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City of Death Format Reviewed: DVD Review The City of Death was written by Douglas Adams and Graham Williams from an original idea by David Fisher under the pen name David Agnew. Some of Adams scripts for Doctor Who seem to play for laughs more than trying to tell a story, but with Williams input there is more story than humour here. The story is also interesting that is was mostly filmed on location in Paris. Whether or not the French watched Doctor Who I do not know, but if so they must have been terribly suprised to see the Doctor and Romana wandering around the streets. The story is one of those that is relatively unique to Doctor Who, in that it takes place in different time zones. Scaroth, and alien, has scattered himself through time to try to find a way of rescuing himself from primeval Earth. Suffice it to say that he doesn't manage it, and the story goes that his intervention actually led to the chain reaction that started life on Earth. It is this sort of plot that makes Doctor Who unique amongst science fiction series, in that historical events, such as the beginning of life here, can be taken and given a Doctor Who twist due to the nature of the Time Lord and his travels. Working this into historical events really does give another twist to myth, legend and story, and really is what Doctor Who is all about. The regular cast here is Tom Baker and Lalla Ward as the Doctor and Romana. This pairing has been a good thing for the show, as intellectually for the characters they are on the same wavelength so you never get the impression that the Doctor is talking down to his companion. It also helps that there was real on and off screen chemistry between the two, and City of Death is a good example of when they work really well together. Particularly good here is Bakers interaction with Scaroth, especially in Da Vinci's time. Presumably due to the expense of the location shoot, the guest cast is rather sparce here. Julian Glover playing Scaroth, Catherine Schell playing Countess Scarlioni and Tom Chadbon playing Duggan are the highlights. Glovers portrayal is particularly good and as mentioned before, his intereaction with the Doctor really is great to watch. Duggan is a detective, and generally goes around being very aggressive. This counters the Doctors more cerebral approach well and gives the story some real variety. Used here is a fairly strange musical score. There is very feminine music used whenever Countess Scarlioni appears, and more aggressive music for Duggan etc. This is not neccessarily a bad thing, but it is somewhat strange to see this in a 1970's Doctor Who adventure. As you would expect with Douglas Adams co-writing the script, there is humour dotted about in the story. Here though, it is well used at appropriate times, not like in some other of Adams Who scripts. One other thing I was struck with whilst watching City of Death, was that the modern day scenes in the house are rather reminiscent of Pyramids of Mars. Pyramids is an excellent adventure, so for this comparison to be drawn it is a real compliment. The extras on the DVD are also very good, particularly those with Douglas Adams in. I was enthralled throughout the extras, and they really add to the production. One thing that is a shame though for me, was the inclusion of the scene at the end with John Cleese. Sure, the story was long since over by then, but I don't really like adding cameos like this in as it sets the show up for outside criticism. Finally, the only real let down in the actual adventure was that the prosthetics for Scaroth were not very good. At some points you can see the actors head through it, and the tearing off of face masks didn't work well, especially as a lasting effect given todays budgets. Overall, City of Death is a good story, that will keep the viewer hooked throughout. The cast put in good performances, the script is good, and you have the added bonus of some running about in Paris, if like me you enjoy that sort of thing. The prosthetics let it down a bit, but it is a great story that is well executed, and in line with what Doctor Who is all about. Rating:  |