Doctor Who: Fury from the Deep

Rating:
Summary: Sentient seaweed stalks Doctor and Co.
Review: No sooner has the TARDIS splashed down in the North Sea than the great Doctor and his companions Victoria and Jamie are caught up in another terrifying threat. Strange, mind controlling seaweed is getting sucked up from the depths of the ocean and is taking over a natural gas drilling platform and its crew. Can the Doctor and his companions help save both the day and the threatened crew?

Doctor Who: Fury from the Deep is the first Doctor Who adaptation I have read in quite a few years (the last one I clearly remember reading was back in High School) and it wasn't half bad. Too bad the novel was mostly the shooting script in narrative form, some of the action even reads like stage direction the writer didn't both to translate more effectively. Some greater attention to atmospheric detail would have been nice. That quibble aside the book remains a fine adventure that the Doctor's fans should enjoy, but non-fans will no doubt scratch their collective heads and just mutter, huh?

Rating:
Summary: Sentient seaweed stalks Doctor and Co.
Review: No sooner has the TARDIS splashed down in the North Sea than the great Doctor and his companions Victoria and Jamie are caught up in another terrifying threat. Strange, mind controlling seaweed is getting sucked up from the depths of the ocean and is taking over a natural gas drilling platform and its crew. Can the Doctor and his companions help save both the day and the threatened crew?

Doctor Who: Fury from the Deep is the first Doctor Who adaptation I have read in quite a few years (the last one I clearly remember reading was back in High School) and it wasn't half bad. Too bad the novel was mostly the shooting script in narrative form, some of the action even reads like stage direction the writer didn't both to translate more effectively. Some greater attention to atmospheric detail would have been nice. That quibble aside the book remains a fine adventure that the Doctor's fans should enjoy, but non-fans will no doubt scratch their collective heads and just mutter, huh?

Rating:
Summary: Good attempt that loses out in the translation
Review: This is Victor Pemberton's adaptation of his own script, which is the final story of companion Victoria.

Landing on the coast of the North Sea in England, where the first indication that something is wrong is a strange, rhythmic sound the Doctor can hear from inside a gas pipe. Before they can investigate. They are shot with tranquilising darts and wake to find themselves accused of sabotage. The crews of some gas rigs have vanished, and the operations of refinery have been subject to odd changes in gas pressure within the pipes.

What is it lurking in the refinery's pipes?

This is one of many stories of which the BBC no longer has a copy. They released the soundtrack on audio cassette some years back, and it is likely to be re-released on CD sometime in the future. Some clips of the series can be found on 'The Missing Years' video, released in conjunction with 'The Ice Warriors'.

While Mr. Pemberton's novelisation is quite good, and benefits from its higher than normal page count, watching the few remaining clips only emphasises what has been lost. The portrayal of Mr. Oak and Mr. Quill in particular loses something without its visuals.

This story is one of those that does not make the transition from one medium to another without losing something.