Doctor Who - Horror Of Fang Rock (DVD)

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Good
Special Effects	Good
How does it compare to similar films?	Good

Advantages:	Plenty and varied Special Features .
Disadvantages:	Not the best story in the world .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

In honour of the new series of Doctor Who I am continuing to work my way through my collection of Classic Dr Who DVDs. This time I am zooming back in time to the Seventies, and the era of Tom Baker, for an atmospheric adventure called Horror of Fang Rock.

Once again produced by the BBC, Horror of Fang Rock was released on DVD on 17th January 2005 and is a four part story, produced on one disc. This disc contains the main feature and a variety of Special Features. Our copy cost us £9.99 from www.sendit.com ~ a saving of a tenner on the cover price of £19.99.

As usual, I will give you a brief plot outline. If you want to skip straight onto the bits about the Special Features, feel free to rejoin us in five paragraphs time.

~~~THE PLOT.

This adventure is set around the turn of the last century. The story begins as the Fourth Doctor, (played by Tom Baker) and his current companion Leela (played by Louise Jameson ~ who was also in Bergerac, Eastenders and Brookside), materialize on a cold, dark rock, near a lighthouse. The Island is called Fang Rock and the lighthouse keepers believe that there is a monster on the Island ~ the Legend of Fang Rock.

The mystery truly starts when the engineer on the lighthouse dies suspiciously. At first the Beast of Fang Rock is blamed, but the Doctor and Leela soon begin to discover that there is something more sinister happening. As the adventure unfolds, a small ship runs aground in the storm adding depth to the story through more characters to interact with.

Our intrepid Time Travelers soon realise that nobody on the Island (and ultimately the Earth) is safe and there are dangerous aliens on the loose. The lighthouse, that should offer shelter from danger, is filled with that danger! The Doctor thinks he has secured the danger outside the lighthouse, only to discover that he has locked it inside with them. Can the Doctor save the Earth from alien invasion (from the Rutans ~ who fans will know are engaged in a long term war with the Sontarans)) and destruction?

This story was originally broadcast on the BBC from September 3rd to September 24th 1977. It is an adventure filled story that gets better as it goes on ~ it is a little constrained by being stuck within the walls (and rocks) of the lighthouse and Island.

Until the ship crashes too the characters are limited to just the Doctor, Leela and the workers on the lighthouse (Ben, Vince and Reuben). Even when the other characters join they are killed off quite quickly ~ before you begin to build up an affinity for them.

~~~SPECIAL FEATURES.

***Commentary***

This time the ubiquitous commentary is provided by Louise Jameson (Leela), John Abbot (Vince) and Terrance Dicks (writer of Doctor Who and many other books and TV scripts). This commentary isn’t too bad ~ there are some pretty funny anecdotes (especially about Tom Baker) and a nice chemistry between the three. I actually listened to the commentary all the way through for a change without getting to bored…a very good sign!

***The Antique Doctor Who Show***

This is a short programme in the style of the Antiques Roadshow, specially made for fans of the series. It was originally broadcast in 1993 to correspond with Dr Who’s 30th Anniversary and is quite entertaining from a fan’s point of view. The antiques experts have to cope with Dr Who sweet wrappers, model K9s and scripts…I found the “antique” circa 1990’s clothing of great historic value too! As this only lasts for about 5 minutes it is just long enough to hold your interest

***Terrance Dicks: Fact & Fiction***

This is a quite lengthy résumé of the life of writer Terrance Dicks. It lasts for just over 36 minutes, but is pretty interesting despite the length ~ after all, it IS dealing with a career of over SIXTY years, so can’t just go on for a couple of minutes. I enjoyed learning a bit more about Dick’s other books and just how many Television and radio programmes he has contributed to over the years. This feature is well worth watching!

***Information Text***

For once this wasn’t my favourite Special Feature! I still found learning about the cast and production interesting, but, found it got a little wound up with the script and script changes and distracted me from the actual story. I think this is mainly because there weren’t as many cast members to find information about and no locations to reveal.

***Photo Gallery***

Once again I only really looked at the Photo Gallery once! There are one or two rare shots, a few I hadn’t seen before and a few good cast pictures ~ but once you’ve looked at them there isn’t really much else you can do with them!

***Paddy Russell – A Life in Television***

This is another documentary feature, this one slightly shorter at around 14 minutes. The subject this time is Paddy Russell, who was director of the show. I really enjoyed watching this one because I really didn’t know much about her life and career as an actress, stage manager and director on stage and screen. She is also not well and it is sad to think she may not be available to interview in the future. Well worth watching!

***Easter Eggs***

As usual there are Easter Eggs on this disc, but I’m not going to tell you how to find them! This time there is only one and you need to use the buttons on the interactive menu to access it.

~~~FINAL THOUGHTS.

Although not one of my favourite stories of the Tom Baker era this is still a good DVD release. The story has enough going on and the acting is good enough to carry it through a few minor wobbles. The DVD also gives us plenty of Special Features, making it worth buying even if (like me) you already own the video format version.

Sound and picture quality are as crisp and clear as I have come to expect ~ apart from it occasionally being a little on the dark side, due to the bad lighting in the studio at the time of filming. The subtitles are available both during the main feature and the commentary too, which is a bonus for anyone with hearing difficulties.

I thoroughly recommend Horror of Fang Rock on DVD and am pleased the BBC have done us proud once more. Plenty of Special Features again ~ this time I would say that my Feature Prize goes to the excellent documentary about Terrance Dicks, but I watched all the features with interest.

A well made DVD and must for any Doctor Who or Tom Baker fan!

~~~TECHNICAL DETAILS.

Certification: U
Duration: 94 mins
Format: DVD
Region: 2
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Cat. No: BBCDVD1356 (BBC)
Subtitles: English for the hearing impaired