City Of Death: Doctor Who: Season 17

Goldby

Grob

Long

City Of Death REVIEWS



Goldby

We know where the money went this season. Graham Williams decided to do for the next producer what Hinchcliffe did to him, blow the budget but with a trip to Paris! Am sure the French were impressed with the story title description of their city too. Yeah City Of Death is not bad but instant classic status is maybe not a deserving badge.

The location filming is well used, the regulars sparkle and bounce perfectly off each other (apparently behind the scenes too) with Douglas Adams' witty and thoughtful script. Ok the actual plot of it is weird and totally outlandish but the dialogue and performances make it more than watchable. Tom is really turning the Doctor into an intergalactic comedian now who treats any threat with childish disdain, which is unfortunate as it really dulls the dramatic impact. But he's got some great lines "I say what a wonderful butler he's so violent" & his banter with the Count and Countess Scarioni is perfect.

As for the Count / Scaroth Julian Glover makes him a classic villain not only because he can match banter with the regulars but his way of switching from silky smoothness and charm to arrogant, sneering and menacing in an instant. And it is curious how he manages to squeeze his bulbous jaggeroth head into the human mask without making fart noises. Scared the willies actually seeing him rip his face off as a kid to show his true alien self. Also Tom Chadbon is perfect as the moronic Duggan, you do really wonder how the Doctor and Romana tolerate such a idiotic detective for so long but he does become more sympathetic.

The bits in renaissance Italy sort of detracted from the story, really only necessary to show Scarlioni travelled in time and all the stuff with the paintings and trying to perfect an experiment to turn back time to stop himself pushing the button was interesting but felt slightly contrived and the bad ancient earth design that's clearly a set detracted from the climax. Although one thing that ties these episodes together well is probably Dudley Simpson's music which perfectly blends the Parisan elements into the story, possible his best Who score and the music now fair plays around my head. Shit! That last sentence sounded too pretentious, almost like the City Of Death in some parts so will sign off with a 7.8/10



Grob

THE CITY OF DEATH This is the one that usually sits around the top of the Dr Who fan poles. Paris location, Douglas Adams witty script, Tom and Lalla in love, big concepts, John Cleese cameo; yeah all that stuff. Its also out on DVD. And I don't own it. Why? Look, City Of Death is okay. Douglas Adams writes a stonking good script with a lot of his famous comedy bits and the cast do go to town on it. There are ideas as big as his Pirate Planet ones in here too. However, it just leaves me cold. I think it looks like the series is showing off a bit. The whole "Look at us! We're in Paris!!" and "We're filming at the Eifel Tower!" and "We got John Cleese here too!" just seems like the series is a bit self-aware of itself. Maybe its stemming from the lead actor cos Tom is very good here, but its 50% Doctor and 50% Tom Baker. Having said that, all his scenes with Lalla really do shine and its (apparently) the story where they both fell in love. Ahh, Paris. Scaroth is an okay monster although you gotta wonder at how he gets his head inside his Julian Glover mask. Julian Glover is very good, mixing smoothness with underlying menace. Tom Chadbon is also good as Duggan making the most of the comedy aspects of the part. There are some really good comedy lines here, my favourite being (Google, please!) Duggan: "You can't make an omlet without breaking a few eggs!" Romana: "If you made an omlet I'd expect to find a pile of broken crockery, a cooker in flames and an unconcious chef!" So yeah, its all there, I just think its being a tad smart-arsy. Maybe I'll try watching City Of Death again actually and then see how I feel. 7/10



Long

Oops - I forgot I was supposed to be catching up on these today.

I sometimes wonder if City Of Death is considered a classic because of it's enormous rating... which was overstated as ITV were on strike for the bulk of this story's screening.

That said, each time I watch this I do enjoy it a lot.

There's a fair bit of "look it's Paris" in the first episode, and, well, it doesn't really add to the story... although I guess it brings us closer to The Mona Lisa, so it's all good.

Last time I saw City Of Death I thought it would probably make a good play... not so sure now... I must have forgotten about the whole machine timifies things... yeah, that'd be easy to do!

It does have a lot of good dialogue though, and that's what really makes it stand out from the rest of this season. Tom and Lalla are really working well here (and in that school uniform, why wouldn't you click!), and the support cast of baddies are excellent... right down to Neil Barnett as Herman. Although their token scientist does seem to be channelling Manuel from Fawlty Towers. Duggan I'm never quite sure about. There are times when you think that he could make an excellent sidekick... but then there are times when he's just awful. He's certainly purely comic relief, so he's probably best off just being in the one... who the hell was working for when he was looking at the Mona Lisa anyway?! I do love the bit just after they've escaped from the cellar and Tom has explained to us what the machine is, and then says "See what Romana's up to - looks interesting doesn't it"!

Pace and story wise City Of Death all holds up pretty well. The almost meeting with Da Vinci works well - as does Scaroth's interference with Da Vinci to get him to paint 6 more Mona Lisas. I guess while the Jaggeroth are hardly recognised as a classic Who monster (which makes it hard to think how this becomes an instant 10/10 for some), it's the inclusion of the Mona Lisa that gives it it's iconic feel?

The time changing machine thing all works well, and is both a nice plot mover and nice looking sciency thing. The time loops it creates in episode 1 are a much needed bolt to the story, as they come at a time when you're thinking that this is just going to be a postcard.

All up, the story could be a bit far-fetched... have we had the origins of the big bang theory before? Or since? Could be dangerous playing with such a massive thing, so hopefully if it does get used in the future, they know to reference this one! Pity it does look a little like Time Flight in the end, but I guess they'd used all the budget by then and couldn't even afford a quarry!

It will always be an enjoyable one though.

8.6/10

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