Customer Reviews

Doctor Who: The Curse of Fenric - Story 158

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This release is unique - it contains both the original transmission version of the story, and a 1 hr 45 minute re-edit that contains 14 minutes of previously unseen footage, that is dedicated to the Director (Nicholas Mallett) and the Producer (John Nathan-Turner) and justifiably so.

The story itself is a classic Dr Who monster tale, but with a few grown up twists added, and also gives the companion, Ace, some maturation in the process. This is a story I'd recommend to people I'd try to get hooked on the series, even though I'm still embarrassed over the question mark vest the Doctor wears... I am a fan of JNT and what he had done with the show despite the crass slop the script editor prior to Andrew Cartmel had allowed during his years as script editor, and the only thing I can't forgive JNT for is the question mark pullover vest. Even the 6th Doctor's outfit is far less grating on the nerves. But I digress. Andrew Cartmel, script editor for all of the 7th Doctor's era, is at his best here. He reintroduced the concept of mystery and seriousness to the show and he did it right. If only the show had continued for another year, with more stories to fill out their plans...

The video quality itself is quite good, even exceptional. Given the high prices that Who discs command, it's a shame that Warner Bros won't release them on dual-layer discs to improve the compression artifacting, but this release (along with "The Two Doctors"...) seem to be the most visually clean stories they've released to date. Even so, the releases up to now have been more or less great (with only "Ressurection of the Daleks" really showing the artifacting to an annoying level.)

The audio had been remastered into Dolby 5.1, because somebody kept the original audio tapes. Apart from the theme music (which sounds better as the original stereo*), the 5.1 remastering is very effective.

There are numerous extras, primarily encompassing the behind the scenes efforts in producing this story, and interviews with cast and crew.

The special 'movie' edition is extraordinary. Many of the newly added scenes are worth their weight. They also treated the video to look more consistent, given the stormy nature of the later half of the story. They also improved on some of the effects. The only problem is with some of the music. It betrays that this story was originally composed of four episodes. It's most noticeable when, 25 minutes into the story, you hear music that's got action to it but doesn't fall back and leaves you hanging (ala a cliffhanger). It's a very MINOR issue, but as I love to whine about problems, I felt I should mention it. :-)

The only problem with the disc (#1) is when you go to watch the titles sequences - if you select the 'original stereo' version, you get the original MONO version. I hope they fix this someday and offer free exchanges...

In the end, it's a shame the BBC lost faith in the series. (the monsters in this tale would take full notice if it too, heh.) This one is a MUST for any fan of the show. Even if you're not a fan of the 7th Doctor era (the scripts in novel form are rather better than how they were put on screen), this one is worthy of buying.

I'm looking forward for the remainder of the 7th Doctor on DVD.

"The Curse of Fenric" tries so hard to be a quintessential Doctor Who story. Pseudo-historical tales are a hallmark of the show, and this one is set at a British naval base during World War II but features an extraterrestrial (extradimensional?) threat very much true to form. Like some of the most beloved classics especially from the early seasons of Tom Baker, "Fenric" takes classic and cliche motifs from known horror movies and translates them into a science fiction idiom, in this case any number of "living dead" type movies like "Evil Dead II" or "Prince of Darkness" (to name the ones I've actually seen, not being a big fan of horror films myself): the emergence into our world of a demonic being through some sort of activating text and/or ritual, his bringing an army of zombies or vampires to bear against the heroes, surrounding them in a frail safehold and besieging them there, and yes, we even have the poor ill-fated priest who ineffectually waves a Bible or cross at the creepies only to be promptly overtaken by them. "Fenric" also features an ecological undertone similar to many of the greats from Jon Pertwee's time (especially "Inferno") as the zombies are in fact a badly mutated version of humanity from some polluted industrial meltdown of a future. Then too there's a Cold War fable a la "The Armageddon Factor" (among others) as the Russian and British soldiers decide to stop their clandestine maneuvers against each other so as to fight their common enemy, evil itself (originally airing in 1989, this may well be one of the last of its kind). Why, with the final chess game between Fenric and the Doctor, there's even a whiff of "The Celestial Toymaker" from way back.

And yet it all comes across as trying too hard. Knowing in retrospect that this is the next-to-last story in the show's classic run it may be too easy to say this, but it almost seems as if the producer and his staff are attempting to jumpstart the waning popularity of Doctor Who by haphazardly throwing in everything that ever worked--missing the basics in the process. First of all, they left out the heart: The spirit of fun and adventure just seems to be missing, and the combination of quintessential elements seems artificial and contrived rather than natural and creative. Second of all, they forgot the brain: once again as with "Ghost Light" a fledgling writer is doing his best but not apparently getting the direction and feedback he needs from the script editor. As a whole the story is far more coherent, thank goodness, but there are still far too many fuzzy points, plotline tangles, and sheer implausibilities for a final draft--and overall the horror-to-sci-fi translation is incomplete and unripe, with too many things a trifle too supernatural and unscientific for the Doctor Who fictional universe. Finally, they lost their courage: the story bends over backwards painfully to cast the Soviet soldiers in a good light while vilifying the Brits--to the degree that it winds up as an embarrassing display of self-persecution. If only they'd had a wonderful wizard to consult with on these matters.

Still, for all that, "The Curse of Fenric" is reasonably enjoyable and entertaining, and it has its moments. This is the BBC, so the historical sets and costumes are top-notch. Having the believably clunky British decryption computer summon forth Fenric by spitting out an English translation of his cursed verses from Norse is clever. McCoy does great as the Doctor, and at one point rambles off a quick summary of what must be Time Lord Theology (and Theodicy) which is rather interesting and convincingly abstract. The way he bumbles in and somehow makes himself at home in a top secret naval base really is classic Doctor Who, utterly uncontrived. And the story as a whole nicely and intriguingly thematizes faith and doubt, giving it more multilayered texture than the average monster movie. All of this makes "Fenric" worth watching despite its flawed nature, but none of it justifies making this a double-DVD set by including a director's cut version of the same story over again.

BBC Video continues to turn out the quarterly releases of the Doctor Who back catalogue on DVD and the latest pairing brings two stories from the latter years of the series lengthy broadcast run. Although technically featuring stories from two different eras of Doctors (and featuring a third in a guest role) both The Two Doctors and The Curse of Fenric come from the very troubled final years of the show's 26 year run when even the fans found it hard to find favor with their hero's antics and the general viewing public made it clear that they could care less!

The Two Doctors was unfortunate enough to be on air when the show was famously cancelled by the BBC, albeit to return 18 months later in a revised and truncated format. Perhaps it is for this reason that this story is not that highly rated, but in all honesty it's more likely to be that the adventure was typically symptomatic of everything that seemed to be wrong with the production at this time.

The first six part adventure to be made and broadcast since 1978, this lengthy story was in fact broadcast in three double-length episodes at the beginning of 1985 in the first full season to feature the controversial sixth Doctor, played by Colin Baker. I've always believed that Colin had the personality and charisma to be a very, very fine Doctor indeed and had he followed Tom Baker and not Peter Davison, things could have been very different for him. As it is, his characterization was horribly misconceived, as was his truly appalling costume and he successfully alienated the very loyal and devoted fans of the show and the general public alike. By the time The Two Doctors was on air, one third of the audience had switched off from the start of the season and the BBC was naturally looking to see why. They blamed the violence enveloping the show and watching this story, they wouldn't be far wrong.

Written by probably the greatest writer ever associated with the show, the late, great former script editor Robert Holmes, this story had so many elements that could have made it a success, but was completely let down by some gratuitous violence, grisly, unnecessary deaths and far too complex a plot. Even the return of one of the show's most popular incumbents, second Doctor Patrick Troughton and his popular sidekick Jamie were unable to save the show. More's the pity since Troughton died the following year and this is hardly a fitting tribute to his contribution to the show.

When the program did make it back on to air in 1986 it was a shadow of its former greatness and although it staggered onwards for another four seasons, the death knell was never far away. The Curse of Fenric comes from the very end of the show's run and is possibly the greatest example of everything that was wrong with the production at the time. Essentially, from the very beginning of the series in 1963, the production team had always worked with their backs to the wall, with never enough time or budget to achieve what they were striving for, and yet, in 26 years, they'd always managed to find entertaining and popular stories that generally worked against all the odds. The Curse of Fenric was simply an unworkable mess. A good mess; a promising mess; but a mess nonetheless. It's staggering to think that a professional TV producer would pull together a script that was so incredibly complex and essentially unworkable under the show's format and then be surprised that the material couldn't be worked into the show's slot. It's only thanks to home video and DVD that we can now see the show how it was intended, which rather ignores the fact that it is a TV show intended for a much wider audience and not the select fans who will buy the DVD or Video.

The DVD set contains the four episodes as they were transmitted (itself a first for home video) plus a (second) attempt to restore all the deleted material and re-order the scenes to make more sense. Certainly it does just that, but I'm still baffled 15 years after it was made and I doubt it will ever truly make sense! Thankfully the writer has recorded a long explanation of how his story was meant to be. Thanks, but that doesn't and didn't help the viewers of BBC1 back in 1989! But as always with the Doctor Who DVD's, it's the extras that make these releases so worthwhile, regardless of the quality of the stories themselves. With the Two Doctors there are all sorts of goodies, including a great commentary from the main cast and director and all sorts of out-takes, behind the scenes information and (perhaps unwisely) a lengthy piece by the producer's ex-partner explaining at length how they unnecessarily set the story in Spain so as to get some fabulous vacation time for themselves. Oops! The Curse of Fenric commentary from Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred and Nicholas Parsons is also highly entertaining and the extras on this two-disc set certainly prove most interesting, even it is all a bit long winded.

Doctor Who was never very good when it took itself too seriously. The fans love all the in-jokes and references to the past. But it hardly works for the general viewer who simply is baffled because they didn't see the story from last season that ties into this, or can't remember something from 10 years ago that drives the whole plot. Sadly, that's what Doctor Who in its final years was all about. At least these discs go someway to making it a little clearer!

There is a saying about going out on top. Sylvester McCoy (and indeed Doctor Who itself) found itself coming to an unexpected end in 1989 with some of the original series best stories. Of those the best of them would be The Curse Of Fenric. With this DVD release this classic story is seen not only in its original form but in an expanded "special edition" that presents the way it was originally intended. The result is a unique release of what I consider to be the second best Doctor Who story ever.

Any good production must have a god cast and this one has one of the best of the series. The performances start with the regulars: Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor and Sophie Aldred as Ace. McCoy gives his single best Doctor Who performance in this story as he strikes just the right balance between his more comedic Doctor of season 24 and the more serious Doctor of season 25 and earlier in season 26. Just look at the final episode (or the last half-hour of the special edition) to see McCoy at his best. Sophie Aldred also gives one of her best performances as Ace. This was the middle story of what has become known to fans as the "Ace Trilogy" (the other two stories being Ghost Light and Survival) due to their heavy focus on Ace and giving Aldred a chance to show off her skills as an actress. Aldred doesn't disappoint with a strong disappointment with a strong performance as the companion who discovers that her past is interlinked with the vents unfolding around her. Despite their excellent performances, McCoy and Aldred is just the tip of the cast.

There is also an excellent supporting cast as well. There's Dinsdale Landen as Dr. Judson, the crippled computer scientist who unleashes the title and effectively embodies it. Alfred Lynch gives an excellent performance the obsessive Commander Millington who grows more and more paranoid as the story unfolds. There are also excellent performances from Tomek Bork as Soviet Captain Sorin plus Joann Kenny and Joanne Belll as the two teenagers Jean and Phyllis. Even the smaller roles are filled with good actors and actress like Anne Reid (Nurse Crane), Steven Rimkus (Captain Bates), Janet Henfrey (Mrs. Hardaker) and Raymond Trickett (the Ancient One). The true highlight of the supporting cast is Nicholas Parsons as Reverend Wainwright. Parsons, who apparently is better known in the UK for his more comedic roles and game show hosting, gives one of the best performances of the McCoy era as the priest who lost his faith and pays for it. There is a wonderful scene in the church where he is giving a sermon to an empty church that illustrates this beautifully and gives Parsons his best moment in the story. All together they form one of the show's best casts.

The story also has some strong production values as well. From the outset we get a rather well-done recreation of a WWII era army camp complete with trappings of the era (including a well done 1940's computer). Then there's the Haemovore's: the vampire possible future evolution of humanity brought back to the past. The Haemovore's, especially the Ancient One, are amongst the best monsters ever designed for the show as they are incredibly spooky and convincing. Couple this with the underwater filming and excellent location work and the result is a story that proves that under the right conditions a low budget can be overcome.

Then there's the heart of it all: the script. This is a story with many threads and layers. It is a story about war and faith that explores the nature of evil plus the lengths one must go to fight it. On top of all that there is the obvious horror aspect in the form of the Haemovores. Ian Briggs also manages to tie together stories from the McCoy era (Silver Nemesis, Dragonfire) to explore the background and character of Ace. Above all, this story is a sort of chess game between the Doctor and is ancient enemy named here as Fenric in which all the other characters act as their pawns. This is a story where one must watch to get everything that is going on making this not only a action story but one of the show's most cerebral as well. It is because of its complexity that the "special edition" is worth watching.

The DVD is packed with special features including interviews, commentaries, making of stuff etc but the true star of this release: the "special edition" version of the story. This version is movie length with new scenes, CGI effects and a 5.1 soundtrack which makes it the superior of the two versions. This is not only because of the CGI effects and the excellent 5.1 soundtrack but because of the new scenes added to the story. The new scenes add a new depth to the story that expands on the backgrounds of some character sand the actions of others. This version also is helped by the regarding done the story which brings a new degree of atmosphere that the story was previously missing. The result is a classic story made all the better and this version of the story alone is worth the price of the DVD.

The Curse Of Fenric is Doctor Who at its finest or close to it. It is defiantly the best story of the McCoy era at any rate with its strong performances, good production values and a strong script. This DVD release, with the "special edition" version, is the definitive version of this classic Doctor Who adventure. Believe what you've heard: The Curse Of Fenric is excellent.

I've got a soft spot for the 7th Doctor's era indeed. Beginning my Who journey in the 21st century, I decided in the lapse between series 5 and series 6, I would watch some old Who, try it out. I started off on Netflix and watched Ghost Light and The Curse of Fenric. I loved both and eventually saw all 12 of the Seventh Doctor's adventures. While they ranged from far and few between, many were cracking, and this one is no exception- in fact, it's his best outing!

I don't know why people have maligned this story on Amazon. It ranked 30 out of 200 on the mighty DWM 200. That's a got thing btw. And it's fantastic to boot.

The story is very complicated (which could garner some fair complaints) but rewarding if you understand it, and it may take several views too. The story is about a group of British Soldiers who have become wary about the Russians and have tricked them by making a device known as an encoder which will actually end up poisoning them and destroying Moscow with the high level poison the British people are mining in the costal town. An ancient entity is awoken amidst the chaos and creatures that are the warning and the future of the biowarfare and the victims of a terrible curse emerge from the sea. Meanwhile, Ace begins to suspect the Doctor is up to many tricks, and he isn't explaining anything.

The plot is very complicated, I won't lie. However, the DVD includes a movie-length version with 12 minutes of deleted scenes put back into it which helps the story to breathe and plays just like a movie. By far the best special feature out of many great ones.

The Curse of Fenric is strong for many reasons. The story is original and very smart (a tad confusing, yes). Cartmel's plan is beginning to show and we learn more about Ace in the 2nd entry of the Ace Trilogy. Mark Ayres' score is suitably eerie, the acting is brilliant, and the special effects are good. The best part is easily the location work and Nicholas Mallett's brilliant direction. It lends the story an authentic feel and the production values haven't been so high in a while.

Some of the dialogue is a bit cheesy and the 4 part broadcast version is pale in comparison to the movie, but the movie is the price of admission really and should the real reason to own this DVD. This is easily McCoy's best story, dark, creepy, and well-acted. A must for any fan of Who!

In the Sylvester McCoy era Doctor Who episode entitled "The Curse of Fenric" the Doctor and Ace have come to the coast of England during WWII and to a military base conducting secert experiments in espionage and bio warfare the likes of which no country has ever seen. Meanwhile a Russian commando unit has reached the same shores with orders to locate the base and steal its greatest machine the "Ultimo" machine that can break any code no matter what it is.
The base commander who is obsessed with the ancient legends of the cove in which a viking party raided and stole treasures from the far east amongest them a bottle that houses the spirit of an evil so great that it seeks revenge against the very person who imprisoned it so long ago. While the chief scientist is obsessed with ancient viking runes beneath a church by the sea and think his machine can crack the code of the runes engraved on the walls. Ace is confused as to what any of this has to do with the Doctor and why it is needed to be here. Along the way she encounters a woman who while working on the base and keeping her child hidden from the base commander.
The Doctor has stumbled upon the russian orders and makes discoveries through the church of the ancient legends and there he finds that those who raided long ago may still live as hemovories. Creatures that live on blood and prey on those without faith or courage to stand in what the belive in. The Doctor also begins to wonder if the evil of legend is something from his very past.
Can the Doctor trust the commander to do the right thing? Will the elgend of the vikings be retold in modern times? What are the russians really up to by spying on thier allies? Can Ace figure out what the Doctor is playing at and what all this has to do with legend of the curse of Fenric in time? Check it out in this thrilling Doctor who adventure.

I love Doctor Who, but this is not his finest hour. Sylvester McCoy, as the Seventh Doctor, is clearly a fine actor, but, in this case, he was given a weak script to draw from.

While the show is not known to be exceptionally complex politically, here, it tries to be. As the Cold War was winding down, apparently the writers thought they would try to push a cliche British-Russian post-war friendliness. The message is inoffensive, but it is presented so syrupy and unbelievable.

Characters here are more cookie-cutter than usual, with an old maid, innocent soldiers, and an obsessive leader.

Implausibility continues as various victims do not run from the Haemovores who slowly approach in zombie-like manner. In fact, it is so zombie-like, there is a direct allusion to "Night of the Living Dead" when they are trapped in a building.

Included here is an obvious plotline of her meeting her mother while she was still a baby.

I wanted to like this more than I do, and my overall love for the series is probably why I give it as high marks as I have. However, had I skipped it, I think I would not have minded.

Anthony Trendl
anthonytrendl.com

I could wax on forever about how much I adore this story and how absolutely amazing it is. Loved it when I first saw it back in '89 and I still do, all the more with the passing of time.

This is an epic in every sense of the word, but like all the best Who it is deeply personal as well as earth-shattering. A complex tale, to be sure, but one that grows beautifully over the course of its 4 episodes. It's set during World War II in an army base on the English coast, and is full of period charm.

This is admittedly a strange mix of themes - World War II, an ancient Viking curse, vampires (or something similar at least), Russian spies, Ace's backstory and more. BUT it is all blended seamlessly and magically into an epic masterpiece.

The two stories in Season 26 that preceded it, Battlefield and Ghost Light, build up to this moment beautifully, and I highly suggest watching them first. BUT really this story began all the way back in Dragonfire, when Ace first joined the Doctor in traveling time and space, and was touched upon again several times thereafter, especially in Silver Nemesis and then all of Season 26. This serial is the culmination of almost two seasons of omens and portents.

And at the end of it every surviving character, especially the 7th Doctor (whose manipulations of friend and foe alike come to a head here) and above all Ace (who comes of age and makes peace with her past over the course of this story), has grown immensely.

My favourite science fiction take on vampires ever, too.

So many magical scenes here. But perhaps my very favourites are when the Doctor fights off the Haemovores by focusing on his companions and reciting their names, and when Captain Sorin does so with his faith in the Revolution.

Some of the best moments, happy and tragic both, between the 7th Doctor and Ace (in my opinion one of the very best Doctor & Companion pairings ever) happen here.

I can't recommend it enough!

I first saw this years ago on TV as a kid. I didn't remember much about it, but I did remember it was good, scary, and action-packed. Then about a week ago or so, I rewatched it on the internet, and it was just as good as I remembered. A very spooky and eerie story about an evil entity rising once again in a small English village off the coast of Britain during World War II. This adventure is excellently directed creating a scary atmosphere. Some great momments include the dead Russian soldier under the water opening his eyes, the two girls in the water after they have been turned into Haemovores, the two girls attacking their step-mother, the army of Haemovores rising from the water and walking towards the church in the grave yard, the part where the Doctor, Ace, and the Vicker are trapped in the church and trying to keep the Haemovores out, and part three's cliffhanger ending where we see the first appearance of Fenric. It's got great performances in it, lot of good and scary parts, plus a lot of action on the side of that.

This DVD includes both the original four-part version of the story plus a new extended feature-length version with newly added CGI effects and a new sound mix which greatly improove this story which was great to begin with. The extended version also includes an added scary part that wasn't featured in the original where two soldiers run into an army of Haemovores in a dark tunnel.

A great adventure that combines "Doctor Who" with "Steven King's Salem's Lot", and does a very good job at scarying you. Highly recommended!

By the time the original series got around to the 7th Doctor (Sylvester McCoy), the series was a shadow of its former self, which can be seen in the currently available on dvd Pyramids of Mars, The Talons of Weng-Chiang, The Aztecs, etc....

Still, the 7th Doctor "era" which lasted the equivilant of 1.5 seasons in the Tom Baker era, had the occasional high point.

This story is the top of the heap when it comes to the 7th Doctor.

My advice is to watch the special edition version of the story, on disc 2 instead of the orignial version on disc 1. The new version has added scenes, updated music and some better post production work making it flow and look better.