City of Death goes French. For the first time in Doctor Who history, the show is filmed outside of the UK. It’s often been argued by some that it’s silly to film Doctor Who outside of the UK because it starts to get ridiculous. I don’t buy this and think that it’s always nice to film outside of the UK because it makes the story stand out and adds something different to the story. This story has the distinction of the highest ratings in Doctor Who history. Over 16 million tuned into this story due to a strike over on ITV. Set in Paris in 1979, the story spends a lot of the first episode with some lovely shots of Paris.
The story sees the Jagaroth scattered through time and the 1979 version trying to put together a machine that will enable him to prevent his original self from setting off in a ship which saw him splinter himself through time. There is a genius about how he gets the money to do this. His 1505 version gets Leonardo Da Vinci to paint several copies of the Mona Lisa and then his 1979 self sells them for around $100 million. It’s quite a clever idea and holds up over four episodes. That’s the thing that I like about this story, it’s quite a simple tale which manages to keep the drama and the entertainment going throughout the whole 100 minutes.
The two main stars perform well. Tom Baker runs about with the gusto that you would expect from him and as his sixth season gets going, he seems to be at this time starting to believe that he can exert his power on the producers and this is perhaps why the comedy starts to seep into his performance and the script. In her second story as a companion I think that Lalla Ward is very good and is given some good dialogue and spends most of her time with Tom Chadbon. Together the two actors perform well and whilst they are travelling through Paris in their unusual costumes, they come across as friends and the impression that they give is one of friends on holiday and that’s always good.
Julian Glover is fantastic in this story and really shines every time he is on screen. Both his 1979 and 1505 versions were very good. Glover had previously appeared in the 1965 William Hartnell adventure ‘The Crusade’ but in this he given some good dialogue and has the fashion to pull off the character who could quite easily be a Bond villain. Tom Chadbon is another fine supporting artist who starts off as a guy who will punch absolutely everyone without asking questions. By the end of the story he becomes something different and is a nicely written and acted character. There is a lovely cameo from John Cleese in Episode 4 who is playing some sort of art critic. It’s brief but it’s still a lot of fun.
The story isn’t perfect. The thing in Doctor Who about wobbly sets does show for one of only a few times. It occurs when Duggan tries to break the wall down and it clearly wobbles. The cliffhanger for episode is slightly let down by the fact that the mask nearly comes off the actors face. It’s also hard to believe that that big alien face would be able to fit underneath the human face of Julian Glover. I also wasn’t impressed with Catherine Schell as the Countess. I thought that her character wasn’t totally original because she is a character who helps the Count and doesn’t really understand what he’s really like. I don’t think it was Schell’s fault but the character could have been better written.
It’s at this time when the comedic side of the Doctor started to take over and it also coincides with Douglas Adams becoming Script Editor. To be honest about, the comedy is obvious but it doesn’t ruin my enjoyment of the story. Future stories would be this subtle. City of Death is an enjoyable story that mixes impressive location filming with good set designs. It’s arguably one of the best stories of the seventeenth series. None of the stories that would follow had any of the charm and entertainment of this story.
The story sees the Jagaroth scattered through time and the 1979 version trying to put together a machine that will enable him to prevent his original self from setting off in a ship which saw him splinter himself through time. There is a genius about how he gets the money to do this. His 1505 version gets Leonardo Da Vinci to paint several copies of the Mona Lisa and then his 1979 self sells them for around $100 million. It’s quite a clever idea and holds up over four episodes. That’s the thing that I like about this story, it’s quite a simple tale which manages to keep the drama and the entertainment going throughout the whole 100 minutes.
The two main stars perform well. Tom Baker runs about with the gusto that you would expect from him and as his sixth season gets going, he seems to be at this time starting to believe that he can exert his power on the producers and this is perhaps why the comedy starts to seep into his performance and the script. In her second story as a companion I think that Lalla Ward is very good and is given some good dialogue and spends most of her time with Tom Chadbon. Together the two actors perform well and whilst they are travelling through Paris in their unusual costumes, they come across as friends and the impression that they give is one of friends on holiday and that’s always good.
Julian Glover is fantastic in this story and really shines every time he is on screen. Both his 1979 and 1505 versions were very good. Glover had previously appeared in the 1965 William Hartnell adventure ‘The Crusade’ but in this he given some good dialogue and has the fashion to pull off the character who could quite easily be a Bond villain. Tom Chadbon is another fine supporting artist who starts off as a guy who will punch absolutely everyone without asking questions. By the end of the story he becomes something different and is a nicely written and acted character. There is a lovely cameo from John Cleese in Episode 4 who is playing some sort of art critic. It’s brief but it’s still a lot of fun.
The story isn’t perfect. The thing in Doctor Who about wobbly sets does show for one of only a few times. It occurs when Duggan tries to break the wall down and it clearly wobbles. The cliffhanger for episode is slightly let down by the fact that the mask nearly comes off the actors face. It’s also hard to believe that that big alien face would be able to fit underneath the human face of Julian Glover. I also wasn’t impressed with Catherine Schell as the Countess. I thought that her character wasn’t totally original because she is a character who helps the Count and doesn’t really understand what he’s really like. I don’t think it was Schell’s fault but the character could have been better written.
It’s at this time when the comedic side of the Doctor started to take over and it also coincides with Douglas Adams becoming Script Editor. To be honest about, the comedy is obvious but it doesn’t ruin my enjoyment of the story. Future stories would be this subtle. City of Death is an enjoyable story that mixes impressive location filming with good set designs. It’s arguably one of the best stories of the seventeenth series. None of the stories that would follow had any of the charm and entertainment of this story.
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