Doctor Who and the Image of the Fendahl

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Thea is again drawn to the room where the time scanner is kept and sees the x-ray of the skull. Stael appears and, revealed as the leader of the local coven, proclaims she is the key to his power, the chosen one. Thea tries to leave, but Stael grabs her and uses chloroform to render her unconscious.

Deleted and Extended Scenes' - from a low-quality copy of the location filming, but interesting to fans. This story had a working title of The Island of Fandor. (It didn't. This myth originated when Gordon Blows, then editor of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society magazine TARDIS, misheard the title of the story over the phone and reported it incorrectly. The Big Finish story Island of the Fendahl was set on Fandor as a nod to this.) viewable as PDF files, which you can look at if you view the disc on a computer, are the radio times listings for the story.

Reviewed: The Black Archive #5 – Image of the Fendahl

Bucher-Jones’ stance is essentially: you think Fendahl is scary, but you don’t know the half of it. On the plus side, we see a return of someone being able to write for Leela and the Doctor is enigmatic yet serious. The star of the show however is Mrs Tyler who rightfully enchants any scene she is in. Ted Moss a decent follow up, but doesn’t make the same impact. Fendhalman is interesting with an almost split personality. The biggest missed opportunity however is Thea Ransome. who plays her part so well, yet we’re treated to so little of it. Why didn’t they delve into the relationship she has with Stael? They also gloss over the uneasy friendship the two have with Coby, and the delicate respect and fear they share for Fendahlman. Even the monster of the week doesn’t do enough to become truly significant. After that it’s mood or it’s blah. Chris Boucher drew upon the fetch, a creature from Irish mythology which manifested as the phantom double of a living person. The word “fetch” was incorporated into many of the place names, and presaged Thea Ransome's transformation into the sinister Fendahl Core.

In the scene when Thea merges with the skull, just before she merges, the side of her nose takes on the texture of the skull for a few seconds. Marco Fendelman wanted to resurrect the Fendahl after the files of the incident at Fetch Priory. The Fendahl manipulated Gwen Cooper into become it's core. Gwen eventually managed to overcome this due to her Torchwood training. ( AUDIO: Night of the Fendahl)It’s not all hard science, fortunately. That would do the book a disservice by implying it’s stuffy. It’s instead very compelling. Discussions range from theology to the actual title of the serial, from what happened to Mars and its native Ice Warriors to a so-called “unsupported fan theory” that takes Underworld into account. K9 appears only briefly, in the opening and closing TARDIS scenes; he is suffering from circuitry corrosion and stays in the TARDIS. Image of the Fendahl had been written before it was known K9 would be joining the series on a regular basis. John Leeson was not recruited to voice the character, who had no dialogue. Concerns arose that the Fendahleen costumes were too phallic in appearance, and so ribbing was added to mute this impression.