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A review by phileasfogg
Doctor Who: City of Death by Douglas Adams, David Fisher, James Goss
5.0
'City of Death' is the greatest of all 'classic' Doctor Who serials, an effervescent, funny, fast, clever thriller about Time, art and burglary. Set in Paris, parts of it were filmed there, and about half of the viewer's delight in the story comes from watching the lead actors, in love and in Paris, enjoying themselves.
Douglas Adams wrote the script, and it's a hybrid of all that was best in his work and all that was best in Doctor Who. You might say it's the story that most lived up to the potential that was always there in the series, but was seldom realised.
It made me a fan, and has loomed large in my imaginative life in the decades since I first saw it as a wide-eyed eight-year-old. When I visited Paris for one day last year, I spent most of the time looking for locations used in the story.
Next time I should probably try to see the Mona Lisa, that dreadful woman with no eyebrows who wouldn't sit still.
Many years after most classic Doctor Who was novelised as a series of children's books which I liked very much at the time, 'City of Death' has been adapted by James Goss as a novel that is not especially for children, but could doubtless still be enjoyed by many.
You might think I'm an easy sell. As a fan of the series and of this story in particular, I have to love this book. If so, how little you know fans! Fans are the hardest audience to please, because we have the most to lose if something turns out to be shite. As someone who has imagined the world of 'City of Death' since childhood, and revisited it on a regular basis, I'm ready to be outraged by a trespasser in my imagination. A novelisation of 'City of Death' that isn't written by Douglas Adams has to be pretty special to avoid making me cross.
And it is. He is standing on the shoulders of giants, of course, but Goss has produced a very well-written, much-expanded version of the TV story that captures all its fun and ingenuity and adds more.
While remaining remarkably faithful to the original--though a few lines of dialogue are subtly altered--the author has added much depth and provided many characters, even the most minor, with well-imagined additional life.
What he does with Count Scarlioni's inner life might be controversial amongst readers who think they know the story well. I bristled slightly at first, and then decided that maybe Goss is right--nothing on screen explicitly contradicts it. The last few times I watched the story I was struck by a few odd details in Scarlioni's behaviour and dialogue that would certainly be explained by the revelation in the book. Perhaps this was Adams's intention all along? Finally, I was entirely persuaded, and delighted that I could still be surprised by a story I knew so well.
Being a mere TV novelisation will, sadly, discourage many readers who would love this funny, clever science fiction thriller. It shouldn't.
Douglas Adams wrote the script, and it's a hybrid of all that was best in his work and all that was best in Doctor Who. You might say it's the story that most lived up to the potential that was always there in the series, but was seldom realised.
It made me a fan, and has loomed large in my imaginative life in the decades since I first saw it as a wide-eyed eight-year-old. When I visited Paris for one day last year, I spent most of the time looking for locations used in the story.
Next time I should probably try to see the Mona Lisa, that dreadful woman with no eyebrows who wouldn't sit still.
Many years after most classic Doctor Who was novelised as a series of children's books which I liked very much at the time, 'City of Death' has been adapted by James Goss as a novel that is not especially for children, but could doubtless still be enjoyed by many.
You might think I'm an easy sell. As a fan of the series and of this story in particular, I have to love this book. If so, how little you know fans! Fans are the hardest audience to please, because we have the most to lose if something turns out to be shite. As someone who has imagined the world of 'City of Death' since childhood, and revisited it on a regular basis, I'm ready to be outraged by a trespasser in my imagination. A novelisation of 'City of Death' that isn't written by Douglas Adams has to be pretty special to avoid making me cross.
And it is. He is standing on the shoulders of giants, of course, but Goss has produced a very well-written, much-expanded version of the TV story that captures all its fun and ingenuity and adds more.
While remaining remarkably faithful to the original--though a few lines of dialogue are subtly altered--the author has added much depth and provided many characters, even the most minor, with well-imagined additional life.
What he does with Count Scarlioni's inner life might be controversial amongst readers who think they know the story well. I bristled slightly at first, and then decided that maybe Goss is right--nothing on screen explicitly contradicts it. The last few times I watched the story I was struck by a few odd details in Scarlioni's behaviour and dialogue that would certainly be explained by the revelation in the book. Perhaps this was Adams's intention all along? Finally, I was entirely persuaded, and delighted that I could still be surprised by a story I knew so well.
Being a mere TV novelisation will, sadly, discourage many readers who would love this funny, clever science fiction thriller. It shouldn't.