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This story is kind of the beginning of the end in terms of Tom Baker's era as the Fourth Doctor. Sure he still has a whole nother season to go, and several more stories under his belt but that perfect blend of madcap humor, science-fiction, and sinister villains didn't quite gel the way it did here.

Along with "Genesis of the Daleks", "The Ark in Space", "Pyramids of Mars", "Horror of Fang Rock" and "The Deadly Assassin", "City of Death" should be required viewing as elements that represent the best of the Fourth Doctor (although that's just a matter of my own opinion, given that each one of those are my favorites) and probably introductory episodes to Doctor Who as each one has successive influences on future incarnations of the show and the actors involved.

I will admit to not reading any of Douglas Adams' works but I am familiar with the type of humor he displayed in "The Hitchhiker's Guide" books. So his handling of the job as script editor for this season brought with good and ill: a solid display of sci-fi and an even solider sense of humor. But the problem was always going to be how do you balance the two. "City of Death" is near perfect in its execution, and again another personal favorite simply due to the amount of times I've stayed up late to watch it. Tom's one-liners, puns, and every line that escapes his mouth is simply more than a chuckle ("I'm alright, I've just bashed my head on the butt of your gun"), and his trading of witticisms with Lalla Ward brings an alternate vibe to the Doctor/Romana relationship (I've always thought that if Mary Tamm had stayed--something hinted at in her audiobooks with Tom--then that dynamic may have been that of the dynamic that Jackie Gleason had with Audrey Meadows on The Honeymooners). Tom Chadbon's one-time companion status as the investigator Duggan is one of those relationships that I wish was revisited. If the Doctor can meet up with Jago and Litefoot again in the Big Finish audio plays, then why not pay Duggan another visit (which may hopefully occur when Lalla Ward returns as Romana II for the fourth season of Fourth Doctor Adventures from Big Finish). The character was simply too good to stay behind forever in 1979.

The story itself is extremely solid. An alien, scattered across the centuries, seeking to unite himself and save his race? It was unique in the pantheon of Who and such a shame that the Jageroth are so intrinsic to this situation that they can never be reused again lest a bend in the time stream occurs (I've thought one way would be to introduce the Master into the situation, moments before the Doctor, Romana, and Duggan arrive to stop him). The concept of a scattered self may have appealed to Moffatt, that he used a similar scenario to explain Clara Oswald as the "impossible girl".

Because the actual story featured many different aspects of location, I had a few options and directions to take this, and especially in regards to if I wanted to keep the Scaroth head or the Scarlioni. I may do the Scarlioni piece at a later date with the Mona Lisa, since that was a major part of the plot and I feel I didn't reproduce sufficiently in my piece, as this final work was in the middle of four different photoshoots aiming for the right "feel" of the episode.

Description
This story is kind of the beginning of the end in terms of Tom Baker's era as the Fourth Doctor. Sure he still has a whole nother season to go, and several more stories under his belt but that perfect blend of madcap humor, science-fiction, and sinister villains didn't quite gel the way it did here.

Along with "Genesis of the Daleks", "The Ark in Space", "Pyramids of Mars", "Horror of Fang Rock" and "The Deadly Assassin", "City of Death" should be required viewing as elements that represent the best of the Fourth Doctor (although that's just a matter of my own opinion, given that each one of those are my favorites) and probably introductory episodes to Doctor Who as each one has successive influences on future incarnations of the show and the actors involved.

I will admit to not reading any of Douglas Adams' works but I am familiar with the type of humor he displayed in "The Hitchhiker's Guide" books. So his handling of the job as script editor for this season brought with good and ill: a solid display of sci-fi and an even solider sense of humor. But the problem was always going to be how do you balance the two. "City of Death" is near perfect in its execution, and again another personal favorite simply due to the amount of times I've stayed up late to watch it. Tom's one-liners, puns, and every line that escapes his mouth is simply more than a chuckle ("I'm alright, I've just bashed my head on the butt of your gun"), and his trading of witticisms with Lalla Ward brings an alternate vibe to the Doctor/Romana relationship (I've always thought that if Mary Tamm had stayed--something hinted at in her audiobooks with Tom--then that dynamic may have been that of the dynamic that Jackie Gleason had with Audrey Meadows on The Honeymooners). Tom Chadbon's one-time companion status as the investigator Duggan is one of those relationships that I wish was revisited. If the Doctor can meet up with Jago and Litefoot again in the Big Finish audio plays, then why not pay Duggan another visit (which may hopefully occur when Lalla Ward returns as Romana II for the fourth season of Fourth Doctor Adventures from Big Finish). The character was simply too good to stay behind forever in 1979.

The story itself is extremely solid. An alien, scattered across the centuries, seeking to unite himself and save his race? It was unique in the pantheon of Who and such a shame that the Jageroth are so intrinsic to this situation that they can never be reused again lest a bend in the time stream occurs (I've thought one way would be to introduce the Master into the situation, moments before the Doctor, Romana, and Duggan arrive to stop him). The concept of a scattered self may have appealed to Moffatt, that he used a similar scenario to explain Clara Oswald as the "impossible girl".

Because the actual story featured many different aspects of location, I had a few options and directions to take this, and especially in regards to if I wanted to keep the Scaroth head or the Scarlioni. I may do the Scarlioni piece at a later date with the Mona Lisa, since that was a major part of the plot and I feel I didn't reproduce sufficiently in my piece, as this final work was in the middle of four different photoshoots aiming for the right "feel" of the episode.