Classic Who "The Curse of Fenric" Parts 3&4 Full Reaction!
Added 2025-12-05 13:15:53 +0000 UTC
Comments
Nice to see one of the old catchphrases make a late return - "there's always that one..."
Paul Hayes
2025-12-05 20:06:57 +0000 UTCGlad that the penultimate hour gave you a terrific spooky time of things. Fun you dusting off the old one about there being a motherfucker. There’s always one, isn’t there? All the vampires on the loose. But not to worry, Peter Cushing was at one point the Doctor, so we’re all safe. This on top of facing off off against the wolves of Fenric. Bit on the nose with the name there, don’t we think? Really does say something how creepy though Fenric is with the crazed stare and the demented smile, he still pales compared to Dwight Frye as Renfield. Watching the reaction to this, I keep noting that you jumped less, and were less creeped out by Fenric than you were Renfield. Amazing, isn’t it? Love your comments on the vampiric finger gestures. You wonder how they do that thing with their hands, specifically the fingers. Well, you must be double jointed. And you must be Hungarian. Hell of a reveal about Fenric and how long his and the Doctor’s game of chess lasted. Words will not do justice to your reaction to the reveal about Ace’s mother. Bringing us to the concept of faith. That seems to be a big shared thing with you and I: we both greatly appreciate big deep dives into the concepts of faith. I rather greatly treasure the times when we get to discuss that. Here it is done very well. And you speak of it so well. Leads to when the Doctor has to break Ace in that regard. Breaks all our hearts. As Twelve once said, “Sometimes the only choices you have are bad ones. But you still have to choose.” Indeed, Twelve and Clara are very much worthy successors to Seven and Ace’s dynamic. And later, when Bill calls Twelve out on how it seems he doesn’t care. Or when Eleven had to be more manipulative with the Ponds. You can tell that old Mof was a big fan of Seven’s run. He surely incorporated that into our Doctors. Respect to Seven. The Seventh Doctor plays a brilliant endgame. Sylvester plays it so well. And he and Sophie are perfection at the end of this. Sophie just breaks a man with her ponderance about her mother. Again, your reactions were perfect as well. No doubt that this is one you watch many times. One more. One. More. Story. Then slow curtain, the end. Are any of us ready? Well, cross that bridge when we get to it. Until then, thank you for the lovely reaction, Jess.
Thomas Corp
2025-12-05 18:53:44 +0000 UTC"We play the contest again, Time Lord.", Fenric-possessed Judson, "The Curse of Fenric" As you said, this is a brilliant story. "You've got to have faith! Have faith. Faith. Faith. ... Susan, Ian, Barbara, Vicki, Steven.", The Doctor, "The Curse of Fenric" It's almost impossible to hear under the incidental music, but the Doctor has faith in his companions - and names them in companion order. It would be so much better if we could hear him. "If you want a job doing properly, get a girl to do it. Out of the way, boys.", Ace, "The Curse of Fenric" Go, Ace! - what a brilliant companion. I'm sure the Doctor would have got around to listing her - but the Haemovores gave up before we even got through the 1st Doctor's companions. "That's the Oriental treasure we've been looking for.", The Doctor, "The Curse of Fenric" During the scenes where the Haemovores are walking through the tunnel, Sylvester's kids were put into Haemovore costumes and participated in the action. Unfortunately, we don't see them in the broadcast episode but they do appear in the extended version of the story. "We could hear men screaming behind the bulkheads for nearly an hour, and then the screaming stopped.", Millington, The Curse of Fenric" What a sweet guy. BTW: the thing (I'm not sure what it's meant to be) was put in the foreground of the shot when our team come out of the tunnel to hide the fact that Sophie was wearing rubber boots to avoid the deep mud in the location. "We can release Captain Sorin to help us. I can distract the guard.", Ace, "The Curse of Fenric" Ah, the old Jenny/Donna ploy. "There's a wind whipping up. I can feel it through my clothes.", Ace, "The Curse of Fenric" This was changed from a line with Ace saying "Too hot. The clothes are sticking to me." because it was clearly bitterly cold during the filming - Sophie was visibly shivering when Ace said she was "Too hot" so they changed the line. "I don't like dark buildings. There was one in Perivale, an old, empty house full of noises. Evil. Things I didn't understand.", Ace, "The Curse of Fenric" Well, we know about that, don't we? "Ghost Light" was the previous story. But, as originally written this was meant to be foreshadowing for the "Ghost Light" house - but the story order was switched. "The baby. In thirty years, the baby will be grown. She will have a daughter. That daughter will be you. You've just created your own future. The baby is your mother. The mother you hate.", Fenric-possessed Sorin, "The Curse of Fenric" Ooh - deep Ace backstory - I love it! And deep shocking backstory. "Do you think I didn't know? The chess set in Lady Peinforte's study? I knew.", "Earlier than that, Time Lord. Before Cybermen, ever since Ice World, where you first met the girl.", The Doctor and Fenric-possessed Sorin, "The Curse of Fenric" Ooh - references to stories from previous 7th Doctor seasons - I love it! And, yes, the idea of this long game does feel very New Who. "She couldn't even pass her chemistry exams at school, and yet she manages to create a time storm in her bedroom. I saw your hand in it from the very beginning.", The Doctor, "The Curse of Fenric" That time-storm whisking Ace (Dorothy) away to Ice World always did seem a bit weird from the moment we heard about it, didn't it? And now we have an explanation. "Your faith in me was holding the haemovore back. ... I had to make you lose your belief in me.", The Doctor, "The Curse of Fenric" Wow, that was powerful. I did like the way that the different characters had faith in different things (Ace's and Sorin's - and it's a shame we couldn't hear what the Doctor listed earlier) and that the Doctor had to break Ace's faith. "You always know. You just can't be bothered to tell anyone. It's like it's some kind of game, and only you know the rules.", Ace, "The Curse of Fenric" It's 3am - I can't think of the best companion's faith. Leela?
Andrew Vignaux
2025-12-05 13:59:10 +0000 UTC
