YMMV / Doctor Who S24 E4 "Dragonfire"

• Alternative Character Interpretation: As discussed in Unreliable Narrator on the main page, both Kane and the information recording the Doctor found could be at least incorrect about Xana's fate. Was she just killed escaping arrest and the recording claims she committed suicide to make her appear weak, or is Kane deluding himself about how she died to put her on a pedestal?
• Genius Bonus: The Doctor distracts a guard by discussing semiotics with him. The real joke...the dialogue came verbatim from the book Doctor Who: The Unfolding Text. And, the Doctor's line is semiotics-jargon for something like "The less relevant an in-joke is to the story, the greater its cultural significance". Particularly impressive for a story which came out way back in 1987, before such post-modern humour appeared everywhere.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • The plot is very similar to The Hobbit with people reclaiming gold from a dragon. Sylvester McCoy would later play Radagast the Brown in the film trilogy.
  • The subtle references to the Alien series, such as the appearance of the dragon and names such as Kane. For the show's fiftieth anniversary, John Hurt — who played the xenomorph's first victim, also named Kane — would later be cast as the War Doctor (The Day of the Doctor).
  • The debut of the Thirteenth Doctor would later feature another alien whose body temperature was low enough to kill.
• Les Yay: Between Ace and Mel. Especially when Ace's first response to Mel falling over and being knocked out is to do what is probably meant to be feeling for a skull fracture, but looks more like stroking her hair. Not to mention Ace giving Mel an Affectionate Nickname within minutes of meeting her. It's more blatant in the novelisation, where Ace and Mel descend an ice face using mountain climbing gear rather than the pack ladder used in the serial and this exchange takes place:
  "I've never done this before", admitted Mel. "You must have done it lots of times".
  "Well, not lots of times..."
  Ace was avoiding Mel’s eyes.
  How many times?’ asked Mel suspiciously.
  "This’ll be the first". Ace looked up guiltily. "But I’ve seen them do it on telly, and it’s easy!"
  Mel looked at Ace. The safety harness Ace was wearing didn’t look quite right. ‘I think you’ve got that harness on upside-down. I think those tight straps are supposed to go between your legs.’
  Ace looked down, and giggled. "It's a good job I'm not a boy!" she laughed. Mel smiled - and then she began to laugh as well. This wasn't going to be a bit like they always showed it on telly!
• Moral Event Horizon: Kane has the tourists, passers-through, and residents herded into a spacecraft and blows it to Kingdom Come.
• One-Scene Wonder: The guard who desperately wants to talk philosophy with the Doctor.
• Special Effects Failure: The crystal caves appear to be some plastic sheeting, complete with swaying. And the statue of Kane's partner Xana bears an unfortunate resemblance to Elvis.
• Squick: It's implied that Ace lost her virginity to Glitz. No...just...no... (Sophie Aldred didn't hear anything about that until they were doing the DVD Commentary, and thought Glitz was far too old for Ace - Tony Selby, for reference, was forty-nine at the time, twice Aldred's actual age and three times her character's age.) The novelization implies that it may not have been entirely consensual, which adds a whole other level of awfulness.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Glitz selling his crew into slavery really seems like it should get him some kind of comeuppance. This was an unfortunate casualty of Glitz replacing the original, less lovably roguish character of Razorback.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: Kane's face melting, which still holds up very well today.
• WTH, Costuming Department?: According to the commentary, the child Stellar is supposed to symbolize innocence amongst evil. Then why did they put her in a dress so short that she can't move around without a Panty Shot?

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