The Curse of Fenric: Part One

Doctor Who was coming to the end of its original long run in 1989, and Sylvester McCoy would be the last to play the Time Lord for some time. Stories from the last series would be a little patchy, but this one - perhaps because of its supporting cast (Nicholas Parsons, Alfred Lynch, Dinsdale Landen, Anne Reid) - doesn't disappoint.

There are aliens, a war plot, a fiendish chess game, a computer encryptor, a priest who has lost faith in God, and - a common theme in the series - men in the armed forces who may not be all they seem. This story has a reputation of being one of the best, and it is certainly clever and slightly scary. McCoy himself was a good Doctor, giving the character a bit of vulnerability and charm alongside the eccentricity, while Sophie Aldred as Ace was a good sidekick.

Comparing 'The Curse of Fenric' with some more recent stories from the new era is interesting as it comes out rather well; and perhaps that bit more convincing.

The Sylvester McCoy's era Doctor Who was known for many lows but it could pull some highs out of the bag as well. An era with not much of a middle ground.

The Curse of Fenric arrived with a lots of subtext. Set in World War 2. It opens with some Soviet soldiers arriving in dinghies at Maiden's Point on the English Northumberland coast.

At the same time the Doctor arrives with Ace at a top secret naval site. He wants to meet Dr Judson who is working on a powerful decoding machine. The kind the Soviets plan to steal.

However there is something lurking beneath the waters. The local cemetery has many descendants of Vikings and a long held belief that something evil was once buried in the crypt.

A very atmospheric first episode with talks of runes, viking folklore and wolves. There is also a hint that Ace's backstory is getting explored again. A baby with the same name as her mother.

You sense this is going to be a special story and this is a strong opening episode. Even Nicholas Parson as Reverend Wainwright. Initially regarded as stunt casting as he was then better known as a game show host is taking this ever so seriously.

Review of all 4 episodes:

Highly acclaimed quite rightly, this is up with Remembrance of the Daleks as the two undisputed greats of the McCoy era. The story is more reminiscent of the Hinchcliffe and Holmes era of high quality gothic horror than the camp adventures of McCoy's earlier seasons. It still has some slightly camp aspects but is dark, creepy and powerful. The drama is great, the dialogue is strong and the content is both absorbing and intelligent.

The plot involves a wartime village where Russian soldiers are coming ashore, a code breaking machine is being used to decipher ancient writing and zombies come out of the sea. The layers of depth in the story involving Viking ancestors, Ace's mysterious family background and themes of trust and faith in various beliefs make this a real top standard effort. Writer Ian Briggs and script editor Andrew Cartmel are to be applauded.

The backstory of Ace is a great touch and gives Sophie Aldred a chance to shine as Ace. There are fascinating dark aspects of the Doctor acting in a manipulative way and a scene where he makes Ace lose faith in him by verbally attacking her. It is very effective.

The themes of faith which run through the vicar's faith in God (beautifully played by Nicholas Parsons), the Russian commander's faith in his country and the Doctor's faith in the people and things he trusts as well as Ace's faith in him all are evocative and thoughtful.

The zombies look great and bring about some superb menacing scenes. There are further great characters bringing more great story aspects such as the complex role of Dr. Judson (Dinsdale Landen) and theultra strict busybody Miss Hardaker and the evacuee girls in her care.

This is a brilliant classic.

My ratings: All 4 episodes - 10/10.

During my childhood and teenage years, and even during my time at university, I was an avid fan of "Doctor Who", but my enthusiasm for the series began to wane in the late eighties, by which time I was in my twenties. Part of the reason was the decision to move the programme from Saturday to a Wednesday timeslot, as work commitments meant that I could not always get home in time to watch it. This difficulty could no doubt have been overcome by the purchase of a video recorder, but another reason was that I disliked Sylvester McCoy's interpretation of the role. I therefore gave up watching, and when the BBC cancelled the series at the end of the 26th season I greeted their decision with indifference rather than the fury which would have been my reaction a few years earlier.

"The Curse of Fenric" was one of a number of serials which I missed because of my anti-McCoy boycott of the programme, and I had never seen it until it was recently broadcast on the "Horror" channel. It was the penultimate serial in that fateful 26th season; the very last "classic" Doctor Who adventure was the ironically inappropriately named "Survival".

The Doctor and his companion Ace arrive at a British military base in Northumberland during World War II. The base, he main purpose of which is to intercept and decipher German coded messages, is loosely based upon the real-life Bletchley Park, but whereas Bletchley had a vast team of cryptanalysts, all the work at this installation seems to be done by only two men with the aid of a computer. Trying to explain the plot in any more detail would be a vain endeavour. Suffice it to say that it involves Viking inscriptions, a group of Russian soldiers who are carrying out an invasion of Britain despite the fact that they were supposed to be our allies at the time, an insane British naval officer who seems far madder than any Nazi, a wheelchair-bound professor, an unbelieving parson, poison gas, a race of aquatic vampires known as Haemovores, an Oriental vase, a baby, a game of chess and some revelations about Ace's family background. Have you got all that?

Despite the wartime setting the villains are not the Nazis, who are conspicuous by their absence. Behind the mayhem which engulfs the base and the surrounding area is a being called Fenric, who, like The Mara which featured in some earlier episodes, is a disembodied evil entity from the dawn of time. Just as The Mara was derived from Hindu/Buddhist mythology, so Fenric is loosely based upon Norse myths; the name is derived from Fenrir, the monstrous wolf which fought against the Norse gods. (The original title for the serial was "The Wolves of Fenric").

Unfortunately, there is little in "The Curse of Fenric" to alter my view that McCoy was the George Lazenby of the series. I think that the problem was that he was originally a comic actor who tried to play the Doctor as a clown. When this proved unpopular with both the producers and the viewing public, the scriptwriters tried to make his character darker- the Seventh Doctor is for this reason sometimes referred to as the "dark clown"- but McCoy never really seemed able to convey this. I was never a great admirer, either, of Sophie Aldred's Ace, a surly, bolshie young woman who seemed to have a perpetual chip on her shoulder. Aldred also struck me as a rather wooden actress.

The acting is not, however, the only reason why I regard this serial as a failure. As might be apparent from my above list of all the many plot elements, the story is unnecessarily complex, difficult to follow and does not make a lot of sense. "The Curse of Fenric" is, unfortunately, not the only below-par adventure from the late eighties and while watching it I could easily understand just why the BBC executives decided not to bring "Doctor Who" back for a twenty-seventh season.

Some Goofs. Officers in the Royal Navy (unlike the Army and RAF) are required either to be clean-shaven or to wear a full beard. A moustache like Commander Millington's would not be permitted. Whoever came up with the name "haemovore" seems to have got his Greek confused with his Latin. The Greek form of "blood-eater" would be "haematophage" and the Latin "sanguivore".

The Doctor and Ace arrive at a Naval base on the coast of Northumberland towards the end of World War II. The Time Lord and his young companion pretend to be from the war office. The purpose, of which is that the Doctor wishes to meet the wheel-chair, bound Dr. Judson whose work at breaking German Cyphers is very important to the war effort. This is achieved through the use of the Ultima machine. An invention of the crippled geniuses. Unknown however to the Doctor, Ace and Judson. A platoon of Russian soldiers led by Captain Sorin have secretly arrived on the coast of Northumberland. Their goal: To steal the Ultima Machine. But unknown to the Doctor. The theft of the Ultima Machine has been partly devised by Commander Millington. The base's supreme commanding officer. A ruthless, military man who is unnaturally obsessed with Norse Mythology. For centuries ago a Viking ship moored on the very shores, next to where the base stands. Carrying with it an evil curse. The Time Lord soon realizes he and everyone else on the base are embroiled in a deadly game. One that began centuries ago and will finally come to an end on the shores of England.

The second part of the Ace Trilogy, which explored in some way, the past of the Seventh Doctor's young companion, Ace. An extended version of this four-parter would be released on VHS that incorporated about six minutes of extra material into the original narrative. It was followed in 2003 by a DVD release that included a 'Special Edition' edited into a single movie-length feature, with new special effects, re-editing of some scenes, and 12 minutes of unbroadcast footage. It revolves around the Doctor and Ace arriving at a naval base off the coast of Northumberland toward the end of World War II. The Doctor assumes the identity of an official from the war office. Essentially a story that examines the horrors of war, and the justification used in regards to the use of nuclear weaponry against Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The Curse of Fenric thematically carries an anti-war message, casting a spotlight on the futility, and the obscenity concerning it. Some of the deleted footage in the extended version include the Doctor having a more substantial confrontation with the Great Haemovore, and the decomposing remains of Haemovores with wooden stakes having been driven through them.

Written by Ian Briggs, who has penned the trite and lamentably bad Dragonfire. He offers up a surprisingly intelligent, and thought provoking yarn. Borrowing aspects of Norse mythology that he weaves into the narrative. Having been the writer who created and introduced the Seventh Doctor's headstrong and impetuous companion, Ace, it comes as no surprise that the story falls back on Dragonfire in explaining how she came to find herself essentially stranded on the planet of Iceworld. While revealing little details of her past, and how Ace becomes pivotal in influencing her own personal future.

Sublimely incorporating aspects of both Norse and Vampire mythology, while Including a wealth of compelling and nuanced characters, who are painted with shades of grey. It's one big metaphor for how humanity is blacked and corrupted by the evils of war, Illustrating as with Francis Ford Coppola's classic masterpiece, Apocalypse Now the absurdity and futility of it.

Representing the uncompromising and single-mindedness of military authority, Millington is a man who has for too long stared into the black abyss, becoming corrupted by it. With his friend and his fellow former school contemporary Dr. Judson. Briggs based him on Alan Turing. The writer who at the time was unable to depict homosexuality in a family TV show, symbolized Judson's frustration at being unable to express his genuine sexual identity into his bitterness at being disabled. Millington, who himself was to be depicted as being gay, is a man consumed with anger and hatred. It is this that he transfers to the rage and the atrocities he commits.

In Captain Sorin, (Tomek Bork) a Russian solider who commands a covert squad tasked with stealing the Ultima Machine, (which is based on the code-breaking Enigma Machine. Which was utilized to decode German Cyphers), we have a stirring and courageous figure who is something of a morally ambiguous. His faith in the Russian Revolution. Something, that was responsible for the deaths of millions of the nation's people. One might presume he was unaware of the countless lives and the atrocities carried out in the name of the Stalinist communist regime. Although it may be seen as naive to think otherwise.

The Doctor is arguably at his most manipulative here, and the metaphorical game that he plays with the evil entity Fenric is symbolic of how politicians of every country use soldiers as pawns in one big game. Sylvester McCoy gives perhaps his best overall performance in the series to date. Being comparatively more restrained than in previous turns he has given in the past.

Sophie Aldred is pretty decent here as well and is in feisty form as Ace. With a moment where she challenges her figurative paternal figure due to his lack of transparency. Although on the odd rare moment, the dialogue she is given does her no favors ("Who do you think you are, armpit?!)" Nevertheless, she has a crowning moment, where she displays a new maturity when she uses her feminine wiles to distract a young guard to assist in freeing an imprisoned Captain Sorin. Having previously informed the Doctor, "Professor, I'm not a little girl." While, guest actor, Nicholas Parsons delivers a standout accomplished showcase in fine acting as the morally conflicted Rev. Wainwright. A man struggling to reconcile his faith in God with the horror and violence going on around him and within the war itself.

The Curse of Fenric highlights exemplary storytelling despite one or two minor shortcomings. Quibbles aside, it like Ghost Light marked a bold step in the direction that Andrew Cartmell wanted to take the series. Darker and a bit more gritty, it was and still is a testament to how the show could deal with more adult and political themes, and still appeal to Its core audience both young and old. It's just a shame that after the series finale, Survival it would be axed due to the machinations of then BBC controller Michael Grade. A man so shortsighted in his lack of respect for the series, that he went out of his way to sabotage it. This serial displays how against the odds, John Nathan-Turner and Andrew Cartmell managed to pull several figurative rabbits from the hat with the last three stories of the 26th and final series.