Doctor Who – The Monthly Adventures

#018. The Stones of Venice ~ 10/10

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◆ An Introduction

Italy is a nation with a rich cultural heritage – something I know after watching James May’s Our Man In Italy – so it should really come as no surprise that creatives and geniuses alike flock to the Bel Paese.

Venice has captured the hearts and minds of millions, with its centuries-old architecture, cobblestone alleys, a maze of eye-catching islands, and of course, the famous canals that run through it all.

But what happens when the city starts sinking into the swamp it’s built on? A love-sick aristocrat throws a knees-up, of course!

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◆ Publisher’s Summary

The Doctor and Charley decide to take a well-deserved break from the monotony of being chased, shot at and generally suffering anti-social behaviour at the hands of others. And so they end up in Venice, well into Charley's future, as the great city prepares to sink beneath the water for the last time…

Which would be a momentous, if rather dispiriting, event to witness in itself. However, the machinations of a love-sick aristocrat, a proud art historian and a rabid High Priest of a really quite dodgy cult combine to make Venice's swansong a night to remember. And then there's the rebellion by the web-footed amphibious underclass, the mystery of a disappearing corpse and the truth behind a curse going back further than curses usually do. The Doctor and Charley are forced to wonder just what they have got themselves involved with this time…

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◆ The Eighth Doctor

Paul Magrs is someone we tend to associate with comedic adventures – probably because he created that nutty nanna, Iris Wildthyme – but he can do much more sombre pieces like this one. He showcases an excellent understanding of the Eighth Doctor in ‘The Stones of Venice’.

I believe this was the first adventure recorded by this TARDIS team, which makes me doubly impressed! Paul McGann delivers an immaculate performance.

There is nothing he likes more than putting the kibosh on a really good vile regime. During his spare time, he likes to drink a cup of tea. The last time the Doctor was in Venice he watched the light from the palace windows spill onto the Grand Canal; all the stars looked as though they were trapped underwater, bursting to get out. He is sometimes downright rude, forgetting about things like good manners and introductions. The Doctor was here when the city was being built, when it still smelt like a swamp: now it smells of damp wool, but there is still a trace, a foretaste of the primordial world below. The Doctor informs Churchwell that he used to be terribly good at name-dropping and bluffing his way into places, but that he can’t do it for toffee these days. His TARDIS is trustworthy, watertight, and his best friend – it also happens to be extremely discreet, like him. Cults have never appealed to him because there are too many rules, and it’s all a bit solemn: going round in robes and chanting just isn’t for him. The Doctor doesn’t like the nastiness and people getting away with it. If he didn’t believe there was a way to put things right, he wouldn’t get out of bed in the morning, eat breakfast, or ever leave the TARDIS: he would never have left home in the first place!

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◆ Charley Pollard

This probably should’ve been Charley’s first adventure through the fourth dimension, because she actually gets a fair bit to do. I wouldn't mind hearing Magrs pen another script for this TARDIS team, actually.

‘The Stones of Venice’ features an amazing performance from India Fisher.

Charley thinks that going somewhere peaceful, without being threatened with death every five minutes, would be rather nice. A traveller is certainly what she’d like to be, but her father wasn’t too keen on her striking out on her own. Her family would be suitably mollified at the thought of her travelling with the Doctor! Charley believes that, for a really futuristic ship, the TARDIS ought to have gleaming white surfaces and flashing controls… rather than looking like something from a Jules Verne novel. They were supposed to be going somewhere gorgeous on holiday, get out of that Gothic nightmare of a TARDIS. Instead, the Doctor has brought her somewhere horrible where everyone wants to die! Poor Charley was already sympathetic towards the web-footed gondoliers… but that doesn’t stop them drugging her, and making her play pretend as Estella!

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◆ The Death of Venice

I previously mentioned that Paul Magrs is someone we tend to associate with comedic adventures – probably because he created that drunken trans-temporal adventuress, Iris Wildthyme – but he proves with this script that he can do something gorgeously sombre too.

People have come from across the globe for one final knees-up before Venice sinks into the primordial swamp forever. Meanwhile, the natives grieve the loss of this floating metropolis. We spend more time with the latter group, meaning the script is tinged with melancholy throughout: a beautiful sadness.

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◆ The Venetians

Some people have been whinging that this doesn’t feel like a futuristic adventure, that despite being set in the dying days of the 23rd century, the setting and characters all feel more at home in the 18th. Some of you also claim that the story is more fairytale than science fiction. These are all valid complaints… which I don’t really care about! I’ll probably lose credibility as a reviewer for that stance – assuming I had any to begin with – but the characters just have so much personality to them.

The eccentric Duke Orsino laments the city’s sinking, but is far too busy arranging parties and hoping for his own death! He honestly reminds me of the Hedonism Bot from Futurama.

Vincenzo is a total head-case, and de facto leader of the Cult of Estella. He is quite easily one of the campiest villains imaginable, though that’s to be expected when you cast Mark Gatiss.

Churchwell is curator of the Duke’s private collection, and a second companion of sorts; a man who has such passion for art that he cares more about saving the collection than his own skin!

‘The Stones of Venice’ thrives because of its over-the-top characters who ooze personality and charisma. As much as I enjoyed the previous adventure, we cannot deny it featured little-to-no character development. This is a massive improvement.

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◆ Sound Design

Venice has been the setting for many Doctor Who adventures, but Andy Hardwick makes the floating metropolis feel truly alive… ironic, considering it’s sinking into the primordial swamp!

The Doctor and Charley flee gunfire and explosions after freeing a civilisation from a vile regime. Tweeting birds accompany flowing water in the canals, whilst church bells chime throughout the city. Off in the distance, ignorant revellers party as Venice sinks into the depths. Water trickles down from the ceiling of a dungeon, used as the Cult of Estella’s headquarters. The distant sound of chanting cultists. Party music plays at the Duke’s grand ball, revellers celebrating what they believe to be their last night. As Venice begins sinking into the waters below, the city erupts into chaos; the gondoliers rise up and start fighting with Orsino’s swordsmen, fragments of masonry fall from buildings like warheads dropping out of the sky.

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◆ Conclusion

“And the clocks chime out for the death of Venice!”

Paul Magrs is someone we associate with comedy adventures, but he went completely against expectations this time round, delivering a beautifully sombre piece about a floating metropolis sinking into the murky depths below.

Featuring an exquisite soundscape, characters that are pure camp, and some amazing performances, ‘The Stones of Venice’ should be considered an underrated classic!