Doctor Who: The Curse of Fenric

Tonight's a bit of a cheat-Doctor Who: The Curse of Fenric - it's a feature length edit of a storyline from 1989.

First, it's fun to see how much the BBC has changed since 1989. The special effects and costumes are light years better now, but the quality of acting and story are still pretty nifty.

The time traveling Doctor has arrived in 1943 coastal England at a secret army base. The Russian have arrived as well. The Brits are working on a code breaker and testing it on ancient viking runes.

The runes decoded awaken ancient Viking vampires.

These vampires have a unique look- you can get a glimpse of them in the picture- having been underwater for centuries, they're wrinkled and covered in barnacles. Thanks to budget constraints they're pretty visible in the story since the show, despite being about vampires- is filmed during the daytime.

But it is filmed in Whitby, where Dracula first arrived in England in Bram Stoker's novel.

Since it's sci-fi, the sci-fi twist to the story is interesting- it's not the cross the repulses the vampire, it's the faith of the wielder that forms a psychic barrier against the vampire. This works to such a degree that one of the Russian soldiers repels the vampires with with his Soviet red star hammer and sickle pin and his faith in the Revolution.

I'd seen it years ago, back when I was a much bigger Doctor Who fan, and I'd forgotten how... convoluted this story was. The ending isn't very accessable to the new viewer since so much of this story- the next to last of the 26th season- relies on plot threads starting in the 25th season.