Doctor Who 094: The Image of the Fendahl written by Chris Boucher, directed by George Spenton-Foster (1977)
24 September 2009As you know if you read this, I love Tom Baker’s Doctor, but I am glad that the Deadly Assassin Came out on the same day, because that is an amazing story, and this one was pretty much a stinker. Sure it has my favorite Doctor, and Leela (Louise Jameson) who is such a great contrast to him, but the story itself is not too good, and overall not too well done. Just a throw away series in my opinion. Only for the die hards.
A research center in Fetch Borough England is being run by the eccentric millionaire scientist Dr. Fendelman (Denis Lill) along with technical Thea Ransome (Wanda Ventham) and paleontologists Adam Colby (Edward Arthur) and his colleague Maximiliam Steal (Scott Fredericks). They are studying a strange crystal skull that was buried under a volcano 12 million years ago, or 8 million years older than man. Fendelmen activates a scanner on the skull, which causes many strange things. First the skull starts to glow. Then a man hiking though the nearby woods freezes and is taken by some force. And finally Thea seems to be taken over by some power in the skull. The Tardis feels the effects as well, being tossed around by a hole in time made by the scanner, so he and Leela decide to investigate. Leela is quite ferral here, almost killing the man they run into, but he does lead them to the Fetch Priory where the scientists are ensconced. Colby finds the corpse of the hiker, which has been completely drained of life, and wants to call the police, but is overruled by Fendelman, who also calls in his own security, led by David Mitchell (Derek Martin) making the scientists his prisoners. Stael does a post mortem on the corpse, and finds a strange mark on the back of the neck, and that the body is decomposing rapidly, and Fendelman has him hide it. Thea once again activates the skull, and seems to merge with it. The Doctor is almost attacked by the same creature that got the hiker, but manages to get away, and it attacks the Prior killing Mitchell, and it only stops when Colby shuts down the scanner.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
Colby and Thea find the rapidly decomposing body of Mitchell in the kitchen. Thea changes again, and the Doctor arrives to take charge and find out what is going on. The Doctor sees images of Fendahleen transposed on her, and it worries him greatly, as the Fendahl were a threat to the Timelords! The Doctor tells Colby that the creatures could kill all life on Earth. Fendelman and STael arrive and they lock up the Doctor, while they dispose of the second corpse.
Fendelman tells Colby that he surmises that the skull is not human, and not from Earth, and that it has a pentagream in it’s structure, and that he and Stael are doing secret experiments on it.
Leela meanwhile has overpowered Ted Moss (Edward Evans) in a local cottage, who had tried to shoot at her. Jack Tyler (Geoff Hinsliff) arrives and kicks Moss out of his grandmother’s house, and they wait for Martha (Daphne Heard) to return, but she seems shell shocked, and Leela heads to find the Doctor to get him to help.
Thea once again goes to set off the scanner, but she is knocked out by Stael.
The Doctor has escaped and finds the skull, which sends pain through his body when he touches it, and luckily Leela arrives and pries him off, saving him. The Doctor realizes the skull is feeding on death, and growing stronger. They return to the cottage and he manages to awaken Martha. He explains about the time fissure, which is probably what made Martha a bit psychic, and that is is being ripped open and could kill them all.
The Doctor and Leela return to the TARDIS and look up the records of when the Timelords destroyed the being known as the Fendahl, and put a time loop on it, so that it could never escape, but it obviously has.
Stael it turns out is the head of a local cult, and is taking over at the priory with the help of Ted Moss and other locals, and are to have a meeting in the basement of the priory. Stael has tied up Thea there in the center of a large pentagram, and Fendelman and Cloby are also tied up to watch Stael become a god. Fendelmen tries to tell Stael that he is being manipulated by the Fendal, which has manipulated him his whole life, but Stael kills him, and re-activates the time scanner, making Thea transform completely.
The Doctor and Leela go to the Priory with Martha and Jack, but they see a slug like Fendahleen (pretty cheap looking monsters) appears, and they only escape, because the Doctor manages to get them to believe they can use their legs again, and shooting it in it’s mouth with Rock Salt, and the sends the Martins to get all the salt they can get.
The Doctor has realized the Skull is remaking Thea into a new Fendahl.
In the basement Thea uses her power to change the cult members into Fendahleen, though the Doctor and Leela manage to help Colby to escape. Stael knows he will transform, so the Doctor gives him a gun to shoot himself, which means there are not enough Fendhaleen to allow the Fendhal to fully manifest itself.
The Doctor turns off the scanner, and gets Leela Colby, Jack and Martha, and they all fight the Fendalheen with Rock salt. The Doctor explains to them that the Fendhal can absorb any energy, and the timelords saw this and destroyed the fifth planet hoping to destroy it, but it’s skull managed to get to Earth, and it has had some power over man every since, with these people being genetically predestined to do what they did, especially Fendelman, the man of the Fendahl.
The Doctor realizes he must explode the scanner, destroying the whole base, and the Fendahleen. Colby sets the scanner to explode, while the Doctor and Leela go into the basement and steal the skull, putting it in a lead lined box, and mange to escape, and return to the Tardis as the Priory explodes.
The Doctor and Leela eject the skull into a supernova, so it is destroyed for good.
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Silly, and not too impressive overall.
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