Doctor Who:
Ghost Light
By Marc Platt
“Confusion, wastage, tyranny, burnt toast, till all the atlas is pink.”
Most houses are friendly. But one house in particular is evil. A house that the residents of Perivale will not go to at night and that house is Gabriel Chase. Because you see Gabriel Chase is haunted or at least that is the story Ace tells The Doctor. Ace burned down Gabriel Chase as child and unbeknownst to Ace The Doctor brought her there to see why she was getting weird vibes that the house was haunted.
While at the house The
Doctor and Ace run across some strange characters. For instance the butler is a Neanderthal
named Nimrod, a lost explore who seems to have lost his mind named Redvers
Fenn-Cooper, very creepy Lady Pritchard and her daughter Gwendoline and the proprietor
of the house Josiah Samuel Smith who wants to assassinate Queen Victoria. The Doctor and Ace seem to have happen upon a
strange cast of residents of Gabriel Chase and there appears to be something
lurking in the cellar as Ace soon discovers.
It appears that certain members
of the household only come out at night and they show fear at the very mention
of Light. Ace tells The Doctor about the
cellar and that it is quite alien. The
Doctor releases the tortured creature named Control who in turns releases the
one they work for Light. It appears that
Light was sent to Earth the survey the planet but unfortunately for him while
he was imprisoned the planet kept evolving.
The Doctor must stop Josiah Samuel Smith and his mad cap scheme and to
also save the Earth from Lights firestorm scenario that would kill all life on
Earth.
Ghost Light is a weird
story. It has to do, for the most part,
with evolution and the progress of the earth.
You see Light was there before to take a survey and then seemed to get
caught napping. So when he wakes up he
is none too happy about the changes that have taken place. So he has taken things into his own hands to
stop the changing and end everything. It is really pretty easy to follow if you pay
attention to the story that is unfolding.
Ghost Light was definitely
one of the strangest stories in Doctor Who’s history and at times had you
scratching your head. But I enjoyed
this mad cap adventure. I like how the 7th
Doctor was jerking around Ace and making her face her fear and in essence make
her stop running away from it. Ghost
Light was another of the stories that defines Ace as a companion. It is another
of those Doctor teaching moments that eventually culminates in The Curse of
Frenic.
host Light is another
story where The Doctor is darker and manipulative. He is also playing games and more or less is
using the occupants of the house for his own game. He is cunning and calculating and is in a
mental showdown with Light and Josiah Smith.
It would have been good to see more of this Doctor but unfortunately
fates were not with us.
Ghost Light while probably
not the best of stories in Doctor Who’s history but it is one that can be
deemed a guilty pleasure. There is so
much going on that you can find something to like or laugh at. But just remember to not eat the soup.
Grade B -
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