The TARDIS arrives in Arizona 1905, where travelling showman Thaddeus P. Winklemeyer is offering the residents of Buzzard Creek the elixir of life. Winklemeyer also owns a unique carnival, which is full of caged alien creatures. And in Turlough he has found a brand new exhibit...
Freakshow contains examples of:
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: For all the arguing and distrust between them, Tegan still gives Turlough a hug after Berman's death. They're back to fighting in minutes, of course, and by the time of "Cobwebs" she's reverted to admonishing the Doctor for letting Turlough stay after his deal with the Black Guardian.
- Bizarre Alien Reproduction: Winklemeyer's species, the Vermaal, reproduce by having their eggs ingested by living hosts, gestating in their stomachs and then leaving the host in a most violent fashion. Not so bizarre to Turlough, who comments that many species across the galaxy reproduce in this way.
- Call-Back:
- Taking place directly after "Elightenment", there are several references to that story, including Turlough's pact with the Black Guardian and the Eternals' ships.
- Turlough recalls Tegan calling him "unreliable".
- Complexity Addiction: One can't help but think that there must have been a simpler way for Winklemeyer to infect people with his young than to roam around with his freakshow full of aliens, use his Psychic Powers to convince the humans that his elixir "cured" the aliens and turned them into normal humans, suckering them into buying the elixir that he'd spiked with his alien eggs.
- Explosive Leash: All of the aliens captured for the freakshow have been fitted with a "smart implant" that will vaporize them if they try to fight Winklemeyer or escape.
- The Freakshow: Naturally. Populated by captured and enslaved aliens, no less.
- Glamour Failure: Turlough is aware that some kind of psychic influence is being used on him to make him believe the aliens have been turned into humans, and when he focuses hard enough he is able to break the spell. Unfortunately, this clues Winklemeyer into the fact that Turlough is much more than he appears.
- Human Aliens: Winklemeyer, who is a member of the Vermaal species. The fact that his captives are explicitly not Human Aliens is crucial to his plans.
- Immediate Sequel: This story takes place almost immediately after "Elightenment", and the TARDIS landing at the end takes the team into "Cobwebs", an Immediate Sequel to this story which takes place two days after "Enlightenment".
- Perception Filter: Winklemeyer is capable of projecting one of these, making humans believe that his elixir is turning the aliens into regular humans, when in reality it's just coloured water that does nothing to them at all.
- Repulsive Ringmaster: Winklemeyer presents a smooth-talking exterior, but he is unrepentantly murderous and evil.
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent: The Sythak, a pair of giant snake-like aliens who do most of Winklemeyer's dirty work for him.
- Running Gag: Verging on Once an Episode territory, the Doctor laments the loss of his sonic screwdriver.
- Shapeshifter Default Form: The Mimic can transform into anyone or anything after touching them, but her natural state is milky pale and almost entirely featureless.
- Snake Oil Salesman: The "elixir of life" Winklemeyer peddles is just coloured water and sugar. In a twist, he spikes it with his own DNA so that whoever drinks the elixir will end up with an alien growing inside them.
- The Wonka: How Winklemeyer styles himself, and Tegan even calls him Willy Wonka a couple of times, though in reality he is much more sinister.
- You Can Talk?: Berman surprises Turlough by being quite verbose for a giant beast man, and he asks him this.
