The Doctor encounters Niccolo Machiavelli in 16th Century Florence.
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Styre
on December 20, 2016 at 6:29 PM
THE EARLY ADVENTURES: THE RAVELLI CONSPIRACY
When we think of great Doctor Who historicals, we generally think of the serious ones: “Marco Polo,” “The Aztecs,” “The Crusade” – even the nonexistent “The Massacre” draws attention. We don’t often think of “The Romans” or “The Myth Makers,” and that’s a shame, because the historical comedy is a deeply underappreciated part of Doctor Who history. Fortunately, the latest Early Adventure, “The Ravelli Conspiracy” from Robert Khan and Tom Salinsky, embraces that format and tells a genuinely entertaining tale of conspiracy in 16th century Florence.
The Italy of the time was a complicated group of republics and territories run by different families with the Catholic Church positioned at the center. Set in 1514, this story sees the Doctor, Vicki, and Steven involved with Pope Leo X (Robert Hands), née Giovanni de Medici, as his brother Guiliano (Jamie Ballard) attempts to consolidate family power in Florence. Guiliano suspects an assassination attempt on the Pope will be carried out by members of the Ravelli family, the Pope thinks his brother is overreacting, and the famous Niccolo Machiavelli (Mark Frost) is running around in the middle trying to manipulate events to his own ends. This sounds like the perfect setup for a dark, serious story full of murder and intrigue, but Khan and Salinsky go in the other direction, using over the top characterization to make the story quite funny without letting it descend into farce.
The only overtly silly character is the Guard Captain (Joe Bor), a man who is so put-upon and jaded that he lacks any outward appearance of emotion. Despite this, he steals basically all of his scenes – the moment when he realizes he has to carry the TARDIS right back up the stairs he just descended had me laughing out loud. Apart from him, the other characters stay within themselves when it comes to humor. The Pope is largely a sensible man, but he’s also a hedonist, and he only cares so much about any one problem. The authors also play around with the historical rumors of Leo X being gay but never mock his sexuality in the process, which is refreshing. Guiliano, on the other hand, is a murderous maniac; he’s the sort of person who thinks the best solution to any problem is found at the pointy end of a sword. Whenever anything goes wrong, he proposes torturing and killing the people responsible – so it’s fortunate that his brother is usually around to overrule his violent impulses. This, too, is played largely for laughs – he remains threatening because the authors take his power seriously, but as an individual he’s quite funny.
Since Machiavelli is involved, the story naturally involves a massive conspiracy featuring double-crosses and manipulation. But the Doctor is generally a step ahead of the famous schemer, and the authors are quite aware of the potential of stories like this to get out of hand. Perhaps the best moment is at the end, when Machiavelli’s plan is exposed and foiled, only for him to dramatically reveal that his plan being foiled was actually part of an even bigger plan. The Doctor laughs in disbelief, but he can’t actually disprove such a claim, and that’s basically how we end things. As for the TARDIS crew, Vicki takes center stage in this one, building rapport with the Pope and driving most of the plot with some direction from the Doctor. Steven does less well, spending most of the story being captured in various ways – but Purves’ take on Hartnell continues to delight, and you can absolutely picture Hartnell giggling his way through such a fun script.
The production is impressive as ever – Lisa Bowerman has a good handle on historical stories like this, while Toby Hrycek-Robinson’s design is effective. Overall, “The Ravelli Conspiracy” is a success. It’s entertaining, it’s quite funny, it features some effective historical guest characters, and it doesn’t outstay its welcome. It’s fun, in other words, and that’s as good a reason as any to pick it up.
THE EARLY ADVENTURES: THE RAVELLI CONSPIRACY
When we think of great Doctor Who historicals, we generally think of the serious ones: “Marco Polo,” “The Aztecs,” “The Crusade” – even the nonexistent “The Massacre” draws attention. We don’t often think of “The Romans” or “The Myth Makers,” and that’s a shame, because the historical comedy is a deeply underappreciated part of Doctor Who history. Fortunately, the latest Early Adventure, “The Ravelli Conspiracy” from Robert Khan and Tom Salinsky, embraces that format and tells a genuinely entertaining tale of conspiracy in 16th century Florence.
The Italy of the time was a complicated group of republics and territories run by different families with the Catholic Church positioned at the center. Set in 1514, this story sees the Doctor, Vicki, and Steven involved with Pope Leo X (Robert Hands), née Giovanni de Medici, as his brother Guiliano (Jamie Ballard) attempts to consolidate family power in Florence. Guiliano suspects an assassination attempt on the Pope will be carried out by members of the Ravelli family, the Pope thinks his brother is overreacting, and the famous Niccolo Machiavelli (Mark Frost) is running around in the middle trying to manipulate events to his own ends. This sounds like the perfect setup for a dark, serious story full of murder and intrigue, but Khan and Salinsky go in the other direction, using over the top characterization to make the story quite funny without letting it descend into farce.
The only overtly silly character is the Guard Captain (Joe Bor), a man who is so put-upon and jaded that he lacks any outward appearance of emotion. Despite this, he steals basically all of his scenes – the moment when he realizes he has to carry the TARDIS right back up the stairs he just descended had me laughing out loud. Apart from him, the other characters stay within themselves when it comes to humor. The Pope is largely a sensible man, but he’s also a hedonist, and he only cares so much about any one problem. The authors also play around with the historical rumors of Leo X being gay but never mock his sexuality in the process, which is refreshing. Guiliano, on the other hand, is a murderous maniac; he’s the sort of person who thinks the best solution to any problem is found at the pointy end of a sword. Whenever anything goes wrong, he proposes torturing and killing the people responsible – so it’s fortunate that his brother is usually around to overrule his violent impulses. This, too, is played largely for laughs – he remains threatening because the authors take his power seriously, but as an individual he’s quite funny.
Since Machiavelli is involved, the story naturally involves a massive conspiracy featuring double-crosses and manipulation. But the Doctor is generally a step ahead of the famous schemer, and the authors are quite aware of the potential of stories like this to get out of hand. Perhaps the best moment is at the end, when Machiavelli’s plan is exposed and foiled, only for him to dramatically reveal that his plan being foiled was actually part of an even bigger plan. The Doctor laughs in disbelief, but he can’t actually disprove such a claim, and that’s basically how we end things. As for the TARDIS crew, Vicki takes center stage in this one, building rapport with the Pope and driving most of the plot with some direction from the Doctor. Steven does less well, spending most of the story being captured in various ways – but Purves’ take on Hartnell continues to delight, and you can absolutely picture Hartnell giggling his way through such a fun script.
The production is impressive as ever – Lisa Bowerman has a good handle on historical stories like this, while Toby Hrycek-Robinson’s design is effective. Overall, “The Ravelli Conspiracy” is a success. It’s entertaining, it’s quite funny, it features some effective historical guest characters, and it doesn’t outstay its welcome. It’s fun, in other words, and that’s as good a reason as any to pick it up.
Recommended.
8/10