What a story! The Doctor and Romana skipping across Paris hand-in-hand, a wonderful soundtrack and a suitably frightening reveal at the end. Really enjoying your reactions to this story, looking forward to seeing what you make of the rest of it.
3:31 Lalla Ward suggested the costume, as she thought it would be inspirational to female fans still at school. No doubt it was, but Lalla overlooked the possibility that it might inspire some of the males as well ;) Ward herself dropped out of school in her early teens, as she hated it; being the Independent and intelligent person that she is, she was self-taught from that point onwards.
And Julian Glover pulling his face off is my second memory of watching DrWho. This was filmed in France after future series producer - but then unit manager John Nathan Turner worked out that location filming in France really wasn't much more expensive than location filming in the UK - if they left K9 behind. Oh, and it was co-written by Douglas Adams (David Agnew was a pseudonym)
That cliffhanger is my earliest certain memory of Doctor Who, I'd have been five years old. I do have earlier mangled memories of the Daleks fighting the Cybermen (probably really the Movellans) and a Cyberman getting it's hand chopped off in a door (maybe a Voc really but I'd have not quite been three back then, so dubious).
Moffat referenced this episode in "The Time of Angels" when he had the 11th Doctor flip through a book and say, "Not bad. A bit boring in the middle," just like Baker does here.
@@Rocket1377 And quite a lot of stage work. Possibly my favourite Henry IV. for which he got an Olivier Award. His second wife, Isla Blair, appears briefly uncredited as his wife in Last Crusade and their son Jamie was in an Adventure in Time and Space as William Russell.
2:33 Dudley Simpson's music here is loosely based on Gershwin's _An American in Paris._ Simpson sometimes put "classical" references in his Doctor Who scores, and was himself an accomplished musician, having been a principal conductor at the Australian Ballet and Covent Garden.
Personally I've never understood why it's so highly rated - It's easily one of the worst stories of Tom Baker's era. Feels more like The Avengers {John Steed not Tony Stark} than Doctor Who!
It’s good, unique and Adams-ish, but I think it does look a bit better than it is due to it sitting in a really poor season It stands out like a sore thunb
My favourite classic story. This and Destiny of the Daleks are the earliest stories I can remember clearly. At the time I was just about old enough that I could actually comprehend a plot with more complex elements like this one.
Some Sci-fi lovers may recall Catherine Schell as Maya the shape changing lady from Space 1999 as well as various other parts on TV and film such as On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
My chief memory is of my dad, sitting on the floor a few feet from the TV, diving to change the channel when he saw my expression at the cliffhanger! And it's one of those endings that has been repeated endlessly in clip compilations through the years, so now I'm fully acclimatized.
A real classic, and a fan favorite. I really enjoy "City of Death". First foreign shooting for the show. That Douglas adams wit in the script. Some great Tom Baker humor. And a high profile returning actor in Julian Glover. The actor playing Professor Kerensky (David Graham) was last seen as Charlie the Bar-man back in Hartnell's "The Gunfighters" (He was also one of the original 1960's voices of the Daleks too!) and Catherine Schell (The Countess) was in a lot of things in the 70's including Space 1999.
That is indeed Julian Glover as the Count and he was previously in The Crusades as King Richard. You're also correct in that this is the first story ever filmed outside of the UK. This story got the highest ratings of any in Classic Who, hitting 16 million .
And a cast that has Catherine Schell (On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Space 1999) and Julian Glover (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Game of Thrones [and Richard III from the Crusades])
How can you mention Catherine Schell but not David Graham, Charles the Barman from the Gunfighters, voiced some of the 60s Daleks and the Mechonoids and had roles in almost every Gerry Anderson series.
Yes, it was Lala Ward's idea. She wanted school girls to imagine themselves going on a Doctor Who adventure, and to enjoy wearing their school uniforms.
4:42 Interesting little bit here: Because of the nature of Doctor Who Expanded Universe stuff, as in, they take seemingly minor lines from stories and turn them into a big thing, one of the places Romana mentions, “the Braxiatel Collection” is actually kind of important, particularly to the Gallifrey Big Finish Audio Series. Basically, The Doctor should have answered “Oh, you mean that collection of artwork that my brother, Braxiatel, illegally keeps on Gallifrey and that’s staffed by all his various incarnations. Yeah, it’s pretty good.”
City of Death,or How to Look Suspicious In Paris, is great fun and a very quotable story. There’s a YT video called City Of Death Orchestral, which features still pictures of Tom Baker and Lalla Ward on location accompanied by some of the incidental music. 8:14: It’s Savoy Cabbage Man!!
2:39 I'm pretty sure that the main City of Death theme ("duh da-da-da daah daah, da-da-da daah daah") is based on the second movement of Gershwin's Piano Concerto [see also my post about the _American in Paris_ echoes at 2:33]. I should have twigged sooner, as there's a classic 1971 EMI album of the Piano Concerto coupled with _An American in Paris,_ played by André Previn and the London Symphony Orchestra. I bet Dudley Simpson owned a copy :)
This story, Genesis of the Daleks and a story that you've not seen yet* are in a three way battle for the accolade of greatest classic Who story in the opinion of most fans. City of Death does though possess the title of Best Ever TV Ratings in the history of Dr Who. The episode averaged 14.5 million viewers with episode 4 hitting 16.1 million. ITV was hit by strikes at the time , which obviously helped. IMO City of Death is a masterpiece, virtually flawless. *Edit - actually MC you have seen it of course! Won't say too much in case others don't know, but it's the one with Jaraz Jek.
@@grfgtbhh34 possibly yes,but it does have its critics, mostly regarding the stripping away the mystique of Gallifrey. IMO it's great, in top five certainly.
One damn fool review inspired the anti-Deadly Assassin nonsense. Apart from its realism, decrepit Master, political machinations etc it also predicted virtual reality and deserves top marks for that alone
Wikipedia got that wrong. Tintin and Duggan look nothing alike nor act the same way. I think it is the captain character in TinTin that you and wikipedia mean.
One obvious influence on this story is 'Return of the Pink Panther' (which becomes even more obvious if you watch one after the other), with David Graham's Kerensky possibly alluding to Graham Stark's hapless (and outrageously-accented) Pepe.
I remember this from October 1979 ITV strike so we had nothing else to watch and I absolutely fell in love with Dudley Simpson's score, I told him that personally wen I met him in Manchester Panopticon Convention September 2002.
You know Julian Glover...you should also know David Graham(Prof.Kerensky),he has voiced the Daleks in the past and played Charlie the barman in The Gunfighters.
Hey there fantastic reaction I reviewed this story myself :) it was fantastic, the best of Season 17 and one of Tom's all time greats. You seem fun yourself I have subscribed love your reaction.
I like the way this episode goes from Middleborough/Newcastle (for the alien), to Paris for the Doctor. It hadn't occured to me that tap water would give Duggan the shits - that explains a lot...
Genuine French Location! Dudley Simpson's theme here is one of his best known. He was enormously busy at the time, not least on providing title themes for two other big hitters of the period, 'Blakes 7' and 'Sapphire & Steel'. But that workload was soon to be substantially lightened...
Love this story, but anything Douglas Adams wrote is awesome in my world. Oh and you know Scaroth from Star Wars, hes' General Veers from Empire Strikes Back.
City of Death or City of Love? It's a kind of play on words (at least in French). Strong memory of this one, like many of your commentators here. The fact it was pretty much knocked up over a weekend, with Adams being doused in coffee from time to time, is even more remarkable.
I just love newbies watching Classic Who, City of Death is one of the best of all time. Yes they did go to Paris and I have watched this hundreds of times. I even saw it first time around in 1979 , yes I'm old. You look like you're having loads of fun with these. Continue but avoid Timelash, Time Flight and Four to Doomsday
And Who is back on form. A great episode to kickoff one of the all-time great stories. Julian Glover is superb in this (and nowhere near as hammy as his OTT Richard I in The Crusade), Duggan is a great foil, Paris is a stunning backdrop, a brilliant Douglas Adams script, and Tom and Lalla are totally loved-up... What’s not to like?
I love this story. I LOVED your Reactions to it. Classic Who went to a couple of Countries. Now I will have to give you a Spoiler...This is another Story I am not in. Blast!!
A fav episde. *Julian Glover,* from many genre roles we know and love. Also _Space: 1999's_ *Catherine Schell.* _'nuff said,_ for now.🤫 I just came across this from 1999. It's not one of the _Red Nose Day_ specials that many fans know of, but rather 3 comedy sketches from 1999's *Doctor Who Night.* The sketches star *Mark Gatiss, David Walliams,* and even *Peter Davison.* The episodes are _The Pitch of Fear, The Web of Caves_ and _The Kidnapping._ I thought you might really get a kick out of them, in the event you haven't seen them already.😊 ua-cam.com/video/nMI8SxMv2y8/v-deo.html
Why is this mediocre episode suddenly everywhere? It’s not even a good Tom Baker episode, yet it seems to have been elevated to the status of classic is it to Paris locations?
What a story! The Doctor and Romana skipping across Paris hand-in-hand, a wonderful soundtrack and a suitably frightening reveal at the end. Really enjoying your reactions to this story, looking forward to seeing what you make of the rest of it.
3:31 Lalla Ward suggested the costume, as she thought it would be inspirational to female fans still at school. No doubt it was, but Lalla overlooked the possibility that it might inspire some of the males as well ;) Ward herself dropped out of school in her early teens, as she hated it; being the Independent and intelligent person that she is, she was self-taught from that point onwards.
And Julian Glover pulling his face off is my second memory of watching DrWho. This was filmed in France after future series producer - but then unit manager John Nathan Turner worked out that location filming in France really wasn't much more expensive than location filming in the UK - if they left K9 behind.
Oh, and it was co-written by Douglas Adams (David Agnew was a pseudonym)
Another reason why JNT is very unsung.
That cliffhanger is my earliest certain memory of Doctor Who, I'd have been five years old. I do have earlier mangled memories of the Daleks fighting the Cybermen (probably really the Movellans) and a Cyberman getting it's hand chopped off in a door (maybe a Voc really but I'd have not quite been three back then, so dubious).
Also did you know that he was in Empire Strikes Back? Julian Glover is General Veers.
Moffat referenced this episode in "The Time of Angels" when he had the 11th Doctor flip through a book and say, "Not bad. A bit boring in the middle," just like Baker does here.
Yes, it's Julian Glover from The Crusade. He was also in For Your Eyes Only and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Guy gets around! ;)
He also appeared in The Empire Strikes Back as General Veers, and more recently in Game of Thrones as Maester Paecelle.
@@Rocket1377 And quite a lot of stage work. Possibly my favourite Henry IV. for which he got an Olivier Award. His second wife, Isla Blair, appears briefly uncredited as his wife in Last Crusade and their son Jamie was in an Adventure in Time and Space as William Russell.
It's hard to believe this is from over 40 years ago and still looks good today.
2:33 Dudley Simpson's music here is loosely based on Gershwin's _An American in Paris._ Simpson sometimes put "classical" references in his Doctor Who scores, and was himself an accomplished musician, having been a principal conductor at the Australian Ballet and Covent Garden.
City of Death was always one of the highest rated stories of classic Who.
And it is NOTHING like you have ever seen before.
And Paris...
Personally I've never understood why it's so highly rated - It's easily one of the worst stories of Tom Baker's era.
Feels more like The Avengers {John Steed not Tony Stark} than Doctor Who!
@@franohmsford7548 Doesn't really show Paris at its best either. It was a public holiday so everything was shut!
@@frankshailes3205 Paris at its best? Is there such a reality? Paris is The most overrated City in the World!
It’s good, unique and Adams-ish, but I think it does look a bit better than it is due to it sitting in a really poor season It stands out like a sore thunb
My favourite classic story. This and Destiny of the Daleks are the earliest stories I can remember clearly. At the time I was just about old enough that I could actually comprehend a plot with more complex elements like this one.
One of only four Classic Who stories filmed outside the UK. And it's a great story as well.
Tom Chadbon who plays Duggan is another actor who has appeared in sci fi shows popping up in Blake's 7 and Gerry Anderson show Space Precinct.
One of the leading contenders for the coveted title of "Ian's favourite Dr Who story" :)
ThisIanToo. ;)
Still the highest rated Who story of all time. Even the height of Time Tot Ten's reign barely scored half the domestic viewers.
Some Sci-fi lovers may recall Catherine Schell as Maya the shape changing lady from Space 1999 as well as various other parts on TV and film such as On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
2.54 The scientist is played by David Graham, famous for being the voices of Parker & Brains in the original Thunderbirds.
Jagaroth the Savoy Cabbage
1st genuine foreign location shooting in show's history of 🎩
This is one of my favourite classic Doctor Who episodes.
My chief memory is of my dad, sitting on the floor a few feet from the TV, diving to change the channel when he saw my expression at the cliffhanger! And it's one of those endings that has been repeated endlessly in clip compilations through the years, so now I'm fully acclimatized.
The Count (Julian Glover) the guy you said you seen before, he was in Star Wars Ep 5, at the battle of Hoth and in Indiana Jones and the last crusade
He also is indeed Paecell (GoT) & Richard the Lionheart in "The Crusade"!
A real classic, and a fan favorite. I really enjoy "City of Death". First foreign shooting for the show. That Douglas adams wit in the script. Some great Tom Baker humor. And a high profile returning actor in Julian Glover. The actor playing Professor Kerensky (David Graham) was last seen as Charlie the Bar-man back in Hartnell's "The Gunfighters" (He was also one of the original 1960's voices of the Daleks too!) and Catherine Schell (The Countess) was in a lot of things in the 70's including Space 1999.
City of Death is my earliest clear Doctor Who memory. There's one image (we haven't got to it yet) that stayed with me for years.
That is indeed Julian Glover as the Count and he was previously in The Crusades as King Richard. You're also correct in that this is the first story ever filmed outside of the UK. This story got the highest ratings of any in Classic Who, hitting 16 million .
As I said on part four of Destiny, this was my first Doctor Who story and I completely fell in love with the show, been a fan for almost 40 years now
And a cast that has Catherine Schell (On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Space 1999) and Julian Glover (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Game of Thrones [and Richard III from the Crusades])
Actually, it was Richard I. You're probably thinking of the third crusade.
Yep I believe it was Richard I. 😊
@@medusacascade Indeed, he played Richard I "The Lionheart".
How can you mention Catherine Schell but not David Graham, Charles the Barman from the Gunfighters, voiced some of the 60s Daleks and the Mechonoids and had roles in almost every Gerry Anderson series.
Catherine Schell (Countess Scarlioni) is best know to sci fi fans for playing Maya in season 2 of Space:1999.
I really enjoy this story and fantastic that they film in Paris. Romana dress in a school uniform is very interesting costume
Yes, it was Lala Ward's idea. She wanted school girls to imagine themselves going on a Doctor Who adventure, and to enjoy wearing their school uniforms.
3:59 that bit is used again in ‘the next doctor’ with all the info on the doctor in the info stamp
4:42 Interesting little bit here: Because of the nature of Doctor Who Expanded Universe stuff, as in, they take seemingly minor lines from stories and turn them into a big thing, one of the places Romana mentions, “the Braxiatel Collection” is actually kind of important, particularly to the Gallifrey Big Finish Audio Series.
Basically, The Doctor should have answered “Oh, you mean that collection of artwork that my brother, Braxiatel, illegally keeps on Gallifrey and that’s staffed by all his various incarnations. Yeah, it’s pretty good.”
City of Death,or How to Look Suspicious In Paris, is great fun and a very quotable story. There’s a YT video called City Of Death Orchestral, which features still pictures of Tom Baker and Lalla Ward on location accompanied by some of the incidental music. 8:14: It’s Savoy Cabbage Man!!
Great reaction as always glad your enjoying it 😀
2:39 I'm pretty sure that the main City of Death theme ("duh da-da-da daah daah, da-da-da daah daah") is based on the second movement of Gershwin's Piano Concerto [see also my post about the _American in Paris_ echoes at 2:33]. I should have twigged sooner, as there's a classic 1971 EMI album of the Piano Concerto coupled with _An American in Paris,_ played by André Previn and the London Symphony Orchestra. I bet Dudley Simpson owned a copy :)
This story, Genesis of the Daleks and a story that you've not seen yet* are in a three way battle for the accolade of greatest classic Who story in the opinion of most fans. City of Death does though possess the title of Best Ever TV Ratings in the history of Dr Who. The episode averaged 14.5 million viewers with episode 4 hitting 16.1 million. ITV was hit by strikes at the time , which obviously helped. IMO City of Death is a masterpiece, virtually flawless.
*Edit - actually MC you have seen it of course! Won't say too much in case others don't know, but it's the one with Jaraz Jek.
Michael Levenson Deadly Assassin might also be in that race, no?
@@grfgtbhh34 possibly yes,but it does have its critics, mostly regarding the stripping away the mystique of Gallifrey. IMO it's great, in top five certainly.
One damn fool review inspired the anti-Deadly Assassin nonsense. Apart from its realism, decrepit Master, political machinations etc it also predicted virtual reality and deserves top marks for that alone
Probably the most number of rhetorical questions ever asked in under 10 minutes in the history of UA-cam.🤣
Duggan is loosely based on Herge's comic book character Tintin, they also wear very similar clothes.
Wikipedia got that wrong. Tintin and Duggan look nothing alike nor act the same way. I think it is the captain character in TinTin that you and wikipedia mean.
One obvious influence on this story is 'Return of the Pink Panther' (which becomes even more obvious if you watch one after the other), with David Graham's Kerensky possibly alluding to Graham Stark's hapless (and outrageously-accented) Pepe.
ahhh thats the lass from space 1999.
I remember this from October 1979 ITV strike so we had nothing else to watch and I absolutely fell in love with Dudley Simpson's score, I told him that personally wen I met him in Manchester Panopticon Convention September 2002.
You know Julian Glover...you should also know David Graham(Prof.Kerensky),he has voiced the Daleks in the past and played Charlie the barman in The Gunfighters.
Hey there fantastic reaction I reviewed this story myself :) it was fantastic, the best of Season 17 and one of Tom's all time greats. You seem fun yourself I have subscribed love your reaction.
The scene after The Doctor and Romana get off the train,you see a man with a case getting off,that is the director of this story!
This is one of my favorite classic Who eps 😄
I like the way this episode goes from Middleborough/Newcastle (for the alien), to Paris for the Doctor. It hadn't occured to me that tap water would give Duggan the shits - that explains a lot...
People from Boro often sound like aliens 😊
To reference the Doctor: Oh, look, Paris!
Genuine French Location! Dudley Simpson's theme here is one of his best known. He was enormously busy at the time, not least on providing title themes for two other big hitters of the period, 'Blakes 7' and 'Sapphire & Steel'. But that workload was soon to be substantially lightened...
Thought it was Cyril Ornadel who did Sapphire and Steel's series music (IMDB concurs). Are you thinking of The Tomorrow People?
That moment when the face mask is removed to show the alien freaked me out as a kid. It looks less frightning now. Yes they are on planet France.
U are so precious! Love ur Doctor Who vids. I’m on for the ride!
This one is probably the best from the season, and it is the first doctor who story filmed abroad
I've been so looking forward to you getting to this one!
Love this story, but anything Douglas Adams wrote is awesome in my world. Oh and you know Scaroth from Star Wars, hes' General Veers from Empire Strikes Back.
City of Death or City of Love? It's a kind of play on words (at least in French). Strong memory of this one, like many of your commentators here. The fact it was pretty much knocked up over a weekend, with Adams being doused in coffee from time to time, is even more remarkable.
Thanks! I'd never thought of that play on words before: Cité de l'amour... Cité de la mort. Makes sense :)
I just love newbies watching Classic Who, City of Death is one of the best of all time. Yes they did go to Paris and I have watched this hundreds of times. I even saw it first time around in 1979 , yes I'm old. You look like you're having loads of fun with these. Continue but avoid Timelash, Time Flight and Four to Doomsday
And Who is back on form. A great episode to kickoff one of the all-time great stories. Julian Glover is superb in this (and nowhere near as hammy as his OTT Richard I in The Crusade), Duggan is a great foil, Paris is a stunning backdrop, a brilliant Douglas Adams script, and Tom and Lalla are totally loved-up... What’s not to like?
Yaaaay! One of my favourite serials!😍
Haven't see This once since I was a child
I don’t think he’s credited as the primary writer, but I believe this story was heavily re-written by script editor Douglas Adams.
I love this story. I LOVED your Reactions to it. Classic Who went to a couple of Countries. Now I will have to give you a Spoiler...This is another Story I am not in. Blast!!
great story and full of humour enjoy the rest
Wedged on or hatpin?🎩🎩
Hatpin, I reckon.
A fav episde. *Julian Glover,* from many genre roles we know and love. Also _Space: 1999's_ *Catherine Schell.* _'nuff said,_ for now.🤫
I just came across this from 1999. It's not one of the _Red Nose Day_ specials that many fans know of, but rather 3 comedy sketches from 1999's *Doctor Who Night.* The sketches star *Mark Gatiss, David Walliams,* and even *Peter Davison.*
The episodes are _The Pitch of Fear, The Web of Caves_ and _The Kidnapping._
I thought you might really get a kick out of them, in the event you haven't seen them already.😊
ua-cam.com/video/nMI8SxMv2y8/v-deo.html
Why is this mediocre episode suddenly everywhere? It’s not even a good Tom Baker episode, yet it seems to have been elevated to the status of classic is it to Paris locations?
This video was uploaded 3 years ago.