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FishyFish

By FishyFish
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Sprite Machine

Sprite Machine

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Ghost Light

(Blog has pictures)

Much like 'Warriors' Gate', I think I would have enjoyed Ghost Light more if I had a better idea of what was happening! I did get the gist of it, that an alien survey had materialised on Earth to catalogue all of its species, much like the expeditions of the 19th century, and I enjoyed the parallels with the preserved animals around the house. And the "ghost in the basement" idea is nothing new, but it works.

[Picture: A policeman investigates the disappearance of the house's original occupants.]

Where things start getting fuzzy is with the other residents and their relationship with 'Light', their motivations, and what exactly the 'husks' are. I could probably watch Ghost Light twice and still not quite understand it; the flow of information is bitty and muddled. Having just read a plot synopsis, I'm sorry to say that most of it flew over my head. It's not that it makes no sense, it's just poorly explained on screen. At one point, the Doctor even claims he can't keep up with everything that's going on himself. It is at least quite a clever script with playful use of themes like evolution and preservation, and it wraps it up in the tropes of a horror story.

[Picture: Husks in the dark. I have no idea.]

It's also quite well made, with moody lighting and haunting music. Ace gets a more prominent role in the plot, referencing a traumatic childhood event that occurred in this house 100 years later (ah, time travel!). Exploring the backstory of the Doctor's companion is something the modern series does as its core premise these days, but it was more of a rarity back then. It's a good thing, but it doesn't have much impact on this story in the end, and Sophie Aldred doesn't have the acting chops to make it work. Sylvester McCoy continues to impress, however.

[Picture: 'Light', appearing in angelic form, wakes up from his dormant state to sort everything out.]

I suppose it's a credit to Ghost Light that I did enjoy it despite being lost and confused throughout. Some of it is just "weird for weird's sake", but there's some subtle and disturbing horror too (the soup!), as well as some tragic moments. Light being defeated by his fear of change is the perfect Doctor Who ending, really.

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Teabag

Teabag

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Despite the fact I had to buy the script book to figure out what was going on, I reckon Ghost Light is one of the few late period stories to pretty much get everything right. I love the Doctor's lack of compassion when he finds Gwendoline (I think) turned to stone because she'd enjoyed killing people too much, despite being under Light's control.

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Davros sock drawer

Davros sock drawer

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Yeah, I had the VHS of Ghost Light back in the day, and it took several watches before I got everything that was going on.

It is really very good though, and it's a shame the series' producers at the time didn't get a chance to make more stories like this. I agree that Aldred doesn't have the acting chops, and I also dislike the performance of the Actress playing 'Control' ('Laaaadyyyyliiiike!'), but generally the story and atmosphere are intriguing and interesting.

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Huz

Huz

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I love love love Ghost Light. Easily one of my favourite Doctor Who stories of all time, even though it's really confusing. Apparently the script was massively over length and had to be cut down significantly before recording, and even then they shot too much material and they had to leave further bits of the story on the proverbial cutting room floor.

But the bits of it that survive are great fun, and the gothic horror tropes work really well, even when it's a videotape-based drama done on a shoestring. The only bit of the story that makes me cringe is Sophie Aldred's acting during her exposition scene, but I'm really glad they were taking the companion in that direction. Just makes it suck all the more that the series would soon come to an end!

Edit - oh! Another factoid for you. This was the last episode of the original series to be recorded. It was done entirely in one of the smaller Television Centre studios. The last scene to be recorded was of the two girls mummifying (or something? It's been a while) and by then they already had a good idea that DW wasn't coming back. :(

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Teabag

Teabag

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So many ridiculously good concepts and set pieces in this though. The servants that march out of the secret compartments at 8pm, the insect husks in tuxedos and the spaceship powered by thought for a start. Not a moment is wasted. Marc Platt is wasted on Big Finish.

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Sprite Machine

Sprite Machine

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The Curse of Fenric

(Blog has pictures)

It's hard to believe that, just two seasons ago, I was watching the Rani in a wig and a space bus full of rock 'n' roll tourists. Somebody obviously woke up and realised Doctor Who needed to be a bit more serious and sophisticated, and The Curse of Fenric is the high point so far. Well, it's as sophisticated as a TV show can be when it features vampires, ancient viking curses and a man who travels in a police box, while still being accessible family viewing.

[Picture: Dr. Judson and his ULTIMA machine are clearly based on Alan Turing and the Enigma machine. I'm not sure the Enigma machine ran on poisonous green gooey artifacts, though.]

The cast is mostly terrific. Nicholas Parsons is great as the reverend struggling with his faith amidst the violent backdrop of World War II. Alfred Lynch plays Millington, a slightly unhinged naval commander, and although he comes across as a bit "Poundland Gary Oldman", it's a classy performance anyway. Some of the extras are cringeworthy, but Ace is definitely improving and her scenes with the Doctor are, hands down, the best so far.

[Picture: In a sci-fi twist on a legend, it's not the crucifix that keeps vampires away, it's the psychic barrier caused by unwavering faith. Sure, why not?]

There's some solid drama and emotion here. It's as if the writers have suddenly realised Ace should be an actual character rather than a box to tick and could have important parts of the plot dedicated to her. The revelations about her mother, about her past and the time storm that stranded her on another world are, admittedly, a little messy, but they're appreciated. Her rant about the Doctor not telling anybody what he knows is absolutely superb and completely true, and the whole exchange is really well done by both McCoy and Aldred. It's the best scene in years, frankly; I even mouthed "wow" when it was over. Ace is growing up.

[Picture: I almost expected her to stay behind with the Russian bloke, but that would have been a poor conclusion.]

The WWII setting is great; it's not an overused era on this show, surprisingly, and I enjoy all the code-breaking enigma machine type stuff. Even the "vampires" are more interesting than usual, being "haemovores" from Earth's far future, and the prosthetics on the uglier ones are really excellent. It's well-made, it looks good, it seems to be shot on location and, as expected, there are plenty more explosions.

[Picture: It's not the first Doctor Who story to feature creatures rising from the water, but it is the best.]

The only real problems I had with this one are in the choppy plotting and editing. Too many pointless things happening for no real reason. Ace climbing down a ladder to escape a haemovore attack, only to have to climb back up again. Reverend Wainwright finding his faith for all of five seconds, then losing it again. Fenric's inability to resist a chess puzzle for some reason. The ancient haemovore deciding to side with the Doctor in a scene that feels like it was written in and inserted later. It's not a problem exclusive to this serial - it happens a lot through the long running of this show - but it's more apparent here where everything else is at a much higher standard. And if this is the standard that Doctor Who had reached in 1989, it's even more of a shame that it wasn't allowed to continue. Or, then again, maybe that was for the best in the end.

One more left.

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Flub

Flub

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Fenric's inability to resist a chess puzzle for some reason

Rules is rules squire. If Time's Champion challenges the embodiment of evil (Interesting thought. Is Fenric and Enternal?) to a chess match then he has to play. Even if he's left the kettle on. I'd have preferred Twister myself.

Also Ace in suspenders.

Useless trivia for the next story. One of the

cat people

is played by the woman who would later go on to be the voice of Bernice Summerfield.

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kensei

kensei

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Watched this the other night. Ace's attempt to seduce is awful, but she's pretty good otherwise.

I think you've missed the point on a few items. The Reverend puts his faith to the test, and it crumbled in the face of the existence of evil. It's his whole story in 5 seconds. For Fenric, it seemed to be less about the puzzle (not truly chess either, the solution being what it is), but the need for dominance even ahead of victory. It's quite a smart serial really.

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Yartek

Yartek

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I've just read that there are two versions of this story. I *think* I watched the broadcast version, which might explain some of the editing decisions. Oh well.

Nevertheless, I still really enjoyed it. Best McCoy story so far.

The DVDs of Battlefield and Fenric both got extra movie-length re-edits which restore some cut stuff and fix a few odds and ends. Both really good and an improvement on the broadcast edits.

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Mogster

Mogster

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Fenric's ace isn't it? It's my favourite classic serial. McCoy seems to have a bit of a bad reputation, probably because everyone stopped watching after his first season, but like you said Fenric is like watching a different show.

Sorry if you've answered this already, but are you going to cover the TV movie, or stop with Survival?

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Huz

Huz

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I rewatched Fenric recently because I went to Norway and seeing all the stuff about Norse mythology dotted about reminded me of this story. It's great, one of my all-time favourites alongside Ghost Light. I think Fenric just about edges it, on account of it actually making sense on first viewing.

Fenric was another victim of the script being over-length and having to be cut back to the bare minimum, and there still being too much material in the edit. Apparently they had almost enough material for five full episodes, but politically there's no way you can deliver five episodes for the price of four when you you think your budget is too low already.

If you watched the episode from your "digital archive" then I really suggest purchasing the Curse of Fenric DVD. It contains a feature-length edit of the story, which includes much of the material that was dropped for the broadcast version and it flows better as a result. I think the fact a feature-length edit isn't tied into a strict "cliffhanger every 25 minutes" format helps too. What's really nice is that the new version has been treated to modern video effects and colour grading techniques, which makes a huge difference! I didn't realise how much difference colour grading can make, even to manky old video material, until I saw it.

My factoid for Fenric: Ace's seduction scene, as written, would have had her going "Ooh it's so hot! I need to take all my clothes off!" and shit, but given that they were clearly suffering through some atrocious weather throughout recording, even before the Haemovores rise from the sea and the rain at least seems appropriate, they needed to do a hasty rewrite to whatever cringeworthy stuff they ended up with.
Incidentally, I enjoy the scene where McCoy slips over in the mud and recoils from his filthy hands in disgust a little bit too much.

Great cliffhangers in Fenric, especially "We play the contest again...Timelord"

Love it.

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Flub

Flub

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I think it should have been an epic dance off instead. Just fix that image in your mind. Ace and the Doctor on one side, Fenric and the Haemavore on the other. Got it firmly fixed in the mind? Now imagine them twerking.

Sweet dreams.

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