City of Death

What a wonderful butler. He's so violent.

One of the most important things about being late to the Doctor Who party is that you can go into a story with preconceived notions. That can be a help when you hear a story is terrible and you find it not that bad. But it can be a hindrance when you have a story that everyone loves and it doesn't quite meet your expectations. City of Death was like that for me.

First and foremost, I understand why people love this story. The hidden camera shots of the Doctor and Romana walking through Paris are very nice and with a lovely score. The Doctor is very funny, especially in the initial scene with Count Scarlioni. There is also an excellent use of time travel that has become quite the norm in the new series but which must have been quite novel at the time. It led to an excellent cliffhanger at the end of episode two when one of Scaroth's alternate selves shows up.

That being said, there were elements that didn't jive for me. I did not care for the character of Duggan. He seemed too much of the Clouseau vein which would have been fine in a different story, but seemed out of place to me with the gravity being applied elsewhere, especially with Scaroth.

I also did not care for the slap-dash ending. Scaroth didn't seem to have much of a plan besides getting back to the past with his ship, but he seemed late even then. The Doctor and Duggan beat him there and knocked him out just before the ship exploded. But, Scaroth's plan should have had him arrive and warn himself about firing the engines before he even got back on the ship. It's one of those instances that makes you wonder if his plan would have worked even if the Doctor had not moved to stop him.

Despite all of that, the quality of the overall story is excellent. Most importantly, there are very few points where it drags or feels padded. The jokes land fairly well, especially when they are underplayed. Only when things are overacted (such as with Duggan) that they fall a bit short.

Still, these are more nits to pick that significant flaws. I wouldn't hesitate to watch this story again and I think in a vacuum I would have liked this one even more. But such are the risks of listening to fan wisdom.

Overall personal score: 4.5 out of 5