The Romans
First, a correction: Dennis Spooner wrote The Romans, not Donald Cotton as I said in my previous post. Donald Cotton did, however, provide a wildly humorous novelization of the script in the form of a Target paperback novelization in 1987.
So. Regardless of one's take on the events of Byzantium!, we join the TARDIS crew roughly a month into their stay at a villa north of Rome. It seems they have lucked out and found the place uninhabited, with its owner off on a military campaign. The Doctor and Vicki set out to visit the city of Rome itself but Barbara and Ian wind up there as well after being attacked, kidnapped, and sold as slaves. The Doctor is once again mistaken for someone else, this time an elderly lyre player on his way to meet Nero himself. Vicki hangs with the palace poisoner and Barbara ends up on the personal staff of the Empress, but not after Nero takes fancy to her and puts her life in danger from his wife's rage (yes, twice now for Barbara with the dirty older men). The show is very much played as a comedy, with three of the TARDIS crew in the Imperial Palace and all passing within meters of each other from time to time but never meeting. After a stint rowing in the bowels of a ship, Ian is drafted into being a gladiator, and although he's no Russell Crowe there is some impressive fight choreography this time around - a far cry from Ian's duel with Ixta back in The Aztecs.
I loved The Romans. Again, purely historical, and so much fun. You can see the regular cast thoroughly enjoying themselves the whole time, especially William Hartnell as the Doctor, brawling with an assassin, making a fool of Nero in front of the whole court, and in the end providing Nero with the idea to set Rome ablaze to clear the ground for a new city of his design. Though I also love the heavy science fiction tales that will become the norm for the show in its later years, I love the spirit of these adventures in the 1960's where the entire production takes on this feeling of comfort and plain old fun, and if the vieweer gets it, all the better. I can't wait to see this one cleaned up and put on DVD one day.
As episode 4 ends, a new adventure begins to unfold. It seems that the TARDIS had been caught by some force and is slowly being dragged down...
NEXT EPISODE : THE WEB PLANET
So. Regardless of one's take on the events of Byzantium!, we join the TARDIS crew roughly a month into their stay at a villa north of Rome. It seems they have lucked out and found the place uninhabited, with its owner off on a military campaign. The Doctor and Vicki set out to visit the city of Rome itself but Barbara and Ian wind up there as well after being attacked, kidnapped, and sold as slaves. The Doctor is once again mistaken for someone else, this time an elderly lyre player on his way to meet Nero himself. Vicki hangs with the palace poisoner and Barbara ends up on the personal staff of the Empress, but not after Nero takes fancy to her and puts her life in danger from his wife's rage (yes, twice now for Barbara with the dirty older men). The show is very much played as a comedy, with three of the TARDIS crew in the Imperial Palace and all passing within meters of each other from time to time but never meeting. After a stint rowing in the bowels of a ship, Ian is drafted into being a gladiator, and although he's no Russell Crowe there is some impressive fight choreography this time around - a far cry from Ian's duel with Ixta back in The Aztecs.
I loved The Romans. Again, purely historical, and so much fun. You can see the regular cast thoroughly enjoying themselves the whole time, especially William Hartnell as the Doctor, brawling with an assassin, making a fool of Nero in front of the whole court, and in the end providing Nero with the idea to set Rome ablaze to clear the ground for a new city of his design. Though I also love the heavy science fiction tales that will become the norm for the show in its later years, I love the spirit of these adventures in the 1960's where the entire production takes on this feeling of comfort and plain old fun, and if the vieweer gets it, all the better. I can't wait to see this one cleaned up and put on DVD one day.
As episode 4 ends, a new adventure begins to unfold. It seems that the TARDIS had been caught by some force and is slowly being dragged down...
NEXT EPISODE : THE WEB PLANET
Labels: Barbara Wright, Ian Chesterton, The 1st Doctor, Vicki
posted by Sean Hoover @ 6:06 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home