Episode #94 : Image of the Fendahl.

"There are four thousand million people here on your planet, and if I'm right, within a year, there will just be one left alive. Just one."


Episode 94:   Image of the Fendhal.
Companions: 4th Doctor, K9 and Leela.
Air Date:       Four episodes. 29th October to 19th November 1977.

The present day: just as the Fourth Doctor and Leela arrive in Fetchborough, England, Professor Fendelman prepares to experiment on a fossilized skull which science says should not exist. The skull is actually an artefact of the Fendahl, a god-like being who feeds on the life force of others. It has begun to awaken and kill. Worse yet, others seek to exploit the Fendahl's dreadful power.


With the Image of the Fendahl we come to a close on the classic horror stories that made Tom Baker's run as the Doctor so good in the 1970s. We have another great story that with the right eye also fits the Lovecraftian genre, perhaps more so than any other story. In this case we learn that an ancient horror that once dwelt on the fifth planet of our solar system, now an asteroid field, has set in motion throughout human history the means to revive itself and escape a prison created by the Time Lords.

In some ways the story resembles the Jon Pertwee adventure The Daemons. It deals with an ancient foe thought by the locals to be an emination of evil, a sinister cult turned to the worship of the evil by an outsider, a good "white witch" type figure and heaps of superstition translated into science by the Doctor. But you shouldn't watch this thinking it is a rip off of the early story. Image of the Fendahl is an excellent story in its own right.


Both the Doctor and Leela are back on top form this time around. The Doctor is very much the grinning curiosity seeker again and Leela is back to being the noble savage still finding her way around science. She has her violent moments but they are not as blunt as in previous stories. Unfortunately K9 barely gets a look in with this story. I have read it that the writers and staff were not 100% sure that he would be brought onboard as a companion at this time so they just tacked him into the start and end of the adventure.

The Fendahl itself appears as a gold-skinned woman with eyes painted on her eyelids. The dress and appearance resemble somthing from Greek mythology to me. To some it is disappointing but not to me. It's the Fendahleen that I rather like however. Resembling tentacled slugs, though in rubber suits, they fit the feel of the story excellently.



If you've been reading this reviews you'll know that I believe that the show under Tom Baker starts off well and slowly begins to decline. Well, from my perspective this truely is the last of the great stories. Nothing else comes close to what has gone before. Perhaps Tom Baker did stay too long? Most other Doctors stay about 3 years and then move on. Maybe there is a reason why that formula works?