City of Death
Previous: Destiny of the Daleks
City of Death
Woah. Hello there, Barren Apocalyptic Wasteland.
So there's a character who appears to be made of either wool or dead worms. Knowing this show, it could be either or both.
And then there was a s'plosion!
Oh sweet Jesus. I think Four/Romana II just because an instant OTP. *completely shameless fangirl gush*
I mean, it doesn't even show them landing in the TARDIS! It just has their voiceovers with the camera panning over cherry blossoms.
They are running through the streets of Paris holding hands. Oh my god this is the most-adorable. The adorable-most.
WHY CAN'T I STOP PUTTING EMPHASIS ON THIS. THEY ARE RUNNING THROUGH THE STREETS OF PARIS HOLDING HANDS. BUT WHY IS THE MUSIC CREEPY.
Okay, I've heard of underground lairs of mad scientists, but not underground lairs of mad museum curates.
Woah woah wait. Time just un-happened and now it's happening again? What?
"For a portrait of a Time Lady..." Oh! So maybe "Time Lady" IS a canon term after all.
"Never mind about the time slip, we're on holiday." Is it just me, or is Four the most blatantly vacation-prone of all the Doctors?
Random lucky bystander gets a Doctor in her lap. For about 3 seconds.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes, I just dented my head on your gun, that's all."
I think this is the first Classic serial I've seen that actually has atmospheric scenes. No dialogue, just walking and music.
Man-presumed-to-be-a-villain is drinking a...bright green cocktail. Absinthe, perhaps?
EVERYBODY'S GOT A GUN.
"The Countess has the bracelet." That might just be the most mystery-novel-ish thing the Doctor has ever said.
Although something from Unicorn and the Wasp would probably top it, but I'm not going to go there now.
And the Count is actually the wool-and-worms-alien from the beginning of the episode? Okay, I wonder where this is going...
That building has a Star of David graffitied in chalk on the side. ...What?
"I see, what a wonderful butler, he's so violent!" YES. THAT LINE. IT CAME COMPLETELY OUT OF NOWHERE BUT HE SAID IT.
I'm sorry, I need to watch that again. A few times.
AND "You're a beautiful woman, probably..." I hadn't realized that that was actually the BEGINNING of a longer sentence.
The full line is "Ah, well, you're a beautiful woman, probably, and Duggan was trying to summon the courage to ask you out to dinner."
Chair vs. gun? Somehow I have a feeling that that would not have ended well.
WAIT DETECTIVE DUGGAN JUST BANGED THE SONIC SCREWDRIVER AGAINST A WALL I DO NOT APPROVE OF THIS.
"Which came first? The chicken, or the egg?" said the Doctor to the Professor who just LASER-BEAMED a chicken out of an egg.
NOOOO DEAD CHICKEN IS DEAD.
Hey, a reversal of the polarity! And what does Four do with it? BRING A CHICKEN BACK TO LIFE.
And more sonic technology! They're stealing the Mona Lisa with a sonic knife.
Only now do I understand where the term "wobbly sets" on this show came from. Took me kinda long, didn't it?
Cabinets full of Mona Lisas? What?
"Can you throw any light on that?"
"I can." *throws a light at the Count*
HOLY BALLS THAT WAS AWESOME.
That was random. Four sneaks into an art gallery, hops into the TARDIS, greets an off-screen K-9, and takes off. ...what.
AHAHAHAHAHAHA he just popped back in time to check on Da Vinci. Nice.
Wait. How does the Count exist in the past AND know about the Doctor in the past? Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey.
I'm still trying to identify that dead animal on a plate that Four picks up and sniffs.
Wait. Romana just said her age was 125 but in Ribos Operation she said she was "almost 140." It guess it's the same, relatively speaking...?
Which of course begs the question, DO they ever specify what counts as "old" for a Time Lord?
"Well how do you suggest we get out?"
"See that window?" *starts running*
Oh man, Duggan is one remarkably hardcore detective.
"Splinters of my being are scattered through time." Well, that answers the question him being in multiple times at the same...time.
Also, the Barren Apocalyptic Wasteland from the beginning of the serial was actually an infant Earth.
Four's being held at swordpoint in Renaissance Florence and what does he do? Pull out an old camera to take a picture of his captor. Yes.
I think that's the first time in anything ever I've ever seen a guard distracted by a Polaroid.
For some reason, I always love watching characters write because then we get to see what their actor's handwriting looks like.
"Dear Leo...*write write write backwards*...See you earlier. Love, the Doctor."
Why haven't I mentioned yet that the Count appears to be wearing a kimono?
Actually, that might even be a yukata. In Paris. In the 1970s. Truly it was a different age.
"I want to know how you travel through time!"
"Well it's simple: I'm a Time Lord."
Um. Yeah. Hi. We REALLY don't need to see your O-face.
Wow, they REALLY love showing people running through the streets of Paris in this serial, don't they? Not that I'm complaining.
And the professor is killed by being cellularly accelerated to death. By his own machine. Ouch.
Last episode! Also the last time I'll be seeing that title sequence on Instant Watch. I'm gonna miss it...
So this guy's multiple selves throughout history have basically been RAISING THE HUMAN RACE? If THAT isn't God Mode, I don't know what is.
"Think about it, Countess. Think about it." And so she does. Do I sense another Lucy Saxon about to occur?
So the first book she pulls of the shelf just HAPPENS to be hollowed out and stuffed with designs for the pyramids? Okayyy...
Gallifreyan egg timer. I just want to bring to everyone's attention that those words were just said: Gallifreyan egg timer.
"I can't let you fool about in time."
"What else do YOU ever do?"
"Well I'm a professional, I know what I'm doing!"
Was that a 2-WAY PWNAGE?
This is impressive. Four has 15 minutes of episode left to literally prevent ALL of human history from un-happening. All in a day's work.
I KNEW IT. SHE HAS A GUN. Count, you are about to get LUCY SAXON'D.
I was about to remark at the Doctor's surprising willingness to take down a "last of my kind," but then I remembered that's just in New Who.
You can probably tell it's still a little odd for me to be seeing other Time Lords showing up occasionally. Thanks, Russell.
(but seriously, I still love RTD)
He just killed her through the bracelet. Wow.
Detective Duggan: Designated Battering Ram.
Congratulations, guys. I honestly have no idea how they're going to get out of this one.
MORE running through Paris!
*and MORE completely shameless fangirl gushing at the hand-holding*
...and now they're hailing a cab. "IS NO ONE INTERESTED IN HISTORY???"
OH WOW HELLO JOHN CLEESE FANCY MEETING YOU HERE
The amniotic fluid from which all life will spring, waiting for a massive dose of radiation, which will come from a space ship exploding.
............GUYS............THIS.........SHOW.
This is actually pretty remarkable. The Doctor is LITERALLY choosing the existence of one race over another. That's pretty heavy.
"...Duggan, that was possibly the most important punch in history!"
So the one Mona Lisa remaining after the explosion has "This is a Fake" written in felt-tip pen under it. In Four's handwriting. Nice.
MORE RUNNING! This time through the PARKS of Paris. That actually might've been the most touching final shot I've ever seen on Doctor Who.
Next: The Creature From the Pit