It's funny how many weird and random bits of trivia I stumble across in the course of this project. Case in point: I only just realized that the actress in this current story who plays the scientist that gets consumed and transformed by the titular Fendahl is none other than Wanda Ventham. Who, you ask? You would know her better and more indirectly as the mother of Benedict Cumberbatch, a.k.a. Sherlock Homes, Doctor Strange, Smaug, Khan, and the guy who can't pronounce "penguin" to save his life. As a matter of fact, this role was her first big acting job after giving birth to her Eventually Famous Son. How cool is that?

So let's talk about the second half of this story.

Image of the Fendahl - Parts 3 & 4

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

Back in the Third Doctor era there was the story The Dæmons, which mixed occultism with a science-fictional invading alien. This story works the same territory, but very differently executed. The lamprey-like Fendahleen, which had shown up very briefly in part two, now appear as seven foot tall horrors slithering through the mansion where most of the story is set like eldritch horrors, triggering paralyzing fear in any human they encounter. They are summoned by a coven run by one of the scientists, in a ceremony complete with pentagrams, dark robes, and all the other normal occult accoutrements. The whole thing is exquisitely creepy, but some of the energy gets drained from the story by a pointless side-trip in the TARDIS to the Fendahl's home planet, along with clunky info-dump dialog. It feels like the previous Gothic Horror era of the show got into a knife fight with the newer Space Adventure era and neither side came out unscathed. For the second story in a row, the final resolution is pretty much just the Doctor blowing stuff up and calling it a day.

All in all not my favorite story by any stretch of the imagination, but not a train wreck either. More things worked than didn't work, it's just feels like a story that got caught up in the changing of regimes and didn't get the polish it deserved. I think it would have been a much better story had it been a part of the previous season and traded some of the extra exposition for more existential horror. 

By the way, I broke four miles again today for the second day in a row, so that was nice. I also gained weight instead of lost it, so that was frustrating. Hopefully tomorrow will be less of a mixed bag.

STATS:

Doctor(s): Fourth
Companion(s): Leela, K-9
Episode(s): Image of the Fendahl - Parts 3 & 4
Steps Walked: 7,533 today, 1,599,014 total
Distance Walked: 4.03 miles today, 797.99 miles total
Weight: 258.92 lbs (five day moving average), net change -48.38 lbs