Doctor Who (TV Series) The Curse of Fenric: Part Three (1989) User Reviews

The Curse of Fenric: Part Three

[Prismark10 · 10/10 · 27 October 2023]

Blimey there is a flash of Ace's stocking top as she tries to escape from the vampire like Haemovores. It really is a sexual awakening for Ace from the tomboyish girl the Doctor met in Iceworld.

The third episode is all about faith. The Doctor has it. Captain Sorin has it for the Soviet system. Unfortunately Reverend Wainwright's is not strong enough.

He perishes but not before he tells the Doctor the descendants of the Viking settlers in the vicinity.

Commander Millington once again displays his unhinged ruthless side. The type of soldier who is happy to sacrifice men, if it means victory. He allows two Russian soldiers to be killed by the Haemovores.

Millington is interested in the flask. The Doctor knows it contains pure evil.

If there was a Cartmel Masterplan then this episode was a good example of it. There are a lot of threads some dangling from earlier stories that seem come together in The Curse of Fenric. Chess board, a sinister Doctor who seems to know more than he lets on. There is something about Ace's backstory emerging as well.

Then there is the never-ending contest but this time Dr Judson leaps to his feet.

It's all a matter of faith.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 10/10 · 26 February 2020]

Millington is merciless as he condemms two Russian troops to death, but gets hold of a jar containing Fenric's poison, The Haemovores run riot.

Quite possibly this is the best episode of this four part serial. There is so much going on, there is plenty of action, and plenty of manus from the haemovores.

this is the episode where is truly does seem to come of age, when you compare her shirt too when she first started back in Dragonfire she is a character that has fully been developed. She began as a brash, angry young girl, but she is now reasoned, mature and demure, and even in love it seems.

Faith is put to the test here, with The Doctor, The Reverend Wainwright and Captain Sorin being tested.

Tomek Bork is excellent as Sorin, best of all is McCoy, who gives his very best performance as The Doctor, he is terrific, particularly in the scenes where he and Ace have conflict.

Brilliant episode. 10/10

Not too bad but not great.

[poolandrews · 6/10 · 27 July 2008]

Doctor Who: The Curse of Fenric: Part Three starts as the Haemovore Vampire creatures rise from the sea & attack the nearby Jude's Church in which the Doctor (Sylvester McCoy), Ace (Sophie Aldred), Reverend Wainwright (Nicholas Parsons) & some Russian soldiers barricade themselves in. Eventually making it back to the Naval base the Doctor realises that he has to face the evil Fenric a second time...

Episode 10 from season 26 this originally aired here in the UK during November 1989, despite The Curse of Fenric having a fairly decent reputation amongst fans of the show I have to say I don't think too much of it. More borrowing from John Carpenters The Fog (1980) here as the creatures of myth & an ancient curse attack a Church & in particular someone who has lost their faith while the heroine of the piece tries to escape from the Church roof. While this episode is alright & passes the time harmlessly enough I just can't get into the story at all, maybe the longer versions add narrative which makes the plot flow better & frankly make more sense. I mean Ace's encounter with a soldier at the end of this episode is just baffling, has she developed psychic powers all of a sudden or what? The whole mysterious manipulative Doctor scenario has been used in just about every McCoy story is no more than a tired excuse by now to just have some supposedly big reveal at the end which more often than not falls flat on it's face. The plot takes a odd turn here, the Doctor reveals that Haemovores are what the human species will evolve into. One other thing if the Haemovores turned Phyllis & Jean into Vampires why not do the same to the Russian soldiers? Why kill the Russain soldiers & only turn Phyllis & Jean?

Like a lot of Doctor Who serials from the 80's the direction is often poor, the way poor old Reverend Wainwright just stands there as a horde of Haemovore approaches him, the poorly staged fight between Ace & a couple of Haemovores on a Church roof (how did that soldier climb a sheer brick Church wall to get to Ace?) & the Russain soldiers reaction to the Haemovores on the beach. The acting has been varied so far, those Russian accents are terrible & game show host Nicholas Parsons is absolutely awful in this. The erratic weather conditions during filming are all too apparent here, one scene it's pouring with rain & wet while the next mere yards away it's dry & bright.

The Curse of Fenric: Part Three is an alright Doctor Who serial, the last but one in fact of the classic era as this turned out to be the penultimate episode from the penultimate serial, but I have to say I don't like it that much & the story is a bit of a muddle.