Fury From the Deep

"She said she'd been stung by some seaweed."

Writer: Victor Pemberton

Format: TV Animation

Released: September 2020

Season: 5.06

Featuring: Second Doctor, Jamie, Victoria

Synopsis

The TARDIS brings the Doctor, Victoria and Jamie to the coast of Kent, England, where the ESGO complex is daring up natural gas under the North Sea via a huge network of pipes linked their off-shore rigs. 

But the Doctor is convinced he can hear something in the pipes, a heartbeat, something... alive? Others at the complex have heard it too, and one by one contact with the rigs is being lost. But Chief Robson will have none of it, and work will continue. And so it does... until sentient, aggressive seaweed begins attacking the base and taking over the personnel one by one, creating a spearhead from which it will launch its attack and enslave the entire human race... Can the Doctor discover a way to stop the weed advancing? Or does the only real chance of success lie with Victoria and if it does, can a way be found to utilise that without harming of the Doctor's very best friends...

Verdict

Fury From the Deep was an excellent serial thankfully recreated in animated format! I'm a huge advocate of recreating lost Classic serials in animated form because it really does provide as close of a genuine experience of the story as possible. Of course, it doesn't quite have the retro feel of being in black and white and visibly seeing Patrick Troughton or Deborah Watling performing, but from a pure story perspective this is so valuable and much better than the Loose Canon recons (although they are priceless for those serials yet to be animated). Now, while I am a huge fan of animation for lost stories I have to say that the animation for this particular story seemed slightly off in parts which was just a little strange. It didn't help that the first scene pretty much just didn't make sense for me as after we saw the TARDIS descending from the skies and landing in the sea, it was absolutely still! I couldn't believe that as despite the wonders of the Doctor's time and space machine, surely it would have swayed having landed on water? That was really off-putting. Another animation-specific critique came when Jamie was escaping through the roof from the Weed creatures and it just seemed so painfully obvious that what we were seeing on screen did not match the sound and what viewers back in 1968 were lucky enough to see. It was clearly audible that Jamie was being helped out but yet on screen the Doctor and Victoria were merely watching him hang for what felt like eternity. That was baffling. Now, onto the positives and it has to be said that is a fine serial and a hugely impressive story. It's paced very well over the six episodes and serves as a fitting finale for Victoria's run as a companion. She probably did scream a little too much in the role, but that being a proponent for defeating the Weed here was a lot of fun, even if some of the direction leaned towards highlighting that perhaps slightly too soon. I really enjoyed how it was hinted throughout that she wasn't happy constantly getting into trouble on her travels with the Doctor and the length of her departure for the end of episode six is really nicely done. I thought Robson was an outstanding character and his stubbornness when it came to refusing to shut off the gas early on in the serial was brilliant. His continued consideration that the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria were prisoners despite the help they provided was excellent and I just loved the way he was dedicated to his job. His use as part of the Weed creature was brilliant and I thought the imagery of the cliffhanger at the end of part five with hi consumed and at one with the creature was very impressive. Harris was another terrific character and I really enjoyed his relationship with his wife. His reiteration of the need to shut down the gas was very good and I liked how Maggie fell victim to the Weed creature after his file was taken. That was a fun plot point. I am very much a fan of the Weed creature and whilst it probably loses a bit of its fear factor in coloured animation, the way it was used was still impressive and it did look like it was part of the sea with a somewhat slimy look which I liked. The scene towards the end with the helicopter was amusing as the Doctor piloting a helicopter was a delightful sight. The way the giant Weed creature was used their was also a fine benefit of the animation. Overall, a delightful story recreated to enjoy all over again!

Rating: 9/10