City of Death (novelisation)
City of Death by James Goss was a novelisation of the TV story of the same name written under the pen name David Agnew by Douglas Adams and David Fisher during a last minute rewrite of the script A Gamble With Time. It was the first novelisation since Shada.
Gareth Roberts, who wrote the Shada novelisation, was originally meant to write that of City of Death, but dropped out during writing.
Publisher's summary
Hardback
"You're tinkering with time. That's always a bad idea unless you know what you're doing."
The Doctor takes Romana for a holiday in Paris – a city which, like a fine wine, has a bouquet all its own. Especially if you visit during one of the vintage years. But the TARDIS takes them to 1979, a table-wine year, a year whose vintage is soured by cracks – not in their wine glasses but in the very fabric of time itself.
Soon the Time Lords are embroiled in an audacious alien scheme which encompasses home-made time machines, the theft of the Mona Lisa, the resurrection of the much-feared Jagaroth race, and the beginning (and quite possibly the end) of all life on Earth.
Aided by British private detective Duggan, whose speciality is thumping people, the Doctor and Romana must thwart the machinations of the suave, mysterious Count Scarlioni – all twelve of him – if the human race has any chance of survival.
But then, the Doctor’s holidays tend to turn out a bit like this.
Chapter Titles
- All Roads Lead to Paris
- Isn't it Nice?
- A Painting Like...
- Look to the Lady
- Mixed Doubles
- Paris in a Day
- Lies Beneath
- Unique Plurals
- Count Down
- Renaissance Man
- Follies
- Déjà Vu
- The Father of Invention
- Material Witness
- The Discrete Charm of the Bourgeoisise
- Goodbye, Not Au Revoir
- We'll Never Have Paris
- À la Recherche du Temps Perdu
- French without Tears in the Fabric of Space-Time
Characters
References
- It is mentioned that the Jagaroth came to earth tracking a Racnoss energy signal, in reference to the events of The Runaway Bride.
- Romana notes that she prefers Count Scarlioni as a villain over Davros.
- Romana lists a number of art galleries across the universe better than the Louvre, including the Braxiatel Collection.
- Romana began travelling with the Doctor at the age of 125, and has been travelling with him for somewhere between a few weeks and a few years.
- The Doctor looks at an Ernest Hemingway book.
Notes
- This is the second of Douglas Adams' Doctor Who stories to be released in book form, 14 years after Adams' death in 2001. None of Douglas Adams's three Doctor Who stories have previously appeared in book form for a variety of legal reasons.
- This is the first official novelisation of City of Death. It is also the first novelisation of a story broadcast on television since PROSE: The Novel of the Film.
- The title page includes the following info, in homage to the original Target novels:
- THE CHANGING FACE OF DOCTOR WHO This book portrays the fourth incarnation of Doctor Who, whose physical appearance later changed when he lost an argument with gravity.
- THE CHANGING FACE OF SCAROTH This book portrays the twelfth and final incarnation of Scaroth, last of the Jagaroth.
- This story was also released as an ebook available from the Amazon Kindle store.
Continuity
- The Doctor recently defeated the Black Guardian. (TV: The Armageddon Factor)
- Many previous companions left because they were no longer enjoying the experience of travelling with the Doctor; some got married, such as Jo and Leela, whilst one wandered off halfway through a battle with a supercomputer. (TV: The Green Death, The Invasion of Time, The War Machines)
- Romana regenerated for the fun of it, and suffered few ill-effects from it, before then defeating the Daleks. Various other explanations have previously been given. (AUDIO: Lies, PROSE: The Lying Old Witch in the Wardrobe, TV: Destiny of the Daleks)
- The Doctor compares Paris to the rooms of the TARDIS, where its rooms always seems to rearrange itself. (AUDIO: No Place Like Home, TV: The Doctor's Wife)
- Genghis Khan threw an army at the TARDIS to little success, and was won in a game of backgammon by his grandson. (TV: Marco Polo, Rose)
Deviations from the televised story
- An original scene features Romana and Duggan going on a night out together.
- The background of the art critics is expanded upon.
- Scarlioni does not know he is Scaroth until the scene where he removes his face.
- The character of Countess Scarlioni is greatly expanded upon, given a backstory and a first name, Heidi. She is also shown to have a closer relationship with the Count, with him regretting having to kill her greatly.
- K9 features briefly in the novel; he did not appear at all in the televised version.
- Duggan's backstory as to how he ended up in Paris is explored in great detail, with a scene depicting his last case before the events of the story being depicted.
- There are several other minor changes, for instance the length of time that Scaroth can travel back in time is changed, he can travel back for three minutes as opposed to the two he had in the televised version, and the words the Doctor writes on the Mona Lisa read 'These are Fakes' as opposed to 'This is a Fake'.
Audiobook
This novel was released complete and unabridged by BBC Audio and read by Lalla Ward.
The audio set of eight CDs was released 21 May 2015 priced £25 (UK)
