 I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed
reviewing my Dr Who DVD collection, so hear is another
one ~ Oi! Don’t groan! This time we have jumped from
the seventies to the late eighties and from Tom Baker
(the fourth Doctor) to Sylvester McCoy (the seventh
Doctor). Sylvester (for those who don’t watch Dr Who)
was the last television Doctor who played the Doctor
from 1987 to 1993. My copy of The Curse of Fenric came
from www.play.com and cost £14.99 (the
RRP is £19.99).
Fenric is one of those
stories that I really took to at the time and I was
pleased when I heard it was going to be released on
DVD - especially as it was going to be a two disc set
with a second version of the story re-made as a feature
length story. Ok…you know the drill! Here comes the
plot outline, so skip on two paragraphs if you don’t
want to know.
THE PLOT
Fenric is an excellent
adventure story with a twist of horror. It centres around
the seventh Doctor and his companion Ace (played by
Sophie Aldred) when they land the TARDIS at a secret
naval base in North Yorkshire. The time period is the Second
World War, but this really only seems to be secondary
to the history of the characters and the mysteries that
are coming from the sea. There’s a lot going on in this
story ~ commandos, spies, vampires, Viking legends and
a bit about Ace’s origins. This story, unlike most Dr
Who adventures, was all filmed on location and not in
a studio, so the cast are open to the elements and there
seems to be an awful lot of rain about!
I
found Fenric to be a really involved story, but one
that is well worth the bit of concentration it takes
to get it all straight in your head! And you even get
to see Nicholas Parsons put in a great performance as
the village minister. There is a lot going on in this
tale and you do have to struggle a little to tie all
the threads together ~ it is interesting stuff though
and one of the better written stories in the latter
days of Dr Who.
The adventure was first broadcast
from 25th October 1989 to 15th November 1989 and was released on DVD on
6th October 2003.
THE DVD
~~~EASTER EGGS~~~
As far as I am aware there
is one Easter egg (bonus extras that can be found by
accessing the menu is a particular sequence) on each
disc. We found them quite easily and one of them was
worth finding and the other less so - but I’m not going
to give away what they are and how to find them, because
that is part of the fun with these little bonus snippets.
***DISC 1***
~~~ORIGINAL FOUR PART STORY~~~
On the first disc you will
find the original four part story (as it was shown on
TV). Each story is 25 minutes long and has the original
opening and ending credits.
~~~COMMENTARY~~~
This disc contains the
commentary, this time given by Sophie Aldred, Nicholas
Parsons and Sylvester McCoy ~ who starred in the adventure.
I’m normally not enamoured of commentaries and find
them a little dull. I’m afraid this one is not an exception!
The entertainment comes from Sophie talking about how
awful the weather was and Nicholas talking about…well,
I’m not entirely sure WHAT he was talking about to be
honest!
~~~ISOLATED MUSIC~~~
The isolated music is pleasant,
but I’m not sure whether I would want to watch the whole
four episodes without dialogue. I did find that the
music was well composed, atmospheric and does go with
the action ~ it is a well crafted score and is worth
a listen.
~~~ON SCREEN PRODUCTION SUBTITLES~~~
The on screen production
notes are the best feature on disc one. They tell us
about where the various scenes were filmed, who the
actors are and what they’ve been in before 9and since).
I always find this trivia really interesting and like
to know the locations and viewing figures. My least
favourite bit is the script progression aspect because
the notes do take quite a bit of reading and distract
from watching the story.
~~~PHOTO GALLERY~~~
Some of the photos are
great and I hadn’t seen them before, but there are only
so many pictures that you can look at before you get
bored.
~~~NEBULA~~~
This feature is filmed
at a Dr Who convention held in Liverpool in 1990, where the cast and
crew of Fenric were reunited to talk about the story
and their memories of it. Like the commentary it is
often not very interesting to listen to other people’s
reminiscences. This is probably only a good feature
for big fans of the series ~ I enjoyed it but did find
myself speeding through a few bits.
~~~TAKE TWO~~~
I actually remember watching
this children’s programme back in 1989, so this feature
was of particular interest for me. This is a behind
the scenes feature about the making of the story and
I learned that the story was originally to be called
The Wolves of Fenric when this programme was shown ~
these bits of trivia and information make these features
invaluable for Dr Who fans like me!
~~~MODELLING THE DEAD~~~
I didn’t see this short
feature from the BSB Dr Who Weekend from 1990, so I
was looking forward to seeing this one. It isn’t a long
broadcast, but it shows the model makers making a Haemovore
(the vampires from Fenric) mask. I found this fascinating
and was surprised by how much work goes into the special
effects and costumes.
~~~CLAWS & EFFECT~~~
Another rather interesting
insight into how the special effects were tested and
the production team looking at the sites to be used
during filming. This was another feature that I enjoyed
~ so much planning and work goes into short pieces of
film and it really made me appreciate the story when
I watched it again. This also includes some previously
unseen footage and film of how they did the underwater
filming, etc. This is one of the best special features
on the disc and it is a “must watch” for me!
~~~TITLE SEQUENCES~~~
There is the option to
choose which soundtrack you watch in the opening and
closing titles. Well produced and the sound quality
is good, but, by no means fascinating
I’m afraid!
***DISC 2***
~~~SPECIAL EDITION~~~
This is the updated version
that first appeared on video in 1991. It lasts for 103
minutes, is edited like a feature film and contains
around 10 minutes of extra footage. Sound and picture
quality has been crisped up and the story benefits greatly
from this format. I was able to really get into the
adventure with the episode breaks gone and found that
the flow of the story was enhanced. It’s very well done
and is very watchable!
~~~SHATTERING THE CHAINS~~~
This is 25 minute interview
with Ian Briggs (the writer of Fenric). He talks at
great length about his inspirations, ideas and production
of the story. I did find this to be generally interesting,
but, to be honest, it does go on a bit and could have
benefited from being shorter, or included as part of
the commentary.
~~~RECUTTING THE RUNES~~~
Mark Ayres (the composer)
gives a 15 minute interview about the making of the
Special Edition version of the adventure. I have a similar
view of this to the previous interview with Ian Briggs
~ it would also have worked well as part of the commentary.
~~~COSTUME DESIGN~~~
This sees costume designer,
Ken Trew, talking about designing the costumes for the
story. At around 15 minutes it is a bit on the long
side, but it is interesting to see the painstaking work
that goes into producing the outfits. People who are
interested in costume design will find this great, but
I couldn’t get really enthusiastic about it.
CONCLUSION
Fenric is a really
good example of a well crafted DVD release. The sound
and picture quality throughout is crisp, clear and the
two discs are packed full of Special Features. It is
a wonderful story, with lots of emotion, suspense and
adventure ~ a real classic Dr Who serial. The Special
Feature length option is also really good to watch,
it works well and the soundtrack has tremendous atmosphere.
I would recommend that any Dr Who fan should
buy Curse of Fenric to add to their DVD collection.
It is thoroughly enjoyable and gives some excellent
insights into what goes on behind the scenes as well
as the finished product.
A much recommended
Dr Who DVD!
» Review by Andrea Waterhouse, Copyright 2005.
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