There is a cool Dying Earth-ish story struggling to emerge from this script, which seeks to combine the brooding moodiness of a J.G. Ballard environmental apocalypse with a Lovecraftian tale (half Cthulhu cultists, half Sarnathian doom) -- but that story has a lot to struggle through.Mark Gatiss as the cult leader, for instance, so over the top he's growing extra mustaches to twirl. Ditto Elaine Ives-Cameron. These are two magnificent voices but they are given such preposterous dialogue that they can't help but sound like ham so badly canned it'd give you botulism. Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor is similarly afflicted, but McGann manages to preserve his signature light-heartedness through all the portentous foolishness. It's still fun, but oh my goodness. ( )

Starts with a fun little prologue of the Doctor and Charley, having meddled in some planet's local politics, getting shot at and deciding to call a halt to that particular adventure and go to Venice instead. Beautiful evocation of a dying city, contested by elites and cultists, with Michael Sheard putting in what must have been one of his last performances as Duke Orsino (and shout out also to Elaine Ives-Cameron, alas also recently deceased). The script is littered with references to E.M. Forster and Shakespeare. OK, I could see how the plot was going to work out from miles off, but the whole thing was done with great gusto and conviction. Also, I like the Eighth Doctor's obsession with tea. ( )