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10/10 Extras This is a double DVD and it has a lot of very good extras and a few odd bits as always. Disc One 10/10 Music Only Option – excellent musical score makes for a pleasant diversion. 10/10 Nebula ’90 – A year after Fenric was broadcast, the cast and crew wet for an open panel discussion in Liverpool. Of particular interest is Tomek Bork who played Captain Sorin. As a Polish immigrant cast as a Russian and a communist there were personal and political issues for him that the English production crew seem to have not quite understood. Bearing in mind that this was before the fall of communism and the break up of the USSR, when Polish people had very real issues, Tomek’s feelings about his role are very interesting. Live panel interviews have their drawbacks in terms of sound quality as opposed to set interviews in documentaries, but this one worked well. 10/10 Take Two – a programme hosted by Phillip Schofield from 1989 which looked at the making of Curse of Fenric. This was children’s tea time programming and the inevitable Blue Peter style dumbing down is obvious. 8/10 Modelling the Dead. From the 1990 Doctor Who Weekend on BsB, Stephen Mansfield and Sue Moore of the BBC model shop show how a Haemavore is made. The style of presentation of what is very interesting stuff looks cheesy compared to the way similar sequences with Mike Tucker looked on the 2005 box set, but it is interesting to anyone who wants to know how such costumes are made. 8/10 Claws and Effect. This is a look behind the scenes of the location filming. It has the sound quality of a home video and the discussions of producer, director and camera men are heard uncut and un-enhanced while information appears as subtitles on screen. Interesting, but possibly not the best way to present the material. 8/10 Title Sequences. The theme tune and title graphics for opening and closing of episodes in Dolby and original stereo versions. 9/10 Photo Gallery and Production Subtitles as standard 10/10 Disc Two The Curse of Fenric – Special Edition. This
is an extra to beat them all. A 104 minute movie version of the 4
part serial, including remastered visual effects and full stereo,
and with several cut scenes replaced to give a rather better understanding
of the story. Absolutely brilliant, especially since it effectively
means two feature DVDs for the price of one. 10/10 Shattering the Chains – Ian Briggs talks about writing Fenric. Especially interesting is his original idea that Judson would be a gay character emotionally crippled by guilt and the social mores of his day. This was considered unsuitable for a 12-14 year old age group of viewers and instead Judson was an actual physical cripple. 10/10 Costume Design. Designer Ken Trew takes the viewer through the drawing and realisation of costumes. 10/10 Recutting the Runes. Mark Ayres discusses the issues involved in remastering Fenric for the special edition, especially the digital stereo sound quality. 10/10 Overall, a very good DVD presentation. Very few ‘fillers’ with limited interest. The Special Edition is an excellent piece of work on its own.
10 out of 10
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The
Curse Of Fenric is a close runner up to Genesis of the Daleks as an
all time favourite Doctor Who episode. Many fans consider it to be
one of the best of the McCoy era. It has some fantastic scenes such
as the one where The Doctor types is own official introduction, signs
it with both hands and presents it to people who have watched him
type it as his credentials from Whitehall. Such is his hypnotic and
commanding presence. It has fantastic costumes for the Haemovores,
a sinister plot and twists and turns that somehow manage NOT to complicate
matters but rather to make the story more interesting. It has Nicholas
Parsons as a wonderfully sympathetic vicar struggling with his own
conscience and his own faith. It has a fantastically creepy ambience
as Fenric’s plans are hatched and The Doctor has to defeat him.
Commentary
by Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred and Nicholas Parsons. Nicholas steals
the show from Sylvester, and that takes some doing. He talks about
Doctor Who generally and this episode in particular intelligently.
He says he was not a fan as such before being in it, but he has obviously
become one since. His enthusiasm shows through. Sylvester talks with
fondness about making the episode, and is surprised at how young he
looked then, remarking that he feels like a father looking at his
son performing. Sophie is always enthusiastic about her work on Doctor
Who.
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