Sylvester McCoy
Season Twenty Four

7G. Dragonfire

Writer: Ian Briggs
Director: Chris Clough
Designer: John Asbridge
Incidental Music: Dominic Glynn

TRANSMISSION DETAILS:

665. Part One                      23.11.87   7.35pm - 8.00pm   5.5M/80th/61%
666. Part Two                      30.11.87   7.35pm - 8.00pm   5.0M/96th/61%
667. Part Three                    07.12.87   7.35pm - 8.00pm   4.7M/94th/64%

CAST:

KANE: Edward Peel; SABALOM GLITZ: Tony Selby; THE CREATURE: Leslie Meadows; ANNOUNCER: Lynn Gardner; KRACAUER: Tony Osoba (1-2); BELAZS: Patricia Quinn (1-2); PUDOVKIN: Nigel Miles-Thomas (1-2); McLUHAN: Stephanie Fayerman (1,3); BAZIN: Stuart Organ (1,3); CUSTOMER: Shirin Taylor (1,3); ANDERSON: Ian MacKenzie (1); ZOD: Sean Blowers (1); ARNHEIM: Chris Macdonnell (2); ARCHIVIST: Daphne Oxenford (2); STELLAR: Miranda Borman (3). UNCREDITED: SCULPTOR: Larry Bishop; GLITZ'S CREW: (all 1) Ian Bodenham, ray Knight, Ross Murray, Sue Somerset; GUARDS Chris Andrews, Jon Baker, Simon Brown, Keith Harvie; CUSTOMERS/MERCENARIES: Miles Ambrose, Olwyn Atkinson, Caroline Christie, Tricia Clark, Penny Cole, Noel Drennan, Patrick Edwards, Christian Fletcher, Nick Florio, Rick Florio, Andrew Hunter, Brian Jacobs, Ian Johns, Linda Kent, Harry Klein, Eric Lindsey, Maggie Linton, Bill Malin, Gloria McGuire, Stuart Myers, Le Pond, Denise Powell, Barbara Russell, Pat Shepherd, Doug Stark, Julie Ann Wood

STORY:

The TARDIS lands in the trading colony of Iceworld. Although the doctor claims his landing is innocent, Mel gets him to admit that he is curious about a Dragon, and the treasure that it guards. whilst on Iceworld the Doctor and Mel run across Sabalom Glitz, who seems to be getting on one of the waitress's nerves.

Iceworld is cold, but it is still too hot for Kane, who was exiled to the dark side of Svartos. Iceworld is in fact a spacecraft but the powersource is protected by a laser emitting dragon - the ideal defence against Kane.

As usual, Glitz has money problems. One of his creditors is Kane, who wants the money back. The only way to repay the debt is to go looking for the treasure. When Kane learns the location of the treasure he sends two of his people to retrieve it, but they are killed by a trap.

The Doctor returns the treasure to Kan. Kane planned to pilot Iceworld back to Proamon, his home planet, and exact his revenge. But Proamon no longer exists. Unable to accept this, Kane commits suicide. While Mel leaves with Glitz, Ace travels with the Doctor.

BLOOPERS:

Episode 1: Watch for when Kane lays his coin on the control panel. You can see the plywood grain of the metal console.

Episodes 1 & 2: In the the cliffhanger to episode 1, with the Doctor dangling over a precipice, clinging only to his umbrella, it's established that it's quite a long way down. Eventually Glitz rescues him by going to the bottom of the precipice and letting him step down onto his shoulders, implying that the fall was only a few feet after all! So either the Doctor has an extremely pronounced fear of heights, or else the writer goofed up...

Episode ?: Watch out for the Doctor's amazing appearing umbrella. One minute he has it, then it's gone, then, for a brief second on Glitz's ship, he has it again.

Episode ?: In the scene where Ace and Mel meet the Dragon, when Mel screams, look at the momentary expression of pain on Ace's face. According to Sophie Aldred, she had a massive headache that day, and here she was standing inches away from Bonnie Langford in full scream.

Episode ?: In one scene, Sophie Aldred is running down a pathway and the supposedly crystalline wall alongside her lifts up briefly to show us that it's nothing more than a plain old sheet of plastic. (This isn't the only time it happens, either - watch the rest of the story.)

Episode ?: When Belazs goes to push down a button, the whole console strains under the pressure...

STUDIOS:

Television Centre Studio 1, Television Centre Studio 3

WORKING TITLES:

Absolute Zero, The Pyramid's Treasure, Pyramid in Space

NOTES:

Bonnie Langford leaves at the end of the story

NOVELISATION:

Dragonfire Ian Briggs

VIDEO:

Dragonfire

Sylvester McCoySeason Twenty Four