Image of the Fendahl (1977)

Image of the Fendahl is a very strange story in that it is very dull but is at the sametime very watchable. This is the third story from Chris Boucher in the space of a year and its very different from The Face of Evil and The Robots of Death in that it has a earth settin with familiar things like proper chairs and tables and scientists in white coats and some very dodgy accents. The story takes place in a village called Fetchborough where four scientist are working on a skull that they found in Kenya which is apparently over twelve million years old. It’s not long before things start going wrong and the race if on to stop the Fendahl.

With its very dark and gothic story you’d be forgiven for thinking that this was a Philip Hinchcliffe story and not a Graham Williams and whilst the story itself is fairly dull it’s the cast that makes this story what it is. Lets start with Wanda Ventham who is just brilliant at the beginning. As Thea Ransome she seems to be the most normal member of the science crew. She is really good as Thea but then in the latter half become the Fendahl Core she goes into a different style of performing. I also liked Denis Lill as Doctor Fendelman who puts on the oddest accent that I have ever heard. It’s quite funny to think that these two would go on to play the parents of Cassandra in the BBC Comedy ‘Only Fools and Horses’. Lill has to spend the early part of this story playing to fans potential theries that because his character’s name is close to the name in the title that he would become the bad guy but this a nice little red herring thrown in by Boucher. Another familiar face that appears in this story is that of Geoff Hinsliff who would play Don Brennan in the ITV soap Coronation Street from 1987 to 1997. In this story he plays the son Jack Tyler who’s mother is quite the strict person. He is involved in one of the most bizarre cliffhangers in Doctor Who history. I thought that the person playing his mother was far more entertaining. Daphne Heard played Martha Tyler like a very typical TV mother. She starts off a very odd but then by the half way stage she develops into a very fun and likeable character and when the story starts to get bogged down its good that she was there to provide some entertainment.

There is something about Louise Jameson in this story that doesn’t quite work. I think it might be her outfit or it might be the fact that she seems to be wearing more make up than she usually does. She massive brown stains on her cheeks which become distracting as well as her hair being up as opposed to down which is how she normally has it. Now it could be argued that this is the Doctor’s continuing attempt to make Leela more civilised but I just think that if your going to change someone then go the full hog and just dress her up like she was in Horror of Fang Rock and Talons of Weng-Chiang. This just made Jameson look odd. Performance wise, Jameson is on very good form and is on par with Baker who seems to be growing in confidence to make the Doctor more comedic than he has ever been.

The design of the Fendahl is very impressive and way better than that stupid looking prawn in ‘The Invisible Enemy’. It’s only when it moves that it becomes a little bit silly but when you see it and you look at pictures of it you cant help but be impressed with it. Jokes are made about how rubbish some monsters are but on this occasion a lot of time and effort has gone into making the Fendhal creature look as good as it can.

The story begins and ends with scenes featuring K9. The ‘loveable’ tin dog who debuted in the previous story doesn’t feature quite as prominently as I thought he would which says to me that his introduction to the TARDIS crew was a very late addition. I have to say that I am glad because I really couldn’t see the point of K9 and thankfully this story doesn’t lose anything from not having him in it. Image of the Fendahl is a story the benefits from some really good directing but the main problem with the story is that it isnt very interesting and its only because of the performances that makes this story worth watching.

The Robots of Death (1977)

The second story to feature Leela as the companion and it’s the second story in a row to be written by Chris Boucher. This is his better story out of the two by a clear mile. The story is about some Robots that cause the deaths of humans. The story benefits from the fact that it is entirely studio based and is in an isolated environment. I always love a story that got an single setting with no chance of help (Tenth Planet for example). The sand miner has a human crew that treat robots like slaves and don’t have any respect for the them or the other crew. They spend the early part fighting and arguing with Uvanov. We are constantly told that Robots cannot harm humans. This is built into their core programming but as the title suggests and within the first ten minutes of episode one we are shown that this clearly isn’t true. The humans that we meet in this story are not particularly nice people and so when their demise starts then I’m not totally sad to see them go. Only Pamela Salem’s character was the right side of nice to warrant me to want to see her saved. Uvanov (Russell Hunter) redeemed himself at the end but it was too late in my opinion. D84 is the robot that has been put in this story to prove that not all robots are evil. D84 is a detective robot who is becomes the Doctor’s assistant when Leela isn’t around. I’m not sure if the person in D84 is the same one who is delivering the lines but if it is then Gregory de Poinay came across like he was child like which might explain why he came across as the nice robot.

David Collings is very good in this story and his character suffers a mental breakdown or Robophobia (hence the 2011 Big Finish story featuring the Robots). Another name for this condition if Grimwade Syndrome named in honour of Doctor Who writer/director Peter Grimwade who had worked as a production assistant on this story and had directed some of the scenes for this story. Collings is the first one of the crew to seem to want to trust the Doctor and Leela. However his greed (along with everyone else’s) is the thing that gets in the way of me caring about Collings’ character.

Taren Capel is the person that we learn is responsible for the robots going a bit mental and it then becomes part of the story to find out his laboratory and more importantly who he is. The revelation of the true identity of Capel turns out to be Dask (played by future Celestial Toymaker David Ballie). Ballie is the best of the supporting cast as he does a very good job of being in the background whilst the build up is taking place and then when its time he shines and despite the slightly dodgy make up he still manages to come across as a effective if slightly flawed villain. If I had a tiny issue in this area then it would be with a scene where we see this physcadelic screen and its meant to hide the human that we are told is Capel but its clearly Dask which slightly ruins the revelation.

Of the main performances, both have changed significantly since the previous story. Tom Baker was less comedic in Robots though there was the right amount of humour and drama. Louise Jameson’s performance was much stronger in this and that is largely because she has a female co-star which was lacking in Face. My favourite line came from Jameson when she was describing Paol as he was entering the role.

There are some quite gruesome moments, obvious the sight of robots killings humans but perhaps the strongest was in episode four when Uvanov stabs V4 in the back of the head. This is heading towards the end of the Philip Hinchcliffe era and whilst it might not be as dark and gothic in tone as other stories but there is still a lot to enjoy. For the second story running some of the people have to wear ridiculous outfits. The humans have to wear some stupid head gear along with some weird lines on their face. I don’t know that it was the 1970’s but that excuse can only work for so long. The design of the robots is quite good but it’s the heads that impress me the most. They look very sinister and I find it creepy.

The Robots of Death is a very good story but I’m not sure it’s the best story of this season. It does have some very atmospheric scenes and the story itself is far stronger than Face of Evil. The penultimate story of this season is a return to form for the series.

The Face of Evil (1977)

After a companion free story we get back to more traditional Doctor Who storytelling. Louise Jameson makes her debut in this story as the primitive yet aggressive Leela. The story sees the Doctor arrive on a mysterious planet where there is a primitive tribe that denounce the Doctor as the Evil One. The story suffers from a lack of a story. Ok there is a mystery as to why there is a huge rock with the Doctor’s face on it and why everyone thinks that the Doctor is the evil one but that mystery is very thin and is resolved once they travel through the mouth of the Doctor.

It seems odd seeing Louise Jameson’s Leela like this. Considering all the Leela stories I watch of her are of her later time it’s not much of a surprise. I have always had mixed feelings about the Leela character because sometimes I like her and sometimes I find her annoying. I think that despite the weak script she does well in this story and it’s probably a good thing that there was a four week gap between Elisabeth Sladen’s departure and Louise Jameson’s debut. However as we would see in future stories, Louise Jameson would effectively be background noise as Tom Baker would steal the scenes that they were in together. Tom Baker never wanted anyone to replace Elisabeth Sladen as he thought he could do it himself and as a result this is where the silliness of Tom Baker’s Doctor took over, there didn’t seem to be the sense of seriousness that there had been before.

There is a good performance from David Garfield as Neeva. He plays the one who’s getting the voices and is at several points possessed by Xoanon. He gets massive brownie points from me because in the early part has to walk around with a massive glove on his head. Leslie Schofield returns to Doctor Who after having appeared in ‘The War Games’ in 1969. In this he plays Calib which was an ok performance but nothing really special. Another familiar name is Lloyd McGuire who appeared in this story as Lugo (which doesn’t ring a bell) but he appeared in the Channel Four drama ‘Teachers’.

The different tribes that are this mysterious planets were well realised. They Seva team are the usual band of argumentative people with a certain number vying for the position of leader. It seems odd that Leela is the only woman that we get to see in this story. It’s never made clear why this is. She can’t be the only woman on the entire planet yet even the Tesh’s don’t have a female crew member. On the subject of the Tesh, I feel sorry for the actors because they are forced to wear the stupidest looking outfits I’ve seen for a long time. As a result I can’t take them seriously.

The only cliffhanger that was of any worth was episode three’s. The idea of the Doctor being killed or whatever by voices and a CSO laden effect of Baker’s face was quite effective. The rest were rather dull but unfortunately that sums up my feelings for the story. The first third is pretty much boring but the last quarter was where all the interesting stuff happens. It was a fun notion that it was the Doctor had effectively caused all of this. Had it not been for his involvement (in an unseen adventure) and use his mind print on something then things probably would have been better.

The Face of Evil is the worst story of the fourteenth season. It lacks any drama and as a result I find the Serva team to be a bunch of bland group of people. Chris Boucher’s first story isn’t his finest (but then again neither was the great Robert Holmes) but it introduced Leela and that’s the best thing in this story.