In Review: Doctor Who: Fury From The Deep (Blu Ray)

Synopsis: The TARDIS lands on the surface of the sea, just off the east coast of England. The time travellers use a rubber dinghy to get ashore, where they are shot with tranquilliser darts and taken prisoner by security guards as they have arrived in the restricted area of the Euro Sea Gas refinery.

The Story

When the Doctor, Jamie, and Victoria land on the surface of the see. They row to the shore and find that they are on the East Coast of England. When the Doctor hears a mysterious sound coming from some pipes on the beach he is immediately suspicious that something is up, but before he and his friends can investigate they are shot with tranq darts and taken to a restricted area of the new Euro Sea Gas refinery.

At the refinery, the Doctor immediately butts heads with the chief administrator of the facility Mr. Robson who seems to be an extremely short-tempered and disagreeable sort.  Robson refuses the Doctor’s help in getting to the bottom of what is going on, but as always The Doctor finds a way to work around him. As the plot develops we learn that some very intelligent seaweed is attempting a hostile takeover of the British Isles and after that the rest of the world.

The Acting

The Performances in this story are brilliantly done and Patrick Troughton who is my second favorite Doctor from the classic era of the show. The chemistry between Troughton and  Frazer Hines never fails to entertain, but I did find Deborah Watling’s companion of Victoria to be a bit of an irritant in that she doesn’t really fit in with the archetype of what we have gotten used to in terms of the modern companion. I felt the same about the character when I first saw her in ‘Tomb of the Cybermen’.

In terms of the rest of the cast. Victor Maddern rules the roost as the irritable Mr. Robson, who is having issues with his staff as well as having to deal with three strangers on his patch. We also get a solid performance from June Murphy as Maggie Harris who gets possessed by the seaweed, which is referred too by everyone as the weed, which is quite possibly what the writers were smoking at the time.

Overall

Fury of From The Deep is one of the many stories that got lost and prior to this new animated version was one of the stories that fans most wanted to see. The script for the story plays out like a really good B Movie. It also boasts the first time that we see The Doctor use The Sonic screwdriver as well as Deborah Watling’s final story as the rather Victorian Victoria who does nothing but complain throughout the story given that she is fed up of walking into danger. The story does drag a little toward the midway point, but once the Doctor figures everything out it builds to a satisfying conclusion.

The animation for the story is fairly good and allows for some fun things that only the long term Doctor Who fans will spot. For example, there are a few scenes in which we see a Wanted Poster on the wall for The Master.

The extras on the disks include audio commentaries as well as features that go into the animation process as well as stills and audio from what has survived from the original transmission of the story.

Overall. A pretty good package for fans of Patrick Troughton’s second Doctor.