From: ph9991_manfr@rivers.acc.uwrf.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.startrek.misc,rec.arts.drwho
Subject: "Curse of Fenric" was RE: ST:TNG Crit.vsDrWho SPOILERS!
Date: 16 Dec 92 15:31:23 -0600
Organization: University of Wisconsin - River Falls

>>	Would you like an air sickness bag? Curse of Fenric happens to be
>>one of my all time favorite Who episodes. A lot of people agree with me and
>>have ever since it was first shown back in 1989.
> 
> A lot of people liked Hitler for a while too.  Like what you like, you will
> have no luck convincing me that a story which manages to trivialize (a) war,

Please explain how "The Curse of Fenric" trivialized war.  There were numerous
scenes that dealt with war in a refreshingly realistic way, such as the
Russian soldier whispering to himself "No closer please" as Jean and Phyllis
almost venture too close to their camp.  
Another *big* one is the telegram telling Kathleen that her husband has been
killed in the war.  

> (b) chess,

I thought that chess was a game.  Therefore how does one trivialize trivia?

 (c) Norse myth,

Norse mythology was ripe territory for the series to tackle as neither it
nor any other TV series I have ever seen had ever ventured into that territory
before.

 and (d) [and this is the killer] vampires by

You have to come into the story with a little something!  Did you want the
story to completely explain absolutely every vampire convention?  You got
the "ye must have faith" stuff, there was the explanation that they were
really humans from the future that had evolved into this form due to chemical
pollution... What more would have satisfied you?


> failing to adequately explore *any* of these within its own plot and theme
> is a "masterpiece."

It was more than adequate for me Drew.  Your definition of adequacy is
obviously much higher than mine.  Maybe another six episodes on the story
would have satisfied you.


  ...Come to think of it, that last sentence was pretty
> incoherent, too, but never mind.

  Anyway, I felt that there was entirely too
> much in "Curse" to really make a good story.  Believe it or not, it ranks as
> one of my *least* favorite who stories ever with bad acting, bad writing,
> cheesy visuals, and lack of unified thrust.

Please define what was "bad acting" in this cast.  Was Millington a terribly
acted character?  Dr Judson?  Ace?  The Doctor? Captain Sorin?  Jean and
Phyllis?  
Bad writing we've already looked into, but the visuals?  
Here is a measure of how "cheesy" the visuals were....
Recall the scene where the Doctor, Wainwright, and Ace come out of the tunnel
with the Parish record book being followed by the two Russian soldiers who
had stayed behind to hold off the Haemovores.   Recall also that there is
something in the foreground of the scene covering up the feet of the actors
concerned to conceal the fact that they are all wearing Wellington boots
to cope with the mud that torrential rains that day had caused.  
Now tell me, when you first saw this story, did YOU realize that the thing
in the foreground wasn't really there during the shoot?  It was Paintboxed
in during post-production.  I had absolutely no reason to suspect that this
was the case until I read that in "Doctor Who Magazine" much afterwards.
Did you?

Well, you'll probably say, that was just that one scene.  Right then, how
about the Haemovores themselves?  Don't you think it was a very nice touch
to have some of them still partially human or wearing bits of period
clothing in keeping with the idea that the Haemovore army had been slowly
building up down the centuries?  
How about the underwater photography?  How many other "Doctor Who" stories
can you recall that had that?  Or "Star Trek" come to that.  
How about filming the thing in the original "Dracula" church?  
How about the crumbling to dust scenes of Phyllis and Jean?  



  I liked "Twin Dilemma" better
> than this tripe, for Schnopia's sake!
> 
> 
> I *am* talking about someone other than Ace, as it happens (he said with
> great dignity).  Ace *is* a believable character, just not a
> stunningly...never mind, this is over.  The other characters in these
> serials were the ones I found ludicrous and unfathomable.  Control (GL),
> just about everyone in Curse of Fenric, and several secondary characters
> from Greatest Show spring instantly to mind.  Many of these people are
> caricatures, puppets, made to do what the writers want without any free will
> or depth of their own.  There *have* been two-D characters in Who before,
> but never this blatant.  I just can't *believe* Doctor Who anymore the way I
> could previously.

Please give numerous examples.  I will.
From "The Curse of Fenric"
Dr Judson and Cmdr Millington:  a crippled scientist and a slightly mad
naval commander, both with obsessions for Norse mythology due to the influence
of the Curse of Fenric on their minds.  they went to school together where
Judson had his crippling accident, which he uses as an emotional hold over
Millington.  Millington has numerous prejudices, against Russians, against
the Germans, against women, all of which were very adequately shown in the
story.  Judson is sharp and quick-tempered, but also with a weird sense of
humor, whilst Millington is a sombre and very depressed man, as though he
knows the end of thw world is coming (a belief festered by Fenric's
influence.)  
Call that two-dimensional?  'Cos I don't.
Did you have someone else in mind?

> 
> Coherent also implies that there's some sort of focus to the whole thing. 
> In "Curse" the focus was notably absent. 

You've missed the point *completely* of the focus of "Fenric."
Fenric is a purely evil intelligence, a remnant of the two forces that
existed before the Big Bang.  It was trapped in the flask by the Doctor
seventeen centuries previous to the story, and thus its freedom to act
directly was inhibited.  
However, Fenric knows how large an effect very small actions and influences
can have, so down through the ages he arranges families and events so that
there will come a day when not only can he be released from the flask
but he will also have a ready-made army.  
The "focus" is the whole story!  The idea is magnificent, that because
Captain Sorin's mother lived in the area he too is "touched" by The Curse
of Fenric.  He was selected by Fenric.  
Fenric manipulated personal destinies on a vast scale just so that he could
be released.  That was the idea.  He wanted to escape, rule the world, and
have revenge on the Doctor.  And absolutely everything in the story is
tied to one of those three motives somehow, usually more than one of those
motives.  
And the story is told in a very segmented way to further emphasize the
"coming together" idea here.  Russian soldiers, the Doctor himself, a 
naval commander, Ace, the last life form ever on the face of the Earth
from the future...ALL of them came together as the Wolves of Fenric in
the course of these four episodes to release Fenric.  

 In "Ghost Light" it was closer, but
> again, the thematic elements were too diverse for any real focus to be had. 
> "Greatest Show" I actually enjoyed more than some of the other McCoy
> stories.  I've forgotten the other titles now.
> 
>>-Jeff
>>-- 
>>Jeff Hildebrand, The Shaggy TA		       	   hildebra@math.wisc.edu
>>"The following statement  is an editorial viewpoint  and does not reflect 
>>the views of WSRN-FM, its employees, or mutant drosophila" - Off the Cuff
>>"You can't confuse us; we're not listening to you!"  -  topology students
> 
> To sum up: I think the McCoy era had definite and attractive possibilities,
> spoiled by bad writing, worse acting, and bizarre production/direction. 
> Before that, Dr. Who had been sci-fi--not always good sci-fi, but sci-fi. 
> In the McCoy era, it was comic-book--and not ever good comic-book.  We're
> not talking Innovation's Lestat or DC's Sandman, or even NEC's brilliant
> Tick; we're talking Marvel's monthly wheels-o-cheese, or the abominable
> Death of Superman issue.  UGH!


That last word pretty much sums up what I think of your Fenric analysis.

> 
> Drewcifer
> -- 
> ***************************************************************************
> ** Andrew David Simchik, registered Scorpio ************* SCHNOPIA! *******
> ***************************************************************************
> as010b@uhura.cc.rochester.edu



Steven.K.Manfred

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