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TARDIS Guide

Overview

Released

Monday, March 19, 2001

Written by

Paul Magrs

Cover Art by

Clayton Hickman

Directed by

Gary Russell

Runtime

111 minutes

Time Travel

Future

Tropes (Potential Spoilers!)

Doctor imprisoned, Mind Control, Occult, Romance

Story Arc (Potential Spoilers!)

Web of Time

Location (Potential Spoilers!)

Earth, Italy, Venice

Synopsis

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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Reviews

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14 reviews

Diverting although unsatisfactory. The high point is the way in which the story conjures a futuristic yet timeless Venice. The sense of its decline, both physically and metaphorically, is well sketched and along with certain aquatic creatures evokes both Poe and Lovecraft, all with added class war which I admit I'm a sucker for. Sadly these elements don't all pull together for me, and the sci-fi conceit seemingly necessary to turn this into a Doctor Who story feels undercooked and tacked on.


Leromica

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The Stones of Venice has a somewhat meandering plot with a frankly obvious plot twist - and yet I couldn't help but love it. It's deeply theatrical, dripping in atmosphere and worldbuilding, playing out almost like a historical despite its future setting and sprinkling of sci-fi elements. There's an air of gothic fairy tale about the whole adventure, and Charley really gets a chance to come into her own as a character worthy of being a protagonist. Good stuff!


HephaestusLeo

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Atmospheric and sombre, in a wonderful setting, using the setting so well to tell a poignant, interesting story. But the layers added eventually make this a little too messy, and nonsensical to follow, adding some extra plot layers for almost apparently no reason - which is a shame considering all the fantastic elements which were working throughout this, to use the story and its time setting really well.


joeymapes21

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this was weird. i still dont know why there was such a prominent subplot about the oppressed gondolier underclass


megaminxwin

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This review contains spoilers!

There are many things to be critical of in this episode; the plot is nonsensical, the dialogue is preposterous and the acting is hammy. And yet, to quote Roger Ebert's review of The Mummy, "I was not bored, and sometimes I was unreasonably pleased." I had a lot of fun switching off the critical part of my brain and getting swept up in the pantomime drama of it all. I cheered when the day was saved by love and I gasped at the impending heartbreak foreshadowed by Charley and the Doctor's final exchange. A good fun way to spend a couple of hours.


trashknight

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AVG. Rating433 members
3.29 / 5

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Quotes

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DOCTOR: I'm afraid I don't believe in curses.

CHURCHWELL: A rationalist?

DOCTOR: Not exactly. I just look for the best in people.

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