Welcome to Series 15. It's 1977. Horror of Fang Rock is the first DW to be filmed anywhere but London... it was filmed in teh BBC Pebble mill Studios in Birmingham. It makes very little difference to the end product.
This one is a little bit paint by numbers...
Take a situation, it's a base under siege albeit an unusual one. Pick off the quirky characters, one by one until the Doctor faces the monster and defeats it by deux ex machina. Seriously what and how does a carbon arc, unreliable lighthouse lamp and one diamond make a laser gun that shoots space war ships down in one swat?
Apart from that the atmosphere and the direction are very good. The other players performances are sharp and believable. There are little tricks being used mercilessly to get you to like/hate certain characters (e.g. what they say and how they react to other characters, consider Harker's portrayal...)
Colin Douglas (last time a bit iffy as Controller Bruce in Enemy of the World) is great as Reuben/Rutan. Ralph Watson (impressive role last time as Ettis in Monster of Peladon, before that Captain Knight in Web of Fear) sadly killed off early. Alan Rowe makes a solid effort as Skinsale (last time he was good as Lord "make your magic for me, Doctor" in Time Warrior and a bit quick or you'll miss him in Moonbase). Making his only DW appearance is Irish actor Sean Caffrey as the charismatic Palmerdale. John Abbott who played Vince is a not very famous but prolific character actor who is olde rthan you'd think. Solid, professional cast in this. They work the script to make it much better.
Tom's performance is Mr Grumpy/serious which is a sign that he's trying to make the best of it. Leela has some great lines. Louise's performance is more than watchable. It's odd to consider that this is just her 4th serial. She seems like she's been doing this for years.
Paddy Russell's last stint in the DW director's chair is successful. Graham Williams first production is a good result too.
Unfortunately I know what's coming up in Series 15 too well not to realise that this will be the peak of the series.
ABM Rating 3.25/4.00
LJM Rating 4.40/5.00
SPJ Rating 8.95/10
No. 19 (out of 92)
Link to Cumulative Rankings
Rankings Scoreboard
From Quickflix
ReplyDeleteHey quickflix!! This a 1977 not a 1972....and it's called "Horror of Fang Rock" too. This particular Dr Who story has one trivial first in its history and that is it's the first to be principally recorded in studios outside London. The DW team trooped off to Birmingham to do this in late 76, early 77. There's hardly any difference on screen I suppose. Fang Rock hangs together as a classic "Ten Little Indians" type horror plot. Get a bunch of unlikely characters together in some isolated out of the way spot (like a early 1900's lighthouse) and have the unseen horror pick 'em off , one by one until there's only the Doctor and Leela left. ... and then reveal both the horror and his motive. I hope I haven't ruined it for you..... :-) Fact is, as big Terrance Dicks (who wrote this one) is quite fond of saying, the reason cliches are cliches is that they work very, very well. So the reason to watch this one is all down to how good is it and how effective it is. And it's pretty effective..... The end of part two (when there's an almighty soul tearing scream suddenly echoing up the lighthouse stairs and the lights go out) is an absolute spine chilling cliffhanger. It's as spectacular now as it was then. There's plenty of other great scary bits. Various characters getting their comeuppance or their grisly fate depending on how the character is presented I suppose. Moody foggy pans though the mist and bleak long shots of the isolated Fang Rock lighthouse. I've seen a lot of allegedly classic horror films that left me cold and un-engaged but this one is convincing enough I think. The acting is all first rate and the direction is solid. It suffers from the usual cheap looking sets and video production but at least at this point in Dr Who they had some idea of how to use the lighting fairly effectively so that probably saved the day production wise.. Most of us are going to spot the plot straight away, except some of the very young perhaps, but it's the ride.... not the destination.