies concerns the study of media content, institutions, and its role in society. ... Andrew Cartmel Andrew Cartmel is a British science-fiction writer and journalist. ... A self-reference occurs when an object refers to itself. ...

In print

The Target novelisation by Ian Briggs

A novelisation of this serial, written by Ian Briggs, was published by Target Books in March 1989. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... by David Whitaker, published in 1964, was the very first Doctor Who novelisation. ... Ian Briggs is a television writer who has written for BBC programmes Casualty and Doctor Who. ... Ian Briggs is a television writer who has written for BBC programmes Casualty and Doctor Who. ... Target Books was a British publishing imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company. ...

Broadcast and VHS release

• The story was released on VHS in January 1994.

Bottom view of VHS cassette with magnetic tape exposed Top view of VHS cassette with front casing removed The Video Home System, better known by its abbreviation VHS is a recording and playing standard for analog video cassette recorders (VCRs), developed by Victor Company of Japan, Limited (JVC) and launched...

References

1. ^ Cartmel, Andrew (2005). Script Doctor: The Inside Story of Doctor Who 1986-89. Reynolds & Hearn Ltd. ISBN 1903111897. 
2. ^ "A Brief History of Time (Travel)" - The Curse of Fenric.
3. ^ ^{a b} Dragonfire at Doctor Who: A Brief History Of Time (Travel)

Andrew Cartmel Andrew Cartmel is a British science-fiction writer and journalist. ...

External links

• Dragonfire episode guide on the BBC website
• Dragonfire at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• Dragonfire at Outpost Gallifrey
• Script to Screen: Dragonfire, by Jon Preddle (Time Space Visualiser issue 38, March 1994)

Outpost Gallifrey is a fan website for the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ...

Reviews

• Dragonfire reviews at Outpost Gallifrey
• Dragonfire reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide

Outpost Gallifrey is a fan website for the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ...

Target novelisation

• On Target — Dragonfire