A coven of crazies take over the cellar, to summon a monster that is interstellar, but what they receive, your eyes won't believe, cross between a cloth dragon and green caterpillar.
3 Reviews
Image of the Dragopillar...
Xstal5 July 2022
Who's pulling the strings?
Sleepin_Dragon10 December 2018
Another terrifically dark episode, full of rich dialogue, and delightful characterisations, all of which lead us up to the big reveal, The Fendahl.
There is nothing subtle about this episode, it is out and out horror, all elements of horror are thrown in, scary visions, kidnap, hooded figures, a sacrificial alter, and that feeling of being scared to the point of being unable to move, you can certainly say that every effort was made to make this episode in particular, very scary.
It's interesting, we now discuss modern Doctor Who losing viewers weekly, and that's seen as acceptable, this four parter was that good, that viewing figures rose as it progressed, 7.9 million people tuned into this one.
This episode might have been deserving of a score of 10, but The Fendahl itself, I found a little disappointing, the monster itself could have been a bit better surely, it's a little panto villain.
Leela has returned to form, asking The Doctor all manner of questions.
Class, 9/10
There is nothing subtle about this episode, it is out and out horror, all elements of horror are thrown in, scary visions, kidnap, hooded figures, a sacrificial alter, and that feeling of being scared to the point of being unable to move, you can certainly say that every effort was made to make this episode in particular, very scary.
It's interesting, we now discuss modern Doctor Who losing viewers weekly, and that's seen as acceptable, this four parter was that good, that viewing figures rose as it progressed, 7.9 million people tuned into this one.
This episode might have been deserving of a score of 10, but The Fendahl itself, I found a little disappointing, the monster itself could have been a bit better surely, it's a little panto villain.
Leela has returned to form, asking The Doctor all manner of questions.
Class, 9/10
Last echo of the horror themes from the great previous era.
A_Kind_Of_CineMagic13 January 2015
Review of all 4 episodes:
Horror of Fang Rock two stories before this was a sort of dividing point between the sustained brilliance of the quite adult horror based series 12-14 and the more lightweight, humour based series 15 onwards. This though is a horror themed story, a final echo of that previous era before the tone changes fully to a lighter tone in the following stories of the series. Robert Holmes remained as script editor and so despite the change in producer from the great Phillip Hinchcliffe to Graham Williams, the push to move to more humorous, light themes had not yet fully taken over. This story is very much showing Holmes is still in charge and Chris Boucher who had written horror based stories in recent seasons has provided another dark and creepy adventure.
The story has a skull, seemingly human but far too old to be human, dug up and used by scientists in their experiments. The skull is actually alien and has dangerous powers. There are also followers of a mystical cult helping the alien Fendahleen to return The Doctor has to stop the alien menace.
Tom Baker and Louise Jameson continue to shine as The Doctor and Leela and the story is well acted by the whole cast. It is well scripted with intelligent and sharp dialogue and lots of suitably scary scenes and menacing atmosphere. The first episode is particularly brilliant. It is exciting, chilling and enjoyable. Episode 2 pretty much matches it and the 3rd and 4th episodes are also excellent. Although the final part of the story has a few slightly less impressive elements it is still very entertaining and very good quality.
My ratings: Parts 1 & 2 - 10/10, Part 3 - 9.5/10, Part 4 - 9/10. Overall - 9.63/10.
Horror of Fang Rock two stories before this was a sort of dividing point between the sustained brilliance of the quite adult horror based series 12-14 and the more lightweight, humour based series 15 onwards. This though is a horror themed story, a final echo of that previous era before the tone changes fully to a lighter tone in the following stories of the series. Robert Holmes remained as script editor and so despite the change in producer from the great Phillip Hinchcliffe to Graham Williams, the push to move to more humorous, light themes had not yet fully taken over. This story is very much showing Holmes is still in charge and Chris Boucher who had written horror based stories in recent seasons has provided another dark and creepy adventure.
The story has a skull, seemingly human but far too old to be human, dug up and used by scientists in their experiments. The skull is actually alien and has dangerous powers. There are also followers of a mystical cult helping the alien Fendahleen to return The Doctor has to stop the alien menace.
Tom Baker and Louise Jameson continue to shine as The Doctor and Leela and the story is well acted by the whole cast. It is well scripted with intelligent and sharp dialogue and lots of suitably scary scenes and menacing atmosphere. The first episode is particularly brilliant. It is exciting, chilling and enjoyable. Episode 2 pretty much matches it and the 3rd and 4th episodes are also excellent. Although the final part of the story has a few slightly less impressive elements it is still very entertaining and very good quality.
My ratings: Parts 1 & 2 - 10/10, Part 3 - 9.5/10, Part 4 - 9/10. Overall - 9.63/10.
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