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Doctor Who - The Curse of Fenric (Episode 158)

Doctor Who - The Curse of Fenric (Episode 158)

List Price: $34.98
Your Price: $31.48
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: The return of the Monster Era.
Review: If you have a camp like love for the monster era then this classic monster story might be for you. Personally I prefer a more timelord/time travel science fiction based story line. (like the 5 doctors) For a moment I thought the director of this episode might have been Ed Wood, it is cheesy, which I wouldn't mind if it was done with style. There is a lack of atmosphere,and frankly it is too well lit for scary theme. It does not persuade.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Excellent Who
Review: McCoy shines in this excellent episode!This episode has a very appealing dark side to it!Norse mythology,flesh eating monsters,russian spies and the doctor,what a combination!The only let down as far as i'm concerned is the focus on Ace in the final episode,though apart from that...buy it now,this must be the best Who ever!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: whoo
Review: sylvester mccoy did not have enough time to define who he was playing the doctor. this is one of his best and shows, sadly, what we missed out on.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: a great doctor who...
Review: Sylvester McCoy is probably my favorite doctor, so i'm a little biased on this one. I believe The Curse of Fenric and Ghostlight to be to of the quintessential doctor who episodes ever. Both of them invite repeated viewings. This dvd version is awesome being 2 discs full of extras and is definitly worth picking up even if you already own the vhs like i did. The Curse of Fenric is high quality all around, but i thought the music especially good. I would recommend the soundtrack to anyone who likes this episode also.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Hi! I MAKE NO SENSE!!...
Review: That's what this DVD with a SPECIAL EDITION of THE CURSE OF FENRIC should be called...
CHEESY...OVERWRITTEN...BORING...and why is the sound so bad?

ACE is the best thing about the SYLVESTOR MCCOY episodes...cuz he certainly isn't...just DREADFUL and so re-written that the character of DOCTOR WHO becomes CONTRIVED and conventional which was something it never was before. The SYLVESTOR MCCOY years took all the fun out of DOCTOR WHO and turn it into drivel. This episode is TERRIBLE.

It makes no sense...is badly edited and ridiculously over plotted. WHO CARES?!! Even DOCTOR WHO himself would not watch this eyesore!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This one really IS one of the better 7th Doctor stories!
Review: This release is unique - it contains both the original transmission version of the story, and a 1 hr 45 minute re-edit that contains 14 minutes of previously unseen footage, that is dedicated to the Director (Nicholas Mallett) and the Producer (John Nathan-Turner) and justifiably so.

The story itself is a classic Dr Who monster tale, but with a few grown up twists added, and also gives the companion, Ace, some maturation in the process. This is a story I'd recommend to people I'd try to get hooked on the series, even though I'm still embarrassed over the question mark vest the Doctor wears... I am a fan of JNT and what he had done with the show despite the crass slop the script editor prior to Andrew Cartmel had allowed during his years as script editor, and the only thing I can't forgive JNT for is the question mark pullover vest. Even the 6th Doctor's outfit is far less grating on the nerves. But I digress. Andrew Cartmel, script editor for all of the 7th Doctor's era, is at his best here. He reintroduced the concept of mystery and seriousness to the show and he did it right. If only the show had continued for another year, with more stories to fill out their plans...

The video quality itself is quite good, even exceptional. Given the high prices that Who discs command, it's a shame that Warner Bros won't release them on dual-layer discs to improve the compression artifacting, but this release (along with "The Two Doctors"...) seem to be the most visually clean stories they've released to date. Even so, the releases up to now have been more or less great (with only "Ressurection of the Daleks" really showing the artifacting to an annoying level.)

The audio had been remastered into Dolby 5.1, because somebody kept the original audio tapes. Apart from the theme music (which sounds better as the original stereo*), the 5.1 remastering is very effective.

There are numerous extras, primarily encompassing the behind the scenes efforts in producing this story, and interviews with cast and crew.

The special 'movie' edition is extraordinary. Many of the newly added scenes are worth their weight. They also treated the video to look more consistent, given the stormy nature of the later half of the story. They also improved on some of the effects. The only problem is with some of the music. It betrays that this story was originally composed of four episodes. It's most noticeable when, 25 minutes into the story, you hear music that's got action to it but doesn't fall back and leaves you hanging (ala a cliffhanger). It's a very MINOR issue, but as I love to whine about problems, I felt I should mention it. :-)

The only problem with the disc (#1) is when you go to watch the titles sequences - if you select the 'original stereo' version, you get the original MONO version. I hope they fix this someday and offer free exchanges...

In the end, it's a shame the BBC lost faith in the series. (the monsters in this tale would take full notice if it too, heh.) This one is a MUST for any fan of the show. Even if you're not a fan of the 7th Doctor era (the scripts in novel form are rather better than how they were put on screen), this one is worthy of buying.

I'm looking forward for the remainder of the 7th Doctor on DVD.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The best characterization of a companion EVER
Review: This story has tons in it -- maybe too much -- but it keeps you engrossed and makes you realize why Ace is so darn popular.


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