Classic Doctor Who : City of Death

When the Doctor and his companion, Romana, arrive in Paris in 1979, both of them are disturbed after feeling the effects of several brief time-loops. One of these occurs in the Louvre as they examine the Mona Lisa, and they soon cross paths with Duggan, a detective who has been investigating a chain of valuable art pieces which have suddenly appeared on the market; all of them have been individually linked to a Count Scarlioni, but nothing can be proved against the man. Encountering the Count's wife, the Doctor manages to steal from her wrist a bracelet which proves to be an alien artifact; this brings the Doctor, Romana, and Duggin to the attention of the Count, who has them escorted to his home. Although briefly imprisoned in the cellar, they escape with the aid of the sonic screwdriver; the Doctor makes the acquaintance of a Dr. Kerensky, who has been conducting dangerous experiments with time on the orders of Count Scarlioni. Romana takes measurements of the cellar in which they were trapped, and discovers that the basement contains a hidden room. Entering this, they discover behind a wall six versions of the Mona Lisa, all originals. Meanwhile, the count is revealed to be an alien.

Using the TARDIS, the Doctor travels through time in order to meet with Leonardo Da Vinci and ascertain what is transpiring; however, in Leonardo's workshop, he instead encounters a Captain Tancredi, who, despite being differently attired, exactly resembles the Count Scarlioni in 1979. The Doctor learns that the man is actually Scaroth of the Jagaroth race, and, attempting to leave a prehistoric earth in a malfunctioning spacecraft, was blasted into shards which were scattered through time. As a result, twelve different versions of the same man were thrust into various moments in history, and all of them have been manipulating historical events for centuries in order to hasten humanity's technological achievements, as well as ensuring the creation and placement of various valuable works of art which Count Scarlioni will be able to sell at an enormous profit in 1979. Captain Tancredi is currently attempting to convince Da Vinci to paint several copies of the Mona Lisa, knowing that there are seven different buyers who will be willing to pay dearly for a stolen Mona Lisa in the future. Gaining a moment alone, the Doctor uses a modern felt-tipped pen to write on all of Da Vanci's blank canvasses, knowing that the writing will be detectable via X-ray in centuries to come, and will allow them to identify the duplicate portraits.

The Doctor returns to Paris to discover that Count Scarlioni's henchmen have successfully stolen the Mona Lisa from the Louvre, thus freeing him to sell the six copies to several different buyers, all believing themselves to be purchasing the only original version of the painting. Meanwhile, the Count manipulates Romana into helping him with his plan to travel back to the moment in prehistory when he attempted to pilot the malfunctioning ship, and to stop himself from doing so, thus preventing his past self from being shattered and uniting the twelve shards of his identity. Comprehending the Count's plan, the Doctor takes Romana and Duggin back millions of years in the hope of intercepting Scarlioni; he explains that the blast of energy which came about as a bi-product of the exploding Jagaroth ship was what originally began the population of Earth by living creatures, so that if the explosion doesn't occur, neither will humanity. As they arrive, Scarlioni makes an appearance as well, and nearly manages to reach his past self in the ship before Duggin punches him, detaining him long enough for the time-travel device which Romana helped him build to bring him back to the present, where he is killed by a henchmen who sees his true alien face.

Returning to 1979 Paris, the Doctor discovers that, due to a fire at the Count's mansion, only one of the seven Mona Lisas survived; it is not the one which originally hung in the Louvre, and, in fact, bears the Doctor's writing beneath the layers of paint. However, the Doctor assures Duggin that the painting should be returned to the museum, as it was still created by Da Vinci, and is therefore an original. He and Romana subsequently leave in the TARDIS for places unknown.

Observations:  

• As my first episode of Classic Who, it was interesting seeing the Doctor in a pre-Time War setting; his and Romana's casual references to a still-existent Gallifrey, as well as the very presence of another Time Lord as a companion, were jarring and unfamiliar. However, the dynamic worked well with the lighthearted vibe which this series shares with most older television, wherein angst and persistent sadness are usually not to be found.
• The majority of the special effects featured in this serial are primitive but competent; however, two deserve mention for their particularly low-budget feel. The face of Scaroth looks hilariously fake, and is obviously not even very well-attached to the actor's head; and, perhaps more glaring still, Duggin's "deadly" "punches" are slow, silent, blatantly ineffectual, and never land anywhere near their intended target. For a serial in which the punching of several characters was a crucial plot point, it seems as if they could have put a bit more effort into making them appear realistic. As it is, he appears to merely fall into his targets with his fist extended in their general direction... and it knocks them out cold every time. This martial artist calls foul.
• A particularly notable element of the serial, particularly in contrast to more modern stories, is simply how very slow it is. The camera lingers on dialogue-less shots of the Doctor and Romana walking around Paris for an interminable amount of screentime, in a blatant waste of available space which would be inexcusable in our day of serialized, regimented forty-five minute installments. The organization of plotlines and episodes was much more haphazard when this serial aired, allowing the producers and directors to devote more space to each portion of the story; the entire thing gains a leisurely, unhurried element which can seem remarkably dull to our modern sensibilities.

All that said, this serial is undoubtedly Doctor Who as we know it. All of the elements are present; the witty dialogue, the alien nemesis, the timey-wimey factor, the Doctor himself. Making allowance for natural adjustments, the core of the series has changed very little in thirty-plus years. And that's a marvelous thing.