We’ve been so deep into “geek” the past couple of weeks on “Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner” that it stands to threaten the very fabric of space and time!
Next, we take a nostalgic journey back to Dr. Who, and the four-part serial “City of Death” (1979). An over-qualified Julian Glover gives a most theatrical performance as the villainous Scarlioni, who has his mind set on stealing the Mona Lisa from the Louvre, as Catherine Schell twirls her cigarette holder most provocatively.
The script editor is Douglas Adams, whose “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” was broadcast only the year before as a popular radio play, and whose spin-off novel was about to explode into a cultural phenomenon – just about the time when this particular storyline ended, as a matter of fact. Adams used his pull as a writer for Monty Python to snag a cameo from John Cleese. Watch fast also for Eleanor Bron. The script is credited to “David Agnew,” a pseudonym.
Tom Baker is quirkily amusing, as always, in the title role, though coming back to the series after all these years, the production values are just as painful as I remember. The creature make-up is fun, though, and the show’s opening never fails to set up your expectations that you might actually see something good for a change.
By the bye, my aunt knitted me a Dr. Who scarf for Christmas one year, after I went away to college. I never wore it, for fear that it would get caught in a subway door! After roughly 38 years, I have retrieved it from a dresser drawer in my parents’ attic, and I will proudly don it for tomorrow night’s discussion.
So be sure to drop by for our Who’s-on-first routine. The comments section will be awash in Jelly Babies on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. All the Whos in Whoville will want to join us for the Facebook livestream, this Friday evening at 7:30 EST.
https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner
Here’s the belated link to last weekend’s discussion about the “Star Trek” episode “Tomorrow is Yesterday” (1967).