Horror of Fang Rock (TV story): Difference between revisions
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'''Horror of Fang Rock''' was the first story of [[Season 15]] of ''[[Doctor Who]]''. [[Graham Williams]]' three-year stint as producer of the series began with this story. | |||
==Synopsis== | ==Synopsis== | ||
The | The cursed island of Fang Rock off the south coast of England is a place of rumour and tales of beasts from the sea. Three lighthouse men at the turn of the century face their fears when something comes in from the sea which brings death to all it touches. | ||
==Plot== | |||
The | ===Part 1=== | ||
[[Image:Fang_rock_part1.JPG|thumb|right|150px|[[Reuben]] and [[Vince Hawkins|Vince]] watch as something falls from the sky close to [[Fang Rock]]]] | |||
[[Fourth Doctor|The Doctor]]'s plans to show [[Brighton]] to [[Leela]] are on hold for now, as the [[TARDIS]] once again takes its inhabitants to the wrong time and place; this time it's the island of [[Fang Rock]] off the south coast of [[England]] around the start of the [[20th century]]. Noticing that the lighthouse isn't functioning properly, the Doctor decides to investigate, as well as to ask for directions as the TARDIS seems to have gotten "lost in the fog". Upon arrival at the lighthouse, and after introducting themselves, the Doctor discovers the dead body of one of the keepers, [[Ben]]. The other two keepers, old superstitious [[Reuben]] and the keen young [[Vince Hawkins|Vince]], report that a light fell from the sky near the island. They also explain the electricity flow to the lamp on the lighthouse has become erratic and the Doctor deduces something is feeding on the flow. Reuben does not help matters with his constant references to the mythical [[Beast of Fang Rock]] which reputedly once terrorised the lighthouse. | |||
As the Doctor and Leela explore, something moves Ben's body out of the lighthouse and onto the island, and they witness a curious electric crackling which seems to have killed fish nearby. The Doctor believes Ben was electrocuted. As the freak fog continues to descend, a passing ship, sailing despite the fog and darkness, crashes on to Fang Rock. | |||
== | ===Part 2=== | ||
''to | [[Image:Fang_rock_part2.JPG|thumb|left|150px|The creature keeps a close eye on the lighthouse]] | ||
There are four survivors from the crash of the yacht: the bosun [[Harker]], an MP named [[James Skinsale|Colonel James Skinsale]], the owner, [[Lord Palmerdale]], and his highly strung secretary [[Adelaide Lessage]]. Over time it emerges Palmerdale has bought government secrets from Skinsale and was desperate to reach the stock exchange to make a killing - hence the reason the ship was travelling at such a pace. | |||
The Doctor continues to analyse the threat being faced. Reuben belives the Beast of Fang Rock is back, but the Doctor assures Leela that there is no such thing, and he thinks the light which fell from the sky was a spaceship landing, and aliens unfamiliar with humans are attracted to the lighthouse's electricity. They are keeping themselves out of sight while isolating Fang Rock by creating the fog, causing the Doctor to deduce an attack is imminent. | |||
Reuben goes to stoke the boiler, but while he is away everybody hears him screaming. | |||
===Part 3=== | |||
[[Image:Fang_rock_part3.JPG|thumb|right|150px|The [[Rutan]] takes on the form of [[Reuben]]]] | |||
The Doctor and Leela go to investigate, but Reuben returns while they are away, behaving very oddly indeed, which others put down to shock. But the pattern of death now speeds up. Palmerdale is killed in the lamp room by a glowing alien presence on the outside of the lighthouse, and then Harker is killed when Reuben corners him in the boiler room. From the alien light emanating from Reuben it is clear he has become possessed or transformed by the alien creature. The Doctor determines that their best protection is to secure the lighthouse to keep the creature out. | |||
While inspecting the boiler room, the Doctor and Leela find Harker's body and then Reuben's own - the latter cold for some time - which means the creature in Reuben's form has chameleonic properties. In securing the lighthouse, the Doctor has in fact locked the creature in with them. | |||
===Part 4=== | |||
[[Image:Fang_rock_part4.JPG|thumb|left|150px|Definitely not humanoid!]] | |||
The creature now stalks down and kills the others in the lighthouse. Adelaide dies first, then Vince. With its presence now revealed, the alien among them sheds its disguise: it is a [[Rutan]], a chameleonic life form, whose scout ship crash landed in the sea and is trying to summon its mother ship. The Rutans are losing their perennial war with the [[Sontaran]]s, but by using [[Earth]] as a launch point for a battle fleet the Rutans hope to gain the upper hand. | |||
The Rutan ship is seemingly unstoppable, but the Doctor, Leela and Skinsale come up with a plan. First they kill the Rutan Scout - but not before it kills Skinsale - and then the Doctor uses Palmerdale's diamonds as a focus for a light beam, and convert the lighthouse into a high-energy laser by which the Doctor destroys the Rutan mother ship. The blinding flash even turns Leela's eyes from brown to blue. The Doctor quotes Wilfrid Gibson's poem ''[[Flannan Isle]]'' as they take their leave. | |||
==Cast== | ==Cast== | ||
| Line 33: | Line 54: | ||
*[[Leela]] - [[Louise Jameson]] | *[[Leela]] - [[Louise Jameson]] | ||
*[[Reuben]] - [[Colin Douglas]] | *[[Reuben]] - [[Colin Douglas]] | ||
*[[Vince]] - [[John Abbott]] | *[[Vince Hawkins|Vince]] - [[John Abbott]] | ||
*[[Ben]] - [[Ralph Watson]] | *[[Ben]] - [[Ralph Watson]] | ||
*Lord [[Palmerdale]] - [[Sean Caffrey]] | *Lord [[Palmerdale]] - [[Sean Caffrey]] | ||
| Line 41: | Line 62: | ||
==Crew== | ==Crew== | ||
*[[Writer]] - [[Terrance Dicks]] | |||
*[[Assistant Floor Manager]] - [[Bill Hartley]] | *[[Assistant Floor Manager]] - [[Bill Hartley]] | ||
*[[Costumes]] - [[Joyce Hawkins]] | *[[Costumes]] - [[Joyce Hawkins]] | ||
| Line 47: | Line 69: | ||
*[[Incidental Music]] - [[Dudley Simpson]] | *[[Incidental Music]] - [[Dudley Simpson]] | ||
*[[Make-Up]] - [[Jackie Hodgson]] | *[[Make-Up]] - [[Jackie Hodgson]] | ||
*[[Production Assistant]] - [[Peter Grimwade]] | *[[Production Assistant]] - [[Peter Grimwade]] | ||
*[[Production Unit Manager]] - [[John Nathan-Turner]] | *[[Production Unit Manager]] - [[John Nathan-Turner]] | ||
| Line 57: | Line 78: | ||
*[[Title Music]] - [[Ron Grainer]] | *[[Title Music]] - [[Ron Grainer]] | ||
*[[Visual Effects]] - [[Peter Pegrum]] | *[[Visual Effects]] - [[Peter Pegrum]] | ||
*[[Producer]] - [[Graham Williams]] | |||
*[[Director]] - [[Paddy Russell]] | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||
| Line 63: | Line 85: | ||
==Story Notes== | ==Story Notes== | ||
*This story had the working titles; | *This story had the working titles; ''The Rocks Of Doom'', ''The Monster Of Fang Rock'' and ''The Beast Of Rang Rock''. | ||
*At the end of the final episode, as the TARDIS leaves the island, the Doctor recites some lines from "[[Wikipedia:The Ballad of Flannan Isle|The Ballad of Flannan Isle]]" by [[Wikipedia:Wilfred Gibson|Wilfred Gibson]]. | *'''Horror of Fang Rock''' was in fact a late replacement for the scripts [[Terrance Dicks]] had originally submitted, a vampire-based tale entitled ''The Witch Lords'', which was canceled close to production as it was feared it could detract from the BBC's high-profile adaptation of Bram Stoker's classic novel ''Count Dracula'', which was due for transmission close to when the serial would have aired. A re-written version did, however, eventually see production in [[1980]] as ''[[State of Decay]]'', part of [[Season 18]] of ''[[Doctor Who]]''. | ||
*The "pigment dispersal" scene at the end of the story when Leela's eyes change from brown to blue was a practical (rather than story) motivated event, it was so Louise Jameson did not have to continue wearing brown contact lenses. | *At the end of the final episode, as the [[TARDIS]] leaves the island, the Doctor recites some lines from "[[Wikipedia:The Ballad of Flannan Isle|The Ballad of Flannan Isle]]" by [[Wikipedia:Wilfred Gibson|Wilfred Gibson]]. | ||
*The "pigment dispersal" scene at the end of the story when [[Leela]]'s eyes change from brown to blue was a practical (rather than story) motivated event, it was so [[Louise Jameson]] did not have to continue wearing brown contact lenses. | |||
*The story's exact year is never made explicit, but a reference to the beast being seen "eighty years ago" in the "twenties" suggests the early 20th century, as does a reference to King Edward, who reigned from 1901-1910. Lance Parkin's unofficial chronology AHistory dates it to c.1902. Colonel Skinsale also refers to his feeling uneasy in the presence of Balfour, Salisbury and Bonar Law while Lord Palmerdale makes him feel uneasy when he is not in his presence - Lord Salisbury died in [[1903]], Balfour was PM in the second half of the first decade of the [[20th century]] and had been First Lord of the Treasury under Salisbury, and Bonar Law was a notable MP already in that decade and early that decade was Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade, although yet to be in the cabinet. All three were prominent Conservatives who became Prime Minister. Marconi's Wireless Telegraph prominently featured in the story and was the latest thing in the first decade of the 20th century most notably being used on the [[Titanic]]. Electric lamps in lighthouses started to replace oil at the turn of the 20th century. | |||
*According to the DVD commentary supplied by [[Louise Jameson]], a scene in Part 3 was crucial to the behind-the-scenes relationship between her and co-star [[Tom Baker]]. In one scene, he consistently came in ahead of his cue, thereby upstaging her. On the grounds that this move was "not what they had rehearsed" she insisted on three successive retakes until he came in at the rehearsed time. This eventually won his respect. From that point forward, she claims their working relationship was much smoother. | |||
===Ratings=== | ===Ratings=== | ||
*Part 1 - 6. | *Part 1 - 6.8m viewers. | ||
*Part 2 - 7. | *Part 2 - 7.1m viewers. | ||
*Part 3 - 9. | *Part 3 - 9.8m viewers. | ||
*Part 4 - 9. | *Part 4 - 9.9m viewers. | ||
===Myths=== | ===Myths=== | ||
' | *Designer [[Paul Allen]] researched the lighthouse sets from a book called Lighthouses, Lightships and Buoys by E G Jerrome. (He didn't. He visited two lighthouses, took lots of photographs of them, and based his designs on those.) | ||
===Location Filming=== | ===Location Filming=== | ||
*Pebble Mill | *'''Horror of Fang Rock''' was the only story of the classic series run to be made entirely outside of [[London]]. Due to engineering work at BBC Television Centre, the programme's usual production base, it was made at Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham. | ||
===Discontinuity | ===Discontinuity=== | ||
''to be added'' | ''to be added'' | ||
==Continuity== | ==Continuity== | ||
*The Rutans were previously mentioned in [[The Time Warrior]] and [[The Sontaran Experiment]]. | *The Rutans were previously mentioned in ''[[The Time Warrior]]'' and ''[[The Sontaran Experiment]]''. | ||
*In ''[[NA]]:'' [[Shakedown (novelisation)|Shakedown]] the Rutan host mentions to the Doctor the events of this story. | *In ''[[NA]]:'' ''[[Shakedown (novelisation)|Shakedown]]'' the Rutan host mentions to the Doctor the events of this story. | ||
*An [[Eighth Doctor]] audio story written by [[Paul Magrs]] for [[Big Finish Productions]], broadcast on BBC 7 on [[14th January]] [[2007]], is entitled ''[[Horror of Glam Rock]]'', a play on this serial's title. | |||
*The Doctor eventually does visit [[Brighton]] with [[Romana]] in ''[[The Leisure Hive]]''. | |||
==DVD and Video Releases== | ==DVD and Video Releases== | ||
'''DVD Releases''' | |||
[[Image:Fang_rock_region2.jpg|right|75px]] | |||
[[Image:Fang_rock_region1.jpg|right|75px]] | |||
Released as ''Doctor Who: Horror of Fang Rock''. | |||
Released: | |||
*Region 2 - [[17th January]] [[2005]] | |||
*Region 4 - [[7th April]] [[2005]] | |||
*Region 1 - [[6th September]] [[2005]] | |||
Contents: | |||
*Commentary by [[Louise Jameson]], [[John Abbott]] and [[Terrance Dicks]]. | |||
*[[Terrance Dicks: Fast & Fiction]] - With a writing career spanning 6 decades, this special documentary looks at Terrance Dicks' work for books and television, with contributions from many of his friends and colleagues. | |||
*[[Paddy Russell: A Life in Television]] - In this specially shot interview, Paddy looks back over her forty year career in television as an actress, stage manager and director. | |||
*The Antiques Doctor Who Show - This short film from [[1993]] gives an insightful look into the merchandising of ''[[Doctor Who]]''. | |||
*Photo Gallery | |||
*Production Subtitles | |||
*Easter Egg - Countdown clock for Part 3. To access, go to the special features menu and press left at the cursor for 'The Antiques Doctor Who Show'. | |||
==Target Novelisations== | ==Target Novelisations== | ||
| Line 101: | Line 146: | ||
* [http://www.shannonsullivan.com/drwho/serials/4v.html A Brief History of Time (Travel) Guide to '''Horror of Fang Rock'''] | * [http://www.shannonsullivan.com/drwho/serials/4v.html A Brief History of Time (Travel) Guide to '''Horror of Fang Rock'''] | ||
{{ | {{Wikipedia|Horror_of_Fang_Rock}} | ||
[[Category:Fourth Doctor episodes]] | [[Category:Fourth Doctor episodes]] | ||
[[Category:Stories set in the 1900s]] | [[Category:Stories set in the 1900s]] | ||
[[Category:Stories set in England]] | [[Category:Stories set in England]] | ||
[[Category:1977 television stories]] | [[Category:1977 television stories]] | ||
Revision as of 18:53, 9 November 2007
Horror of Fang Rock was the first story of Season 15 of Doctor Who. Graham Williams' three-year stint as producer of the series began with this story.
Synopsis
The cursed island of Fang Rock off the south coast of England is a place of rumour and tales of beasts from the sea. Three lighthouse men at the turn of the century face their fears when something comes in from the sea which brings death to all it touches.
Plot
Part 1
The Doctor's plans to show Brighton to Leela are on hold for now, as the TARDIS once again takes its inhabitants to the wrong time and place; this time it's the island of Fang Rock off the south coast of England around the start of the 20th century. Noticing that the lighthouse isn't functioning properly, the Doctor decides to investigate, as well as to ask for directions as the TARDIS seems to have gotten "lost in the fog". Upon arrival at the lighthouse, and after introducting themselves, the Doctor discovers the dead body of one of the keepers, Ben. The other two keepers, old superstitious Reuben and the keen young Vince, report that a light fell from the sky near the island. They also explain the electricity flow to the lamp on the lighthouse has become erratic and the Doctor deduces something is feeding on the flow. Reuben does not help matters with his constant references to the mythical Beast of Fang Rock which reputedly once terrorised the lighthouse.
As the Doctor and Leela explore, something moves Ben's body out of the lighthouse and onto the island, and they witness a curious electric crackling which seems to have killed fish nearby. The Doctor believes Ben was electrocuted. As the freak fog continues to descend, a passing ship, sailing despite the fog and darkness, crashes on to Fang Rock.
Part 2
File:Fang rock part2.JPG
The creature keeps a close eye on the lighthouse
There are four survivors from the crash of the yacht: the bosun Harker, an MP named Colonel James Skinsale, the owner, Lord Palmerdale, and his highly strung secretary Adelaide Lessage. Over time it emerges Palmerdale has bought government secrets from Skinsale and was desperate to reach the stock exchange to make a killing - hence the reason the ship was travelling at such a pace.
The Doctor continues to analyse the threat being faced. Reuben belives the Beast of Fang Rock is back, but the Doctor assures Leela that there is no such thing, and he thinks the light which fell from the sky was a spaceship landing, and aliens unfamiliar with humans are attracted to the lighthouse's electricity. They are keeping themselves out of sight while isolating Fang Rock by creating the fog, causing the Doctor to deduce an attack is imminent.
Reuben goes to stoke the boiler, but while he is away everybody hears him screaming.
Part 3
The Doctor and Leela go to investigate, but Reuben returns while they are away, behaving very oddly indeed, which others put down to shock. But the pattern of death now speeds up. Palmerdale is killed in the lamp room by a glowing alien presence on the outside of the lighthouse, and then Harker is killed when Reuben corners him in the boiler room. From the alien light emanating from Reuben it is clear he has become possessed or transformed by the alien creature. The Doctor determines that their best protection is to secure the lighthouse to keep the creature out.
While inspecting the boiler room, the Doctor and Leela find Harker's body and then Reuben's own - the latter cold for some time - which means the creature in Reuben's form has chameleonic properties. In securing the lighthouse, the Doctor has in fact locked the creature in with them.
Part 4
File:Fang rock part4.JPG
Definitely not humanoid!
The creature now stalks down and kills the others in the lighthouse. Adelaide dies first, then Vince. With its presence now revealed, the alien among them sheds its disguise: it is a Rutan, a chameleonic life form, whose scout ship crash landed in the sea and is trying to summon its mother ship. The Rutans are losing their perennial war with the Sontarans, but by using Earth as a launch point for a battle fleet the Rutans hope to gain the upper hand.
The Rutan ship is seemingly unstoppable, but the Doctor, Leela and Skinsale come up with a plan. First they kill the Rutan Scout - but not before it kills Skinsale - and then the Doctor uses Palmerdale's diamonds as a focus for a light beam, and convert the lighthouse into a high-energy laser by which the Doctor destroys the Rutan mother ship. The blinding flash even turns Leela's eyes from brown to blue. The Doctor quotes Wilfrid Gibson's poem Flannan Isle as they take their leave.
Cast
- The Doctor - Tom Baker
- Leela - Louise Jameson
- Reuben - Colin Douglas
- Vince - John Abbott
- Ben - Ralph Watson
- Lord Palmerdale - Sean Caffrey
- Skinsale - Alan Rowe
- Adelaide - Annette Woollett
- Harker - Rio Fanning
Crew
- Writer - Terrance Dicks
- Assistant Floor Manager - Bill Hartley
- Costumes - Joyce Hawkins
- Designer - Paul Allen
- Film Cameraman - John Walker
- Incidental Music - Dudley Simpson
- Make-Up - Jackie Hodgson
- Production Assistant - Peter Grimwade
- Production Unit Manager - John Nathan-Turner
- Script Editor - Robert Holmes
- Special Sounds - Dick Mills
- Studio Lighting - Bob Gell
- Studio Sound - David Hughes
- Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
- Title Music - Ron Grainer
- Visual Effects - Peter Pegrum
- Producer - Graham Williams
- Director - Paddy Russell
References
Story Notes
- This story had the working titles; The Rocks Of Doom, The Monster Of Fang Rock and The Beast Of Rang Rock.
- Horror of Fang Rock was in fact a late replacement for the scripts Terrance Dicks had originally submitted, a vampire-based tale entitled The Witch Lords, which was canceled close to production as it was feared it could detract from the BBC's high-profile adaptation of Bram Stoker's classic novel Count Dracula, which was due for transmission close to when the serial would have aired. A re-written version did, however, eventually see production in 1980 as State of Decay, part of Season 18 of Doctor Who.
- At the end of the final episode, as the TARDIS leaves the island, the Doctor recites some lines from "The Ballad of Flannan Isle" by Wilfred Gibson.
- The "pigment dispersal" scene at the end of the story when Leela's eyes change from brown to blue was a practical (rather than story) motivated event, it was so Louise Jameson did not have to continue wearing brown contact lenses.
- The story's exact year is never made explicit, but a reference to the beast being seen "eighty years ago" in the "twenties" suggests the early 20th century, as does a reference to King Edward, who reigned from 1901-1910. Lance Parkin's unofficial chronology AHistory dates it to c.1902. Colonel Skinsale also refers to his feeling uneasy in the presence of Balfour, Salisbury and Bonar Law while Lord Palmerdale makes him feel uneasy when he is not in his presence - Lord Salisbury died in 1903, Balfour was PM in the second half of the first decade of the 20th century and had been First Lord of the Treasury under Salisbury, and Bonar Law was a notable MP already in that decade and early that decade was Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade, although yet to be in the cabinet. All three were prominent Conservatives who became Prime Minister. Marconi's Wireless Telegraph prominently featured in the story and was the latest thing in the first decade of the 20th century most notably being used on the Titanic. Electric lamps in lighthouses started to replace oil at the turn of the 20th century.
- According to the DVD commentary supplied by Louise Jameson, a scene in Part 3 was crucial to the behind-the-scenes relationship between her and co-star Tom Baker. In one scene, he consistently came in ahead of his cue, thereby upstaging her. On the grounds that this move was "not what they had rehearsed" she insisted on three successive retakes until he came in at the rehearsed time. This eventually won his respect. From that point forward, she claims their working relationship was much smoother.
Ratings
- Part 1 - 6.8m viewers.
- Part 2 - 7.1m viewers.
- Part 3 - 9.8m viewers.
- Part 4 - 9.9m viewers.
Myths
- Designer Paul Allen researched the lighthouse sets from a book called Lighthouses, Lightships and Buoys by E G Jerrome. (He didn't. He visited two lighthouses, took lots of photographs of them, and based his designs on those.)
Location Filming
- Horror of Fang Rock was the only story of the classic series run to be made entirely outside of London. Due to engineering work at BBC Television Centre, the programme's usual production base, it was made at Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham.
Discontinuity
to be added
Continuity
- The Rutans were previously mentioned in The Time Warrior and The Sontaran Experiment.
- In NA: Shakedown the Rutan host mentions to the Doctor the events of this story.
- An Eighth Doctor audio story written by Paul Magrs for Big Finish Productions, broadcast on BBC 7 on 14th January 2007, is entitled Horror of Glam Rock, a play on this serial's title.
- The Doctor eventually does visit Brighton with Romana in The Leisure Hive.
DVD and Video Releases
DVD Releases
Released as Doctor Who: Horror of Fang Rock.
Released:
- Region 2 - 17th January 2005
- Region 4 - 7th April 2005
- Region 1 - 6th September 2005
Contents:
- Commentary by Louise Jameson, John Abbott and Terrance Dicks.
- Terrance Dicks: Fast & Fiction - With a writing career spanning 6 decades, this special documentary looks at Terrance Dicks' work for books and television, with contributions from many of his friends and colleagues.
- Paddy Russell: A Life in Television - In this specially shot interview, Paddy looks back over her forty year career in television as an actress, stage manager and director.
- The Antiques Doctor Who Show - This short film from 1993 gives an insightful look into the merchandising of Doctor Who.
- Photo Gallery
- Production Subtitles
- Easter Egg - Countdown clock for Part 3. To access, go to the special features menu and press left at the cursor for 'The Antiques Doctor Who Show'.
Target Novelisations
- Novelised as Doctor Who and the Horror of Fang Rock by Terrance Dicks in 1978.
See also
to be added
