The Curse of Fenric
Story 154, Episodes 689-692, Season 26 Episodes 8-11
Doctor: Seventh Doctor
Companions: Ace McShane
The story of Ace and the Seventh Doctor comes to a dramatic climax in one of the most stunning, ambitious, stories of the classic series.
The Review
There’s a growing horror that builds throughout The Curse of Fenric that is unlike almost any other classic series. I think the best comparison is The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit, except this takes place in a quintessential location: a small British village during World War II. When it arrives, there’s no particular reason for the Doctor to be here. Soon though, the plot unfurls: ancient Viking inscriptions, a British commander so desperate to defeat the Nazis he’ll become one, a scientist obsessed with the Ultima Machine, a revolutionary new computer. Somehow, the inscriptions hold power and sway over the Commander Millington. All the while, two girls turn into vampires, and soon out of the ocean walk disfigured people that look like barnacles are attached to them. Suddenly, the Ultima machine starts spitting out lists and lists of names, and then ‘Ingigia’ before with the flash of lightning and vampires at the gates, evil is unleashed. Fenric is here. The horrifying score throughout the story builds the sense of menace, and few Doctors have captured the underlying anger and rage better than McCoy.
Often, the best stories often having something spiritual to them. This isn’t about God or religion, but it’s about that crucial quality of faith. We all want to have faith in something or someone. For the Russian soldiers they truly believe in the cause of the Soviet Union (interesting politics for 1989 here), but the preacher lost his when his sainted Britain started bombing the Germans too. For Ace, her faith was in the Doctor, completely, until the cruel moment where the Doctor shreds it completely in front of Fenric, on the verge of destroying the planet. Ace loses her faith, allowing the last vampire to destroy Fenric rather than doom his future Earth. The final piece is that Ace met her mother as a baby, the woman she hates and despises. She asks the Doctor how it could be, but finally has the confidence in herself to swim in the sea. The Doctor had to break her faith in him but gave her something greater, confidence in herself. Fenric is presented as simply evil, the Doctor saying that’s not even it’s real name, it’s in a sense the devil. Faith is the only thing that can defeat the devil, but the only faith we can be sure in is our own strength and courage.
Curse of Fenric is an all-time classic, a top 5 classic story without a doubt, a triumphant work that showed, yes, Doctor Who still has its ability to challenge and inspire.
10/10 There are a few confusing elements, but it really doesn’t matter in the drama and the horror.
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