The Greatest Show in the Galaxy by: Stephen Wyatt

 

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy was written by Stephen Wyatt, based on his story of the same name.  It was the 150^th story to be novelized by Target Books.

 

The novelization of The Greatest Show in the Galaxy is kind of a sad coincidence, being the first novelization to be published after the airing of Survival and the ending of the show.  After this book was published while there would be twelve more novelizations, nine before the beginning of the Virgin New Adventures in 1991, the final three being longer novelizations from John Peel of the Patrick Troughton Dalek stories and Barry Letts novelizing The Paradise of Death.  Stephen Wyatt’s The Greatest Show in the Galaxy is almost fitting to be the first post-Survival novelization as it is a meta-commentary on the state of Doctor Who in the late 1980s, taking place in a setting which essentially represents the show as a whole and its translated somehow more starkly when in novel form.  Wyatt did not get the luxury of Ben Aaronovitch’s Remembrance of the Daleks novelization with an increased word count and was still working with the basic 120-140 pages of text, yet he manages to pack so many things into this small novelization.  Wyatt as a writer writes a genuinely surreal experience in The Greatest Show in the Galaxy due to the story’s meta commentary and Wyatt’s prose essentially building upon the emotions of fear that mount throughout the story. 

 

For instance, there is a sense of maliciousness from Captain Cook and the circus itself from the very beginning, with this great description of how dark and cramped the tent feels when the Doctor and Ace first enter.  It’s also a slow burn to get the Doctor and Ace to the circus itself, allowing a lot of the dread to set in with some added scenes outside of the Doctor and Ace getting the junk mail to Segonax.  The book opens with a description of the Ringmaster’s rap which in the audiobook is attempted by Sophie Aldred which kind of makes it hilarious.  There is this fear and more run down idea to the Psychic Circus throughout where the characters have almost more tension while the final confrontation with the Gods of Ragnarok and the Doctor creates almost more tension.  The book ends with the explosion, beautifully described and an actual final few moments between the Doctor and Ace leaving which feels like a thesis statement, which helps especially since this was published immediately after the show ended.  It’s almost a statement from Wyatt, unintentionally that the show will somehow still go on though in a different form.  It becomes an interesting prelude to what would become the Virgin New Adventures, not because of some added content, but because of translating as story into prose with some occasional pieces of darkness sprinkled throughout that play more on the cosmic horror elements of the premise that the show could never do.  The book is reflective on where the show could have been going, especially if Wyatt was given a third serial in Season 26.

 

Overall, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy is a perfect example of how to adapt a television story in an era where VHS releases were picking up steam (several serials would have been released and the first Seventh Doctor VHS release would only release two years after this in the UK).  It doesn’t change things, but provides quite a lot of depth to an already well regarded story.  Wyatt’s writing style is also perfect making it a genuine shame he wouldn’t write for Doctor Who again in any form until 2021’s The Psychic Circus.  10/10.