Fury from the Deep
The place is somewhere along the coast of England. The TARDIS makes an unusual arrival and materializes over the sea, then lands on top of it and stays afloat, and the Doctor, Jamie, and Victoria row themselves ashore to find a natural gas processing station in some peril. Production suffering, there are unexplained pressure issues, and the Doctor detects a rhythmic sound within the pipelines. A malignant creature made of seaweed has started to infiltrate the base and take over the minds and bodies of the staff, with the apparant intention of spreading across the world eventually. Victoria finds herself questioning why she is always subjected to such terrors as she has been since she met the Doctor and Jamie, and finds herself faced with a wrenching decision to make: to continue on as she is, or to try and make herself a new home in a strange time.
There's not much to really say about the plot of the story even if it is a 6 part adventure (none of which exists intact, just a few clips including a REALLY scary bit) but the tension and horror keeps it going the whole way. The seaweed is identified as the bad guy relatively early, and it is next to impossible to stop as it floods through the base with creeping tendrils and masses of sea foam. There are the usual detractors in the cast who refuse to believe that seaweed is the cause of the trouble, even after it attacks them, but everyone is convinced soon enough. I enjoyed this adventure while travelling home on the VIA train from Windsor a few days ago, and caught a few bemused looks from the guy sitting next to me as Victoria's screams leaked out through the earphones.
Yes, Victoria screams. A lot. She screams in almost every episode of her career. I've not made a big deal of it before seeing as she's a sheltered Earth girl from the Victorian age and of course she is going to scream whern something monsterous makes a garb for her. It makes sense. It's not the same as having dear Susan with her "I'm an alien and I'm so much smarter than you" demeanour caving in and screaming her fool head off every few minutes. And shrill as they are, it's her screams that eventually save the day, as the weed creature cannot handle loud soundwaves.
Her departure is a huge choice for her as I said already. She can't go on being frightened every day; the strain is getting to her, proving that space and time travel are not for everyone the Doctor chooses to come along with him. Jamie is still content to enjoy the spirit of adventure, but he has alrady seen two other companions before him simply grow tired of the constant barrage of aliens and the exhaustion that comes with travelling in the TARDIS. Victoria's final choice to stay on Earth in a contemporary time (I'm going to just assume Fury from the Deep is actually set in 1968) is what's best for her for now, and it tears Jamie right up, perhaps showing that he had some kind of affection for her that went beyond simply teasing her like he would a kid sister. The Doctor has seen this sort of thing before and does give Victoria time to think it over properly and maybe reconsider, but when her stand is firm, he wishes her well and lets her go. Jamie sulks, and the Doctor almost indignantly shouts at him that he was fond of her too, perhaps a bit of the ache of seeing another friend leave him starting to show through.
Jamie and the Doctor leave in the TARDIS, their destiny somewhere in the stars. On Earth Victoria will live her life and grow as a person, but her time with the Doctor has changed her and shown her a darkness that will haunt her for years until she is faced with an old danger and no Doctor to help her this time. But that is in the future. For now, the Doctor and Jamie have their own problems to worry about...
NEXT EPISODE : THE WHEEL IN SPACE
There's not much to really say about the plot of the story even if it is a 6 part adventure (none of which exists intact, just a few clips including a REALLY scary bit) but the tension and horror keeps it going the whole way. The seaweed is identified as the bad guy relatively early, and it is next to impossible to stop as it floods through the base with creeping tendrils and masses of sea foam. There are the usual detractors in the cast who refuse to believe that seaweed is the cause of the trouble, even after it attacks them, but everyone is convinced soon enough. I enjoyed this adventure while travelling home on the VIA train from Windsor a few days ago, and caught a few bemused looks from the guy sitting next to me as Victoria's screams leaked out through the earphones.
Yes, Victoria screams. A lot. She screams in almost every episode of her career. I've not made a big deal of it before seeing as she's a sheltered Earth girl from the Victorian age and of course she is going to scream whern something monsterous makes a garb for her. It makes sense. It's not the same as having dear Susan with her "I'm an alien and I'm so much smarter than you" demeanour caving in and screaming her fool head off every few minutes. And shrill as they are, it's her screams that eventually save the day, as the weed creature cannot handle loud soundwaves.
Her departure is a huge choice for her as I said already. She can't go on being frightened every day; the strain is getting to her, proving that space and time travel are not for everyone the Doctor chooses to come along with him. Jamie is still content to enjoy the spirit of adventure, but he has alrady seen two other companions before him simply grow tired of the constant barrage of aliens and the exhaustion that comes with travelling in the TARDIS. Victoria's final choice to stay on Earth in a contemporary time (I'm going to just assume Fury from the Deep is actually set in 1968) is what's best for her for now, and it tears Jamie right up, perhaps showing that he had some kind of affection for her that went beyond simply teasing her like he would a kid sister. The Doctor has seen this sort of thing before and does give Victoria time to think it over properly and maybe reconsider, but when her stand is firm, he wishes her well and lets her go. Jamie sulks, and the Doctor almost indignantly shouts at him that he was fond of her too, perhaps a bit of the ache of seeing another friend leave him starting to show through.
Jamie and the Doctor leave in the TARDIS, their destiny somewhere in the stars. On Earth Victoria will live her life and grow as a person, but her time with the Doctor has changed her and shown her a darkness that will haunt her for years until she is faced with an old danger and no Doctor to help her this time. But that is in the future. For now, the Doctor and Jamie have their own problems to worry about...
NEXT EPISODE : THE WHEEL IN SPACE
Labels: Jamie McCrimmon, The 2nd Doctor, Victoria Waterfield
posted by Sean Hoover @ 12:40 PM
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