Doctor Who-City of Death (1979)

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General		Extras
Category	Science Fiction	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation Audio Commentary-Director And Cast Informational Subtitles Featurette-Making Of-Paris In The Springtime Featurette-Paris, W12 - With Optional Information Subtitles Gallery-Prehistoric Landscapes (Montage) Gallery-Chicken Wrangler (Montage) Gallery-Photo Featurette-Eye on...Blatchford DVD-ROM Extras-Dr Who Annual 1980
Rating
Year Of Production	1979
Running Time	99:57 (Case: 183)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Michael Hayes
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Tom Baker Lalla Ward Julian Glover Tom Chadbon David Graham Kevin Flood Catherine Schell John Cleese Eleanor Bron
Case	Amaray-Transparent-S/C-Dual
RPI	$34.95	Music	Dudley Simpson

    In the hallowed halls of Dr Who fandom, Tom Baker, the fourth incarnation of the eponymous Time Lord, reigns supreme. Taking over from Jon Pertwee in 1974 and popping Jelly Babies through all dimensions of time and space until his fateful universe-saving pact with the Master in Logopolis (1981), Tom Baker defined for all but the very few the "Golden Years" of Dr Who. "Most Popular Episode" lists usually lean heavily towards Baker in the upper ranks, often featuring perennial favourites such as Pyramids of Mars and Genesis of the Daleks in the top 10, reserving the number one spot for The Talons of Weng-Chiang. The honour of most viewers on debut, though, goes to Baker's 1979 serial, The City of Death: 16 million British viewers for Episode Four alone. Granted, BBC's only competition, ITV, was on strike at the time, so there was nothing else to watch but Dr Who. Even so, City of Death is Baker at his peak and a top quality production in almost every aspect.

    On a desolate and barren prehistoric earth, the last of the mighty race of the Jagaroth (rubbery masked Cyclopes with green, snake-like skin and gills) attempt to launch their ship from the planet's surface. Damaged secondary engines force the Jagaroth to launch using full warp thrust, resulting in a massive explosion . . . . Meanwhile, the Doctor and Romana (second incarnation Lalla Ward) arrive in Paris 1979 to sample the city's "bouquet", as it were. After catching the attention of intrepid British detective Duggan (Tom Chadbon - slow-witted and quick to the punch), the trio stumble onto a plot to steal the Mona Lisa from the Louvre. The caper is orchestrated by the wealthy Count Scarlioni (Julian Glover) as part of massive master plan involving time-travel and multiple da Vinci artworks. And when Scarlioni reveals himself as Scaroth, the last of the Jagaroth, the Doctor soon releases that the Count's plans could have destructive implications for the entire human race.

    Incorporating location shooting in Paris with the usual studio work, City of Death took a turn from the usual British settings and made the Doctor truly cosmopolitan. But beyond location shooting and stronger emphasis on film technique (see the famous "postcard shot"), the serial scored a huge bonus in scriptwriter Douglas Adams, creator of a modest radio, television, and book series called The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It is a simple fact of life that all self-respecting Dr Who fans are simultaneously Hitchhiker fans, and Adams brings a highly enjoyable touch of humour to the Doctor's sci-fi proceedings. (And before anyone gets too stressed about the absence of Adams in the opening titles, the script credit David Agnew is a pseudonym). Although Adams only wrote two scripts (City of Death and the unfinished Shada), his influence as script editor is obvious in many of the Baker serials, and a welcome balance to the serious plot lines.

    City of Death definitely deserves its place at the top of the Dr Who canon and I would be unsurprised, assuming an alteration of time, if it had achieved its high viewing figures even without the benefit of an ITV strike. An excellent script, great acting (comparatively speaking of course), no K-9, and clever integration of time-travelling paradoxes makes top quality entertainment, all topped off a with quick cameo from John Cleese! Excellent stuff. I've written elsewhere of my fondness for the Sylvester McCoy years (he's the only one I can recall very clearly besides Tom Baker), but the more I watch and recall of Tom Baker's stint, the more the other Doctors just pale in comparison. City of Death is highly recommended.

Video

    As usual with Dr Who releases, City of Death's video transfer is good, taking into account the limitations of the source material. The serial is presented at a ratio of 1.29:1 and is faithful to its original full frame aspect ratio.

    Exterior location footage was shot in Paris on film. Interior studio footage was shot on video. The contrast between the two is very obvious, but in all, only thirteen minutes or so of film has been incorporated. Film footage appears quite soft and a little limited in detail. Video footage is sharper, but not perfect by any means. Shadow detail is decent but can be murky. Low level noise is plentiful, more so in video segments. Film colour is natural, but perhaps a little flat. Video colour, by contrast is much more vivid.

    There is very little to report in terms of MPEG artefacts: some moire effect is visible on blinds at 45:45 and most of the film segments exhibit a little telecine wobble. Dot crawl is visible at 1:45 on the right of the frame and on the laser beams protecting the Mona Lisa. Aliasing is present, often on Romana's hat. Video segments are prone to comet trails (especially from the 50 minute mark as Romana uses a flashlight in the Louvre). The Doctor uses a Polaroid camera at 56:28 and the flash produces a nasty blue artefact on the soldier's face. Edge enhancement is also visible throughout. Sword movement produces red lens flare.

    Subtitles are in the usual font, white and very accurate. The serial is divided into 25 chapters.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio transfer is satisfactory and, once again, limited by the source material. Two audio tracks are included: a serviceable, plain vanilla Dolby Digital 2.0 mono track and a Dolby Digital 2.0 commentary track. I listened to both.

    Dialogue is clear and unmuffled but exhibits some hiss and some mild distortion in Foley effects. There are occasional audio dropouts. Audio sync is accurate.

    Dudley Simpson claims to have used An American in Paris as an inspiration for his score and uses a romantic saxophone line to capture the atmosphere of Paris. It's an effective score, full of dramatic and suspenseful cues.

    No surround or subwoofer information is encoded

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Main Menu Introduction

Main Menu Audio & Animation

Audio Commentary

Informational Subtitles

Featurette-Making Of - Paris in the Springtime - 44:04.

    An excellent documentary, covering every aspect of the development of City of Death. Special emphasis is given to Douglas Adams' contribution and the documentary is something of a tribute to a brilliant talent lost to us. My only criticism is that the narration is just a little too tongue in cheek, aiming to catch an Adams flavour but falling short. 16x9 enhanced.

Featurette - Paris, W12 - 20:04.

    Behind the scenes black and white footage. Video is of quite poor quality, but the feature throws interesting light on the filming process. Informational subtitles are also included. It soon becomes obvious that Tom Baker is simply playing himself.

Featurette - Prehistoric Landscapes - 2:27.

    A montage of model footage used for the prehistoric scenes. Video quality appears better than what is seen in the main feature.

Featurette - Chicken Wrangler - 2:45.

    Filming of the aging chicken scene. Cute.

Gallery-Photo

Featurette - Eye on ... Blatchford - 13:00.

    A very unfunny faux-documentary about a long lost Jagaroth living in England. 16x9 enhanced.

DVD-ROM Extras - Dr Who Annual 1980.

    A PDF version of the entire magazine. A nice inclusion with some great artwork.

Easter Egg

    Both Region 1 and Region 2 releases appear identical to ours.

    City of Death is a top class Dr Who serial and belongs in every fan's collection.

    Video is good.

    Audio is adequate.

    Extras are very good and highly informative. Some features are filler, but overall, an excellent package.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall