Paradise Towers (1987) Review

I vote they all become the next companions.
An army of Leelas!!

Paradise Towers is like a comic book come to life, with a zany premise, outrageously over the top caricatures, but a fulfilling and memorable story that actually binds the madness into a highly entertaining work of art unlike the catastrophe that was Time And The Rani.

WRITTEN BY

Stephen Wyatt, who will also write a story next season. Based on this, I can't wait!

PLOT

The Doctor and Mel travel to Paradise Towers on holiday, only to discover it rundown and cut off from reality, with adult children roaming the streets in gangs and the deranged elderly feeding on everything with meat on it.

It's up to them to bring the various factions together and make face their real enemy, the brain behind Paradise Towers...

ANALYSIS

What makes this story work so well is the imagination behind the Paradise Towers world. It's a shame the story kind of drops the ball when it came to actually explaining the mystery, because the Towers themselves make so much sense!

Isolated, and with most of the adults away in a war, the little girls of Paradise Towers form their own gang whilst the mothers band together against them, and the little boys become the Caretakers to force their will with the faux authority of the rulebook. If it wasn't for the actual story of Paradise Towers, it'd be perfect.

However, by the time we get to the disembodied, demented serial killer architect locked in the basement, it gets a little too bizarre even for me. And that's not to mention some basic plot holes, like...

1) Why does no one leave Paradise Towers, and why does no one try?
2) Why does no one on the outside try to break into Paradise Towers?
3) Who did the Chief Caretaker think Kroagnon was, and why did he assume the Doctor was the Chief Arhitect?

There's even more I can think of, but these are the biggest ones, and the most annoying thing about them is that some throwaway lines would easily fix these things. So for a story that does the little things so well, its biggest flaw is actually in its worldbuilding!

Still, it's a very entertaining and colourful adventure full of lovable heroes and villains, what more could you ask for?

CHARACTERS

For me, this is the Seventh Doctor's first story. After running around like a headless chicken in the last story, Sylvester McCoy grabs the part here with a Troughton-esque naturalism. All of his scenes with the Kangs are extremely cute, as they all quickly start looking up to him, and really, his ability to turn the tables carries through the story, especially in the scenes with the Caretakers, whom he outwits more than once.

Bonnie Langford, at last free from the chains of Pip and Jane Baker, shows off both her strengths and weaknesses.  She's certainly been the most... normal... she's been since her debut, but on the other hand, Langford's natural overacting fit the flamboyant dialogue employed by those writers, whereas she seems a little hampered here(even if this is pretty campy as well). I did at least enjoy her interactions with Pex.

Speaking of Howard Cooke's ironically-named fighting machine here to put the world of Paradise Towers to rights, I thought he was terrific. The macho posturing juxtaposed with his very real persona was very well done and used the comic book stylings of the story to tell a small, personal story. And the actor himself was perfectly cast: not too Rambo-ish to be silly, but not too Adricky to be annoying. He's exactly what he should be: just a guy.

Can I just gush about how much I love the Kangs? Their dialogue is just full of fascinating cultural details, to the point where you can imagine their whole lives before this story. They're charming, funny, really bring out the best of the Doctor and best of all... they are hot as hell. Love them.

I think the most interesting thing I can say about Brenda Bruce and Elizabeth Spriggs(Tilda and Tabby, respectively) is that they both played Bertie Wooster's aunts from the Fry and Laurie series "Jeeves and Wooster"(a classic). That, and they gave us the weirdest Texas Chainsaw Massacre homage I could ever have imagined.

I quite liked Clive Merrison's dedicated Deputy Chief Caretaker, who goes from a sarcastic, clear villain to a shy, heroic character over the course of four episodes. And of course, Richard Briers as the Chief Caretaker. Now, I will grant you, his misjudged Boris Karloff impersonation is completely preposterous even for a story such as this, but I love his actual, hyperactive persona in the first three episodes. He's a buffoonish bad guy, but you love to hate him.

NOTES

*I like that the giant red lever is still used as the door control. Of course, it would be kind of hard to forget(it's a mighty big lever), but still. Points for consistency.

*Keff McCulloch's score here is epic, one of my favourites in any episode. Every scene sounds like the theme for a different 80s show. The Cleaners' cue was my particular favourite.

*RED KANGS, RED KANGS, RED KANG'S THE BEST!!

*After having stolen the Caretakers' security cards, why does the Doctor toss away all the ones that aren't immediately useful? What would've happened if he ran into another locked door?

*McCoy one-ups Colin's fancy lexicon with "auditoryarchitectatonicalmetrasyncocity", whatever that means.

*The maps, whomever created them, threatened death if a resident were to enter the basement. In the 21st century? Isn't it a far too civilised time for such things, even if we're closer to Zoe's age? Of course, it might not be Earth, but then why name the 21st century?

*I know it would've been repetitive, but the Blue Kangs seem to trust the Doctor far too quickly, whereas the Red Kangs took ages to reveal their secrets and such.

*Kroagnon's whole character makes zero sense. He's an architect who creates buildings apparently so beautiful that he refuses to let people live in them, escapes justice only to be captured in Paradise Towers by... someone, and locked in the basement inside a machine, where he somehow regains control of the Cleaners and starts devouring people in some effort to regain a body. Like... what even...?

*Paradise Towers was inspired by a book named "High Rise", later adapted into a 2015 movie, which I very much look forward to reading and seeing, I love the Lord Of The Flies stuff.

CONTINUITY ADVISOR

N/A. Can you believe it?

BEST QUOTE

The Doctor's whole conversation with the Kangs about the state of Paradise Towers in Part 2. I feel like this is the exact moment where McCoy really nails the role.

CONCLUSION

Build high for happiness... but use good cement, though.