Today's new story, Fury from the Deep, is famous for three things: 1) It's the last story with Victoria, although I won't get to the goodbye for another two days, 2) It's the very first story in which the sonic screwdriver appears, which is (oddly enough) used to simply unscrew something using sonic waves, and 3) It is the only story in the entire Second Doctor era with a title that does not begin with the word "The".

Oh, and it also has this scene:

Let's talk about that.

Fury from the Deep - Episodes 1 & 2

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

Taken on its own, Fury from the Deep is a nifty little claustrophobic horror story. Coming as it is in rapid succession after The Abominable Snowmen, The Ice Warriors, and The Web of Fear, however,  a lot of the beats feel pretty familiar at this point. Another thing that works against it is the fact that The Web of Fear had such strong and uniquely varied supporting characters all written well and performed admirably. By comparison, the supporting characters here all seem a bit thin. In particular, the role of Robson, the man in charge of the refinery that is the primary story setting, is an entirely one-note character with no depth or intrigue. That being said, when it works it really works.

The gist of the story is that the Doctor and companions arrive just off the English coast and are soon wrapped up with the goings-on in a gas refinery that is connected via pipelines to several offshore drilling rigs. There is something sinister going on, with an odd thumping or throbbing sound coming from inside the pipes. There is also mysterious stinging seaweed, threatening sea foam, and a pair of horrifying possessed utilities workers.

The first episode ends on a cliffhanger in which Victoria is locked inside a storage room for oxygen tanks that is being slowly invaded by menacing sea foam containing animated seaweed. Actress Deborah Watling really shows off her screaming skills in this scene -- she is really going to leave behind some tough lungs to fill for the next companion. Of course she is promptly rescued at the start of the second episode.

Midway through the second episode there is a horrifying scene in which two workers named Mr. Oak and Mr. Quill show up at the chief engineer's home, where the wife is home alone. They enter on a pretense of doing some kind of utilities gas inspection, and then end up trapping the wife in the living room. There, they both seem to just unhinge their jaws and let loose with a long exhalation of gas with a terrible hissing sound. The wife starts screaming, and then collapses to the ground while gasping for air.

By the climax of the second episode, the impeller that keeps the gas in the pipeline moving has stopped, and a horrible throbbing like a heartbeat begins to echo through the station. 

Being a story that is completely lost, I am again watching a Loose Canon reconstruction. As well done as it is, there is still no denying that such a creeping and atmospheric story loses quite a bit when viewed with only audio and still photos. On paper the story has everything it needs to be successful (except, as I said, for really strong supporting characters), but it loses so much in this reconstruction by being so static. But you know what, I will take an "almost great" story of ones like Planet of Giants or The Chase any old day. Hopefully tomorrow's episodes will be enjoyable enough, and I am really looking forward to Victoria's farewell scene the day after tomorrow.

STATS:

Doctor(s): Second
Companion(s): Jamie McCrimmon, Victoria Waterfield
Episode(s): Fury From the Deep - Episodes 1 & 2
Steps Walked: 6,989 today, 682,875 total
Distance Walked: 3.48 miles today, 327.45 miles total
Weight: 277.22 lbs (five day moving average), net change -30.08 lbs