Image of the Fendahl

Image of the Fendahl
by Chris Boucher
Originally Broadcasted: October 29th-November 19th, 1977

The Doctor and Leela land in present day England, and come across Professor Fendelman, who is experimenting on an ancient skull which science says should not exist. Turns out this skull is actually an artifact of an ancient race called the Fendahl. They are awakening, and they're ready to kill...

At the time Image of the Fendahl was made, Doctor Who was trying to stray away from the gothic horror themes of the Phillip Hinchcliffe/Robert Holmes era. You started to get more comedic and lighthearted stories, like The Invasion of Time or City of Death. So Image of the Fendahl was sort of a last holdout from the gothic era. This is a wonderfully creepy story. The first episode features no background music and The Doctor and Leela wondering around in the deep of night in a forest, very uncommon in classic Who. I believed Professor Fendelman to be the real bad guy, but it turns out he was a pawn in the real bad guy's plans, Max Stael. The actual plot is a little hard to grasp, but somehow he turns the ancient skull of the Fendahl reawakens both the Fendahl creatures, and also somehow takes over a female scientists' mind and turns her into a Goldfinger-esque golden goddess. Kind of confusing, but it makes for a really creepy character. The way she smiles scares me more than a Dalek ever could. Now as with most classic Who stories, the small budget means the monster will quite often be a let-down, as is the case with the Fendahl monsters here. But the golden Fendahl more than makes up for that. With great leads and a great supporting cast, Image of the Fendahl is one of the better stories from the late Tom Baker era.

Luke's Rating: 8/10