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City of Death was the second story of Season 17. The first story to be filmed on location outside the UK, it was co-written by David Fisher, Douglas Adams and Graham Williams under the collective pseudonym of "David Agnew." It marked Julian Glover's second guest appearance on the series, and also featured a guest appearance by former Space:1999 star Catherine Schell and cameos by comedic actors John Cleese and Eleanor Bron.
Summary
While taking in the sights of Paris in 1979, the Doctor and Romana sense that someone is tampering with time. Who is the mysterious Count Scarlioni? Why does he seem to have counterparts scattered through time? And just how many copies of the Mona Lisa did Leonardo da Vinci paint?
Plot
File:St--5h02jagarothship.jpg The Jagaroth ship. |
The following plot summary was adapted from one written by Chris Mento for the Doctor Who Reference Guide.
Part One
This episode begins roughly four billion years ago on Earth (although the dialogue repeatedly states “400 million” incorrectly), where the Jagaroth race are attempting to take off in their spaceship. However, the pilot, Scaroth, tries to take off too soon, and the ship lifts off and then explodes, seemingly killing everyone on board...
Paris, 1979. The Fourth Doctor and Romana II are at the top of the Eiffel Tower, admiring the view. It is then that the Doctor decides to take his companion to lunch at a particularly fine Parisian restaurant, and they decide to take the elevator (after briefly contemplating flying). They take the Paris Metro and cross several streets, in order to get to a place which the Doctor claims does a wonderful bouillabaisse.
File:St--5h15scarlioni.jpg Count Scarlioni (Julian Glover). |
At a Paris chateau with gargoyle's face on one of its doors, a certain Professor Kerensky complains of lack of funds for the experiments he is conducting for his employer, a Count. The Count, named Carlos Scarlioni, gives him three million francs (almost as an afterthought) but the Professor insists that, while this is enough for now, he will certainly need more to keep the experiments going. His butler Hermann is told by the Count that the Gainsborough didn't fetch enough money. He tells Hermann that they may have to sell one of the rare Gutenberg Bibles as discreetly as possible. Kerensky prepares to start the next test.
File:St--5h18romanaclockface.jpg An artist’s sketch of Romana II’s face with her features replaced by a broken clock face. |
Once at the restaurant, the Doctor emphatically tells Romana to stay still - she is being sketched by an artist. When she turns to see - consequently ruining the artist's work - the artist scrunches up his work in frustration and leaves. Then, the same occurrences happen again the exact same way: the Doctor emphatically tells Romana to stay still - she is being sketched by an artist. When she turns to see - consequently ruining the artist's work - the artist scrunches up his work in frustration and leaves. The pair realise that time distortion is going on. When they examine the sketch, they see that instead of Romana's face, there is a clock face.... with the face having a crack in it, almost like a crack in time, which the Doctor takes as gravely important. Romana suggests that they sit outside, just in case.
Meanwhile back at the chateau, Scarlioni is impressed by the Professor's demonstration even though it was heavily flawed. The Count wants very fast progress now and seems obsessed with time. He wants the next test today but Kerensky doesn't understand the urgency. The Count calls it a matter of time.
Meanwhile, the Doctor tells Romana that the time distortions must be a result of them moving through time fields so often. He then shows her the picture, causing her to sniff that Gallifreyan computers catch a far better likeness. The Doctor cannot believe this attitude: he will show her the meaning of art, and take her to the Louvre, one of the galaxy's greatest art galleries. He must show her a unique painting in the universe: the Mona Lisa.
Romana is not very impressed, and calls it "quite good"; at which point the Doctor loudly declares that it one of the finest pieces of art in the universe (embarrassing Romana), who then asks pointedly why the Mona Lisa doesn't have any eyebrows. He initially disbelieves her, but realizes for the first time that the Mona Lisa doesn't. A school teacher is taking her students to the Mona Lisa and asks the Doctor if he can move along, other people would like to see the picture. Romana, having moved off for a few moments, returns and asks what she said. Before the Doctor can answer, there is another time slip back to the teacher approaching the Doctor. The Doctor stumbles into her, passes by others and then collapses onto a bench where a rich lady was reading. He hits her lap and falls to the floor. A man in a trenchcoat gets the crowd out of the way and gets the Doctor on to the bench. When the man, Duggan, asks if he is all right, the Doctor tells him he just dented his head on his gun, that's all. Romana tells Duggan that the Doctor is just taking one of his funny turns; the Doctor thinks the whole world took a funny turn. Romana gets him up and takes him out. The rich lady nods to a man in a hat to follow. Duggan has already left, to follow the Doctor and Romana.
Meanwhile, Scarlioni thinks the Professor's last experiment went superbly (despite an unfortunate side effect). He wants the Professor to continue and to vastly increase the time span, although Kerensky feels stretched to the limit. The Count wants the Professor to forego sleep and take a vitamin pill instead.
Along the sidewalks, Duggan follows Romana and the Doctor while they walk past art shops. He follows them past a river and more shops. When they sit at another cafe, Romana tells the Doctor they have been followed. The Doctor knew it: by that idiot with the gun. He tells Romana to look in her pocket. The woman the Doctor bumped into was wearing a bracelet which Romana asks if the Doctor stole it from her. He put it in Romana's pocket. It is a micromeson scanner which someone is using to monitor the alarms in the Louvre to steal it. It is a very pretty painting, the Doctor reminds her. Romana thinks the bracelet is too advanced a piece of technology for a level 5 civilization. He tells her the bracelet is not the product of an Earth civilization. She asks if he means an alien is trying to steal the painting. It is a very pretty painting, he repeats. He asks if she recalls the man who followed them, well, he is standing behind them with a gun at the Doctor's back. He makes them go into the cafe with their hands up. The Doctor asks for three glasses of water, preferably doubles.
The rich lady is Countess Scarlioni, the wife of the Count. She explains to him part of what happened. He asks her not to play games and she asks what else she has been doing all these years. He tells her following instructions. She goes on. Duggan was watching her. Scarlioni thinks Duggan is too stupid to cause them any harm. When she tells her husband about the stolen bracelet, he gets upset. She has already planned to get it back.
"What bracelet?" The Doctor asks of two men pointing guns at him, Romana, and Duggan. He puts the bracelet onto the point of one of the men's guns. Romana asks if he is alright. "Yes, just relaxing and enjoying Paris," the Doctor answers. Duggan believes the thugs were the Doctor's. The Doctor asks if Duggan is English and asks the Patron where his three glasses of water are. The patron brings them. The Doctor introduces himself. Duggan asks about Count Scarlioni's angle. Romana claims she's never been good at geometry. They ask Duggan who Scarlioni is. Everyone on Earth's heard of Count Scarlioni. The Doctor informs Duggan that thery have only just arrived on Earth, who accepts this but doesn't really think the Doctor is serious. He gives up and is about to leave until the Doctor mentions someone might want to steal the Mona Lisa.
The two thugs give the bracelet back to the Count, who dismisses them, then tells Hermann to kill the two thugs. Hermann tells him he will do that with pleasure. The Count tells his wife to tell Hermann to bring the three to the chateau.
At the café, Duggan has told Romana and the Doctor that masterpieces thought lost for centuries were turning up all over the place. He thinks they are extremely convincing fakes but they are "fakes" stand up to every scientific test. Two new thugs point guns at the trio and want them to follow them.
Back at the chateau, the Countess asks Hermann where her husband is. He does not know; but he the Professor is resting in his room (if that helps). The Countess goes to the downstairs door but it is locked; she calls his name. Her husband stands before a mirror and removes his human face, revealing his true form: a one-eyed, green creature like nothing on Earth...
Part Two
Two thugs shove the Doctor, Romana and Duggan into the chateau. Hermann takes them to the lounge, where the Countess is playing with a rare Chinese trick box. Hermann shoves the Doctor in at gunpoint. The Doctor falls but gets up, delighted by “such a wonderful butler: he's so violent.” On his knees, he introduces Romana and Duggan and himself to the Countess. The Doctor crawls to a Louis Quinze chair, asking the Countess if they have worn well, and dismissing Hermann. The Countess (possibly quite charmed) tells him she didn't invite him here for pleasantries. Regardless, he invites himself to a drink and sits Romana and Duggan, preparing drinks for them too. He tells her he is a thief, Romana his assistant and Duggan the detective who caught him. When the Countess tells him she was under the impression that Duggan was following her, the Doctor says she is “a beautiful woman, probably” and that Duggan was most likely after a dinner date. She (most definitely charmed) asks who sent him and he wonders who sent him what. The Countess lets him know that the more he tries to convince her that he is a fool she is more likely to think otherwise. Romana picks up the Chinese puzzle box and, although the Countess insists for her to put it down as she will never solve it, she opens it in seconds and takes out the bracelet. The Count enters and takes the bracelet from her, and curiously seems happy to meet these strangers; although he insists upon knowing why the Doctor took his wife's bracelet. The Doctor tells them he liked the bracelet but would have preferred to steal a painting, but all sorts of alarms would go off and disturb his concentration. Although the Countess ponders whether the Doctor is quite as stupid as he seems, the Count knows that no-one could be as stupid as he seems. The Count dismisses the interview, making the Doctor jump up and talk of lunch with Duggan and Romana, possibly at Maxim's. When Duggan picks up a chair in defence, the Doctor asks what is he thinks he is doing: it is, after all, a priceless Louis Quinze. Hermann is in a position to shoot Duggan so the Doctor bluffs that he cares more about the chair not being damaged, telling him to act civilized. The Count orders Hermann to show them the cellar they will be locked in. The Doctor realizes what this means: the Count is after the Mona Lisa.
As he enthusiastically leads the way into the cellar, the Doctor asks Hermann questions. He learns that the chateau was built about 400 or 500 years ago before Hermann refuses to say any more. The Doctor catches a glimpse of the equipment before Hermann locks them in a cellar closet and gives them a light which will last 2 or 3 hours; they have only one match. Duggan asks the Doctor what he is playing at - they could have escaped at least twice, but the Doctor tells him his plan: let them think they have them safe but then escape after finding out what they came for. He takes out the sonic screwdriver, but it is not working. Duggan takes it and hits it against the door. The Doctor grabs it back, informing him that the screwdriver was useful against the Daleks during a recent visit to Skaro (a reference lost on Duggan, but which refers to the events of Destiny of the Daleks. Duggan, quite justifiably, starts to think he is locked in a cellar with a pair of raving lunatics. The screwdriver starts to work, causing the Doctor to ask Duggan if he would like to stay on as his scientific advisor. Romana calculates the horizontal length of the stairs and figures there must be another area of the room that is not seen. The Doctor, impressed by Romana's mathematical skill, wants to look at the lab first; whilst Duggan just wants to thump something.
File:St--5h35kerenskytimefield.jpg A chicken is caught in an artificial time field. |
The Doctor and Romana examine the equipment, and the Doctor explains what is happening to Duggan (while Romana, unseen, takes tools and equipment to do something later). Just as Duggan notices Romana acting suspiciously, although he admits he does not care, Kerensky comes down the stairs; and Romana and Duggan hide. The Doctor, however, acts as though he has only just arrived and claims to be fascinated by the Professor's research, and Kerensky puts an egg in the middle of his desk, and activates the machinery. They watch the egg hatch and the chick inside grow to full size. It is at this delicate moment that the Doctor elects to inform the Professor that he has got it all wrong.
The Count shows his wife and Hermann, as well as two thugs, a special device that he claims is of his intellect - which is, of course, far superior than the Professor's - which he will use to steal the Mona Lisa. He will begin his own test immediately.
The Doctor warns the Professor that tinkering with time is dangerous unless one knows what he is doing. Kerensky replies that he is the world's foremost auhority on temporal physics; the Doctor replies that the world is too small a place to boast about in such a way. When Kerensky says that world famine can be solved by this, the Doctor observes that the chicken has become a skeleton and died. He explains that he has got the principle wrong - he has created a different space-time continuum, but it is incompatible with their own: he can stretch time back and forward, but cannot break into it. The Doctor reverses the polarity of the machinery and the chicken reforms and becomes an egg again. Kerensky is very impressed, but admits that does not ask too many questions. The Doctor says that he should ask questions: that is a scientist's job. At this moment, the Doctor sees Scaroth's face in the time field. At the same moment, Duggan knocks out the Professor. The Doctor doesn't realize this, and thinks he has fainted; until Duggan admits what he did. The Doctor sarcastically tells Duggan that his philosophy is that if it moves, hit it. He wanrs Duggan that he’ll take severe measures if Duggan knocks out one more person: “I’ll ask you not to.” Romana has found another room behind the wall in the place they were sealed up in. It was bricked up, and is due for an airing.
Meanwhile the Count has created a mock-up of part of the Louvre to demonstrate his plan. He uses a sonic knife to cut through the glass with ease, and then uses his device to disrupt the air around the laser beams so he can get at the picture. The Count gives the Countess her bracelet back, saying she must wear it always. When she asks how he did it, he smiles enigmatically that he came from a family of geniuses.
The Doctor chisels on the brick, telling Romana that the Professor thinks he's breeding chickens but that Scarlioni is using the equipment to distort time. Duggan tells them there are seven people in his address book that would be willing to pay for the Mona Lisa for their private collection. To get through the last bit, the Doctor will need some machinery. Duggan obliges by knocking into the wall. Entering, the trio find a cupboard with a Mona Lisa inside - one which the Doctor claims is the real one. He finds: five other "real" Mona Lisas. The Doctor recognises the pigment and the brushwork of Leonardo da Vinci. Duggan explains to the Doctor that if there was a Mona Lisa hanging in the Louvre, no one would buy the others: they would each have to think they were buying the stolen one. The Doctor, impressed, puts a hand on Duggan's shoulder and says he would not make a very good criminal. The Count appears behind them and tells him, "No, good criminals don't get caught." The Count has a gun and answers yes and no to the Doctor's questions. "I like concise answers," the Doctor smiles. The Count tells him he found Kerensky unconscious, "Can you throw any light on that?" Duggan can: he tosses a lantern at the Count's gun and punches him down. The Doctor wonders aloud why every person he has a conversation with ends up knocked out by Duggan. They then go upstairs and ask sneak back into the house,a s quietly as possible (in spite of several crashes caused by Duggan). After knocking out the Countess, who was attempting to ambush them by herself, the Doctor laments: a priceless Ming vase, seond dynasty, was destroyed in the process. He asks Romana to look after Duggan as he leaves to meet a middle-aged Italian in the Renaissance age.
He arrives at the Denise Rene Art Gallery, which is closed for the night, where the TARDIS is parked. He goes inside and says hello to K-9, and asks how he is. The TARDIS then dematerialises.
File:St--5h44thisisafake.jpg The Doctor writes “THIS IS A FAKE” on the canvases Leonardo da Vinci will use to paint six extra Mona Lisas. |
The TARDIS materialises in Florence, Italy in the year 1505. The Doctor takes a moment to enjoy the Renaissance sunshine. He calls for Leonardo after whistling with some birds. He tells Leo that everyone loved the Last Supper and most of his other paintings; he asks if Leonardo remembers the Mona Lisa, “that dreadful woman with no eyebrows who wouldn't sit still.” The idea for the helicopter took a longer time to catch on, however. A soldier points a long sabre at his face. Leonardo is engaged on important work for Captain Tancredi. The Doctor gasps, as if he knows the name. The guard asks the Doctor if he knows the name, which he of course does not. The guard makes the Doctor sit. Tancredi will want to question the Doctor; the Doctor coincidentally wants to question him, too. The door opens and in walks Tancredi.
The Doctor asks the Captain what he is doing here. Tancredi moves forward and his face is that of Scarlioni but with longer hair, and he replies, "I think that is exactly the question that I ought to be asking you, Doctor..."
Part Three
Romana and Duggan, having broken into the Louvre, find a guard on the floor and that the alarms on the outside have been disabled. Romana takes the opportunity to inform Duggan that he has a very cynical look to life; he inquires her how old she is, and she replies him 125. Duggan moves to the laser alarms, behind which the Mona Lisa should be; but, to their horror, it has disappeared. He accidentally triggers the alarm in the process and he and Romana are forced to flee. They break out of a window (literally, in Duggan's case), split up and agree to meet back at the cafe.
Meanwhile, the professor has found the secret room, the other copies of the painting, and the unconscious Count. As the Count stirs, he talks in his slumber - we see that this is the same conversation as he is conducting with the Doctor more then four centuries earlier.
Back in Renaissance Italy, Tancredi wants to know how the Doctor came to be in this time and country. The Doctor scrambles for an excuse, claiming he randomly "pops" out of time and space willy-nilly (but Tancredi's not fooled by this). Tancredi explains he is the last of the Jagaroth, and also their saviour. The Doctor has heard of the Jagaroth: they destroyed themselves in a war some 400 million years ago, and few escaped in a dilapidated spacecraft and found Earth in a primeval, lifeless stage of its development. The ship disintegrated upon takeoff and Scaroth tells of how he was fractured in time, splinters of his being were scattered across time and space, all identical, none complete. Scaroth then asks what the mysterious blue box is. The Doctor avoids the answer, acting as though he has never seen it before; he finds the (original) Mona Lisa and realises the Count's plan to produce more Mona Lisas. While Scaroth collects the instruments of torture, the guard is instructed to confiscate the Doctor's tongue if the Doctor talks. When the Doctor asks how he can talk if he has no tongue, Scaroth leaves, reminding him he can still write.
The Doctor tries to humour the guard, telling him Tancredi is mad, to no avail; the guard tells him that when you work for the Borgias, you believe anything. The Doctor uses a camera from his pocket to take a picture of the wary guard. The instant picture forms and the Doctor gets the guard to lean in close to see it. He hits the man under the chin and gently lowers him to a chair. On the back of the extra six paintings of the Mona Lisa, the Doctor writes, "THIS IS A FAKE" in felt tip pen and puts them face down. He also writes a quick note to Leonardo, "Dear Leo, sorry to have missed you. Hope you're well. Sorry about the mess on the panels, just paint over them, there's a good chap. see you earlier, love the Doctor." Just as he is about to leave, Tancredi returns with the thumbscrews. The Doctor sucks on his own thumb...
Kerensky manages to awaken the Count, telling him he is in Paris. The Count thinks it a dream. Kerensky asks who the Count is. He also mentions something about his face and asks who the Jagaroth are: the Count was mumbling about them. Scarlioni explains that the Jagaroth are the ones who need the experiments. Upon hearing Kerensky's thoughts that the Jagaroth need all the chickens, Scaroth laughs that such a giant intellect could live in such a small mind. The Count hears voices: his other selves. He tells Kerensky he is working for more than the human race and their feeding.
Romana painstakingly uses her sonic screwdriver to get into the closed cafe that night; Duggan just smashes a window and climbs in. Romana tells him he should go into business with a glassmaker - they would have a perfect symbiotic relationship. He breaks the top of a wine bottle to drink with her, and reminds tells her you can't cook an omelette without breaking eggs. She replies that she would expect to find “broken crockery, a cooker in flames, and an unconscious chef” if Duggan attempted to make an omelette. As they discuss the Count's plan, Duggan has an epiphany: How did the Count know where the bricked-up Mona Lisas were and how did he know where to get them? Even Romana is stumped here.
The Count shows Kerensky the end product of his labours: what he will make. The professor cannot believe his eyes: the plan will increase the very part of the project that Kerensky was trying to eliminate. It can work both ways. Kerensky thinks it is monstrous, what he is trying to do. He will never, ever do such a thing. Anyway, even the Count cannot afford such equipment. At that moment, Hermann comes with the Mona Lisa from the Louvre. The Count tells the professor to continue with the work or he will die.
The thumbscrews are on the Doctor's hand and the Doctor winces - the guard's hands are cold. He cannot stand being tortured by someone with cold hands, so he reveals that he is a Time Lord. Tancredi asks about the girl and the Doctor stalls for time. As the guard moves to the thumbscrews, the Doctor asks a question - how he communicates with his other selves across time.
File:St--5h46scarothfragments.jpg The fragments of Scaroth commune over time. |
Back in 1979, the Countess gleefully talks to her husband about their recent heist. When she proudly thinks of the money they will receive after their monumental theft of the Mona Lisa, the Count brags about the building of the Pyramids, mapping the heavens, inventing the wheel and fire, and bringing up a whole race from nothing to save his own: he just wants a single life and to spare the lives of his people. He hears a voice and he asks his bemused spouse to leave him. Once she has gone, he communicates briefly with his 1505 self but it proves immensely draining for both selves. Taking advantage of the distraction, the Doctor escapes and dashes into the TARDIS. The guard attempts to tell the Captain but he is dismissed by Tancredi. All the various splinters of Scaroth appear and converse; there seem to be 12 of him, including versions living in ancient Egypt, Neanderthal days, and classical Rome. The Doctor watches him on the TARDIS scanner as he proclaims that the centuries dividing him will be undone. The TARDIS dematerialises. It is now that Scarlioni realises the truth about the Doctor and his girl...
The Doctor returns to the same museum in Paris, 1979, but he did not like the sound of Tancredi's last words.
Back in the cafe, Romana elects to leave a note for the Doctor - she feels their time would be better spent finding the real Mona Lisa. Romana then wonders if Scarlioni has found a way to travel through time; although there is but one flaw in this theory: Kerensky's machine cannot function: as she tells a bewildered Duggan, you can have two adjacent time continuums running at different rates by all means, but without a field interface stabilizer you can't cross from one to the other. Romana suggests they get back to the chateau; even if nothing is gained, Duggan can at least hit something. They leave.
Outside of the Louvre, two guards tell him the news that the Mona Lisa has been stolen. The Doctor goes inside and sees that it has indeed vanished. He taps on the shoulder of an elderly school teacher, frightening her, and asks about the girl and the man who were here, who were trying to stop the painting from being stolen; the man having fair hair with a predisposition for hitting people (he makes a fist to demonstrate, petrifying her further). She advises him to tell the police. The Doctor informs her that when one has the human race to think about, there is no time for the police. He dashes outside - there is no time to lose!
The Doctor runs into the cafe and asks the bartender about the two people he was in with yesterday, reminding him that they were the people who kept being held up, attacked, breaking things... As the man turns to fetch a note, the Doctor confidently states that they wouldn't be mad enough to go back to the chateau. The bartender gives the Doctor Romana's note, which says that they have gone back to the chateau. The Doctor thanks the bartender and takes his leave.
File:St--5h50kerensky.jpg Fyodor Nikolai Kerensky (played by David Graham). |
Romana and Duggan, having been caught already, are led into in the lounge by Hermann (with a gun) to converse with the Count. As soon as the man got into the window, the alarm went off. Hermann called off the dogs since he thought the Count would want to talk to the pair. The Count tries to be civil towards them both. The Count tells Romana that the Doctor let it slip that she is an expert in temporal travel. (Duggan asks if anyone can get in on this conversation, or does one require a certificate. The Count instructs Hermann that should Duggan interrupt again, Hermann will kill him.) The Count wants Romana to take a look at the equipment herself; if she refuses, he will destroy Paris (even though he would rather not use uncouth threats). Upon seeing the equipment Romana, worried, tells Duggan that the Count can indeed destroy Paris by blasting the capital into an unstabilised time field. Duggan asks her if she believes in all this time travel nonsense, in reply she asks him whether he believes wood comes from trees - time travel is just something she was brought up with. Kerensky wants to know why all the talk of destruction - his work was surely not designed for malevolent reasons! The Count asks Kerensky go into the middle of the field cones; the field generator needs examination. Once the professor is in position, the Count turns on the machine. Romana and Duggan can only watch, helpless, as the Professor falls, and withers and ages, until nothing but a skeleton is left...
Part Four
The Count reveals that it is the unstable time field that has destroyed the professor, and the whole of Paris is next unless Romana complies and tells him how to stabilise the time field. Although Romana pretends not to care about the welfare of humans or Paris, Scarlioni sees through this and orders Hermann to kill Duggan to reveal her true intentions. When she agrees to help him, Scaroth reveals his plans to her and orders that Duggan be locked up. Romana shall build a field interphase stabilizer...
An armed man, having caught the Doctor asks in the chateau, asks a maid to get the Count for him. The Doctor takes a second to compare the thug to a little boy he knew who never said a word when he didn't need to - he goes on to say this was Shakespeare. They enter the study and the Countess opens a secret door in the wall, revealing a secret cabinet in which the original manuscript of Hamlet; it has been missing for centuries. The Doctor recognises the handwriting - it's his own: his friend William sprained his wrist writing sonnets (the Doctor tried to warn him...). The Doctor finds a mixed metaphor in the text which he warned Shakespeare about. The Countess thinks the Doctor must be totally mad; he replies that he’s only mad “north northwest,” a reference to a saying of Hamlet’s. He then explains about how her husband acquired the Hamlet: she doesn't know the Count as well as she thinks.
Hermann tells the Count the Doctor has arrived, but he has already guessed this to be the case. As the Doctor enters a debate with the (probably) beautiful woman about charm, discretion and blindness (specifically, the Countess's wilful blindness), he casually mentions the fact that a green, one-eyed chap is ransacking the treasures of the art world in order to save his pecies, the Jagoroth. At this moment Hermann arrives and takes the Time Lord down to meet his master, leaving the Countess to ponder on the thought. Suddenly she remembers something she has seen - in her hidden book cabinet, she takes out an ancient Egyptian scroll... only to find a one-eyed, green "god" exactly as the Doctor described!
Once in the lab, the Doctor asks Romana what she is building. It must be a Gallifreyan egg timer or some such - after all, he would be angry to find his assistant making a time machine. At this moment, Duggan asks politely if they could get him out of his cell. The Count demands the Doctor help him; of course the Time Lord refuses - after all, he is a trained professional. Romana insists all is fine - Scarlioni only wants to go back in time to reunite himself. He goes to say his final goodbyes to his wife, asking his butler to kill the trio any way he likes.
Upon entering the study, the Count finds his wife aiming a gun at him and demanding what on Earth she married. He smiles, informing her how easy it was to keep surprises from her - a fur coat here, a trinket there... It is now that Scaroth reveals his true visage, and thanks his wife for always wearing that bracelet he gave her. He activates it and it kills her instantly; he takes the opportunity to tell her it doesn't matter - soon, she will never had existed.
Romana is sorry she was helping the Jagaroth. The Count was trying to put the whole world into the time bubble... 400 million years. He only succeeded for a few seconds, those timeslips -- shifting the world back in time for a few seconds. With the device Romana made, he can stabilize the field and go back himself. Romana rigged the component she made so that it can only go back in time for two minutes. The Doctor reveals that his writing on the back of the Mona Lisas would show up under any X Ray: "THIS IS A FAKE". But if the Count goes back, everything, all life will cease. The Doctor blames Romana for giving him the missing component but Romana reveals her rigging. The Doctor tells her all he needs is one minute. If the Count is not splintered in time, all history will be changed. The two get an idea. They ask Duggan to knock over the door and Duggan does this.
The trio run out and face a gun holding Jagaroth... Scaroth in his real face. "Very pretty," the Doctor brushes his hair out of his face. The Count is aware of the limitations Romana has put in the device. But he will go back and prevent the ship from exploding and himself from being splintered. He goes back, "Bye, Doctor." As he vanishes in the time field, a blast destroys the time machine, rigged by the Count. That way the Doctor will not be able to read the settings on the dials. Duggan thinks it all over and wants a drink. The Doctor tells them they are going on a journey. Romana tells him 400 million years ago. Duggan thinking the pair mad, follows them out of the building.
The trio run across Paris streets near the Arch of Triumph. They keep going along the streets. The Doctor tries to hail a cab with Romana, "Is no one interested in history, hmmm?" The trio run through traffic stopped streets.
In the museum where the TARDIS is, a man and woman discuss the function of the sublime colours of the redundant TARDIS. It has an afunctionalism, divorced from its function as a piece of art. It has no call to be here but the art lies in the fact that it is here. Romana and Duggan follow the Doctor past these two, the Doctor tossing his scarf over his shoulder to almost hit the man and Romana. The trio go inside the TARDIS and it vanishes. The man and woman think it is absolutely exquisite. They don't seem to be commenting on the vanishing.
The Doctor is following the time trace made by the Jagaroth to 400 million years ago. The Doctor, upon getting out of the TARDIS on barren rock, tells Duggan that they are standing on what will be the bottom of the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Romana tells the Doctor that Duggan is out of his depth here. Using a telescope, the Doctor finds the Jagaroth ship--a vicious, callous, war like race whom the universe won't miss. Romana points out the thrust motors are disabled and the idiots will try to take off on warp drive. The Doctor finds the amniotic fluid from which all life on Earth will spring in the inert soup of a low slurry. Amino acids form and fuse to make cells which develop into animal and vegetable life, "You Duggan," the Doctor says. The explosion which caused Scarlioni to splinter into time also caused the birth of the entire human race. Scaroth is there and calls to his brothers to stop trying to take off. The Doctor tells him he has thrown the dice once, he doesn't get a second chance. Duggan punches Scaroth down. The most important punch in history, the Doctor smiles. Scaroth's time is up and he vanishes. Duggan points out the ship is about to take off. The trio rush back into the TARDIS and it vanishes. The Jagaroth ship takes off and explodes as it should. A mass of flame and radiation which ignites the slurry soup.
The alien monster appears... Scaroth... in the time field. Hermann sees it and before the monster can convince him that it is the Count, Hermann picks up throws something at the equipment and causes the time field machine to blow up. A fire erupts, the stairs fall, and the Count is blasted out of existence.
On the Eiffel Tower, Romana, the Doctor, and Duggan talk about the fire. The only Mona Lisa not damaged in the fire has "THIS IS A FAKE" in felt tip written on its pallet. The Doctor tells Duggan serves "them" right. If you have to X ray something to see if it is good art... they might as well have computer painting like they have at home. Duggan asks where they are from. The Doctor uses his hands to say, "I suppose the best way to find out where you've come from is to find out where you're going and work backwards." Duggan asks where he is going. "I don't know," he says. Romana tells him she doesn't know either. The pair walk off toward the lift and the Doctor is laughing. Duggan buys a postcard of the Mona Lisa. He looks down at the small figures of Romana and the Doctor below the Eiffel Tower. The pair stop and wave. "Bye bye Duggan." They are two small spots on the field below.
Cast
- The Doctor - Tom Baker
- Romana - Lalla Ward
- Scaroth / Count Scarlioni / Captain Tancredi - Julian Glover
- Countess Scarlioni - Catherine Schell
- Fyodor Nikolai Kerensky - David Graham
- Hermann - Kevin Flood
- Duggan - Tom Chadbon
- Soldier - Peter Halliday
- Art Lovers - Eleanor Bron, John Cleese
- Louvre Guide - Pamela Stirling
Crew
- Title Music - Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, arranged by Delia Derbyshire
Story Notes
- The story is set in Paris, and was the first Doctor Who serial to feature footage filmed on location in a foreign country.
- The title is possibly a play-on-words of Cité de l'amour (City of Love, as Paris is often known), and Cité de la morte (City of Death), the pronunciation of which is very similar.
- Working titles for this story included Curse of the Sephiroth and A Gamble with Time.
- The script is credited to "David Agnew", a department pseudonym used when members of the production team had to write the script rather than a contracted scriptwriter. In this case, the original scriptwriter for A Gamble with Time, David Fisher, was undergoing a divorce and was unable to complete the serial. As a result, Graham Williams and Douglas Adams rewrote it under the Agnew by-line.
- The story originally involved the Countess using Scarlioni's bracelet to rig the roulette wheels at casinos in Paris and Monte Carlo in order to fund her husband's time experiments. However, Graham Williams ordered that this subplot be removed, to avoid children getting any wrong ideas of gambling.
- "David Agnew" had written once before for the series, in The Invasion of Time, where the pseudonym was used to hide the identities of Graham Williams and then-script editor Anthony Read.
- Due to Adams's influence, the script has his distinctive brand of humour and dialogue. Adams reused part of the story's plot for Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (see also Shada).
- Adams appears in an uncredited cameo as a man having a drink in a bar.
- K9 does not appear in this story, but no explanation is given for its absence.
- Due to the ongoing ITV strike, all episodes of this serial, along with the previous Destiny of the Daleks, received very high ratings. This reached a peak with Episode 4, which got 16.1 million viewers, making it the highest rated Doctor Who episode ever. It is also very highly rated on fan polls, often cited as the best Doctor Who serial with which to introduce non-fans to the series.
- Features guest appearances by Julian Glover, Catherine Schell, and David Graham, and cameo appearances by Eleanor Bron and John Cleese. Bron and Cleese both attempted to have their performances credited to pseudonyms, but the Radio Times declined.
Continuity
- The Doctor's TARDIS is still equipped with a randomiser, which sets co-ordinates for materialization randomly. The device was installed in order to throw the Black Guardian off of the trail of Romana and the Doctor in case the being desired revenge over the Key to Time incident in The Armageddon Factor. The Doctor is, however, still able to steer the TARDIS as usual if he chooses, as is shown by his short trip to the year 1505 and back to 1979.
- Romana mentions a great art gallery of the galaxy named the Braxiatel Collection. The owner of this collection, a Time Lord named Irving Braxiatel, first appears in the spin-off novel "Theatre of War" by Justin Richards and thereafter in the Bernice Summerfield novels and audios, as well as the Gallifrey audio series.
- In "Notre Dame du Temps", the Seventh Doctor returns to Paris to pick up the picture of Romana that the artist discarded.
- As revealed in "Dust Breeding," the Doctor rescued one of the Mona Lisas for his own private collection
Target Novelisation
- This is one of five Doctor Who serials that were never novelised by Target Books as they were unable to come to an agreement with Douglas Adams that would have allowed him or another writer to adapt the script. A fan group in New Zealand did publish an unofficial novelisation of the story [1]. A significant portion of the plot was also used as the basis for Adams’ own novel, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency.
Video, DVD, and audio releases
| 1991 VHS release |
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Video
- The story was first released in the UK on VHS in July of 1991. An Australian release appeared in September of that same year. It was released in the US in May of 1994 with a slightly different cover (shown) than the original UK release. In 1998 it was released yet again in the US as part of the "Gateway Collection" with the cover now featuring a border billing it as "The Best of Tom Baker as Dr. Who." A final repackaged release appeared in the UK in May 2001 featuring a new cover design.
DVD
- This story was first released on DVD in the UK in November, 2005. The two disc set includes a restored version of the story, as well as the following special features:
- Commentary by Michael Hayes (Director), Julian Glover (Scaroth) and Tom Chadbon (Duggan)
- "Paris in the Springtime" — A 45-minute look at the making of this story, and in particular, the contribution of writer and script editor Douglas Adams.
- "Paris, W12" — A rare look inside the TV studio during the recording of City of Death via extracts from recently recovered black and white studio tapes, with optional information subtitles.
- "The Doctor Who Annual 1980" — This children's Annual published in 1979 is presented in its entirety (DVD-ROM only - PC/Mac).
- "Prehistoric Landscapes" — A montage of unused model effects shots.
- "Chicken Wrangler" — A montage of unused shots involving live chickens.
- "Eye on... Blatchford" — An all-new comedy sketch telling the story of Sardoth, the Second-to-Last of the Jagaroth!
- Photo Gallery