Doctor Who (TV Series) Paradise Towers: Part Four (1987) User Reviews

Silly Doctor Who story.

[poolandrews · 5/10 · 7 April 2007]

Doctor Who: Paradise Towers: Part 4 starts as the Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) witnesses Kroagnon the Great Architect transfer his mind into the body of the Chief Caretaker (Richard Briers) & sets about cleaning up his Paraidse Towers of all the 'human garbage'. The Doctor manages to convince the Kang's, the Resies & the caretakers to join forces with him & Melanie (Bonnie Langford) to defeat Kroagnon & liberate Paradise Towers...

This Doctor Who adventure was episode 8 from season 24 that aired here in the UK during late 1987, directed by Nicholas Mallett this didn't do that much for me. The script by Stephen Wyatt has a pretty serious basic premise but in execution it's absolutely ridiculous, the ever annoying Kang's are still here & if I hear the catchphrase 'ice-cold' again I think I'll pull my hair out, the dialogue is silly & the scenes where the Kang's, the Resies & the Caretakers kiss & make up within the space of two minutes after years of fighting is impossible to take seriously & had me laughing. Then there's the fact Melanie couldn't even see a big yellow killer robot in a standard sized swimming pool let alone the fact it managed to 'sneak' up on her, Paradise Towers has been more comedy & camp than sci-fi & while it can be fun on occasions there's no edge to it whatsoever.

Technically Paradise Towers has been alright although cheap looking. the acting has been pretty poor & Richard Briers during this episode having been taken over by Kroagnon mumbles his words & walks around like a zombie, it's an absolutely terrible performance & frankly embarrassing to watch. There's no scares, monsters, aliens or decent action during Paradise Towers either.

Paradise Towers is yet another sign Doctor Who was steadily going down hill towards the end of Sylvester McCoy's era, one for the fans really.

I shudder to think what else was in that Pool.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 5/10 · 28 April 2017]

Kroagnon is reborn and begins work, ridding Paradise Towers of its human waste, this action forces all factions of Paradise Towers to unite, and fight the common, deadly enemy.

Most elements of Paradise Towers have gone downhill in this fourth part, some of the best character development I felt comes from Pex, he remains cowardly all the way through to his heroic end, his remembrance was quite touching.

Richard Briers, I've just complimented him for an outstanding performance in Morse, I'll be honest, I thought he was horrific in this, not really his performance, but the shocking way in which he was written for. The part did him no favours of any kind.

Very much written as a general story, McCoy doesn't exactly look at home yet, and I struggle to see 'his' Doctor, however it won't be too long before he turns this around.

The music is horrible throughout, overpowering, loud, invasive, cheap sounding, I wish on the DVD they'd supplied an alternative score, I think it would have helped.

Anyone that's read High Rise (Ballard) will see the parallels, and appreciate the homage. All in all the story is pretty good, the performances are mixed, and the values are fairly poor, making for a fun, but flawed story.

Will The Doctor ever check in to Paradise Towers again? I doubt it. 5/10

Paradise Towers: Part Four

[Prismark10 · 3/10 · 12 March 2022]

Well it was highly ambitious for Doctor Who to pay homage to J G Ballard's High Rise. Before 1987 I wonder how many people outside sci fi would had been aware of Ballard. His writing were regarded as difficult to adapt and High Rise only made it to the cinema as a movie in 2015.

Ironically it was in 1987 that Ballard became widely known. Steven Spielberg directed his semi autobiographical Empire of the Sun.

Paradise Towers was out of reach for a television series that had its budget slashed.

The production techniques just were not there for Doctor Who in 1987. Marred by a poor script and some abysmal acting.

McCoy is all at sea but Richard Briers gets worse in the fourth episode.

Kroagnon the great architect has taken over the the Chief Caretaker's body.

The Doctor must unite everyone in Paradise Towers against him. A few rousing an unconvincing words later, Pex is ready to fight to the death while others just stand and watch.

The worse scenes must have been the swimming pool ones. Mel failed to see a big yellow mechanical monster in the pool.

I liked this episode

[ianweech · 8/10 · 24 January 2021]

A lot of people hate this season. I think most of this season is bad, but this episode is good. Part 1: 9/10 Part 2: 9/10 Part 3: 8/10 Part 4: 8/10

They could have made Kroagnon so much better...

[pfr1685 · 3/10 · 17 November 2021]

After he took over the Chief Caretaker's body, he could have been angry, diabolical, sarcastic, or just about anything... but instead he became a total dork. It was difficult to remain in any level of suspense when I was laughing so hard at the incredibly bad acting. I can only hope that Richard Briers was just doing as he was told, since he's normally a much better actor.