Doctor Who DVD Reviews

[RexAndHannah1]

Horror Of Fang Rock DVD Review

Recently, I had the pleasure of purchasing the DVD of one of my most favourite Doctor Who stories, The Horror Of Fang Rock. I remember enjoying this story when I was very young, and I was happy to see that the pleasure had not faded with time. This story is just as enjoyable now for me as it was when I was little.

For those of you unfamiliar with this Who story, it centers around an alien space craft that crash lands a few miles of the Channel coast of England, sometime in the first decade of the 20th Century (although no specific year is mentioned, King Edward VII is referred to, placing this story sometime between the years 1901 and 1910). Nearby is the island of Fang Rock, on which a lighthouse is located. The alien makes its way to the island, and soon kills Ben, one of the three keepers of the lighthouse. At this point, the Doctor and Leela arrive on Fang Rock by accident (the TARDIS having gotten lost in the fog), and head to the lighthouse to get directions. However, the two of them find themselves quickly involved in the mystery as to what happened to Ben. Reuben, the older keeper, is suspicious of the new arrivals, while Vince, the younger keeper, is more friendly towards them. Aside from Ben being murdered, something is tampering with the electricity of the lighthouse and a mysterious fog bank has come rolling in, despite that no fog was forecast for that night.

To complicate matters still further, a ship soon runs aground on Fang Rock, and the Doctor and Co. wide up dealing with the survivors. These survivors are Lord Henry Palmerdale, an arrogant English Lord, Adelaide, his secretary, and Colonel James Skinsale, a Member of Parliament. Harker, a crew member from the doomed boat, rounds out the survivors. They were on their way back to England, from France, when they got caught in the fog. However, it seems that Palmerdale has an agenda. He has vital stock market information, provided by Skinsale, and he needs to get back to London before the Stock Exchange opens, in order to use said information. Palmerdale is determined to leave the island, and will do almost anything to achieve that goal.

While all this is going on, the Doctor determines that they lighthouse is under attack by a hostile alien life form (this alien created the fog to isolate them). When he tries to warn the survivors, no one takes him seriously. The only one that does listen to the Doctor is Reuben. However, Reuben is convinced that the Doctor is talking about the Beast Of Fang Rock, a legendary monster that was said to haunt the island.

Finally, the alien does infiltrate the lighthouse and starts killing off the humans. The Doctor soon discovers that the whole planet Earth itself is at stake in the end. Can he overcome the alien, before it’s too late?

This is a great story, and it takes the atmosphere, a group of people trapped and cut off from the rest of the world, and really works with it. Terrence Dicks, a legend in Who circles (aside from writing many episodes and being Script Editor on Who for a while, Mr. Dicks also novelized many of the stories, including this one), wrote this story as a quick replacement for another that had fallen through. However, you cannot tell that from viewing it. Fang Rock is very well paced and keeps you on the edge of your pants throughout.

The special effects are quite good, for their time (don’t forget that this episode was made in 1977, long before the advent of CGI technology). The lighthouse miniature is well done, and the interior sets do give the impression of actually being filmed in a lighthouse of that time period (the early 1900's).

The only down side is the alien itself, but, as I said, this was long before CGI.

Tom Baker (the Doctor) and Louis Jameson (Leela) are spot on. Their banter is both amusing and touching at times. The Doctor has gotten quite used to his new companion, and Leela is shown to be learning to embrace science (she grew up in a tribe on a primitive planet). Of course, there were times that Leela lost patience with the survivors. At one point, she pulls her knife on Palmerdale and tells him to shut up, and in another memorial scene, she smacks a hysterical Adelaide across the face. Leela’s actions here are believable, and the Doctor, despite his protests in the past, seems to approve of them on these two occasions.

The guest stars are also well presented. I think that the audience would probably most connect with Vince and Harker, because they were the common working class men that most can sympathize with. However, Palmerdale and Skinsale also had their moments to shine. Watch the episode and see for yourself.

The DVD also has special features, including some audio commentary by Terrence Dicks, Louis Jameson, and John Abbott (who played Vince). I found their comments both funny and informative.

In conclusion, I highly recommend this DVD. It is a must have for any true Doctor Who fan. I give it a 10/10.

Yes, this is one of the stories that inspired my Timelost series.

[RexAndHannah1]

Arc Of Infinity DVD Review

This story has taken its lumps over the years by Doctor Who fans for various reasons. Well, I just want to say that I am not one of those fans. Yep, I liked this story and it is the latest addition to my Doctor Who DVD library.

Perhaps the main reason that I like this story is that it gives Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) a chance to shine. As I explained in my Nyssa article, I felt that she never got the character development she deserved, because there were always other Companions around to hog the spotlight (hello Tegan). For much of this story, Nyssa is alone with the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) and I think they make a good team. Peter Davison has said that he liked Nyssa the best of all the Companions of his tenure. He felt that the two of them could very well have carried a story on their own. Well, this story proves that (as well as the Audio Adventures that Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton have done in recent years). Of course, this story was written by Johnny Byrne, the writer who originally created Nyssa in Keeper Of Traken, so maybe that had something to do with it. Mr. Byrne finally got a chance to give his creation the opportunity to shine, and I commend him for that. Like Peter Davison, I consider Nyssa my favourite Who Companion.

Some fans have grumbled about the Amsterdam setting for part of this story. Why? No one complained when they went to Paris for City Of Death a few years before. Granted, Paris does have much more familiar landmarks than Amsterdam does, but that should not take anything away from the story. It was nice that they could get out of the United Kingdom every now and again, it made the show, in my opinion, much more universal.

The Gallifrey scenes were also well done. It was nice to get these glimpses of the Doctor’s home world and his race. Borusa and the rest of the High Council of Time Lords were very well portrayed, although their actions and priorities were often very questionable. The Castellan in particular was a pretty nasty piece of work. You got the impression that he was very overzealous in his job and felt he was right, circumstances be damned. The fact that he was wrong in the end didn’t seem to bother him the least. You can’t help but cheer when he gets killed in The Five Doctors. Commander Maxil (played by future Sixth Doctor, Colin Baker) would have made a very good Nazi. When asked to justify his harsh treatment of the Doctor, he replies with the old excuse: “I am just following orders.” He was never seen again after this story, and one has to wonder if the High Council realized he had gone too far and fired him (in fact, Colin Baker was asked to reprise his role of Maxil in The Five Doctors, but couldn’t do it because of another acting commitment).

Since this was the Twentieth Season and Anniversary of Doctor Who (1983), producer John Nathan-Turner decided to bring back an old monster or enemy for the stories of this season. For this story (which opened the anniversary season), the old enemy was Omega (who had previously appeared in The Three Doctors, back in 1973), the ancient Time Lord who had helped Rassilon give there race the ability to travel in time and space. During this process, Omega had ended up trapped in an anti-matter universe, where his body was eaten away, until only his will remained. Omega had already made one attempt to return home (in the aforementioned Three Doctors) and now he was trying again in this story. What made Omega different from the other renegade Time Lords on the show (like The Master) was that he didn’t want to destroy worlds or take over the universe, rather he just wanted to come home. The problem was that his act of coming home would have destroyed worlds as he no longer had a matter body, only his now anti-matter will. That is what made him a threat that the Doctor had to stop.

There is only one aspect of this story that I found hard to swallow. The guy that Omega grabbed on Earth JUST HAPPENED to be Tegan’s cousin and Tegan JUST HAPPENED to be on her way to Amsterdam to see him at that time. This was clearly just a way to get Tegan back into the TARDIS. If you ask me, they could have left her on Earth for a few more stories before bringing her back. I have nothing against Tegan (or Janet Fielding, the actress who played her), but, as I said above, her absence gave Nyssa a chance to shine, and Nyssa deserved that for a change. The way they got Tegan back, by this series of coincidences, really challenged my ability to suspend disbelief.

The DVD includes audio commentary by Peter Davison (Fifth Doctor), Janet Fielding (Tegan), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), and Colin Baker (Maxil). I found many of their comments insightful and funny. Peter Davison even points out a scene in the last episode, when the Doctor, Nyssa, and Tegan are chasing Omega through the streets of Amsterdam. At one point, as the Doctor and Co. run by, you see two women standing there with looks on their faces that seemed to say: “What the heck is going on here!?” Well, those two women were not extras, rather they had just wandered into the shot somehow. No wonder they looked so freaked out! Also mentioned is the infamous incident of the cast visiting the red light district of Amsterdam and two men trying to pick up Janet Fielding, who they thought was a prostitute!

In closing let me say that I like this much maligned story, and I hope that other fans will eventually give it a chance. It may not be perfect, but I think it was a worthy story to open the 20th Anniversary of Doctor Who. I give it a 9/10.