Adam H. Kerman
2016-11-06 07:09:44 UTC
One of the best episodes of the Tom Baker era. It was written by "David
Agnew" due to Douglas Adams' collaboration on the script. He was script
editor during the period and was violating a BBC rule that script editors
themselves weren't allowed to hire themselves. The original writer,
David Fisher, was going through a divorce and didn't complete it. It
was rewritten by Adams and Graham Williams. During the original broadcast
of this serial, Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was published.
It's loads of fun, featuring a great cast of Julian Glover (Bond villain
from For Your Eyes Only), gorgeous and stylish Catherine Schell (Space:
1999), Tom Chadbon, and David Graham. Eleanor Bron and John Cleese make
cameo appearances.
What I found memorable was the incidental music written especially for
this episode's scenes ambling about Paris. It's stuck with me since
I first saw it.
It's set in contemporary Paris. Lalla Ward is especially adorable in
her "period" costume. There's extensive on location filming, including
at the Lourve, the Left Bank, and the Eiffel Tower.
It's about the theft of the Mona Lisa, and art crimes that's not forgery
at all.
An alien from a particularly nasty race that died off 400 million years ago
due to war interfered in human history, split into 12 segments and capable
of communicating across time. He accidentally blew up his ship, which
sparked life on Earth! He's crazy enough to think he can create a time
bubble to reverse his life and keep himself from creating the accident,
but understands too little about time engineering, until he can extort two
Time Lords into doing his dirty work for him. He's got a scientist in his
employ, Kerensky, who thinks he's conducting animal husbandry experiments.
His wife, the Countess, is in charge of his art thefts.
He's been financing himself with the proceeds. His scheme is to set aside
antiquities for this future selves while they're still brand new, even
paying the original artists to make reproductions.
Agnew" due to Douglas Adams' collaboration on the script. He was script
editor during the period and was violating a BBC rule that script editors
themselves weren't allowed to hire themselves. The original writer,
David Fisher, was going through a divorce and didn't complete it. It
was rewritten by Adams and Graham Williams. During the original broadcast
of this serial, Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was published.
It's loads of fun, featuring a great cast of Julian Glover (Bond villain
from For Your Eyes Only), gorgeous and stylish Catherine Schell (Space:
1999), Tom Chadbon, and David Graham. Eleanor Bron and John Cleese make
cameo appearances.
What I found memorable was the incidental music written especially for
this episode's scenes ambling about Paris. It's stuck with me since
I first saw it.
It's set in contemporary Paris. Lalla Ward is especially adorable in
her "period" costume. There's extensive on location filming, including
at the Lourve, the Left Bank, and the Eiffel Tower.
It's about the theft of the Mona Lisa, and art crimes that's not forgery
at all.
An alien from a particularly nasty race that died off 400 million years ago
due to war interfered in human history, split into 12 segments and capable
of communicating across time. He accidentally blew up his ship, which
sparked life on Earth! He's crazy enough to think he can create a time
bubble to reverse his life and keep himself from creating the accident,
but understands too little about time engineering, until he can extort two
Time Lords into doing his dirty work for him. He's got a scientist in his
employ, Kerensky, who thinks he's conducting animal husbandry experiments.
His wife, the Countess, is in charge of his art thefts.
He's been financing himself with the proceeds. His scheme is to set aside
antiquities for this future selves while they're still brand new, even
paying the original artists to make reproductions.