Fury from the Deep

Directed by

The Doctor Falls, Base Under Siege, Evil Vegetation

Runtime

150 minutes

Story Type

Companion Exit

Time Travel

Present

Tropes (Potential Spoilers!)

Inventory (Potential Spoilers!)

Sonic Screwdriver

Location (Potential Spoilers!)

Earth, England

Synopsis

The TARDIS lands on the surface of the sea, just off the east coast of England. The time travellers use a rubber dinghy to get ashore, where they are shot with tranquilliser darts and taken prisoner by security guards as they have arrived in the restricted area of the Euro Sea Gas refinery.

At the refinery base, run by a man named Robson, the Second Doctor learns that there have been a number of unexplained problems with the pressure in the feed pipes from the offshore drilling rigs and a strange sound is reverberating through the pipeline. It is later revealed that one of the rigs has sucked up a parasitic form of seaweed, which is capable of releasing poisonous gas or a strange kind of foam that allows it to take control of the minds of those it touches.

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6 Episodes

Episode 1 Missing

First aired

Saturday, March 16, 1968

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Directed by

UK Viewers

8.2 million

Appreciation Index

Synopsis

The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria are taken prisoner by the staff of a gas refinery, who have lost contact with their drilling rigs and experienced mysterious drops in pressure.

Episode 2 Missing

First aired

Saturday, March 23, 1968

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Directed by

UK Viewers

7.9 million

Appreciation Index

Synopsis

Harris asks for the Doctor's help with Maggie, while Van Lutyens and the Chief Engineer attempt to find out what is blocking the impeller.

Episode 3 Missing

First aired

Saturday, March 30, 1968

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Directed by

UK Viewers

7.7 million

Appreciation Index

Synopsis

While the Doctor begins his investigation into the weed creatures, Robson is attacked by one at the refinery.

Episode 4 Missing

First aired

Saturday, April 6, 1968

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Directed by

UK Viewers

6.6 million

Appreciation Index

Synopsis

Van Lutyens' investigation of the base of the impeller places the Doctor and Jamie in danger from the Weed Creature.

Episode 5 Missing

First aired

Saturday, April 13, 1968

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Directed by

UK Viewers

5.9 million

Appreciation Index

Synopsis

With the Weed Creature poised to burst out of the pipeline and attack the base, an encounter with Oak and Quill gives the Doctor a vital clue about its weakness.

Episode 6 Missing

First aired

Saturday, April 20, 1968

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Directed by

UK Viewers

6.9 million

Appreciation Index

Synopsis

The Doctor and Jamie rescue Victoria from Robson and realise they can destroy the Weed Creature with sound waves.

Characters

Second Doctor

Patrick Troughton

Jamie McCrimmon

Frazer Hines

How to watch Fury from the Deep:

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Fury from the Deep [Steelbook]

Blu-Ray

Fury from the Deep

DVD

Fury from the Deep

Reviews
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5 reviews

This review contains spoilers!

“She can’t scream, sir.”

Le pouls d’algues monstrueux hante une histoire somme toute très simple.

Ici la mer est en effet vraiment effrayante, et quand elle se retourne contre l’Homme c’est presque très lovecraftien. Mais si l’histoire est quand même trop lente elle arrive à être malgré tout très envoûtante, et elle accumule des scènes souvent assez glaçantes.

Victoria en plus donne tout son coeur à Fury from the Deep.

Elle a toujours été un peu trop la demoiselle en détresse. Mais sa vulnérabilité marche de fou ici, et elle apporte énormément d’humanité au récit.

Review last edited on 17-11-24

This review contains spoilers!

While I somewhat enjoy it, I think that Inferno is a better version of this idea. It does have a rather slow pace. While the threat is ever present, it does take a long while for anything to happen.

Review last edited on 8-09-24

This review contains spoilers!

I think my overriding memory of this story will always be the sheer creepiness of Mr Quill and Mr Oak. Even with only the brief Australian censorship cuttings available, they are very effective! They are very well spoken, they manage to talk simultaneously in a theatrical and clinical way. This is a story I would treasure if it came back.

The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver for the first time when investigating the gas pipe at the beginning of the episode. It was heartening to see it actually being used to unscrew screws. There is indeed something to investigate - The Doctor detects a creature in the pipeline. We meet a ruthless drilling company and the man in charge will not stop drilling for anything, ignoring The Doctor's worries. Classic.

A side note. We have living seaweed breaking its way through the pipes multiplying and spreading a horrifying sickness which controls people. But once again; it looks like foaming washing up liquid, like the fungus in The Web of Fear - why?!

The overall feel of this story is very dark; its quite a brutal and scary story (which I enjoyed I should add). For example, we have an employee of the gas company whose wife is seriously ill who has to fight to leave work... this wife then goes on to walk into the sea and appear to drown herself. Meanwhile our friend Victoria is making it clear that she is not enjoying her time in the TARDIS she "just wants some peace and quiet". So much so that she would rather stay in a future time she has nothing in common with than go home, citing her lack of living family in her own time as a disincentive to go back. I hope she enjoys her life with the Harris's. It was a nice touch that Jamie and The Doctor stayed for another day in case she changed her mind. It did feel a tad sudden though and its odd that the Harris's would accept a relative stranger into their home so casually.

There were fun moments to be had too though - great seeing The Doctor fly a helicopter and a swim in the same story. Ha!

Review last edited on 19-08-24

This review contains spoilers!

Probably the BEST companion exit in the show at this point in time like fully perfect and with a story that compliments it perfectly too

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Review last edited on 28-05-24

This review contains spoilers!

Banger. I have a soft spot for suspenseful horror things, ones that are more creepy than scary, and god this delivers on that front. The heartbeat sound got me every time, the possessed workers were unnerving, and the general dreary atmosphere and setting works perfectly for a story like this. And god that scene where Mrs. Harris walks into the sea is just impeccable. The vibes are great here, and more than enough to carry a six-episode serial.

It's a real shame this serial is part of season 5. I appreciate that it tries to do something new with Victoria, but she's still Victoria, and the whole "weaponized screams" thing almost feels like some sort of satire of the way 60s Who writes female companions. And while it's probably the most successful base-under-siege story for me, it loses its impact a little after a whole season of stories with the same format.

But still, I love this one. I said in my Daleks' Master Plan review that if I could resurrect a single episode it would be episode 12 of that serial – if I could resurrect a whole serial it would be this without a question. The animated reconstruction carries this well enough, and probably improves it in the case of the helicopter scene – but the whole time I was left wondering, wouldn't this story and this audio work better if it wasn't being delivered via clunky puppet animation?

(with all the love to the animation crews of course – I know just how hard they work on these things)

Review last edited on 29-04-24