Rate "City Of Death"

Paris, 1979. A "table vintage," as the Doctor puts it, but pleasant enough for a visit. But the Doctor and Romana soon learn that someone in La Ville Lumiere is tampering with the flow of time. Joining forces with an English investigator named Duggan, our Time Lord duo discover that the temporal disturbances are coming from the home of Count Scarlioni. But the mystery is far deeper than why a wealthy, aristocratic would want to find a way to make time flow backwards. Scarlioni, it transpires, is a Jagoroth, an alien species which visited Earth during it's primordial phase, and which suffered an explosion in the ship which scattered the Jagoroth into shards scattered throughout the whole of history. Scarlioni, the latest of these Jagoroth, has now accumulated the resources and knowledge to be able to send himself back in time and prevent the explosion of his ship from happening.

Quite aside from the fact that this create it's own temporal paradox, the Doctor realizes that preventing the explosion of the Jagoroth ship from happening at such a crucial phase of Earth's history will also prevent the evolution of life on Earth, as the explosion was the catalyst that allowed life to develop in the first place.

So what did you think of City of Death? Flying off the Eiffel Tower? Or just a fist full of knuckles from Duggan?

Nailed on all-time classic. The last great Tom story. 5/5.

I'm not certain I agree with "last great Tom story." But there is no doubt this is a true gem of the Tom Baker years, and an all time classic for the series itself. And you know what secures it that status? I mean, the plot is actually a bit thin when you think about it. It's all those memorable performances. And we have the chemistry between Tom and Lalla absolutely floating along. And we're in Paris. And we're seeing a member of Monte Python make a cameo. Great, fun stuff.

5/5, without hesitation.