Doctor Who - Horror Of Fang Rock (1977)
The year is 1977 & we're riding on the wave of Horror inspired Classics by the masters (sue me!) Hinchcliffe & Holmes. Then the dark side of the force of 'Mary Witch-house' came & neutered our dreams & nightmares. But, whilst we're on the subject of nightmares, Graham Williams took over the helm. But before submitting to Mary's might, smuggled in a (sure?) last tea-time Horror tale to the kiddo's of late-70's Britain on a golden platter! I guess it must be alien tourist season on Fang Rock, first a mysterious "What do you call 'em, meteors?" arrives off the coast then The Doctor & Leela also turn up! Like his third incarnation before him, looking for Metebelis 3, The 4th Doctor has mis-shot Brighton by several miles, same era, at least to Leela's lack of amusement.
Some creepy force is killing off the lighthouse crew then starts on a smorgasbord of death when your stereotypical, Late-Victorian/Early-Edwardian snobs boat literally crash on Fang Rock as a result of the strange, sudden fog surrounding the island, at the behest of Lord Palmerdele....very smart. What we get is a "what dunnit" as victims pile up, one by one, & it's up to The Doctor to sleuth out which species is responsible!
Now for my blog part of this review. This is an oddity after the Mary Whitehouse whitewash scandal. It continues the Horror Sci-Fi genre of Doctor Who in Season 15 one last time (really?) before we're subjected to more comedic stuff, allegedly. This is based on a true story, yes, really?! The Doctor quotes a poem about the mysterious disappearance of a lighthouse crew, & Reuben tells The Doc & Leela about a legend from the 1820's! I love the BBC genius at doing period dramas added to the Doctor Who Universe! A Pseudo-Historical which adds to the Classics!
For a story that was commissioned at the last minute (refer to State Of Decay, 1980!) this shows us a fab picture of turn of the 20th Century life. Xenophobia is evident in all its non-pc glory. Reuben suspects our heroes of being spies, "German, Russkie, Frogs!" & warns them not to speak foreign lingo despite the fact that The Doctor is speaking perfect Earthling-English! LOL! Adelaide finds Leela "repulsive" after Colonel Skinsale's admiration for her beauty, "Were you in India long, Colonel?". Lord Palmerdale is a wet fish There's some interesting banter between him & the Colonel about fraud which I haven't a clue about! In fact, Palmerdale spends much of his time trying to bribe all & sundry because he believes they share his obsession, much to the amusement of this blog/reviewer.
But the banter between Leela & Adelaide is first class (I'm sure there's a pun there, I'll just get my hat & long scarf) Adelaide is a product of her era, sure, in a hundred years you could have been maybe Sarah-Jane Smith, Clara Oswald, Rose Tyler, Ashilda? D'OH! Unlike her relationship with Toos (Pamela Salem) who also showed aristocratic tendencies on Robots of Death (1977) Leela has little patience for Adelaide's hysterics. She slaps Adelaide at her reaction to death, still I have to feel a sense of guilt at this as she's merely a product of her era. Also worthy of note is Leela's threat to cut Palmerdale's heart out, truly a companion ahead of her time (?!) Leelas 'compliment' of The Doctor sounding like a Teshnician was not well meant (see Face Of Evil 1976) Her reaction to the crashing ship is of no interest to her, then they'll all die, then! We get a very creepy scream at the end of episode two!
Of the guests the Colonel is the most open-minded, ironically, his own greed is his undoing. Our murderer is revealed as a Rutan, first mentioned in The Time Warrior (1973) but never seen until now, that is. Their eternal war with the Sontarans has brought them to this "tiny speck of space". They can shape-shift & this one takes on Reubens form. Leela bravely fights it off helping the Colonel (before his untimely demise, of course!) The Doctors attempt at reasoning with the Rutan prove futile as their own xenophobic hatred of the Sontarans makes using Earth as a base are insignificant for the billions of Human lives it'll cost, still, we've got a War to end all wars on the way.
The Doctor defeats the Rutan using an invented projectile device with diamonds as ammunition, & the approaching mothership using the lighthouse lamp also, I guess diamonds are forever(?!) I must confess to Leela's gloat over the dying Rutan!
"Die Rutan! As I enjoyed killing you!" Only our heroes survive this endurance which adds to the usual dark, cliché to the proceedings as they show little solace to literally every character in this story including the monster! Still, it shows how alien they are, right? Still, congrats for this last minute whip-up of Classic Horror, a bold & brilliant attempt , thank you for the nightmares!
Borgduck aka Stewart
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