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I like convoluted plots. "Convoluted," not disjointed, impenetrable, and impossible to rationalize, all of which describe "Ghost Light." Cheesy monsters with grand plans to destroy/take over the Earth are a staple of Doctor Who, but the motive for this story's monster makes absolutely no sense when considered in combination with its intelligence and level of scientific advancement. Why do the antagonists fight each other in one scene and then have a formal dinner party in the next? Why does no one wonder what the Doctor and Ace are doing running around a private home? What was with the snuffbox? The whole thing's a mess.

I kept rewinding and watching scenes again and again, figuring I must have missed something. Other reviews have said that the DVD extras make things more clear. That's sad. Who would want to subject themselves to more of this nonsensical story? I didn't.

This was the first time I've ever watched a Doctor Who DVD without watching the extras. If you need a commentary to explain what's happening and why, your script is a failure.

The lines whispered by Control through the door are impossible to hear. If you're going to have an actress hiss and slur her lines, don't have her also use made-up words. "Free-ness?" That would have been fine if you could have heard what she was saying underneath all the clanging music, otherwise, use "freedom," and give the viewer a chance. I'm not used to needing subtitles in an English television show. (Glaswegian accents excepted.

As always in the McCoy era, the theme and opening titles are a joke. The music has been sapped of its urgency, and somehow the enormous technological advances since 1963 resulted in amateurish-looking graphics in 1989.