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For a long time people slagged off the final years of classic Doctor Who but in reality, the final two seasons of the McCoy era brought stories that stand head and shoulders above a lot o the tripe of the new era. The Curse of Fenric is one such example because it weaved together horror, sci fi, myth and an enemy we didn’t even know existed in to an epic that had so much material it was released as a special on DVD.
The Curse of Fenric is the quintessential Doctor Who story. It incorporates so many themes like growing up, regret, parental issues, the fallout of war, vampires, faith and environmental issues. Ace met the Doctor when she was caught in a time storm that brought her to Ice World and a new life aboard the Tardis. Doctor Who is full of silly notions and a time storm is one of them and at first glance a plot device but Fenric will show that we have been duped all along.
Against the backdrop of invading Russians infiltrating a British base for the Ultima machine designed to break German codes while barnacled covered vampires rise from the deep, we discover that the Doctor has been manipulated by an ancient enemy he trapped centuries ago in a chess match. Now the Wolves of Fenric have been gathered including the base commander Millington, Dr Judson, its staff, the Russians and Ace herself in a trap to free Fenric from his chains to take revenge on the Doctor.
The wheelchair bound Judson has been trying to break the codes with the machine but instead has inadvertently released Fenric from his prison to face the Doctor again. Even though the Doctor knew Ace was part of his plan the minute he heard about the time storm, he took her on as a companion to keep her close and work out Fenric’s plan. But despite all this by the climax of the third episode, the vampires are swarming the base, people are dying and the Doctor is helpless to stop what is coming. A storm lashes the countryside and lightning strikes the out of control Ultima machine electrifying Judson where he sits. His nurse tries to help but the Doctor holds her back. Millington is quoting legend as he claims the chains of Fenric are broken. Ace thinks he is the new host body but with a look of fear, the mentally unstable Millington looks over the Doctor’s shoulder.
In a beautiful piece of direction, the Doctor faces the camera in a sickly yellow light as a possessed Judson gets to his feet. His eyes flick open burning with fire. His face is hard as rock as he simply states, “We play the contest again…Time Lord.”
The impact of this cliffhanger is as strong today. The audience is left in agony. What game? Who is Fenric and what contest is he talking about? And how the hell does he know the Doctor is a Time Lord? An awesome cliffhanger for a timeless classic.
Video and photo copyright bbc
The Time Warriors and Beyond 
After surprisingly learning that the classic Doctor Who series had finally come to an end after the 80s, I was quite pleased that it could penultimately end on a most impressive note like The Curse Of Fenric. I had the special edition DVD with the much better extended movie version. And now that Sutekh is finally returning to the TV Whoniverse, perhaps Fenric could somehow be next. Thank you for this article.
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Dad it was only years later all of fNdom realised what great stories these are
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