Holistic Review: A story that manages to be both fun and creepy, built on a creative and well-told premise, although the script gives us Mel both at her best and at her most uncharacteristic.

Until the charms of Delta and the Bannermen slowly worked their magic on me, Paradise Towers was my unquestioned favorite story of season 24, and even these days it's a neck-and-neck race between the two. The thing that gives Paradise Towers its edge is that the script is just so inventive and enthralling, with lots of super-cool ideas to fill the runtime. The setting — an enclosed decaying tower block that's seen much better days and is now stalked by something deadly — is just brilliant, although I almost wish there had been an actual monster roaming the corridors (still, homicidal robotic cleaners are probably more authentic to the setting and more ingenious). Writer Stephen Wyatt has crafted a very believable society. I love the fact that the Towers are filled, as they would have been, with a variety of different kinds of people, who group together as one would expect by social category: the gangs of young girls, the female senior citizens, and the staff. It's true that Paradise Towers is played very much for laughs, and might have been really effective if it had been done deadly serious, but I find it hard to begrudge them a little humor in this case because the whole thing is just so much fun.

I guess I should get my one main issue with Paradise Towers out of my system straightaway: while I find Stephen Wyatt's script to be a sparkling gem in most respects, his treatment of Mel at times causes me to experience emotions ranging from "baffled" to "horrified". This is weird, because Wyatt can clearly write for Mel very well, as I'll mention below. But during the first two episodes, in any scene that she shares with either the Kangs or Pex, Mel acts dismissive, superior, and annoyed (with the Kangs) or impatient, disapproving and slightly mocking (with Pex). What's gotten into the girl? In fact, it starts the moment that she sets foot in Paradise Towers, and rather than letting her trademark optimism rear its head, she's clearly very disappointed by the state of the Towers and gets all grumpy ("It's just rubbish!"). She takes a brief stab at the bright side ("Still, now we're here, I suppose I might as well see what the pool's like.") but you can tell she's thinking "It's going to be rubbish too..." Mel very wisely suggests a contingency plan in case anything goes wrong, which would be a great moment for her except that it's clear that she's already expecting the worst to happen. Her foul mood takes a worse turn when the Kangs try to attack her; we could perhaps hypothesize that Mel has no love for anyone she perceives as a vandal (which makes sense, given that she devotes her whole life to improving things rather than defacing or destroying them), which might explain why she gets all frosty with people who scrawl on walls and bend light fixtures into pretzels. When the Doctor suggests that the Red Kangs might offer Mel a membership, her response is to scoff "I hope not!" The Kangs, clearly picking up on Mel's animosity, snub her equally — witness Fire Escape's pointed glare at Mel following "You we like, Doctor." So then Mel goes and makes things worse by spelling things out for them: "Oh, I don't have a color. And I don't want to be a Kang!" And then she has the gall to look affronted when Fire Escape agrees that of course they didn't want her to be a Red Kang anyway!

Away from the Kangs, it looks like Mel may have returned to her old self, but then she meets Pex... the self-appointed protector of Paradise Towers, who goes around damaging public property and threatening harmless old ladies. Yet another person that she doesn't want to pal around with (Mel must believe in reputation by association), but he does insist on hanging around and demonstrating his physical prowess... too innocently to be flirting, so apparently he just wants approval and praise. Well, that's the last thing he gets from Mel, who is bad-tempered with him from the moment she meets him. She dresses him down verbally ("Pex, if you could bend that back into shape and put it where it came from, it might be more use."), doesn't even attempt to disguise her impatience with him ("Well, go on! I've gotta find my friend, and I can't waste any more time!"), talks about him as if he's not there ("Do you know anything about this person?") and then, worst of all, she happily throws him under the bus and leaves him to be cruelly taunted by the Blue Kangs while she makes her getaway. I suppose this can be excused by the fact that she seems to feel very betrayed that he lied to her, and it's not like the Kangs were going to gouge out his liver or anything, but still. It's clear that Mel is a little sad about abandoning him, but otherwise she doesn't really seem to feel any pity or understanding of Pex's position. It's sad, but only in Paradise Towers can I get a glimpse of why maybe some fans dislike Mel. (Except that I think most fans' reasons for disliking Mel are not these reasons at all, in which case I still just don't get it.)

The really bizarre thing is that, aside from her very atypical interactions with those characters in the first two episodes, otherwise Mel is on absolutely top form. In the opening TARDIS scenes, Mel's enthusiasm shines through, with lines like "Oh, it's wonderful! I can't wait to have a dip in that." and the awesome "Ready? I can't wait!" And in amongst all the drama with Pex and the Kangs, Tilda and Tabby are apparently a very good influence; the moment Tilda invites her in for tea, Mel's back to her old self. (It's almost as if, after all this dealing with criminals and ne'er-do-wells, an offer of tea switches Mel's politeness back on, because this is territory that she knows how to deal with well. It may be interesting to compare Mel's reaction to Pex and the Kangs with her reaction to Glitz in two stories' time. Overall different, but with some telling similarities.) Mel gets some of her best scenes ever with Tilda and Tabby, showing how polite and friendly and trusting and innocent she is. By the time she gets to the pool, her old perpetually-optimistic self is back in full force. (It's a shame, really, that the only time her cynicism asserts itself is when she doesn't need it; with both the Rezzies and the pool cleaner, she's taken completely unawares!) Her determination to succeed is also evident throughout the story, as she constantly strives to reach the pool despite all the obstacles, and figure out how to bring the residents of Paradise Towers together ("Well, we'll find a way. We have to!"). And she even gets to wield a gun! Go Mel! When she finds out about Kroagnon's scheme, we also get more evidence of her moral outrage ("Imagine building this beautiful pool and filling it with mechanical killers!"), and she finally starts to stick up for Pex as the Kangs bully him. Amusingly, in this story, Mel also develops the ability to alter the fabric of reality with her words, which sadly is not a character trait that was picked up by other writers... more's the pity. (She really should've followed up "And the lights go out..." with "And we get a lifetime supply of alfalfa sprouts and kombucha...")

As for general Bonnie Langford wonderfulness, I understand that I'm among the minority in this, but I absolutely love her outfit. The polka dots are so bright and bold, it fits her really well, and the pleated tails are a fantastic detail. I know that people complain that Mel almost never (meaning, in two stories) wears clothing that real people would wear, but you know what? My favorite Doctor Who costumes usually are exactly those kind of outfits. Nobody's ever going to walk down Main Street wearing Zoe's catsuit, or Nyssa's velvet trousers, or Romana's smashing Taran jacket. But they should! Likewise, I think this one's a visual treat, and it's just a neat bit of fashion. Bonnie makes Mel's hysteria very convincing as the Rezzies are preparing to butcher her; there's something about the way her voice goes squeaky when she panicks that I just love! I also really like Bonnie's very startled reaction when the Kangs fire an arrow at Mel (and almost pin her to the wall by her hair). Other great deliveries include her body language on "Fantastic!" when the Doctor tells her they've arrived, her twitchy reaction when Mel stumbles into a dangling vine, her very unimpressed "Well?!" upon seeing Pex's handiwork, her slightly-hysterical "Except we seem to be going down. Very fast!", and her bubbly "Oh Doctor, it's so good to see you!" So, for Mel, this story is about a 70/30 split of great to not-so-great, but overall it's a really good story for her.

Sylvester McCoy is extremely likeable in Paradise Towers. The Doctor demonstrates a lot of caring for the Red Kangs, and has such a good rapport with them that they eventually open up to him and tell him things that no visitor before (not that there have been any) has ever learned. His friendly air seems to naturally draw people into his confidence. Paradise Towers also sees the start of his "master planner" characterization, as he royally manipulates both the Caretakers and Kroagnon. McCoy gets some great scenes, including his confrontation with the Kangs over their insistence on keeping silent about what's happening in the Towers, and the way he turns the tables on the Chief Caretaker's interrogation. It's the subtleties about his performance that I like so much. I love his little finger-wiggling gesture (and Mel's shivery reaction) on "A rather nasty breed of flesh-eating octopi!" (Incidentally, I must say, Griophos sounds like an interesting planet to visit!) His attempt at the Kangs' greeting ritual is practically genius, it's delivered so naturalistically — I love the way that he "almost" forgets to clap, and his little flourish with the hat at the end is cute. His surreptitious gesture to indicate that Mel should sneak back to the TARDIS is also nice. Love the sly glance at his watch as he makes up a rule for the Caretakers about guarding a condemned prisoner for... 35 minutes. His emphatic readjustment of the "spotlight" as he interrogates the Chief Caretaker is hilarious, and the way he bats away Bin Liner's gun with his umbrella is awesome. Speaking of which, it's a bit weird to see him here with a bamboo-handled umbrella, in its one and only outing. Among my favorite deliveries: "I wonder if Blue Kangs behave like this.", his shout of "Mel!" as he runs up a set of stairs looking for her, "Ah! Jackpot!", "Oh, no no no no, that would be extremely futile!", and "I mean, look!" He also handles the technobabble really well. And if you like his gurning ability, there's a great example at the end of episode 3! I am amused that the Doctor sometimes seems to think that Kroagnon is French. (well, and maybe he is, who knows?)

The Kangs are just a great idea, all around. How natural that the little girls left behind during the war, with apparently no mummies or daddies to take care of them (one wonders why the Rezzies didn't step up to the plate and make use of their grandparental urges, rather than snacking on them), grew up into rambunctious teenage girls who roam the Towers in gangs. Do you suppose they had proper names as little girls and everyone just forgot them? Or is "Air Duct" the new trendy name in this time period? I love that the gangs are divided by color, with themed clothing and really cool colored hair. (Is it terribly 80s of me to appreciate that?) And their ethnic diversity is a very nice touch. But the best part about the Kangs, at least for a linguist, is their very divergent speech patterns. I love all of their very natural-sounding slang ("Cowardly cutlet!", "Ice hot!", "No outgoing!", "Ware tongue!" and all that). They also have some interesting cultural touches, like the menacing pattycake how-you-do ritual. The Kangs just get more and more likeable as the story progresses, particularly once they surprise the Doctor by rescuing him from the Caretakers. Fire Escape, played by Julie Brennon, is the definite highlight. She's both hard-edged and friendly, and she can scowl like nobody's business! I love her delivery of "Not since time start!" Annabel Yuresha is also good as Bin Liner, but I find her performance to be a little less naturalistic somehow. Still, anytime someone mentions a bin liner in my presence (which, in the US, isn't very often, but Andrew did it once or twice), my response is invariably "Bin liner, Mel, bin liner." I love how Yuresha delivers that line, particularly the way she shoves Mel's shoulder and Mel about smacks her upside the head. Catherine Cusack is great as the Blue Kang Leader (she gets a great name — Drinking Fountain — in the novelization), and it's a shame that she doesn't get a bit more to do.

As a group, the Rezzies are intriguing. Their cannabalism, born of necessity rather than choice (or at least, it must have started out that way; Tilda and Tabby seem to enjoy it overmuch), is a very effective way of highlighting the desperate conditions in the Towers. One wonders what the Caretakers and the Kangs find to eat, and if anyone is even able to leave the Towers these days. The impression given is that not all the Rezzies were quite so depraved as to eat people, although given Maddy's apology for the way they've behaved (what a way to put it!), it's possible that they all partook, but some of the Rezzies just didn't eat quite as many people. Tilda and Tabby are both absolutely superb. Tilda, played by the wonderful Brenda Bruce, seems a little more refined and proper, and perhaps a little more vicious and coldhearted than Tabby. Her fury at Tabby's death is really well-portrayed. She gives some awesome deliveries: "Mel, Mel, what a delicious name!" (creeeeeeepy!!!) and the superbly menacing "Oh, what a naughty little girl we are! Looks as though butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, and now she's killed poor dear Tabby!" My favorite, though, is Elizabeth Spriggs as Tabby, who looks all cuddly and grandmothery, but then happily bounces off to fetch the basil to season Mel with. Every time I see Tabby, I'm reminded of Stephen Wyatt's description of her in the novelization, via Mel's uncharitable impression that she has rat's teeth. For gnawing on bones, y'see. But it's true! You do sort of have to wonder why they didn't take advantage of the fact that Mel showed up at their door pre-trussed, but maybe they prefer playing cat-and-mouse for a while first. Judy Cornwell is fun as Maddy, and made Keeping Up Appearances particularly fun when she would cuddle up to a particularly greasy Mr Popplewick. Mel would no doubt have been horrified.

Keeping the homefront safe and well-maintained, at least in principle, are the policy-bound Caretakers, whose reliance on their rulebook is really well played. It's nice that even though they live their lives by it, the Caretakers (with the possible exception of the Chief Caretaker) still don't know it backwards and forwards, so we can only imagine how complex it must be! The Deputy Chief Caretaker, played by Clive Merrison, is one of those characters who seems to sit quietly and contentedly in the background, but the more I watch this story, the more I love him. He starts out all great and snarky ("No no no, sunbeam!") and eventually becomes the only Caretaker (with any lines) who really understands that they've been doing bad things and wants to make amends. I love the way he tries to appear all macho but really isn't... Merrison is great at poking fun at the character. I love his delivery of "Flesh? Did you say living flesh?" Joseph Young also gets a brief bit of screentime as the Young Caretaker, and he makes quite a good impression in a few short minutes. Except that in the line "I... I... I... I'm scared, Chief!", he gets so much pause/think time that I think two "I..."s would have been sufficient. After the third one, it just sounds like he's stalling for time.

Richard Briers is a lot of fun as the Chief Caretaker, who desperately wants to look like he's in charge but is in fact almost completely incompetent, and is no good whatsoever at lies and cover-ups. He has an interesting relationship with his "pet", attempting to be fatherly to it but clearly being totally under its control and subject to its whims. Great deliveries: his faux-comforting "Yes, I know.", "Who did that? — oh." when his walkie-talkie bleeps, the way he clearly knows he's been caught out on "What a ridiculous idea!" and "Oh... don't I...", and his unconvincing attempt to sound truthful on "And you may rest assured, there'll be no cover-up, no cover-up whatsoever." Kroagnon is a fantastic idea for a villain — not every show would think of having a homicidal egomaniacal sadistic architect for a bad guy! As Kroagnon, Briers is also a lot of fun, although I understand a lot of people disagree with me on that. Personally, I think his mannerisms and delivery are zombieriffic! I love the way he sounds like he can't quite control his tongue, and appears to be having trouble walking in his new body, which for me really sells the idea that some other being has mentally taken it over. Briers' range of grunts is quite impressive! I particularly love his growl of rage and frustration when he can't view the pool area. Is he responsible for the voice of Kroagnon in the basement as well? I think he must be. Because it's great... I especially love "HUNGRY!"

It's hard to disagree with accusations that Pex would have been a more effective and convincing character if he had been cast, as intended, with an Arnold Schwarzenegger type. But I really warm to Howard Cooke, whose performance as Pex is both likeable and vulnerable. He's pretty convincing when he's trying to be all macho, but at times it's only too easy to see through the act, and his desire to be helpful and atone for his past sins is relatable. I find Pex's sacrifice at the end to be very sad, most particularly because he could have easily toppled Kroagnon in without falling in himself (unless Kroagnon is way super-stronger than he looks). I'm really curious to know what the tattoo on Pex's neck is supposed to represent... it always reminds me of a parachute!

Highlights of Nicholas Mallet's direction include the super juxtaposition of the Yellow Kang crouching under a wallscrawl of a Yellow Kang being attached, the shot of the Cleaner with its cargo, as Kang clothing lies discarded by the wall, and (my favorite) the awesome shot of McCoy silhouetted against a window as he pauses in his search for Mel. The set design for Paradise Towers is pretty superb. The corridors look great, grotty and dimly-lit, and rather unsafe and unhygienic. The flats are brightly-lit and colorful (with old-lady-type possessions strewn about), and although the Caretakers' control room and the Kangs' brainquarters aren't terribly exciting, they're both suitable for the story.

Effects are relatively few in this story. The only really notable ones are the cool silvery skin on Kroagnon (if that counts as an effect), the neat multicolored strobing when Mel shoots out the pool monster's eye, the exploding Cleaners (whoo!), and one almighty explosion when Kroagnon and Pex go to the Great Pool in the Sky. There are, however, a couple of odd little video glitches that are maybe just the fault of the VHS tape; it'll be interesting to evaluate this story on DVD and see if they're corrected. The first is an odd pixelly effect as the tube in the basement descends over the Chief Caretaker (a result, no doubt, of the numerous tiny circles on its surface causing the weirdness as they move). The second occurs when Mel says "There's nothing to be frightened of" — the video looks very grainy, as if it were reused (possibly from Mel's earlier line "Oh, the water's really lovely" although her posture looks a little different) and zoomed-in, much like the patches done on the missing frames in The Faceless Ones.

As usual for this period, one of the biggest blots on the story is the music of Keff McCulloch. And as usual, he has his great moments and his sour ones. Great moments include the mysterious music as the Doctor manipulates the Caretakers (although its reuse of the theme music is a bit unusual), and the awesome creepy music as Tabby covers up the remains of her dinner, which always gives me chills. There's also some nice music as the Doctor examines a wallscrawl of a Cleaner, but it's a bit overenthusiastic for a scene of the Doctor taking notes. I probably shouldn't love this, given how on-the-nose it is, but I always giggle a little at the rattling noise when the Chief Caretaker turns a light on the Doctor during his interrogation... something about it is just very funny. And I am admittedly rather fond of the "clapping" music, although as usual with Keff's scores, I'm never sure if that's because it's genuinely good or I just have happy associations with it. Sour moments include when the music revs up in volume and almost overwhelms the "We heard you talk of the pool!" bit, the horrible shrieky musical transition between Mel telling Pex off to the Red Kangs in the square (and again when the Red Kangs lead the Doctor out of the Chief Caretaker's control room), and the crazy hollow gong noise synched with the Blue Kang's gesticulations while Kroagnon is on the move. The most egregious offender is the horrible little tootle of a horn being squashed as Maddy considers the Chief Caretaker's offer of a larger flat, which pops up from out of nowhere and doesn't fit the mood of the scene (or indeed the story) at all. It's enough to make you wonder what the original music by David Snell was like, and how bad JN-T must have thought it was if Keff's replacement was considered to be a vast improvement. (The cynical part of me wants to say "given the fact that JN-T liked Keff's music, that probably means that Snell's score was genuinely atmospheric", but that would just be cruel and I don't really believe that sort of thing anyway. Much.) His music is, at least, better than free jazz...

My childhood memories of this story are pretty strong. I'd been caught off-guard by new Doctor Who with Time and the Rani, but when Paradise Towers came around, I knew what to expect. I was getting accustomed to the idea of a new Doctor by this point, and I think it finally sunk in that I was actually watching new Doctor Who, for the first time ever. Up until this point, I don't believe I'd ever seen a story that I hadn't already heard of from one of the episode guides in an official Doctor Who publication. (Although I know that the latest guide I had access to — in one of the Haining books, most likely The Key to Time or possibly The Doctor Who File — only went up through season 22, so I wonder if I hadn't even seen the Trial by this point? Unlikely, but possible.) So Paradise Towers is kind of the beginning of an era for me, the first time I really became aware of the fact that PBS aired brand-new Doctor Who each March. (Shame it only lasted for two more years... I didn't really make a big deal out of it until season 26, and then, poof, it was gone.) I have a feeling that my friend Peter must've been watching the show by this time, too, because I can remember being in the back seat of the car with him, arguing about which band of Kangs was in fact best. (I argued for the Red; he preferred the Blue, no doubt because they won the game. I was totally right, BTW.) I also recall that when our family went on our annual beach vacations, at least one year we saw a hotel in either Atlantic Beach or Kure Beach that was called Paradise Tower (singular). I wanted to stay there soooooo badly, and I think I convinced my parents to at least check it out, but apparently the quality was on par with Paradise Towers (plural), so we didn't end up getting a room from them. Speaking of hotels, I also recall being on another trip with them and watching Paradise Towers in the room, and being worried during the Kang ritual scenes that my parents would think it was satanic and make me switch it off! One last recollection: Gray and I were in a bookstore in Cary NC once (I think it was a Bookstar), and he mentioned some word that was apparently in Paradise Towers that I didn't recognize (he meant corporelectroscopy, but I think he said quadro-something...), so we pulled the novelization off the shelf and tried to find it, but with no luck.

Minor points:

• It's pretty creepy that the poor Yellow Kangs have been systematically wiped out of existence, until there's only one left (briefly). She must've been pretty terrified, those last few days alone, knowing what was coming. (Although one does rather wonder why, then, she chose to continue playing the game and hiding out in those dark corri- ...um, "carry-doors".) I also wonder why the Chief Caretaker was having them picked off by color? Did the Yellow Kangs seem more suitable? Once they're all gone, he starts going after both Red and Blue.

• I love that the TARDIS pool gets another mention, and apparently Mel's been making good use of it! What a shame that it had to be jettisoned, though...

• It must be said, these Cleaners are strange and inefficient. First of all, if they're meant to polish the walls and the floor, and presumably any fixtures (although only, probably, in the public areas), then why are they equipped with drill and buzzsaw attachments? Those are only good for destroying or possibly installing things, but certainly not cleaning things, unless they're expecting some major caked-on grime. Secondly, why are they so short? They can only clean things up to about elbow-high. This wouldn't be that much of a problem except that, third, their arms can only reach things that are directly in front of them on the left and right sides... they can't stretch up high, or to the sides, or even directly in front of them. For that matter, how do they reach around to put any rubbish in their bin? It's impossible! The engineers that built them must never have, you know, cleaned anything. Or lived in a place. (Having said that, they do look pretty scary when their blades are a-whirring! And I like the nozzles that can either suck up dirt or spray poison gas at you.)

• While I think the ambush on the lone Caretaker (separated from the pack...) is a great way to illustrate the threat that the Cleaners represent, I must ask why he stands stock-still, looking terrified, while the Cleaner waves its claw about feeling for his throat. I'd be ducking and running as fast as my legs would take me, rather than hanging around waiting to be strangled! Plus, c'mon dude, dodge that drill!

• I always feel a bit cheated when a character's face is hidden when they're first introduced, and when they finally turn to camera, it turns out they're not anyone surprising. Don't people know that television convention dictates that if you're not revealing someone's face, it's because they're a returning and much-missed friend or enemy? Maybe they thought that Richard Briers was well-known or special enough on his own to warrant such treatment.

• Why exactly do Mel and the Doctor run away from the Caretakers? Wouldn't you assume that the authorities would, I dunno, rescue you from the violent teen vagrants? It's not like the Kangs were such great people to be hanging out with, after all!

• I've always liked this quote. It's how I feel, too — or, at least, how I used to feel, until I ran out of room in my apartment and had to give up on ever managing to keep it as neat and tidy as I'd like.

  Tilda: "We're both very house-proud, you see, particularly when we have guests."

• I must admit, I'm kind of shocked that Mel would actually eat cakes with whipped cream and sugar! I can only assume that for Mel, "hospitable" overrides "health-conscious". (I can definitely relate to that too... I'm a flexitarian, most often when friends cook meat for me.) Also, I'm absolutely dying to know what kind of cakes those are — they look so unusual, and the chocolate chips (or whatever they're studded with) are giant! Want. Want now.

• Tilda and Tabby are inexplicably reluctant to discuss the good old days with Mel! Do they think that if they tell her, she'll get bored and leave? (Perhaps in the past, they've driven more than one Kang away thanks to their snore-inducing stories.)

  Mel: "So what happened?"
  Tabby: "Well, my memory's not what it was, but um, one thing followed another, and before we knew where we were, we were in the pickle we are today."
  Tilda: (not at all suspiciously) "Now everybody has to fend for themselves, take what they can find. Uh, have another cake, Mel dear."

• I'm always irrationally annoyed by the way Tabby gives Mel one tiny splodge of whipped cream on her cake, and then, clearly realizing that it was insufficient, totally overcompensates and practically scoops out the whole cup of it.

• Nice absent-minded delivery:

  Tabby: "I often wonder whether we won that war or not!"
  Tilda: "I don't suppose we'll ever know now, Tabby." Tabby: "No, I don't suppose we will, Tilda."

• It's awfully strange that Pex keeps routinely bursting through Tilda and Tabby's door. One possible explanation: do you suppose he's heard rumors of their activities? It's certainly possible that the Kangs might have made morbid jokes about it ("the Rezzies wouldn't even eat him!"), because they were certainly all aware of it. However, if that's the case, you would think he wouldn't have been quite so surprised when Tilda flung a kitchen knife at his head. (For that matter, why haven't they ever tried to eat Pex? He's clearly got a lot of muscle on him, and it would have saved them a lot of door hassle! Perhaps it was easier for the two of them to overpower small girls... but they're sneaky, they could've thought of a way to ambush him.)

• Whoops, bit more yet to go on that line, Bonnie dear!

  Mel: "But I really must. Find my friend, and the pool."

• Mel gets this line, or a variant of it, four times over the course of the story, most of which which really contribute to her sounding impatient and/or annoyed (although Bonnie impressively manages to give a different delivery to it each time):

  22:04 As Mel leaves Tilda and Tabby's flat, Pex hurries to catch up to her.
  Pex: "Just a minute."
  Mel: (uninterested) "What is it now?"

  28:23 Pex spies a light fixture and, excitedly, realizes he has a chance to show off.
  Pex: "Mel?"
  Mel: (dreading it) "What is it now?"

  56:37 Mel peruses the map of Paradise Towers and finds the pool on floor 304.
  Pex: "But Mel..."
  Mel: (exasperated) "What now?"

  58:16 As they look around Fountain of Happiness Square, Pex thinks he hears something.
  Pex: "Quiet!"
  Mel: (alarmed) "What is it now?"

• Listening to the way Bonnie delivers her lines in her scenes with Pex (and to a lesser degree throughout the story), she does an awful lot of heavy inbreathing after each one! For example: "I may live to regret this! (breath)" She must've really been giving it her all!

• Strange, why does the Chief Caretaker immediately hail the Doctor as the Chief Architect? Doesn't he remember that he's got the Chief Architect in the basement? Or, if he doesn't know that's who his "pet" is... then who or what does he think he's got?! A talking bodiless kitty?!

• I love the fact that we get to glimpse the exterior of Paradise Towers at the start of episodes two through four. Yay! It's purty, and shiny, and has plants on. Mmmm, plants.

• Okay, let me puzzle this out for a minute. The Kangs are all in their teens, the Caretakers are in their mid-thirties to forties, and the Rezzies are all in their fifties or sixties, yes? And Pex can't be very much younger than the Caretakers, maybe mid-twenties at the youngest, but I'm guessing early thirties. So if Pex was of the right age to fight in the war, and only escaped it because he hid out, and the Caretakers were too old to fight in the war... well, I'm just not sure that makes sense, based on the Caretakers' ages. Is mid-twenties really too old to fight in a war? Maybe they just wanted really young men. But at most, this war could only have been about ten years ago or so, right? (Which makes it hard to believe that Tabby can't remember why there aren't any young men in the Towers! It hasn't been all that long!) Had the Caretakers been cast as the same age or slightly older than the Rezzies (given that they apparently didn't let women fight in this particular war — or did they? otherwise what happened to the Kangs' mommies? — but did take prepubescent boys and, presumably, the Rezzies' husbands), I think it would have been a little more convincing.

• I know the Doctor's good at sleight of hand and all, but how on earth does that Caretaker not feel his jacket being lifted up and his back pocket being picked?

• Freaky Tabby!!!

  Maddy: "I mean, people just don't vanish, do they!"
  Tabby: "No, of course not. There's always something left behind." (covers her bone-filled plate with a napkin)

• When he empties out the telephone coin slot, the Doctor lets an awful lot of coins get away! I guess it's nice he isn't greedy though, but it always seems a little wasteful. I feel the same way when people transfer food from a pot to a plate but don't scrape down the sides and bottom of the pot to get out every last morsel.

• Paradise Towers must be one of the few stories in Doctor Who history to feature a Doctor-scream not involving any sort of torture, when the Doctor topples backwards into the Red Kangs' brainquarters.

• I really wanna know what Fizzade tastes like!

• Given that you can see the interior of the entire lift, it's pretty funny that Pex feels the need to make sure it's safe before they go in — and then, even more hilarious, instead of turning to cover the inside of the lift with his gun, he swivels to face the panel of buttons on the wall. Who did he think was hiding there?! If there had been anyone cowering in the other corner, they could've gotten the jump on him before he turned around.

• So, the Caretakers have apparently at least heard the rumor that the Cleaners are killing people... do they actually believe it? The Deputy Chief Caretaker's delivery suggests that he thinks the Chief Caretaker won't look very kindly on him suggesting it as a possibility, so I assume the Caretakers try to discourage that kind of talk.

• Mmmm! First Mel gets chocolate-chip cake/cookie things, now she gets toasted crumpets and tea. Witness my jealousy! (Then again, if the payment for such delectables is being dinner, then I think I'd just as happily pass on them.)

• When the Caretakers show up, the Kangs freak out like they'll be through the door in seconds, but in actual fact they have ages to get away. And the Caretakers barely look around inside anyway — the Kangs could've all hidden behind the Fizzade machine and been just fine!

• Tabby's like my mother, everything is "little":

  Tabby: "Not since those horrid little Kangs got suspicious of our little ways..."

• The scene in which Tilda and Tabby capture Mel is totally creepy, as Mel screams and flails about while the two sweet little old ladies suddenly turn vicious and deadly... the cliffhanger to episode 2 is one of my all-time favorites. (I wonder why they remove "It only causes needless distress!" from the recap?) Incidentally, black crochet is unexpectedly flattering on Bonnie, who looks quite pretty with it draped around her neck... she should wear it more often.

• I suppose they must have a system if they've been doing it for this long, but how long will it take Tilda and Tabby to eat Mel? They only seem to have the one soup pot, and one assumes they don't have a ton of freezer space in their flat. So unless they've got the key to another vacant flat or three where they can store their cuts of meat, do they just leave bits of Kang hanging on hooks above their sink? That sounds unsanitary in so many ways.

• Love Bonnie's delivery:

  Pex: "Mel, does this mean that I've really helped save someone from something, for the first time?"
  Mel: "I think it might!"

• Why does Mel tell Pex that she's found a map of "the" Paradise Towers? Why not just "It's a map of Paradise Towers"? She does this again later, as they're riding around in the lift: "Well, I suppose it is one way of seeing the Paradise Towers."

• Bonnie's delivery of this line is really fantastic. It's also worth noting that as Tilda and Tabby are in flat 1236, we can assume that each floor has about 11 or 12 flats. Smaller than perhaps one might expect, given how lost Mel and Pex get in the place, but certainly possible if the flats are actually much bigger than they look. (After all, we only see two rooms in Tilda and Tabby's bachelorette pad.)

  Mel: "And we must be on floor... let's see... 109."

• Gol-ly! Mel and Pex start out on floor 109, but by the time they finally find an elevator, they're apparently on floor 48! That must have been a lot of stair-climbing.

• How very prescient of the production team! The illustrated prospectus for Paradise Towers is on something very much like a DVD. (Amusingly, it still fast-forwards like a VHS tape.) And this was back when CDs were new and exotic...

• I love the idea that Kroagnon left a beautiful building seeded with hidden deadly traps. What an awesome setup that would be for an episode... the revival really ought to set one in Miracle City on move-in day. It could be like Cube! It's kind of a shame that we don't see much of that here, aside from the pool monster.

• So, has Mel somehow found the Cleaners' "secret alleviator" that goes to the basement? Or does it only go there because the malfunction makes it plummet to the very bottom floor?

• It's kind of a shame that Mel's first reaction to finding the basement is "We've got to get out of here!" Why not investigate, as long as you're there? Then again, the consequences could have been pretty dire. Besides, we'll find out how Mel prefers to conduct her investigations shortly.

• After the dark, dingy Towers, it's pretty awesome that the pool turns out to be picturesque and pristine!

• Silly Mel! So now her idea of "investigating" is to relax by the pool for a few minutes and then go for a swim!

• "And then it's straight into that lovely cool water!" says Mel. A bit of an understatement, apparently, since according to Bonnie, the pool was so freezing cold that she could barely do the swimming scenes for her teeth chattering.

• I'm curious to know why all those Kang and Rezzie and Caretaker bodies weren't suitable for Kroagnon. Not a single one of them, really? (Too bad — it would've been pretty awesome to see Kroagnon shuffling about in Tabby's body!) Is it because they were already dead, and the Chief Caretaker wasn't? Or was Kroagnon just really annoyed with him and waiting to wipe him out of existence? Or was he really better in some respect than everyone else in Paradise Towers?

• Too bad they missed the opportunity to have both Mel and the Doctor in jeopardy at opposite ends of the Towers for the episode 3 cliffhanger! Instead, Mel has to wait for trouble to find her a few minutes into episode 4.

• When the Doctor pauses to catch his breath, he removes his hat to wipe the brim, and not a single Kroagnon-minted coin falls off his head, so I guess we can assume he's used them all up on Fizzade pigouts. (Are there any other vending machines in Paradise Towers, or is that all you can buy?)

• It's a bit odd that Mel is still flailing around in the pool when she seems to be able to stand up and is clearly within reach of the edge!

• I am always surprised that Mel doesn't get herself electrocuted when she shoots the pool monster. The way it's sparking, you'd think that it had some kind of electrical current running through it, so standing in the water as it sinks would seem very unwise. But maybe it was nuclear-powered, or ran on pool scum.

• Watch for Mel's Quik-Dry hair! One minute it's sopping wet, the next it's dry and fluffy with just a few damp bangs!

• Wonder how the (remaining three!) Rezzies found out everybody was meeting up at the pool? Were there flyers? Oh wait, I forgot, no flyposts.

• The moment when I really start to love the Deputy Chief Caretaker:

  Deputy Chief Caretaker: "Unless..."
  Kroagnon: "Unless?"
  Deputy Chief Caretaker: "Well, well, well, I think you may recall that there are certain cases specified when the rule book can be overridden. And, and, and that is when the Chief Caretaker..."
  Kroagnon: "Yes?"
  Deputy Chief Caretaker: "Just isn't the Chief Caretaker!"

• Awesome line!

  Fire Escape: "Rezzies are full of untruths! And Kangs!"

• I also love their insistence on this:

  Fire Escape "We work with Rezzies, no to-do. We work with Pex, no to-do. But the Caretakers..."
  Kangs: "Never ever!"

• The Rezzies' little crochet tableclothes are extremely silly and don't seem to slow the Cleaners down at all! But whatever makes them feel useful...

• Instead of blowing Kroagnon to smithereens, couldn't they have trapped him alive and delivered him into the hands of justice? Or would the hands of justice find it difficult to believe that Kroagnon was Kroagnon, and not the Chief Caretaker having some off-season Halloween fun?

• Interesting — Kroagnon is worried that "humanoid creatures" may have damaged his precious door. Does that mean that in his original body, he wasn't humanoid himself?

• I love the theme in this story that the residents all live separate lives and hate or mistrust one another to varying degrees, until the Doctor and Mel come in and manage to unite them all. The Red Kangs finally recognize how brave Mel and Pex both are, and it's so cute to watch everyone jumping in and contributing to the plan, with the Kangs and Rezzies literally hopping with excitement. By the end, everyone has pitched in and is working together and getting along, and thanks to Mel's encouragement, Pex finally gets to prove how brave he is. It's nice to see how much of a difference the two of them made to life in the Towers.

• Mel's "Poor Pex" is timed almost exactly with the Kangs' "Hail Pex".

• Awfully nice of the Kangs to make a double-sided scarf for the Doctor. So then he puts it on, and tells them how honored he will be to wear it... and promptly stuffs it away in the TARDIS cupboard and we never see it again. (Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions, and there's a Missing Adventure out there that will resolve the mystery of What Happened to the Kang Scarf.)

• Is it true, as I think I read Stephen Wyatt saying once, that the graffiti on the wall is meant to suggest that Pex really might still be alive? I find that hard to believe, since nobody but a Kang would have drawn it, and all the Kangs seem to think that Pex is very much dead. Unless Pex snuck out and drew it himself to give everyone a little clue?

It may not be everyone's favorite, but there's so much about this story to like. Mel's great rapport with the Rezzies is enough for me to overlook her bizarre behavior around the Kangs and Pex, and overall I have to say that this is just not a story that I ever get tired of watching. Definitely a favorite, for its charm and originality, and enough creepy icky undertones to give it an edge.