Doctor Who review: The Psychic Circus is an excellent prequel/sequel story

Stephen Wyatt returns to Doctor Who to give us The Psychic Circus: an excellent prequel/sequel story to his own classic serial, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy is a very special Doctor Who story. It’s imaginative, extremely colorful, but it’s also got a dark heart, as well. While his debut story Paradise Towers isn’t exactly a classic, Stephen Wyatt showed us how brilliant he could be for Doctor Who with his second serial. So it’s a shame that he’s never written for it again since.

Until now.

The Psychic Circus is a very different kind of Doctor Who story. One description from the modern era that seems appropriate to describe it is “timey-wimey”, due to acting as both a prequel and a sequel to The Greatest Show in the Galaxy. Even by the show’s standards, this features a fair amount of complicated time travel, although it’s actually presented in an extremely straight-forward way.

What helps is that, for the most part, the prequel and sequel aspects are kept rather separate from each other, in two distinct storylines. The first is the Seventh Doctor visiting various times and places, trying to solve a mystery –  a mystery linked to one of his earlier adventures, which is where the sequel aspect comes in. For the first three episodes, he has an unusually small role, but that’s not a problem. In fact, it works rather well for the story, due to its real focus: the origins of the Psychic Circus…

(L to R) Chris Jury, Sylvester McCoy and Ian Reddington reunite for The Greatest Show in the Galaxy’s sequel/prequel.

Image Courtesy Big Finish Productions

An excellent prequel

Going into the origins of a previous story can be risky, especially when it’s a story as popular as The Greatest Show in the Galaxy. Get it wrong, and you’d be substituting mystery for a less interesting story. Especially as we know how the new story ends already.

So it’s fantastic that the one writing about the origins of the Psychic Circus is the man who created it. Now admittedly, a story’s creator handling the prequel doesn’t necessarily guarantee that it’ll be good (as proven by one or two sci-fi franchises). But Stephen Wyatt handles The Psychic Circus rather brilliantly.

For one thing, he doesn’t aim to simply copy the success of the original story, and gives us something very different. Oh, it features many of the same characters who are easily recognizable, particularly Kingpin (Chris Jury) and the incredibly creepy Chief Clown (Ian Reddington).

But Wyatt lets this new story unfold over a much larger timeframe, giving us a strong impression on the rise of the Circus. This aspect of the story was definitely my favorite, as it feels rather grounded, exploring what happens when people initially aim to do something for fun, before greed, power and corruption slowly start to ruin it. It’s an old story on the dangers of success, but it’s very effective.

More from Winter is Coming

• For All Mankind finally gives us information in Episode 405, “Goldilocks”
• Watch a stunning VFX breakdown of The Wheel of Time season 2
• Of course Steve Toussaint (Corlys Velaryon) thinks Eve Best (Rhaenys Targaryen) should rule Westeros
• Confirmed: The Last of Us season 2 will air in 2025
• Final season of Star Trek: Discovery will have “a lot of action, a lot of adventure, a lot of fun”

Master manipulator

The Doctor discovering the Circus’s origins long after he’s already dealt with it isn’t the only timey-wimey aspect of The Psychic Circus, however. The story also includes an incarnation of the Master – one from much, much earlier in the Doctor’s timeline. This incarnation, played by James Dreyfus, subtly manipulates the Doctor to help create the Circus.

When it was announced that Dreyfus’s Master would feature in this story, it felt like an unusual choice. Especially as Alex Macqueen’s Master could have also featured. (Like Dreyfus, he’s an incarnation exclusive to Big Finish, but he’s also a Master that the Seventh Doctor is more familiar with.)

However, when listening to it, his role actually makes sense. Like the Seventh Doctor, his role is in some ways small, but also rather crucial. He doesn’t get too involved in events, and subtly moves people in the right direction. Other Masters would try a more full-on approach, but this one works for Dreyfus’s chronologically earlier, more restrained Master. The story also implies that it’s rather crucial to the character’s history overall, which is a nice touch.

But it’s the story of the Circus itself that really drives the story. Stephen Wyatt has taken characters and elements from his earlier story and given us something brand new, while also leading into the TV serial very nicely. A prequel/sequel that’s in some ways very different from the original, but is every bit as strong. A highly recommended release.

Are you a fan of The Greatest Show in the Galaxy? Is it one of your favorites? Do you think the origins of the Circus are worth exploring? Let us know in the comments below.