15x3. Image of the Fendahl
Writer: Chris Boucher
Director: George Spenton-Foster
Script Editor: Robert Holmes
Producer: Graham Williams
Synopsis: The Doctor and Leela
arrive in Britain, where a team of scientists, led by Dr. Fendelman,
are using a sonic time scanner to examine an ancient skull that seems
to predate humanity by far, unaware that their experiment may result in
the awakening of the Fendahl, an entity
that has subtly manipulated human history and evolution so as to create
the conditions for its eventual return. The Doctor's attempts to
prevent the Fendahl from reawakening -- after which it would
conceivably consume all life on Earth -- are complicated by a local
cult led by one of the scientists, Max Stael, who believe that they can
channel the Fendahl's power.
Review: "Image of the Fendahl"
has some interesting ideas and characters attached to a plot that
eventually proves too restrained for its own good. The conflicts
between three of the scientists -- Fendelman, Stael, and Colby -- are
borne out of genuine personality differences rather than just differing
roles in the plot. Colby remains defiant and scornful of Stael's
megalomania to the end, and Fendelman is convincingly both
overconfident and manipulative at first (he persuades the rest of the
team to cover up an apparent murder and slyly suggests, when one of
them accuses him of being insane, that he should therefore be humored)
and later chastened as he realizes that his own life (and, as he says,
all of mankind) has been used to bring about the Fendahl's
re-emergence. The ideas behind the story, namely that the skull has
been slowly influencing human evolution so as to create the conditions
for the Fendahl's return, and that the paranormal phenomena in the area
(and in other locations across the world) are the result of a nearby
"time fissure," are a compelling take on common superstitions and on
theories about alien influence on human history.
While derivative of Quatermass and the Pit, the serial is hardly a carbon copy or a ripoff. Unfortunately, it might have actually fared better if it had been. The Quatermass
story was convincingly sweeping and large-scale: one really could
believe that all of humanity was threatened at the end. "Image of
the Fendahl," however, never quite gets there. When the Fendahl
partially materializes, having taken over the body of Dr. Thea Ransome,
it doesn't actually do much of anything, and the whole threat is
apparently foiled at the end by some salt and an explosion. This serial
certainly has its strong points, but the writers probably should have
either toned down the scale of the threat or enlarged the scope of the
story.
Rating: *** (out of four)