The Doctor fought the Gods of Ragnarok and he didn’t even stop to say what the hell! The Gods of Ragnarok were impossible, almighty beings that wanted to be entertained. Anyone who failed to entertain or amuse them was destroyed. Attendees of the Psychic Circus on the planet Segonax were forced to perform for the Gods of Ragnarok. This ultimately included the Seventh Doctor and his companion Ace when they decided to visit The Greatest Show in the Galaxy. This is to date the only Doctor Who story to be made and set mostly inside a circus tent.

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy

★★★☆☆

TX: 14/12/1988 – 04/01/1989

Written by Stephen Wyatt    Directed by Alan Wareing

The Seventh Doctor takes his companion Ace to the planet Segonax to visit the Psychic Circus. All visitors to the circus are forced to entertain the Gods of Ragnarok. As soon as they stop entertaining the Gods, the unfortunate attendees are destroyed. This includes the Circus’s biggest fan Whizz Kid, a biker called Nord and also Flower Child. The Doctor and Ace meet Mags and the selfish intergalactic explorer Captain Cook. Captain Cook sacrifices the Doctor to the Gods and turns Mags into a werewolf using the Devil Moon effect. But Mags kills Cook instead of the Doctor. With no other entertainment, the family orders the Ringmaster and Morgana to perform, but they fail to entertain and are also killed. Ace and Dead Beat recover his medallion piece from the bus and, once attached, Dead Beat recovers his Kingpin personality. Kingpin helps defeat the Chief Clown and his robots before they return to the circus, only to find the Doctor has again been called to entertain the family. The Doctor has determined that the family are really Gods of Ragnarok, who feed on entertainment and kill those who do not satisfy them. The Doctor instructs Ace and Kingpin to throw Kingpin’s medallion, linked to the dimensional portal that the Gods use, into the energy well while he tries to give them time by performing for them. Ace and Kingpin complete this task just as the Doctor is about to be obliterated; the medallion falls into the ring—as the well was a dimensional portal—and the Doctor uses the medallion to reflect the Gods’ powers back onto them. The Doctor leaves the main tent as it explodes. The Doctor regroups with Ace, Mags, and Kingpin. Kingpin and Mags decide to reclaim the circus and take it to a new planet to start it anew. The Doctor and Ace say their goodbyes.