Image of the Fendahl Part Four

The one where the Doctor blows up another priory...

The Fendahl finally manifests in human form, using the body of poor Thea Ransome, which it decides will look even better if painted head to toe in gold. And admittedly, Wanda Ventham does look utterly stunning in gold. I didn't think it possible for Wanda to look any more beautiful than she does anyway, but as a shining gold angel of death, she is magnificent. The rise of the Fendahl from flat on its back to standing upright is done really well too.

No sooner has the Fendahl manifested, it begins to soak up more life forces by killing its own coven, beginning with wily old Ted Moss, who's turned into a fendahleen sluglet. This does not go down well with Max, who is stunned that the creature he reawakened and hoped to control has now turned on the very people who worshipped it. Max's world is in tatters, and to make matters worse, he's looked the Fendahl in the eyes, which means certain doom.

The Doctor and Leela rescue Adam (who's looking very alluring strapped to a pillar with his chest out), but it's too late for Max. Rather than become part of the Fendahl's all-consuming gestalt, Max would rather remove himself from the equation altogether, and asks the Doctor to fetch his revolver. I'm really not sure how I feel about this scene. The Doctor accepts Max's decision without trying to dissuade him, or think of a better solution. He just gets the revolver, hands it to him and says he's sorry, before nipping away. He aids and abets Max's suicide. I feel very uncomfortable with the Doctor's willingness to aid Max's self-sacrifice, it doesn't feel right. I can imagine any other Doctor trying to prevent this from happening, doing or saying anything they can to save Max's life (Max even asks for help at one point). This just feels like a misstep in characterisation. "I'm sorry," says the Doctor, patting him reassuringly on the shoulder as he leaves. Well I'm sorry, Doctor, that's not good enough. I expect more of you.

Once rescued, Adam sets about making himself out to be the biggest arse this side of the planet Clom by calling Martha a "stupid old witch" and Jack a "swede-bashing cretin" (whatever that means). Adam seems to blame Martha for everything that's happened, which is a bit rich seeing as it's quite clear it's all his mate Max's fault. Thankfully, the ever-reliable Leela puts Adam in his place (at knifepoint!).

The Doctor then sets about info-dumping for the benefit of the characters and audience, when really the episode should be cranking up the danger a bit more. I do admire writer Chris Boucher, but he's failed to make Image of the Fendahl an exciting story, packing it instead with mood, atmosphere and paleo-contact theory. It's a densely written story, but told at a pedestrian pace (which is not to devalue George Spenton-Foster's direction).

The Doctor summarises what's going on and what the Fendahl is, and what his plan is to defeat it. The idea behind the Fendahl is pretty gruesome. It basically eats life, it eats every living creature it encounters, and that includes its own, until there's only one of it left (I'm not clear how there can be more than one of a gestalt being). In an effort to stop the Fendahl, the Time Lords placed its planet (the fifth one, folks) into a time loop, removing all record of it ever existing, which resulted in the Fendahl becoming more myth than reality. But the Time Lords didn't do this quickly enough, and the Fendahl skull managed to escape across the stars to Earth, where it's been manipulating the evolution of mankind in order to get to the point where someone like Fendelman had the know-how to reawaken it.

And breathe...

"The Fendahl is death. How do you kill death?" asks the Doctor. Well, why not blow it up, that's a start it seems. The Doctor decides to steal the skull and blow Fetch Priory to atoms using the time scanner tech, which will be the second time a priory has been blown to smithereens on his watch (Pyramids of Mars; it's also the same location he "blows up", Stargrove Manor). It's a pretty lame solution by anyone's standards, to just blow everything up. What I don't understand is how blowing the priory up helps in any way, if the Fendahl skull has been removed. If the Fendahl manifestation is separate and independent of the skull, then fair enough, but I can't see how blowing up the bricks and mortar it floats about in will kill it. And if the manifestation is directly connected to the skull, then surely it will follow it to wherever the Doctor takes it? Which means blowing up Fetch Priory is mere wanton vandalism.

The Doctor pinches the skull and intends to take it to the constellation of Canthares, where there's a star about to go supernova, which he reckons will destroy the Fendahl. And that's that. We don't even get to see him do that, and when you've got an episode that runs as desperately short as this one (under 21 minutes), I think we could have afforded a bit more closure. All we do get is Leela changing her dress and brushing her hair, and a lame reference to calling K-9 "he" which wasn't very funny the first time around three weeks earlier.

Some other observations about the episode:

• Tom Baker breaks the fourth wall again by talking directly to camera (as he did in The Face of Evil). "Time's running out" makes for a cracking gif though, and he's not the only Doctor to address his audience (Hartnell and McCoy do it too).
• I love Louise Jameson's look of annoyance when Tom Baker rushes to her aid in the corridor, then drops her and runs off, letting her slump back to the floor. Not sure if that's scripted or just Tom being an arse, but it's funny either way.
• Leela kisses Adam. It's terribly random, but sweet all the same (I admit, I'd do similar...).
• When the Doctor and Leela are hurling salt bombs at the fendahleen, Tom almost hits the camera with one of his projectiles!
• The use of reliable old mirrorlon to show the priory being torn asunder is very effective, and the reversal of the flames is accompanied by backwards music from Dudley Simpson.
• The Doctor and Leela just leave in the TARDIS without seeing the others again, which means that Jack, Martha and Adam (a trio of future Doctor Who companions!) probably believe them to have perished in the implosion. Jack tells his gran to get the tea on in the assumption they'll walk through the door at any moment, but no... It's something else left unresolved.

The sudden ending is really unsatisfying. There's plenty of time left in the episode for the Doctor and Leela to say goodbye to Jack, Martha and Adam. It would have been lovely, and rewarding, to have a nice final scene of everyone enjoying tea and fruit cake at Martha Tyler's cottage. It's so obvious that it's absence hurts.

All in all, Image of the Fendahl is a triumph of ideas and atmosphere, but severely lacks the peril and pace so key to a successful Doctor Who romp. I love that Boucher stirs in pinches of Von Daniken, Medusa, ghosts and apparitions, nightmares, witchcraft and devil worship, it makes it a rich brew indeed. Coupled with Spenton-Foster's atmospheric direction, and Jim Purdie's lighting, the story has a feeling of impending doom, of "something coming". The trouble is that when that something finally comes, it doesn't feel threatening enough. We're told the Fendahl is death itself, but all it really does is kill its own coven and whizz about the house appearing and disappearing in various balletic poses. And as for the fendahleen creatures, they look great, but they're criminally underused and so ineffective that they're defeated by Saxa.

Thirty years later, Doctor Who would feature monsters which are defeated using Sarsons. I'm not sure which is sillier.

First broadcast: November 19th, 1977

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: Wanda Ventham looks stunning painted gold in flowing saffron robes.
The Bad: The Doctor aiding Max's suicide. I feel very uncomfortable with that.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆ (story average: 7.3 out of 10)

"Would you like a jelly baby?" tally: 10

NEXT TIME: The Sun Makers...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Part One; Part Two; Part Three

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: https://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.com/2014/07/image-of-fendahl.html

Image of the Fendahl is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Image-Fendahl-DVD/dp/B001UHNXMY