Doctor Who-The Curse of Fenric (1989)

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General		Extras
Category	Science Fiction	Main Menu Audio & Animation Audio Commentary-Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, Nicholas Parsons (Actors) Isolated Musical Score Informational Subtitles-Production Subtitles Featurette-Modelling The Dead Featurette-Claws And Effect Audio-Only Track-Title Sequences Gallery-Photo Featurette-Nebula 1990 - Doctor Who Convention Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Take Two Alternative Version-Feature-Length Version Featurette-Shattering The Chains Featurette-Recutting The Runes Trailer-Montage - 40th Anniversary Celebration Featurette-Costume Design
Rating
Year Of Production	1989
Running Time	97:06 (Case: 319)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Nicholas Mallett
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Sylvester McCoy Sophie Aldred
Case	Amaray-Transparent-S/C-Dual
RPI	$49.95	Music	Mark Ayres

    The Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and Ace (Sophie Aldred) arrive at a naval base during World War 2 and as usual something sinister is afoot. Commander Millington and Dr Judson have developed the Ultima machine (a relative of the Enigma machine) to decipher German codes. At the same time, though, they are deciphering Norse runes from the Viking burial ground under the local church, hoping to locate the Chinese treasures described by the runes. Meanwhile, Russian soldiers have landed on the beach, planning to steal the Ultima machine . . . unwitting pawns in Millington's plans. The Ultima machine is booby-trapped with a highly poisonous gas which will bring the war to an end, in a similar way to the atomic bombing of Japan, and prevent the Russians from becoming a superpower. Naturally, some taking over of the world is in line for Millington and Co. But Millington is not the only one pulling the strings. The Doctor's ancient enemy Fenric has slowly been moving his pieces into place for a final confrontation with his nemesis, a confrontation in which Ace has been groomed for an important role. And when vampire (or Haemovores) begin to rise from the ocean, things begin to look bad for the Doctor . . .

    The next to last story for both the seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy, and the classic series of Dr Who, Fenric is certainly an enjoyable adventure. Of course, I may be just a little biased as I was just the right age when this serial aired to have McCoy define Doctor Who for me (although I do remember seeing a lot of Tom Baker episodes and liked him better), but then Fenric is full of great moments. World War 2, haemovores, a far reaching conspiracy behind the Doctor's relationship with Ace . . . what more could you ask for? It's just as hokey and rushed as every Dr Who production and good for a laugh or two, but imaginative enough to hook you in and keep you watching. I seem to remember McCoy serials like The Greatest Show in the Galaxy and Dragonfire (when Ace boards the TARDIS) being more exciting, but Fenric stands on its own as a great piece of nostalgic entertainment. Plus it's got those brilliant Haemovores. A very solid Dr Who release worth adding to the collection.

Video

    Considering the source material, we get a decent transfer, although a little more care could have been taken. The Curse of Fenric is presented full frame 1.333.1, in its original aspect ratio.

    Video is a little soft and detail is somewhat limited. The image has quite a lot of grain and dark scenes tend to be noisy. When Fenric finally appears in Episode 3 (22:52), the image displays heavy grain and blue shadows on his collar (this effect is explained in the extra features: to make Fenric's eyes glow green, lighting was dimmed and an ultraviolet light shined into the actor's reflective contact lenses. Dimming the lights increased visible grain and I imagine the UV light caused the blue shadow). Colours generally appear a little dull, sticking largely to army greens and browns.

    I noticed many instances of aliasing: there is often shimmer on the Doctor's hat. Edge enhancement is also a problem: underwater shots are especially affected, but the problem persists for the entire serial. Edge enhancement ultimately becomes quite distracting. A particularly nasty artefact occasionally appears around the actors when they move. It appears like heat waves around the actor (see the Doctor's arm at 2:11 in Episode 3). I'm not exactly sure what to call this, but am leaning towards a problem with noise reduction. There are no other problems to speak of. The print source appears to have been quite clean and film artefacts are minimal.

    English subtitles in a nice readable font are included, along with commentary and informational titles.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The English Dolby Digital 2.0 track is quite good and surround encoded. Commentary and isolated score tracks are also included.

    Dialogue is clear and audible. Audio sync is accurate. Directional effects are used often and effectively: thunder and lightning in the front stage produce left and right effects as does the odd explosion. Music has some nice discrete elements. Nothing much changes in surround mode except further support for the music in the rears. I comment on the special edition's audio in the extras section below.

    The score is composed by Mark Ayres and is very good and stands well on its own in the isolated score track. It's all synthesizer but designed, according to the composer, to capture a pagan or Russian feel. It works very effectively, creating tension when needed or supporting the eerie atmosphere of the Haemovores rising from the water.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Disc One

Main Menu Audio & Animation

Audio Commentary

Isolated Musical Score

Informational Subtitles

Featurette - Modelling the Dead.

    Watch the making of Haemavore masks and check out garish 1990s style.

Featurette - Claws and Effects

    Location footage. The crew assess the locations and lay their plans. It's a little difficult to hear anything that is being said.

Title Sequence

Gallery-Photo

Featurette - Nebula 90 Convention

    Panel discussion including McCoy, Aldred and others. The questions are rather uninteresting and the answers match.

Featurette - Take Two.

    A production meeting discussing how to film (SPOILER ALERT: highlight with mouse to read) the death of Jean and Phyllis and a demonstration of the process.

Disc Two

Alternative Version

Featurette-Behind The Scenes - Recutting the Runes

    Mark Ayres explains all the work that went into the movie version of Fenric. I found this quite interesting.

Featurette - Shattering the Chains.

    Ian Briggs explains his inspirations and motivations for writing Fenric and admits to being inspired by The Man Who Fell to Earth.

Featurette - Costume Design.

    A discussion on costume design including some of the original sketches.

Trailer

    There's an easily found Easter egg on both discs.

    Our release is the same as both Region 1 and Region 2.

    A solid and entertaining Dr Who release.

    Video has several obvious problems.

    Sound is very good (and even better in the movie version).

    As is usual for Dr Who releases, extras are comprehensive and high quality.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall