tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5386390949828958591.post478103375723670499..comments2024-03-14T05:07:57.110-07:00Comments on Doc Oho Reviews...: The Curse of Fenric written by Ian Briggs and directed by Nicholas MalletDoc Ohohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01819922630249965949noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5386390949828958591.post-81404716898016176562021-05-17T15:19:38.567-07:002021-05-17T15:19:38.567-07:00Watching all in order. Got here at last. Crackinf ...Watching all in order. Got here at last. Crackinf story which, like all the proper greats of the classic series, stands up to be shot at, it has its flaws, but I can easily look past them, like The Green Death and Talons. Once you get past them it is basically a gem, came from nowhere, bear in mind the combo of Dragonfire writer / Paradise Towers director, it should have been crap and it all just clicks. Great cliffhangers, especially goosebumps for end of part 3, the last great DW cliffhanger. McCoy is excellent, there would be NTA awards galore today. Cartmel really pushed the envelope and the revelations keep on coming, who is Fenric, then the dead man gets up, amazing. Dinsdale Landen plays it to perfection. Nicholas Parsons is good too. Sophie Aldred has some great content. Great music. The editing is not good because Fenric and the Doctor flit from the tunnels to the lab quite a bit in part 4. The Doctor is not flavour of the month after this manipulation of Ace, but didnt Tom do it to Leela in Invasion of Time? So many good set pieces and then part 4 is excellent. I prefer Ghost Light, cant deny it but this is a proper classic that should be shown on prime time terrestial today amd watch the viewing figures. What the BBC did to s26 on weds vs Corrie is a disgrace.4 million viewers. Their audience missed out because of someones agenda. Love this.Linx D Oderanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06587578831858117637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5386390949828958591.post-56775338477958637222017-05-02T20:12:43.379-07:002017-05-02T20:12:43.379-07:00This doesn't come close to being my favorite S...This doesn't come close to being my favorite Seventh Doctor TV serial (that's Ghost Light), but it may be my favorite turn by Ace (who also gets a lot of development in the aforementioned story). Rarely did the writers decide to treat her like an adult, and that is an issue that continued for years into her Big Finish stories. This story, coming on the heels of Ghost Light, should have been an opportunity to radically change Ace from the bat-wielding punk rockette we know into something more mature. David Pirtlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00636601389899125100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5386390949828958591.post-39692202876826092462016-10-29T01:40:46.116-07:002016-10-29T01:40:46.116-07:00'We could have done without the excerpts of th...'We could have done without the excerpts of the parish records, which hold up the action interminably' - I love all that stuff! Every slow, talky bit just ramps up the atmosphere. Plus I think the 'ooooh it's all tingly, like electric' feels very authentic.Martin Parsonshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16679190411664385580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5386390949828958591.post-41001166620205136122014-01-25T05:20:07.438-08:002014-01-25T05:20:07.438-08:00One part which was pretty weak: the zombie 80s tee...One part which was pretty weak: the zombie 80s teenage girls were scary to me - I was at school in that time and some of the girls really *were* terrifying - but the way they shuffle off in retreat after the Soviet soldier affirms his faith in 'Soviet communism' - which had been a joke for most conscious people since at least 1968 or 1956 - looks really silly and naive based upon what we know these days, and it fatally undermines the hazard posed by the haemovores. But it's 80s Who I guess... normal rules of critical conduct don't always apply, and the sublime is inextricably tangled with the excruciating.carlrnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5386390949828958591.post-5769659665111945862014-01-23T02:04:37.277-08:002014-01-23T02:04:37.277-08:00I've never been able to get into this one... t...I've never been able to get into this one... there's no Mrs. Remington for a start. ;)Audrey the Leviathan Vampire Girlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5386390949828958591.post-9391317933987180422014-01-22T19:49:27.963-08:002014-01-22T19:49:27.963-08:00I see this one is growing on you, seeing as it was...I see this one is growing on you, seeing as it was a 6/10 on the last review ;) Perhaps further viewings will reveal that it does hold up and merit a 10/10...muhahahahahahahahaha!!!!! <br /><br />Looking forward to more of your audio reviews by the way - your thoughts on the latest batch (Afterlife, Antidote to Oblivion, The King of Sontar, Stoyn Parts 2 and 3) will be interesting to read (especially the first three given your strong opinions on their TARDIS teams and the FDA's creative steam)! Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5386390949828958591.post-38440866278962410242014-01-22T13:46:09.318-08:002014-01-22T13:46:09.318-08:00I think it's a great story. As you argue, it i...I think it's a great story. As you argue, it is certainly flawed, but in terms of mood it is a *huge* return to Doctor Who being genuinely goth-scary, as it hadn't been since series 15 or 16. If we regard it all, including its apparent plot-holes, as a kind of latter-day Hammer throwback, then it all makes sense I reckon. I think the main aspects it shares with folk-horror is that it highlights that Northern Europe has its own horrors, it is and has been the origin of horrific things, however we try to bury this.carlrnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5386390949828958591.post-30683365776078185122014-01-22T05:08:00.619-08:002014-01-22T05:08:00.619-08:00I enjoyed it completely, and think it's the fi...I enjoyed it completely, and think it's the finest serial since Caves of Androzani.<br /><br />It's not free from faults in my eyes - I wish it had been given another episode or half an episode (but even without it it works fine, unlike the previous story). I agree completely on the Ace POV shots during the tower siege (it's even more glaring than the usual film/video transitioning). Being someone who prefers some hard SF, I'm not often wild about inexplicably magical fairy tale style god-like creatures (I mean, really, taking time out to play chess with them? And then being handcuffed by the inability to solve the puzzle?), but Doctor Who more often uses them well (celestial toymaker, great intelligence, The Mind Robber, Enlightenment) than not (Greatest Show). And this is no exception, justifying it's inclusion.<br /><br /><br />You raise too many issues to really address, but I'll try to address a few. If there's one story where coincidences are explicable, it would be this one because everything was being manipulated by Fenric. <br /><br />"Why does the Doctor start talking in cod Norse mythology…who on Earth would start a conversation like that?"<br /><br />But the Doctor *isn't* of Earth. :)<br /><br />"How on Earth did Ace work out that the encryptions are a logic diagram for a computer programme?"<br /><br />It's not that hard when the diagrams of both are literally side by side on the blackboard. Though I wouldn't have pegged Ace as analytical (despite her proficiency in chemistry) - presumably fenric manipulated her into taking the flip-flop class.<br /><br />I disagree on the Parish records, they are a clue in the mystery of fenric (though it's possible it might have worked better at another point in the story - I'll have to keep an eye out the next time I watch the story)<br /><br /><br /> Judson's accident and being crippled was supposed to stand in for his being gay but being unable to be open with his sexuality (the character was designed on Turing), but I believe much of this was cut out (another reason I think it deserves another episode). IIRC, there's more background in the novel.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com