92%
With exception to Battlefield, season 26 was a good season. At the time it was broadcast, there was the ever-present threat that it might be the last. Only two seasons previously I would not have cared if it had been the end. By now, I hoped that there would be a season 27. If the upward trend continued, season 27 had the potential to be the best season for a long time, perhaps a good start for the series as it entered the 1990s.
Sadly, it never happened and season 26 proved to be the end of an era. I have always felt that The Curse of Fenric should have ended season 26 - especially since it was a stronger story than Survival. Like Remembrance of the Daleks the previous year, this story kept me on the edge of my seat. It is generally well written, with excellent performances all round.
What surprised me most at the time was how good it was. Director Nicholas Mallet had not impressed with his two previous Doctor Who stories and nightmares about Richard Briers tainted the news that Nicholas Parsons would guest star in The Curse of Fenric. My fears proved groundless, and Parsons surprised me with an excellent performance.
Its not entirely perfect, many people have commented on the scene with Ace - knowing that its an eleventh hour change of script does not make it any better. The fact stands that it is quite awful and jars with what was otherwise an excellent story. That aside, this is a brilliant Doctor Who story that stands as one of the best in the history of the series and highlights the lie that the show had passed its best years before. Had anyone cared to watch they would have noted that the series was getting back on its feet.
The DVD release contains two versions of the story - the original broadcast version, previously unreleased. The video version had featured additional footage but a decision was made that the DVD should restore footage to a feature length version rather than present a re-cut four part story - especially as, like the video release, some episodes would be longer than others. As a feature length adventure, The Curse of Fenric works brilliantly and I would love to see it on the big screen - or even on the small screen.
Nothing quite beats the passage of time for an "ouch" moment. By that I mean the realisation that something that seems fresh in the memory was, in reality, something I watched 20 years ago! When I first saw this adventure back in 1989 the future looked bleak for the series. Rumours abounded that this was the end and, in contrast to the furore in 1985 when the show was to be taken off the air, this time it would appear the show would quietly fade from sight. There were also rumours that the show would return, but the BBC was seeking an outside company to produce the series for them - negotiations might result in a delay and so it was unlikely the series would return until 1991 at the earliest. The split in fandom which had begun in 1985 had become more pronounced and it appeared that neither Sylvester McCoy nor his period as the Doctor had much fan support. I will say that in 1987 I thought I could no longer watch the show but after Dragonfire I decided to watch one more story and that would decide me whether or not to continue. Needless to say, the next story won me over and so I was still watching the series in 1989. Despite a poor start, the 1989 series seemed to be showing that the programme had found its way again after a few years in the wilderness. And there was no story that decided me better than The Curse of Fenric. From the opening moments I was hooked on this story and it was one of those rare, genuine "edge-of-the-seat" stories. Any reservations I had (ie I had not been impressed by Nicholas Mallet's previous two stories) were swept away - and from start to finish I enjoyed this story. That is not to say that it was perfect - there were a few dud moments in the story and, with the later special edition release, it was evident that some good moments had been cut out.
Over the years I have watched the story and I have enjoyed it and been thrilled by it each and every time. There has been one signifcant change between this 20th anniversary viewing and my previous viewing of the story (in 2003) - the series has returned. So, how do I feel about The Curse of Fenric in light of newer adventures? For a start a lot of the flaws that I had ignored previously have become much harder to ignore. A good example is John Nathan-Turner's insistence that cliffhanger endings should always close-up on the Doctor's face. There is so much potential in the cliffhangers that should have been, namely episodes 2 and 3, and yet they are ruined by adding a Doctor facial close-up. Then there is almost constant incidental music - at the time Mark Ayres' scores were at least more subtle than Keff McCulloch, but the score is still almost omnipresent and it would seem that there was too much reliance on the score to create atmosphere rather than the story. And there can be no forgetting the dialogue between Ace and a soldier in episode 3 - it was bad in 1989 and is still bad in 2009! If only the extended, feature length version had cut this bit out - then it would be perfect.
The long and short of it is that its still a good adventure, I still find it enjoyable and I would still rank it above some of the more recent stories. However, it does show its age, there are signs that it could have done with better direction and the script could have done with more polishing. As in 1989 I find that Sylvester McCoy turns in a generally acceptable performance and while better actors have taken on the role, there are no major faults in his performance during this story. One element that seems more relevant today is the chess move that thwarts Fenric initially: some have remarked "but you can't do that in chess!" - they have missed the point and it is clear enough in the story. People are not chess pieces: there may be rules in the game, but life is altogether different.
82% - reflects my new rating of this story - as you can see it has dropped a bit, but is still quite high given that most of the recent episodes would fall below this rating.