with thanks to Adrian Salmon
with thanks to G.N. Reid
It's always surprising to me how few stories Terrance Dicks actually wrote for TV.
Simon Hart@Si_Hart Luckily each of them was brilliant!
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke
He certainly made up for it with the books,
and added loads to Who lore whilst he was at it.
M.R.Michael@The_Cybermatt With The War Games, Robot and The Five Doctors he wrote some of the most important.
Absolutely!
The island of Fang Rock off the south coast of England round the start of the 20th century...
Such a great idea for a setting and the BBC props, costumes and set people are on fine form.
Lovely committed performances from the lighthouse keepers.
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Rutans see in monochrome. Bit of a disadvantage for Hunter warriors. Although I suppose foxes do OK.
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Very atmospheric so far. I like how the characters are introduced, along with necessary background through conversation.
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Tension added by Leela feeling something wrong. And the electric failing. Again.
Ben's had it, as the lurker makes it into the generator room...
Reuben feels a sense of foreboding as the fog creeps in...
...and the Doctor and Leela arrive in the lighthouse.
"I'm not a tesh-nician!"
They encounter Vince and tell him that they're "mislaid mariners"...
...so he takes them up to the crew's quarters.
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke I like how friendly the young lad is, no need to waste time with boring explanations.
More Eliza Doolittle from Leela, and Vince averts his gaze as she demands more practical clothes!
Vince thinks the Doctor's mended the generator.
"You've found the trouble, then?"
The Doctor sends Vince to tell Old Reuben that they've found Ben, dead.
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Reuben was my favourite of them, as a child. I like gruff, bluff characters. Growing up alongside farmers, I reckon.
Reuben is suspicious of the strangers...
The island of Fang Rock off the south coast of England round the start of the 20th century...
Such a great idea for a setting and the BBC props, costumes and set people are on fine form.
Lovely committed performances from the lighthouse keepers.
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Rutans see in monochrome. Bit of a disadvantage for Hunter warriors. Although I suppose foxes do OK.
Love the way the light goes out right on cue as Ben speaks the word "reliable".
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Very atmospheric so far. I like how the characters are introduced, along with necessary background through conversation.
Yes, the skill & economy married to excellent perfromances - and we get it all over again in part 2 with the wreck survivors.
The Doctor's plans to show Leela Brighton have gone awry. "Not even Hove!"
Tom's in the grey coat that debuted in the Android Invasion.
Tom seems quite jolly in this scene. Must have just been Pebble Mill that pissed him off.
Tom's in the grey coat that debuted in the Android Invasion.
Unusually, the Doctor is happy to stop and ask for directions.
Although really he just wants to investigate the lighthouse.
Although really he just wants to investigate the lighthouse.
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Tension added by Leela feeling something wrong. And the electric failing. Again.
Ben's had it, as the lurker makes it into the generator room...
Reuben feels a sense of foreboding as the fog creeps in...
...and the Doctor and Leela arrive in the lighthouse.
"I'm not a tesh-nician!"
They encounter Vince and tell him that they're "mislaid mariners"...
...so he takes them up to the crew's quarters.
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke I like how friendly the young lad is, no need to waste time with boring explanations.
Tom's having fun with that hat.
More Eliza Doolittle from Leela, and Vince averts his gaze as she demands more practical clothes!
Vince thinks the Doctor's mended the generator.
"You've found the trouble, then?"
"Yes, I always find trouble..."
The Doctor sends Vince to tell Old Reuben that they've found Ben, dead.
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Reuben was my favourite of them, as a child. I like gruff, bluff characters. Growing up alongside farmers, I reckon.
Reuben is suspicious of the strangers...
Reuben was Mr. Baines in the Onedin Line, fact fans.
This production's really just like a Halloween episode of Upstairs Downstairs or the Onedin Line.
Reuben tells the Doctor to stay put...
...so Tom turns into the Incredible Sulk.
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke I like how intense Tom is in the scene with Vince. He really does draw your attention.
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke "The dead do not walk" Leela, the so-called primitive, is the more sensible one.
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke the foghorn blowing really adds to the sense of panic.
The ship hits the rocks, and the survivors scramble ashore.
Leela gives the Doctor the (fog)horn.
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke New characters! Hope it doesn't lose the sense of claustrophobia...
Great characters. Instantly recognisable, credible & interesting. People mock but Terrance Dicks knows how to write.
Right, there's yer cheap part 1, now for the guest cast. That's Terry with his script editor's hat on.
Reuben thinks it was the legendary Beast of Fang Rock...
Leela sees a body being dragged over the rocks...
...but it's just Harker, recovering Ben's corpse from the rocks.
Reuben's tales of "the Beast of Fang Rock" have gone to Leela's head.
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke"what do you mean, "do not be afraid"?" Brilliant bit from Tom there, with the doubletake.
Tensions boil over as Harker goes for Palmerdale for causing the crash.
"Gentlemen, I've got news for you: this lighthouse is under attack and by morning we might all be dead!"
No need to look so pleased about it...!
Sure enough, the Beast returns...
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Reuben's resignation to his fate from 'the beast', but his kindness toward Vince is very touching, even more so, as it actually leads to his death :(
"Silence! You will do as the Doctor instructs, or I will cut out your heart!"
"What the devil was that?" Another really odd cliffhanger, that's what. Reuben's moaning about something.
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke D'you think he stubbed his toe? Or could it be a bit worse?
The Doctor advises Leela not to talk to any strangers. Good advice, kids.
"It was in my stars - I should have listened to Miss Nethercott!" Effortless thumbnail character sketching.
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Adelaide is really getting on my nerves!
Reuben's having a *very* funny turn.
Looks a bit green around the gills...
Adelaide continues to wail...
...as the power is restored.
Leela practices her hammer swing.
The Doctor dismisses Vince's "superstitious nonsense" about the Beast scoffing lighthouse keepers...
...but sure enough the creature is scaling the wall beneath them.
The lurking Palmerdale comes a cropper when the real "beast" gives him a nasty shock.
Adelaide does even less to endear herself by refusing to hear a word against Palmerdale purely because he's a millionaire.
Leela decides to go knocking on Reuben's door. With the hammer.
"Come out, old one!" In the early 1900s? Unlikely.
Vince panics and burns Palmerdale's cash.
The Doctor tells them it's all about survival now.
Adelaide's so insufferable that when she screams at the news of Palmerdale's death, and Leela slaps her, everyone else just shrugs.
John Mark Frankland@JMFrankland The thing is although he's a cad, he does help - he suggests the diamonds, knows where to find them etc. And the whole mess is partly Doctor Who's fault anyway! Who is he to judge!?
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Love Leela's gloating. Jameson really goes for it with relish.
Everyone loves Leela gloating at the dying Rutan.
Apart from the Doctor:
This production's really just like a Halloween episode of Upstairs Downstairs or the Onedin Line.
Reuben tells the Doctor to stay put...
...so Tom turns into the Incredible Sulk.
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke I like how intense Tom is in the scene with Vince. He really does draw your attention.
Vince spies... something, on the rocks below.
Leela goes to hunt it.
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Good to see them using the character of Leela and not just making her a screamer.
Leela finds some fried fish. But no chips.
The CSO had obviously got a lot better by this time; no fringing.
It's always annoyed me how Tom pronounces "Gallifrey" as "Gally-free".
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Good to see them using the character of Leela and not just making her a screamer. 
Leela finds some fried fish. But no chips.
The CSO had obviously got a lot better by this time; no fringing.
It's always annoyed me how Tom pronounces "Gallifrey" as "Gally-free".
But at this time that was correct, I suppose, in that it'd been said that way on screen more often.
The hunter becomes the hunted...
Vince is convinced Ben has risen and walked away. He can't have... can he?
Vince is convinced Ben has risen and walked away. He can't have... can he?
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke "The dead do not walk" Leela, the so-called primitive, is the more sensible one.
An odd cliffhanger that's literally - deliberately, I suppose - out of nowhere!
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke the foghorn blowing really adds to the sense of panic.
Leela gives the Doctor the (fog)horn.
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke New characters! Hope it doesn't lose the sense of claustrophobia...
Great characters. Instantly recognisable, credible & interesting. People mock but Terrance Dicks knows how to write.
Right, there's yer cheap part 1, now for the guest cast. That's Terry with his script editor's hat on.
Leela feels a chill, but what's that on the rocks below...?
Reuben thinks it was the legendary Beast of Fang Rock...
Alan Rowe's always great in Who. Has to be said, Skinsale's 'tache is an impressive piece of work.
"Are you in charge here?"
"No, but I'm full of ideas!"
Leela sees a body being dragged over the rocks...
...but it's just Harker, recovering Ben's corpse from the rocks.
Reuben's tales of "the Beast of Fang Rock" have gone to Leela's head.
Lord Palmerdale is desperate to get to London to use his ill-gotten inside info to make a killing on the stock exchange. No chance.
Vince doesn't get how Ben's dead body could have moved, the Doctor fobs him off with some waffle about the strange effects of electricity.
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Baker's Doctor is all for the worker, here. I get the feeling Pertwee would be schmoozing the gentry.
Leela and the Doctor begin to figure out what killed Ben and how it uses electricity to kill.
"It's desperate... cunning..."
The little sub-plot of insider trading is neatly employed.
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke bivouac should be used more often.
Vince doesn't get how Ben's dead body could have moved, the Doctor fobs him off with some waffle about the strange effects of electricity.
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Baker's Doctor is all for the worker, here. I get the feeling Pertwee would be schmoozing the gentry.
Leela and the Doctor begin to figure out what killed Ben and how it uses electricity to kill.
"It's desperate... cunning..."
The little sub-plot of insider trading is neatly employed.
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke bivouac should be used more often.
Didn't he write On the Road? ;-P
Don't know why Leela's so surprised to learn that the killer is an alien. Still early days for her, I suppose.
"But we're from space!"
"Don't tell them that, whatever you do!"
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke"what do you mean, "do not be afraid"?" Brilliant bit from Tom there, with the doubletake.
Tensions boil over as Harker goes for Palmerdale for causing the crash.
"Gentlemen, I've got news for you: this lighthouse is under attack and by morning we might all be dead!"
No need to look so pleased about it...!
Sure enough, the Beast returns...
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Reuben's resignation to his fate from 'the beast', but his kindness toward Vince is very touching, even more so, as it actually leads to his death :(
"Silence! You will do as the Doctor instructs, or I will cut out your heart!"
"What the devil was that?" Another really odd cliffhanger, that's what. Reuben's moaning about something.
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke D'you think he stubbed his toe? Or could it be a bit worse?
The Doctor advises Leela not to talk to any strangers. Good advice, kids.
"It was in my stars - I should have listened to Miss Nethercott!" Effortless thumbnail character sketching.
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Adelaide is really getting on my nerves!
Palmerdale doesn't take kindly to Harker going below against his orders. "Insubordinate ruffian!"
Reuben's having a *very* funny turn.
Looks a bit green around the gills...
Adelaide continues to wail...
...as the power is restored.
The Doctor gets a bit of a shock from the generator; seems the beast was here.
"If Reuben's seen it, he can tell us."
"That is what I thought, but of course I am only a savage."
"Come on, Savage."
Palmerdale is irked that Skinsale can't DJ. Probably for the best that we keep 70s DJs on the BBC out of things, mate.
Reuben's looking a bit seasick and doesn't want visitors.
Palmerdale tries to bribe Vince into getting a message to London, but the young lighthouse keeper knows he's a wrong 'un.
When Harker tells the Doctor that Reuben's "alright", he sets off to ask him what the "beast" looks like.
"If Reuben's seen it, he can tell us."
"That is what I thought, but of course I am only a savage."
"Come on, Savage."
Palmerdale is irked that Skinsale can't DJ. Probably for the best that we keep 70s DJs on the BBC out of things, mate.
Reuben's looking a bit seasick and doesn't want visitors.
Palmerdale tries to bribe Vince into getting a message to London, but the young lighthouse keeper knows he's a wrong 'un.
Leela practices her hammer swing.
The Doctor dismisses Vince's "superstitious nonsense" about the Beast scoffing lighthouse keepers...
...but sure enough the creature is scaling the wall beneath them.
The lurking Palmerdale comes a cropper when the real "beast" gives him a nasty shock.
Adelaide does even less to endear herself by refusing to hear a word against Palmerdale purely because he's a millionaire.
Leela decides to go knocking on Reuben's door. With the hammer.
"Come out, old one!" In the early 1900s? Unlikely.
Vince panics and burns Palmerdale's cash.
The Doctor tells them it's all about survival now.
Adelaide's so insufferable that when she screams at the news of Palmerdale's death, and Leela slaps her, everyone else just shrugs.
"It is better to believe in science." And the Miss Nethercott references pay off big time. TD, you sly fox.
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Tom enters carrying a bloke over his shoulder - c'mon man, you're not out in Soho! ;)
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Tom enters carrying a bloke over his shoulder - c'mon man, you're not out in Soho! ;)
Reuben's cheered up a bit. Which is bad news for Harker.
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke That grin sticks in my mind from when I first saw this almost 40 years ago. Brrrr! You feel sorry at Harker's death in a way you didn't with Palmerdale.
Yes, absolutely. The other shipwreck survivors all die because of greed, pride and stupidity, but Harker's death is tragic.
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke That grin sticks in my mind from when I first saw this almost 40 years ago. Brrrr! You feel sorry at Harker's death in a way you didn't with Palmerdale.
Yes, absolutely. The other shipwreck survivors all die because of greed, pride and stupidity, but Harker's death is tragic.
"Not only can it climb sheer walls, but it's amphibious. It has magnets on its tail and claws as big as cups."
"It has four ears, two for listening and two are sort of back-up ears. Some are on the inside of its head."
"It has a retractable leg, and a tremendous fear of stamps, and only has eyebrows on Saturdays."
I quite like Tom's "Shameleon" - I mean the "shamming" idea is quite on the nose, really.
Reuben's been dead for hours...
"I thought I'd locked the enemy out; instead I locked it in - with us!"
The last of the lighthouse keepers is wiped out...
...as Reuben gives Vince a bit of a headache. Another loss you really feel.
The Rutan killing people is not far off the Dalek extermination effect; negative flashing a bit quicker, and more cut to the silhouette, but similar.
Seems the "beast" is getting ready to send a signal to its' own kind...
Love Leela's confidence in the Doctor.
Great eyeroll from Leela as Adelaide faints.
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke A quick mention on the set design. I mean, touches like the curved doors - they needn't *really* have bothered, but they did.
Tom hanging outside the lighthouse to hide from the Rutan is great. Puts Dragonfire to shame.
Adelaide refuses to leave, meaning Leela and Skinsale are penned in when "Reuben" pays them a visit.
The Doctor clambers back inside, having found "Reuben"'s beacon.
Thank you, Rutan Reuben, for solving that annoying noisy Adelaide problem.
Leela throws her knife, but it goes straight through "Reuben".
They scarper, and bump into the Doctor, who's finally nailed down who their enemy is...
"Now I remember: Reuben the Rutan!"
The Rutan looks a bit like a boiled sweet that's got covered in pocket fluff.
Not content with "Gally-free" & "Sham-eleon" Tom's now treating us to "Root-On." Matt Smith's got nowt on Tom.
Love all the stuff about the war with the Sontarans. We need to see that properly.
The fight back begins.
The Doctor must keep the war from reaching Earth at all costs - he needs a laser!
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Leela finds the answer, use the light in the lighthouse. So obvious (ridiculous!), the Doc had overlooked it.
Skinsale recalls Palmerdale kept some diamonds on him - just what the Doctor needs to focus the light beam.
John Mark Frankland@JMFrankland See why does Doctor Who throw the diamonds down the stairs? He must know that Skinsale will go after them and be killed? Does he want Skinsale to die? I'm always unsure about that moment...
"It has four ears, two for listening and two are sort of back-up ears. Some are on the inside of its head."
"It has a retractable leg, and a tremendous fear of stamps, and only has eyebrows on Saturdays."
I quite like Tom's "Shameleon" - I mean the "shamming" idea is quite on the nose, really.
Reuben's been dead for hours...
"I thought I'd locked the enemy out; instead I locked it in - with us!"
The last of the lighthouse keepers is wiped out...
...as Reuben gives Vince a bit of a headache. Another loss you really feel.
The Rutan killing people is not far off the Dalek extermination effect; negative flashing a bit quicker, and more cut to the silhouette, but similar.
Seems the "beast" is getting ready to send a signal to its' own kind...
Love Leela's confidence in the Doctor.
Great eyeroll from Leela as Adelaide faints.
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke A quick mention on the set design. I mean, touches like the curved doors - they needn't *really* have bothered, but they did.
Tom hanging outside the lighthouse to hide from the Rutan is great. Puts Dragonfire to shame.
Adelaide refuses to leave, meaning Leela and Skinsale are penned in when "Reuben" pays them a visit.
The Doctor clambers back inside, having found "Reuben"'s beacon.
Thank you, Rutan Reuben, for solving that annoying noisy Adelaide problem.
Leela throws her knife, but it goes straight through "Reuben".
They scarper, and bump into the Doctor, who's finally nailed down who their enemy is...
"Now I remember: Reuben the Rutan!"
The Rutan looks a bit like a boiled sweet that's got covered in pocket fluff.
Not content with "Gally-free" & "Sham-eleon" Tom's now treating us to "Root-On." Matt Smith's got nowt on Tom.
Love all the stuff about the war with the Sontarans. We need to see that properly.
The fight back begins.
The Doctor must keep the war from reaching Earth at all costs - he needs a laser!
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Leela finds the answer, use the light in the lighthouse. So obvious (ridiculous!), the Doc had overlooked it.
Skinsale recalls Palmerdale kept some diamonds on him - just what the Doctor needs to focus the light beam.
John Mark Frankland@JMFrankland See why does Doctor Who throw the diamonds down the stairs? He must know that Skinsale will go after them and be killed? Does he want Skinsale to die? I'm always unsure about that moment...
More like whether Skinsale lives or dies is a total irrelavance to him. It's the "you must help yourselves" coldness from The Seeds of Doom again - Skinsale doesn't *have* to go after the diamonds, that's on him. So maybe more of a (somewhat amoral) test of character than actively wanting him to die?
John Mark Frankland@JMFrankland The thing is although he's a cad, he does help - he suggests the diamonds, knows where to find them etc. And the whole mess is partly Doctor Who's fault anyway! Who is he to judge!?
Yeah, it's the throw that's active about it, that's what I mean about some form of amoral (maybe even immoral) test - it's a bit 'if you're still a slave to your greed I'm happy enough to send you to your death' - totally brutal!
Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Love Leela's gloating. Jameson really goes for it with relish.
Everyone loves Leela gloating at the dying Rutan.
Apart from the Doctor:
"It is fitting to celebrate the death of an enemy!"
"Not in my opinion."
Doubt the science is up to much, but I do love using the lighthouse as a laser.
Love that flickering flame effect of the Rutan mothership.
The Doctor warns Leela not to look back, so guess what she does?
Leela is temporarily possessed by Ian Duncan Smith. "Slay me now; it is the fate of the old and crippled!"
Leela's asking the Doctor to kill her is obviously in keeping with her character but a bit disturbing actually.
So Leela doesn't have to wear contacts any more...
...and Tom gets to boom poetry over the rocks.
TTFN! K.
Coming Soon... The Waters of Mars
"Not in my opinion."
Doubt the science is up to much, but I do love using the lighthouse as a laser.
Love that flickering flame effect of the Rutan mothership.
The Doctor warns Leela not to look back, so guess what she does?
Leela is temporarily possessed by Ian Duncan Smith. "Slay me now; it is the fate of the old and crippled!"
Leela's asking the Doctor to kill her is obviously in keeping with her character but a bit disturbing actually.
So Leela doesn't have to wear contacts any more...
...and Tom gets to boom poetry over the rocks.
TTFN! K.
Coming Soon... The Waters of Mars
I don't enjoy the slaughter of people in stories like this, no matter how crappy or annoying they are. It's annoying to me, frankly, that stories "justify" the murder of people by making them "annoying" due to human distress, like the woman in this story.
ReplyDeleteI've always been bothered by the Doctor's tossing of the handful of diamonds. i am not keen on this clumsy "let's show how alien he is" nonsense, partly because of how inconsistent it is (he judges the behavior of others so accurately most of the time) and how it makes him seem dangerous through ignorance or callousness. It seems to me to be a contrivance to justify the killing of characters for script writers' convenience of removing extraneous characters and adding "drama" or "intensity" with needless deaths (and killing off every character tends to be a thing people criticize Saward for, so why not criticize other script writers too?).