Day 337: Carnival of Monsters Episode 4

We have three of my favourite characters in all of Doctor Who in this episode: Pletrac, Orum and Kalik. All three are functionaries, and are able to play off each other in beautifully constructed ways to make the entire story one to truly enjoy. Kalik is a conniving character, who is trying to overthrow the President of Inter Minor through exposing the supposed weaknesses in his regime. He does this by attempting to set the Drashigs free to wander through, and then reveal that their weapons are useless. He is joined in this venture by Orum, a lesser character who is incredibly worried about how everything will turn out. Orum's easily frightened nature plays off Kalik's quiet confidence well, allowing the two characters to become incredibly memorable and so we as an audience can grow to like these little villains. They can also be easily contrasted with Pletrac, the man who is ostensibly in charge of the operation. Pletrac is quite thick, unable to see what is being done right under his nose, instead focussing on the bureaucracy of the situation. These three characters are all funny, enjoyable and memorable, and show that Robert Holmes, their writer, is clearly one of the best writers working for the series at the moment.