Doctor Who (1963) 15.03.02

Image of the Fendahl - Part Two

The Doctor escapes the thing in the woods that was approaching him at the end of the previous episode. Leela encounters Ted Moss again. He shoots at her with his shotgun and misses. She tears it out of his hands. They are soon joined by Jack Tyler. It is his gran's cottage that they are in and he wants to know what they are doing there.

Thea continues to be affected by the 12 million year old skull. Mitchell, one of the security guards, turns up dead with a bump on his neck. No one seems to know who did it. The Doctor shows up and starts asking questions of Colby. Thea collapses and starts glowing. Fendelman shows up and quickly accuses the Doctor of murdering Mitchell.

The Doctor gets locked up by the security guards but he escapes. Thea and Adam talk about the predicament they are in. They try to phone for help but the phone line is dead. They go to talk to Fendelman who explains that he believes the skull is of extraterrestrial origin. Leela meets Jack's gran, Martha Tyler, who is scared out of her mind. She's convinced that something is coming after her.

Fendelman shows Colby what he found on the x-rays of the skull, a pentagram. He's convinced that it is a power source. Colby thinks he is crazy. Leela leaves Jack and his gran and goes looking for the Doctor. Thea runs into Max while she is looking around. He won't let her get past him and then uses a rag soaked in chloroform to subdue her.

The Doctor wanders into a lab where he finds the ancient skull. It starts to make some noise. He reaches out to touch it. It starts glowing and he cannot seem to remove his hand from the skull.

Thoughts

I don't know about the flow of this episode. I find it very hard to describe what is going on in this episode in a coherent way. I think that there are lots of things suggested that are not fully realized. I'm not sure how well they would come together if they were all depicted.

There are at least two things going on in this story. The first is something which has been shown, which dominates the story up to this point, is the scientific investigation into the ancient skull. The other thing, which has only been hinted at, is a group of people who belie in the old ways. This group includes Jack, his gran, Ted Moss, and Max. There is some talk of gathering a coven. Presumably this group is also interested in the skull.

I like the supporting cast but the story seems to be all over the place. It feels as though they started filming before the story was fully written. Chris Boucher is the credited writer but according to my research he left after writing part of the script, which may explain a lot.

I like the fact that the story is not focused on the Doctor, that he and Leela seem to be players in a bigger story. I'm not so crazy about the fact that the story doesn't make much sense to me up to this point. Something, I think it must be the skull, is affecting Thea. I think it is going to transform her in the next episode. What happens after that, I'm not sure.