City of Death

In the wilds of 1979 there was a very famous Doctor who story written under the pseudonym of “David Agnew” – a pseudonym for David Fisher, Douglas Adams, and Graham Williams.

This was the year when Douglas Adams was the Script Editor for Doctor Who and just as he was being commissioned for The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy which is why he only did one year on the show.

So, in true Douglas Adams style this serial is wildly inventive, wildly witty and comedic just like his most famous work. This a Douglas Adams just before he was to become a sci-fi satirist legend.

What you have here a tale of the Last of The Jagaroth. A violent nasty race. Their last ship is damaged and lands on Earth 400 million years ago where there is no life.

The ship explodes and splinters Scaroth into 12 pieces across time, so he in effect is the “impossible Man” as opposed to Clara Oswald, the Impossible girl.

His plan is simple. Raise the Human race to the point where it can create a machine to send him back in time to stop himself from splintering in the first place.

And he’s going to pay for it with priceless works of literature and art like The Mona Lisa for his other selves collections and a few other less than legal means. Let’s just say you’ll never look at a Felt Tip Pen the same way again… 🙂

Then the Doctor and Romana II step in and muck it all up.

This serial also has arguably the most talked about cameo of all-time in it in Episode 4.

it was the very first internationally filmed episode of Doctor Who ever so the BBC does go a bit heavy handed with the “look at us we’re in Paris!!” bit, especially in the first episode.

And the next episode after this one has the single most unfortunate monstrous appendage in Doctor Who history.

If you like this sort of thing first check out Douglas Adams’ other episodes of Doctor Who “The Pirate Planet” or the unaired episode “Shada” which has been released also.