The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon: Fury From The Deep

Fury From The Deep - Part One (16/03/08)

The TARDIS has landed on Earth. Again. At the coast. Again. In England. Again. I'm not the only one to notice that a lot of stories (all but the first) have taken place on Earth this season; Jamie commented on it, too.

Anyhow, listening to some sort of pulsating sound in a gas pipe on the beach, the travellers were shot and imprisoned by the people at the local refinery (who owned the pipe and have been having problems with a saboteur). The refinery is run by an obnoxious and rather stupid Australian who doesn't seem to know how to do his job properly. The saboteur seems to have a liking for gloves and masks and, for some reason, poisoning family members of the refinery staff with seaweed.

The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria engaged in a bit of 'comedy' escaping from prison and spied on a few people before splitting up. The Doctor and Jamie looked at some pipes while Victoria wandered off, found the saboteur, got locked in a room and attacked by what seemed to be foaming seaweed.

It was nice to have a less claustrophobic setting and some nice location work, but on the whole, aside from setting up the few refinery staff we've met (idiot controller Robson, put-upon #2 Harris, his vaguely annoying wife Maggie, and frustrated Dutch scientist Van Lutyens), this story has got off to a shaky start. The first five minutes were quite gripping with the Doctor using a Sonic Screwdriver to undo the bolts on the pipe so he could hear inside. Exactly why he didn't use it to escape from lock-up I've no idea! But then it all got a bit 'runaround'. However, Victoria's been attacked by seaweed, so it might improve next week.

Fury From The Deep - Part Two (23/03/08)

This episode was a slight improvement on last week. The tone has taken a turn towards the darker and more unnerving episodes of the last story, although it got off to a bad start with Victoria having a fit of hysteria. There was a very good scene where two refinery workers gassed Maggie Harris (who is still vaguely annoying) with what appeared to be halitosis - but was actually some form of gas which has put her into a coma. The workers (Oak and Quill) were reminiscent of those two guys from Diamonds Are Forever (or was it The Spy Who Loved Me?) in that they were a bit weird, camp and very much a double act. They also had weed under their clothes, so it seems that the seaweed is poisoning people and controlling their minds, or being used to. There was also a good scene where, after being insulted and verbally abused by Robson, Van Lutyens got to turn the tables on him when the impeller stopped working.

The story seems to be about something using weed and gas against an oil refinery on the North Sea coast so far, but the Doctor has only just started investigating - which, at the end of episode two, isn't such a great thing, I suppose, but at least this was an improvement on last week. Fingers crossed it continues in an upward vein.

Fury From The Deep - Part Three (30/03/08)

Much better this week - the story line has finally kicked in. The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria have taken the opportunity given by the confusion at the refinery to return to the TARDIS and analyse a piece of the seaweed they found at Maggie Harris's apartment. Meanwhile, Robson finally cracked and returned to his quarters where he was attacked by Oak and the seaweed.

The Doctor discovered that the weed is the same as that mentioned in an 18th Century book on myths and legends which is controlled by some sort of marine life. He also established that it is sentient in its own right (like Humans) although the assertion that it's 'alive' - implying that other forms of plant life aren't alive - is beginning to grate.

Van Lutyens has, I think, managed to persuade Harris to assume command (about time - the Dutch scientist seems to be the only level-headed person in this place!) but it seems that both Maggie and Robson are now possessed by the weed since the episode concluded with them meeting on the beach, Maggie telling Robson he knew what he had to do, and then walking into the sea.

All in all, one of the better episodes this season after a couple of very disappointing weeks. Seems a shame that they've already revealed quite openly who's possessed by the weed creature, but I guess if they'd kept that secret then it would've been too much like the last story which also featured characters having their minds controlled by an outside force. Looks promising for next week.

Fury From The Deep - Part Four (06/04/08)

Still good this week. The Company Bigwig, Megan Jones, has been brought in. The Doctor and Jamie ascertained that it was indeed an attack by the weed creature by following Van Lutyens into the pipes after he'd disappeared; taken by the weed creature.

To be frank, not much actually happened, but Victoria had a very interesting conversation with Jamie about the fact that wherever they arrive shit happens, and she's getting a bit tired of it all. Beginning to think that introducing Mr. Oak and Mr. Quill as employees taken over by the weed creature was a good idea, as they lowered Van Lutyens into the shaft and the audience were the only ones to know they were under the weed's control, thus making it even more tense than The Web Of Fear. Ultimately, though, whilst a really good episode, it wasn't quite as good as last week and, although better than the first two episodes, hasn't lifted the story to what I think it could be. Promising,but only superficially good. The Enemy Of The World and The Abominable Snowmen were better.

Fury From The Deep - Part Five (13/04/08)

It was okay this week. The weed began to infiltrate the gas refinery, Megan Jones tried to reason with Robson who, still possessed, was chilling out in his bunk room; there was a fair bit of faffing about until Robson received instructions from the weed and escaped, kidnapped Victoria, stole a Mini, then a helicopter, and buggered off to the main control plant (no pun intended).

After a quick debate following contact with Robson in the helicopter, the Doctor and Jamie followed him into an obvious trap; a trap so obvious it was spelt out as 'we've got Victoria, if you want her back then join us'. There was a small sequence just before Victoria was kidnapped when Harris and Megan Jones realised there were spies in the control room and Mr. Oak and Mr. Quill tried to leg it. Caught by Jamie, one of them was seemingly rendered unconscious by Jamie's punch, but the Doctor seemed to think it was something else. The episode ended with the Doctor and Jamie encountering Robson in a control room full of foam.

So, on the whole, an improvement on last week, but only in the last ten minutes. This story's trying to continue the atmosphere of The Web Of Fear, but it's just coming across as generally slow. It may also be down to the lack of any sympathetic characters. Even Jamie and Victoria have become quite annoying, especially with Victoria wailing all the time. Never mind. This story should finish next week!

Fury From The Deep - Part Six (20/04/08)

Well, that was a very different episode! After a quick escape followed by a very dull and extensive sequence where the Doctor fannied about trying to fly a helicopter (it was meant to be funny or dramatic, I think, but was just tedious) they returned to the refinery where the Doctor explained that the weed creature was killed by sound - in particular, Victoria's screams, at which point they recorded her screaming, played it down the pipes and over the intercom and killed the creature off with ten minutes to spare.

Everyone returned to normal, everyone lived, and then Victoria decided she's had enough. She's stayed with the Harris's. I think this is the most time they've ever spent on a companion leaving. Susan was pretty sudden, and Ian and Barbara got a pretty good send off, but none of them had the script dwell on their departure quite so much!

Jamie had a quiet heart to heart, and everything was very sombre, and it was quite sad when the Doctor and Jamie left her on the beach - it almost made up for how tedious this story was as a whole. Almost. Perhaps if it'd been a four parter it would've been better. Nevertheless, Victoria's gone. Isn't it about time Jamie fucked off, too?