I’m afraid this one is going to be short, as I can think of very little to say about it, it’s not that it’s bad, it’s quite enjoyable in the moment, but unlike some other Doctor Who serials, it’s impression is not lasting on me. Image of the Fendahl originally aired 10-29-77 to 11-19-77 with Tom Baker as the Doctor and Louise Jameson as Leela, while K9, the new robotic companion, barely makes an appearance in the story.

This one begins with the discovery of a human skull that predates the existence of humans on the planet. This is a great premise in my opinion, and I only wish the rest of the story lived up to it. The skull is actually a relic of the Fendaleen, an ancient race that feed on the ‘life force’ of others, sucking them dead, so to speak. It was so powerful, it destroyed all life on it’s home planet before finding its way to Earth. If this sounds interesting, don’t be fooled by the premise, as the four episodes which make up this tale don’t begin to live up to all that potential. Except, that Tom Baker is so damn good at his job, when he says there are four billion people on the earth, but he expects, in one year, that there will only be one, it is quite chilling. And that begins to hint at the charm of this story. There is a lot to like along the way, but I find myself more disappointed than enthusiastic when talking about Fendahl.

More of a downside, this is one of three adventures during Graham Williams tenure as producer, when one of the main villains is a female with some crazy makeup scheme who looks, otherwise, completely human. I mention that because although he did it three times (see Stones of Blood and Creature from the Pit), I can’t thank of any other period until the modern (post 2005) one when that type of design was used (though I’m probably just forgetting some). And, if it was done once, it’d be just fine, but three times in as many years, seems a bit much.

There are some great one liners, upon discovery of a corpse, Dr. Fendahl asks what kind of corpse it is to which he’s told, “a dead one, what other kind is there?” So, it’s hard to fault the writer, Chris Boucher, for a ‘bad’ story in this case, especially when he’s done other good work, like Face of Evil and Robots of Death. Image of the Fendahl is not a bad story, however it does suffer from two weaknesses. The first is how the Fendahleen requires certain things to come into play for it to be resurrected, granted, the story explains it set these wheels in motion millions of years ago when it first landed on Earth, but it still feels a little too convenient. Second is the anti climactic appearance of the ‘monster’ which I sort of covered discussing the ‘makeup’ issue earlier. There is nothing really, in the production as a whole to prevent this from being one of the very best Doctor Who stories, yet it doesn’t even come close to living up to that potential, which is sort of sad. So I have to give this a very mild recommendation. There are moments that make it a near ‘must watch’ but overall it’s one I tend to forget quickly after watching it.

*About Doctor Who

Doctor Who is a British sci-fi show which aired from 1963 – 1989 and again from 2005 to the present. In the UK, it is ubiquitous, watched by boys and girls, men and women, ages 9-99, most people, even if they are not watching, know what’s happening in the show each week. It typically airs in the early evening on Saturdays, right after the sports finish up.

Doctor Who in America is a bit more divisive. Some fans love it, while a lot of people in the genre community can’t stand it. It’s easy, even for fans, to understand this schism, because the show has a lot of rough edges, on account of low budgets and quirky temperament.

In Doctor Who, the main character, the Doctor, wanders the universe through time and space, in a telephone booth called the Tardis, which is larger on in the inside. He cannot completely control the Tardis, and often doesn’t know where he’s going or where he is. He is usually accompanied by a companion or more and they are usually female, though some have been male and/or robotic.

Originally it was to have been a time traveling educational show for kids, but the show’s first producer, Verity Lambert, keen on making a career for herself with a ‘hit’ show, gave it her own spin, downplaying the historical aspect, upping the sci-fi, and gearing it towards all audiences, instead of just children. This tradition continues today.

I am in the process of watching every episode of Doctor Who in chronological order (where those episodes have been destroyed, I am watching one of the recons). I have been at it for a couple of years and expect to be at it a couple more. I may occasionally post reviews out of order, but mostly I’m going to post them as I watch them.

Article by: Tribrix

“The quest is the quest”. The catchphrase of this four part serial which
originally aired from January 7 to 28, 1978, with Tom Baker and Louise
Jameson.

Many fans of Doctor Who remember this one as a story they’d like to forget. With a new box set out, including this particular story, many will be viewing it anew, and may be surprised at what they find. The Doctor and Leela land on a ship engaged in a long, long quest for the genetic material of their long lost planet/race (contained in two golden cylinders), that they may rebuild it on a new home. Initially, the doctor compares this vessel to the flying Dutchman, which would have been a very interesting story, indeed. Instead, what we have is a retelling of the less interesting Jason and the Argonauts. If you need more evidence of this, they are searching for the P-7E, which sounds an awful lot like Persephone, and that’s on purpose too.

Writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin, who produced several scripts of unevenquality for Doctor Who, even credited the ancient writers they borrowed so freely from. I believe this is a decent effort on their part, and there’s a lot I like about what they brought to the table, in the inventive ways they interpreted the old stories for a modern science fiction audience.

Another good quality about this one is the model work, which is first rate, especially for Doctor Who at that time. I’m not going to lie and say all the effects are perfect by todays standards, but there’s some good stuff there, and the bad stuff ain’t too bad. And I’m going to include the use of CSO (bluescreen) for the sets. As I understand it, inflation was so rampant at the time, in the months that passed from the time the show was budgeted until it was made, the Pound had lost so much value, they had to cut any corner they could, which included shooting all the cave scenes (it is called Underworld), against a blue screen. This save tons of money, but has dismayed fans a great deal over the years.

At times, K-9 seems to float over the landscape he’s supposed to be traversing. The backgrounds have a short depth of field which doesn’t match the sharp, deep focus on the actors. And the shadows don’t seem to match at all. I love it though. It gives the episode a very otherworldly quality it could never have had in the studio. Plus, the rocky floors have texture, which the studio shoots never achieve, even in the much lauded Caves of Androzani (more on that one later).

One last thing that’s nice about Underworld. When you get to the end, it will have a ring of familiarity to it, even though, it seems to differ slightly from the source material, making for a very satisfying end, IMO. A lot of fans would try to dissuade you from checking this one out, but I’m not one of them. This is never going to make a top ten or top twenty list, but it’s certainly worth checking out if you see it on cable somewhere or have access to watching it free on Netflix.

*About Doctor Who

Doctor Who is a British sci-fi show which aired from 1963 – 1989 and again
from 2005 to the present. In the UK, it is ubiquitous, watched by boys and
girls, men and women, ages 9-99, most people, even if they are not watching,
know what’s happening in the show each week. It typically airs in the early
evening on Saturdays, right after the sports finish up.

Doctor Who in America is a bit more divisive. Some fans love it, while a
lot of people in the genre community can’t stand it. It’s easy, even for
fans, to understand this schism, because the show has a lot of rough edges,
on account of low budgets and quirky temperament.

In Doctor Who, the main character, the Doctor, wanders the universe through
time and space, in a telephone booth called the Tardis, which is larger on
in the inside. He cannot completely control the Tardis, and often doesn’t
know where he’s going or where he is. He is usually accompanied by a
companion or more and they are usually female, though some have been male
and/or robotic.

Originally it was to have been a time traveling educational show for kids,
but the show’s first producer, Verity Lambert, keen on making a career for
herself with a ‘hit’ show, gave it her own spin, downplaying the historical
aspect, upping the sci-fi, and gearing it towards all audiences, instead of
just children. This tradition continues today.

I am in the process of watching every episode of Doctor Who in chronological
order (where those episodes have been destroyed, I am watching one of the
recons). I have been at it for a couple of years and expect to be at it a
couple more. I may occasionally post reviews out of order, but mostly I’m
going to post them as I watch them.

Article By: Tribrix

Tom Baker returns as the Doctor and Louise Jameson as Leela in The Invisible Enemy. A four part serial which originally aired in January and February, 1977. It introduces K-9, the Doctors robotic Dog companion, but that is probably the only important detail to mention before the review proper. K-9 is, in retrospect, a clear R2-D2 ripoff. Granted, he has his own charm at times, but clearly the production felt the need to provide a cute robot companion, and then to make him a continuing character. K-9 is devisive among Doctor Who fans, but I could take him or leave him either way, not a big deal to me. In some ways, he breaks the show, by giving the Doctor easy access to too much weaponry, as one of the best things about Doctor Who is the lead character’s ability to get out of a jam with nothing but the junk laying around him. I’m at a loss to state K-9′s positive qualities, I don’t think he really adds much to the show at all. Enough about that, let’s review the story at hand.

Who knew white feathers could be scary? Infected by the ‘Swarm’ the Doctor lands the Tardis on Titan, one of the moons of Saturn, at a refueling station there, the infection continues. Thankfully, Leela is immune to the infection and is able to help. Clones of the her and the Doctor are miniaturized and sent into the Doctor’s body to try and neutralize the nucleus of the disease, but the plan backfires, as the nucleus itself escapes in place of the clones.

Borrowing from both Fantastic Voyage and Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Invisible Enemy is an ambitious effort on the part of producer Graham Williams and crew, but they are (mostly) up to the task. Despite the lofty aims, this production mostly succeeds, however, certain failures are notable.

This is probably the first space bourne production made following the release of Star Wars, and unfortunately, it shows. For example there is a ray gun battle in a white hall way, very similar to the one that opens Star Wars IV, but in Doctor Who, it is so slow moving, it’s obviously from a different era. Also, Invisible Enemy features plenty of flying space ship porn, for those who like such things, but as with the ray gun battle, it’s so slow and boring, you really can’t wait for it to end. Those are some of the down sides.

On the Upsides, Invisible Enemy features some decent sets for the interior of the Doctor’s body, which are very reminiscent of the Fantastic Voyage movie, and the outward effects of the disease are quite creepy (did I mention the white feathers?) Once a person has been infected, these white feathers seem to grow around the eyes, looking kind of like fluffy goggles, but don’t let that description fool you. It’s not a pleasant sight and kind of makes my skin crawl just thinking about it again.

Invisible Enemy is better than average for Doctor Who. It has it’s weak points, but otherwise, it’s quite a good story worth watching, if, for no other reason, than for the introduction of K-9 and the demonstration that white feathers can be scary.

*About Doctor Who

Doctor Who is a British sci-fi show which aired from 1963 – 1989 and again from 2005 to the present. In the UK, it is ubiquitous, watched by boys and girls, men and women, ages 9-99, most people, even if they are not watching, know what’s happening in the show each week. It typically airs in the early evening on Saturdays, right after the sports finish up.

Doctor Who in America is a bit more divisive. Some fans love it, while a lot of people in the genre community can’t stand it. It’s easy, even for fans, to understand this schism, because the show has a lot of rough edges, on account of low budgets and quirky temperament.

In Doctor Who, the main character, the Doctor, wanders the universe through time and space, in a telephone booth called the Tardis, which is larger on in the inside. He cannot completely control the Tardis, and often doesn’t know where he’s going or where he is. He is usually accompanied by a companion or more and they are usually female, though some have been male and/or robotic.

Originally it was to have been a time traveling educational show for kids, but the show’s first producer, Verity Lambert, keen on making a career for herself with a ‘hit’ show, gave it her own spin, downplaying the historical aspect, upping the sci-fi, and gearing it towards all audiences, instead of just children. This tradition continues today.

I am in the process of watching every episode of Doctor Who in chronological order (where those episodes have been destroyed, I am watching one of the recons). I have been at it for a couple of years and expect to be at it a couple more. I may occasionally post reviews out of order, but mostly I’m going to post them as I watch them.