The Horror of Fang Rock

Lost on the way to Brighton at the turn of the century, the TARDIS brings the Doctor and Leela to an isolated lighthouse where something has just fallen from the sky. The old lighthouse keeper, Ruben, knows the story of the Beast of Fang Rock and sets about terrifying junior keeper, Vince, while ribbing the other keeper, Ben, about the risks associated with electrical generators. But whatever has fallen from the sky has an affinity for electrical power and heads for the lighthouse, killing Ben and trapping the Doctor and Leela with the terrified survivors of the crew and a wrecked ship. The creature stalking them is a Rutan scout, marooned on Earth and waiting for a pickup by its mothership. And in the meantime it's mission to to clear the area and kill anything that threatens its survival.

So we finally get to meet the fierce Rutans that have been fighting the Sontarans across space for so long. and they're... well.. nasty, yes, but not exactly impressive. Green blob with tentacles. "What is THAT?" Jay demanded when we watched the DVD of the adventure, pointing to a bad CSO of a green blob clinging to the outside of the lighthouse. The lighthouse is done proprly as a set, but the backgrounds leave a lot to be desired, and the shipwreck at the end of episode 1 needs a bit of work... I'm actually surprised that the restoration team didn't change it.

Some good characters in this one. Poor Vince, frightened by Leela's casual shcuking off of her wet clothes. Poor Adelaide, going hysterical and screaming and getting slapped across the face by Leela (we watched that bit twice). And those scheming "gentlemen" Skinsale and Lord Palmerdale too entwined in their own personal drama to take the Rutan meance seriously until its far too late and people are dying. The Doctor, of course, is perfect, telling this person off, comforting this person, and relying on Leela to keep her cool and help him out. The Rutan, as an adversary, is a sneaky one, and its powers of transmutation make it a force to be reckoned with. And it's a cocky thing, denying that its species' retreat from the Sontarans is anything but a strategic withdrawal.

The thing I find at odds with the whole story is how at the end, despite there being a whole lighthouse full of dead bodies behind them and Leela's eyes changed colour from brown to blue after a near-blinding, our heros jovially leave with a bit of poetry recited as the TARDIS dematerializes. Um. Okay so the Doctor is used to violence and death, and Leela is a warrior, but come on... you're dead, let's party? That's my only bone of conention with this one - otherwise it's a gripping horror story.

NEXT EPISODE : THE INVISIBLE ENEMY