Horror of Fang Rock is the opening story to Doctor Who's fifteenth season, which was a season of transition for the show. Phillip Hinchliffe, who oversaw arguably the show's most successful period until the revival, vacated the producer's chair and was replaced by Graham Williams, who began to take the show away from the darkness and violence it had been criticised for by She Who Shall Not Be Named and towards a lighter, more adventure and eventually comedy basis for the series.
Why is all of this relevant? It's an important bit of context to think about this story in, because while the departure of Hinchliffe should have marked the end of the show's 'gothic' period, Horror of Fang Rock stands among its best examples and wouldn't have been out of place in either of the two seasons that preceded this one - in fact, looking at how the season ended with The Invasion of Time, it's a bit of a wonder how this one slipped through the cracks. Fang Rock is terrific though - imperfect, but terrific nonetheless. At the time it looked obvious that the show had to evolve to survive, given that She Who Shall Not Be Named and her ilk weren't just going to disappear, but if the series had continued in this manner rather than gone through the next few years of change, it might have had a better chance of survival when it came down to it. Ah, speculation.
It is an incredible coincidence that the next story in the alphabet, and thus the one we'll be looking at next is Image of the Fendahl, the final story of the gothic era that would come a mere two stories after this one. I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so we'll be taking an overall look at the end of the gothic period over these two entries and considering the individual stories' place in examining this part of Doctor Who's history.
Fang Rock is the superior of the two stories though for a number of reasons, although it essentially boils down to Fang Rock's central pillar being an intriguing murder mystery combined with a dark atmosphere and strong cast of supporting characters, all elements we'll individually look at of course, but all elements that work better than in the other story. Let's look at why.
Why is all of this relevant? It's an important bit of context to think about this story in, because while the departure of Hinchliffe should have marked the end of the show's 'gothic' period, Horror of Fang Rock stands among its best examples and wouldn't have been out of place in either of the two seasons that preceded this one - in fact, looking at how the season ended with The Invasion of Time, it's a bit of a wonder how this one slipped through the cracks. Fang Rock is terrific though - imperfect, but terrific nonetheless. At the time it looked obvious that the show had to evolve to survive, given that She Who Shall Not Be Named and her ilk weren't just going to disappear, but if the series had continued in this manner rather than gone through the next few years of change, it might have had a better chance of survival when it came down to it. Ah, speculation.
It is an incredible coincidence that the next story in the alphabet, and thus the one we'll be looking at next is Image of the Fendahl, the final story of the gothic era that would come a mere two stories after this one. I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so we'll be taking an overall look at the end of the gothic period over these two entries and considering the individual stories' place in examining this part of Doctor Who's history.
Fang Rock is the superior of the two stories though for a number of reasons, although it essentially boils down to Fang Rock's central pillar being an intriguing murder mystery combined with a dark atmosphere and strong cast of supporting characters, all elements we'll individually look at of course, but all elements that work better than in the other story. Let's look at why.
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| The Doctor was dismayed to find the TARDIS had landed next to a pepper grinder |
Horror of Fang Rock is, at its core, a good old-fashioned murder mystery, albeit one without a human face to the murderer. The fact the alien that is carrying out the murders, shown very early on and always known by the audience as the culprit, is nevertheless shrouded in mystery, with information about it being drip-fed to the audience and the reveal of what it really is only coming quite a way into Part Four. This means the threat is abstract through almost the entire story, which makes the mystery more potent and the atmosphere much more effective. The monster being abstract for most of the story also helps the characters' feelings, mostly that of terror, become much more believable. It also helps that the audience is told a little more than the characters are, which keeps the threat much more potent in their eyes than those of the characters.
When the Rutan is finally revealed, the motivations work well - it's far from a mindless killer, but it is a heartless killer, and that is just as terrifying. The conversation it has with the Doctor is a strong moment and the eventual resolution not only makes sense, but lends itself to the Doctor's character - he sees the Rutan as an unacceptable threat to the human race and therefore makes a difficult decision to destroy it... helped by Leela who of course finds the decision much less difficult. We'll get to the character interpretations in a bit.
The reveal is weaker than the mystery though, mostly because the Rutan looks crap. Like, really crap. Worse than usual for this era. Now there were a few production difficulties (this story was filmed in Birmingham because of problems down in London for instance), but... come on.
When the Rutan is finally revealed, the motivations work well - it's far from a mindless killer, but it is a heartless killer, and that is just as terrifying. The conversation it has with the Doctor is a strong moment and the eventual resolution not only makes sense, but lends itself to the Doctor's character - he sees the Rutan as an unacceptable threat to the human race and therefore makes a difficult decision to destroy it... helped by Leela who of course finds the decision much less difficult. We'll get to the character interpretations in a bit.
The reveal is weaker than the mystery though, mostly because the Rutan looks crap. Like, really crap. Worse than usual for this era. Now there were a few production difficulties (this story was filmed in Birmingham because of problems down in London for instance), but... come on.
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| AH! THE SNOT MONSTER! |
It just doesn't look very good and much of the tense atmosphere from when the threat was more abstract is unfortunately lost. For instance, when Reuben's body is copied by the Rutan and he spends most of the third episode turning green - the danger to the characters is amplified not only by their failure to realise what has happened, but also because the threat isn't physically there. Seeing a character established over the last two episodes essentially used as a weapon against our heroes is much more effective than a green glob of bad special effects.
That's not to say that the atmosphere of most of the story is diminished because of this - quite the opposite, it's still exceptionally effective, and the conclusion is written and acted well enough to make it enjoyable, but the crapness of special effects do unfortunately drag the story down.
It's not the only place the story falters unfortunately, although the list of problems is quite short. All three cliffhangers are a bit shit - the first two are just plain bad, while the third is an effective and memorable moment ("I thought I'd locked it out... instead I've locked it in") but it's hurt by the fact that we, the audience, already know the Doctor's locked the Rutan in. We've seen Reuben turning green all episode after all, therefore it's only a revelation for the Doctor and not us, which makes it a weaker cliffhanger than it probably should be.
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| Drat, I've turned green again, I hate it when that happens |
Additionally, the pacing sometimes feels off throughout the story, particularly in the final episode when most of the conclusion is squeezed into the last fifteen minutes or so when it probably needed the whole episode is finish it all off. The threat of the Rutan mothership is also not properly developed and does somewhat undermine the more potent threat of the single Rutan, and was probably something that could have been done without. Horror of Fang Rock is also notorious as the only story of the classic series (I can't be bothered to check if there were any in NuWho) in which all the supporting characters die, which I feel is a bit OTT and unnecessary, and unfortunately it feels like its done for story convenience (to avoid having to come up with a way off the island for them) rather than a deliberate story choice.
That's it for my problems though, which can now lead into the other big strength of the story - the character work.
I've already mentioned the Doctor, but I'll expand what I said throughout the entire story. His increased desperation as the story goes on to find and neutralise the threat is handled very well, and while, as the Fourth Doctor always does, he has moments of lightheartedness, there's always the sense that he's treating this situation with the utmost seriousness. His relationship with Leela is also explored effectively, through his influence on her and her faith in him. This is also the story where Tom Baker stopped being quite so much of a twat to Louise Jameson which also helps develop this towards one of the most successful Doctor-Companion relationships.
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| "I've made a terrible mistake?" "Really?" "Nah just fucking with you" - Unused dialogue |
The real strength comes from the supporting characters however. The lighthouse crew is eminently likeable - Reuben is wonderfully gruff with zero bullshit tolerance, while Vince is just a nice lad, and the audience definitely is meant to feel bad when they both die... although going back to an earlier point, I feel Vince's death was somewhat unnecessary. The ship passengers are also strong additions to the story - Lord Palmerdale is an arse but he is obviously meant to be, and his dialogue with Skinsale is some of the best stuff in the story. Skinsale himself is probably the best character in the piece, his personal battle with his ideas of duty and honour really elevate his character and the overall piece - while he is likeable and its sad (and unlike Vince, necessary) to see him die, he's clearly a character with grey areas, not afraid to do bad things if he feels it is honourable or there is a greater good, while retaining enough of a moral code to find Palmerdale an arse. Adelaide is essentially a counterpoint to Leela - while the latter is being proactive and helping out the Doctor in defeating the menace, the former is sitting being scared, but she's also an interesting character herself regarding Palmerdale and Skinsale. I've just realised both of their names end in 'ale', why on earth is that?
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| The supporting characters were waiting for The A-Z of Classic Who to get to the point |
Finally, there's Harker the sailor, who is more of a counterpoint to Skinsale, in that his idea of duty compels him to challenge Palmerdale when the latter finds that more difficult... before he's bumped off by the Rutan, which also highlights perhaps the most important thing regarding the characters. In the end, all their squabbles and problems are nothing in the face of a mortal threat, a mortal threat that ends up killing them all. It all comes together to add strong character dynamics to the already strong mystery and atmosphere.
So, where does Horror of Fang Rock fit in the overall story of the gothic period? Well, Fang Rock uses the ideas and themes of that period in a different way to what had come before. In the previous two seasons, gothic had more referred to the imagery and overall themes of stories rather than their actual stories and plots - see Pyramids of Mars or The Talons of Weng-Chiang, stories that have very sci-fi plots but look and feel more gothic than they really are. Fang Rock instead sets the story as a murder mystery in a dark and grim location right in the middle of the Victorian period, truly embracing and using the concept to its full potential. Now obviously there had been stories that used the idea similarly - The Brain of Morbius most obviously, but Fang Rock was the only story of the period to really create an effective gothic murder mystery. The other stories had strengths of their own, but despite taking place after the gothic period officially ended, Fang Rock might be the ultimate gothic Doctor Who story - dark, moody, strongly influenced by Victorian horror and with a tense and atmospheric mystery at its centre.
Horror of Fang Rock is a great success, and I think, as we'll see next time, Image of the Fendahl doesn't live up to it precisely because it returns to the older style of gothic Doctor Who, but without the previous strengths. Fang Rock doesn't need those strengths though - the central mystery and atmosphere, combined with some strong characters, more than carries it over the line.
Final Score: 8/10. A few special effects and pacing problems do little to detract from a tense, atmospheric murder mystery with a fantastic script, great performances and strong characters. Horror of Fang Rock is a success and perhaps a glimpse of what could have been had the show taken a different course to one it did.
Next Episode: Image of the Fendahl
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