Doctor Who Is Classic!: City of Death

 We are just a month away from the new Doctor Who Christmas special so until we get to new Doctor Who, let's take a look back into the long ago past in what we call the classic era of the show in a recurring series of posts I call...

Doctor Who Is CLASSIC!

Today's post is about a highly regarded tale of the 4th Doctor that sends the TARDIS to Paris and pits the Doctor and his companion Romana against an enemy from outer space using time as a weapon.

Welcome to....  "City of Death"!   

The story is a credited to David Agnew, a pseudonym for David Fisher who pitched the original idea, producer Graham Williams and a major re-write by series story editor Douglas Adams.  

Yes, THAT Douglas Adams who gave us Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.   

As Adams told the tale, "Graham took me back to his place, locked me in his study and hosed me down with whisky and black coffee for a few days, and there was the script."

Adams' influence of twisty plots and humorous dialogue is keenly felt through out this story.  

"City of Death" actually goes on location to Paris, a rare thing for a TV show bound to the BBC TV studios and the occasional rock quarry.  Taking the show to Paris was an expensive enterprise so by God we're going to get shots of Paris in the show with lots of padding.

• Feel the excitement as the Doctor and Romana wait for the subway!
• Thrill to the adventure as the Doctor and Romana ride the subway! 
• Experience the anticipation as the Doctor and Romana walk the streets of Paris!
• Feel the rush and the risk of danger as the Doctor and Romana run across the streets of Paris!

If Tom Baker and Lalla Ward did anything while in costume while in Paris, it was caught on film and put it in the damn episode. The BBC put good money into this trip to Paris and God save the queen, the BBC was gonna see it on screen.  

Speaking of costumes, the show's costume designer wanted to put Romana in some kind of silver cat suit outfit but Lalla Ward opted for a school girl motif which she thought was a bit of innocent fun only to find out later that "grown women dressed as school girls" is a sex fetish thing. 

The Doctor and Romana stumble unto a plot by Count Scarlioni  to steal the Mona Lisa.   

This is no mere museum art heist caper. 

The theft is to finance experiments in time travel. 

And Scarloni is an alien called Scaroth who wants to use time travel to go back in time and stop the remainder of his race from being blowed up real good when they came to Earth over 400 million years ago. 

An explosion that began the existence of life on this planet. 

Yes, I can spot the time paradoxes in Scaroth's plan a mile away but just shut up and enjoy the story. It's a good one. 

The Doctor and Romana team up with Inspector Duggan, a veritable bull in a china shop time of police detective who is investigating a plot to steal the Mona Lisa.  The Doctor frequently has to admonish Duggan not to punch people or break things.   

A moment to talk about the Doctor/companion dynamic. It's a bit off the norm in that the companion is not some poor dumb uninformed human so the Doctot can provide needed exposition to. Romana is a Time Lord and while she lacks real world experience, she got better marks at the Academy on Gallifrey than the Doctor.  

And if you feel there is some more than just Doctor/companion chemistry going on between the Doctor and Romana, well, Tom Baker and Lalla Ward were dating. 

Sometimes. 

Sometimes not. 

It was an on again/off again thing.  

Scarloni was played by Julian Glover which was a pretty big get for Doctor Who. Glover was a classically trained actor, a recipient of the Laurence Olivier Award and performed many times for the Royal Shakespeare Company. He has a long and varied filmography that includes roles in Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter and Game of Thrones.

And the museum patron regarding the TARDIS as a work of modern art is none other than John Cleese.  

While I really enjoy "City of Death", Doctor Who fandom was not so kindly disposed towards the story at the time, decrying an over reliance on humor and "buffoonery".  

Sometimes fandoms take themselves way too seriously.  

For me, "City of Death" is a great entry from the classic era of Doctor Who.  

Next month....

NO Doctor Who Is CLASSIC for December.

But there will be a Doctor Who Is NEW as we welcome this year's Christmas special, "Joy To the World".