The Curse of Fenric

"In some timestreams I regenerate, in others I don't."

Writer: Pete McTighe

Format: Webcast

Released: November 2023

Series: Tales of the TARDIS 1.06

Featuring: Seventh Doctor, Ace

Synopsis 

The Doctor and Ace meet again and remember their battle against an ancient evil in World War Two where a Viking curse is bringing the dead back to life.

Verdict

The Curse of Fenric was a great story to conclude the first series of Tales of the TARDIS! This has been a beautiful love letter to help celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of Doctor Who and what a tremendous success! The concept of bringing back TARDIS pairings together after so long is just delightful and it worked an absolute treat. The Memory TARDIS has become a real happy place and somewhere comfortable for stories to be shared. I must admit, this episode was probably the one I anticipated the least given that we had recently seen the Seventh Doctor and Ace reunited on screen in The Power of the Doctor, but this didn't exactly feel like a reunion. It was a time of reflection on the events of the titular serial that was incredibly powerful. It hasn't been a huge amount of time since I last watched The Curse of Fenric but it was long enough for me to not remember everything so the omnibus version between the bookends of new content was terrific. I haven't sought confirmation on this but it also seemed to use the updated special effects as part of the Collection boxsets which I think went down a treat. It looked modern. My girlfriend and I are currently going through the modern era on a light rewatch and she's not interested a great deal in the Classic era (much to my annoyance!), but even I caught her looking a few times with intrigue and I think a lot of it has to do with the quality. It didn't look too old and that helps. She is obviously now familiar with this Doctor and Ace from the 2022 Centenary Special, so that certainly helped as well! I really enjoyed Ace exploring the memories within the TARDIS and I'd love to get her opinion on the Sixth Doctor's jacket that is still sticking around! Getting a glimpse of the History of the Time War book again was marvellous and definitely something I'd love to read, but the highlight is obviously her locating her baseball bat. The Doctor emerging with a reminder of how she had used it in Remembrance of the Daleks was lovely and it was a nice little reunion. Hinting at Ace's departure, of which there are conflicting accounts, was nicely done and I love the insinuation of the Rani being involved. Count me in for that story in any format! The Doctor here seemed to know everything about the Memory TARDIS and the quote that I took was very interesting, perhaps even foreshadowing events of The Giggle and bi-generation. I remain to be sold on the concept of this occurring for all previous regenerations, but it would explain things regarding the older appearances of the Fifth and Sixth Doctors in this series also. An attempt at explanation is good enough for me! I loved that there was a chess board in the TARDIS and Ace was clearly still hurt by the events of this story which is understandable as she learned of the Doctor's knowledge about her going back to Dragonfire and also holding her own mother as a baby and ensuring her own future existence. She goes through a lot! Her recollection at the end after the story was retold together was nicely done. It was great to know as well that she went back and visited. I really enjoyed how things concluded in the TARDIS with the Doctor and Ace sharing the famed speech from the end of Survival that rounded out the Classic era, and really put a nice touch on this tremendous series as a whole. More please! 

Rating: 8/10