Research into Wider Media: Television Shows

‘Doctor Who: The Curse of Fenric’

Narrative • The Doctor and Ace arrive at naval

base during WWII. Captain Sorin and his Russian comrades are after the ULTIMA machine, a machine that can decrypt anything. It is owned by Judson and Millington, who are using it to crack ancient Viking inscriptions.

• Judson decrypts it which leads to the release of Fenric, an evil since the dawn of time. It awakens Fenric’s servants, the Haemovores and they arise from the ocean at Maiden’s Bay.

The Doctor and Ace arriving.

The Haemovores rise from the misty ocean.

• The Haemovores attack the church, their like vampires, they suck everyone dry of their blood. Faith however, holds them back.

• The Doctor and Ace escape into the crypt where they get the Viking treasure that holds Fenric. Millington orders it to be put in the ULTIMA machine and Fenric arises, in Judson’s body.

• Judson dissapears, ordering his servants to kill everyone, summoning the first Haemovore, the ancienct Haemovore.

• Ace helps her friend Audrey escape with a baby, and tells them to take refuge in a cottage she would come to know in the future.

The effect faith has on the Haemovores.

The Ancient One

• Fenric orders the Ancient One to kill all the Haemovores as collateral. He then orders Fenric to take the chemical poison being produced at the base and to pollute the ocean’s with it, killing every human on the Planet.

• The Doctor persuades the Ancient One to help him as Fenric’s plan would kill him too.

• The Doctor sets a chess challenge for Fenric. Ace tells Captain Sorin the solution, but Fenric has left Judson to become in Sorin’s body. Fenric wins, the planet is his.

• The Ancient One arrives, and Ace, not knowing the Doctor’s plan has faith and the Ancient One is repelled. The Doctor insults Ace and she loses her faith, The Ancient One kills Fenric and himself, but Ace discovers the baby she hates would become her mother, the mother she hates.

• The Doctor apologises to Ace and explains the situation. She takes a cleansing swim in the water and she comes to her senses. They leave, to go off on another adventure.

Key/Compelling Shots

• I feel this is a key shot because it’s eerie, atmospheric and mysterious. The mist around the water creates a sense of tension and the rising from the water is reminiscent of horror films. This creates fear in the audience’s mind.

• The long shot makes it more atmospheric as it allows more Haemovores to be seen rising, making it look like there is more than there actually is, making it appear to be even more scary.

• This is a key shot because it shows new runes appearing, being carved out of nothing. The light on them makes them appear moody and creepy. It also creates a sense of tension because individual letters in runes don’t light up. The fact the light is orange and red makes the runes look evil.

• It is a close up on the rune. This puts all the attention on the new runes being carved.

• This is a key shot because it shows how Judson is no longer Judson but Fenric. The use of green glowing eyes makes him appear evil and it creates a sense of terror and power in the audience’s mind.

• The fact that it is a close up keeps all the attention on the fact that it is no longer Judson standing there and doesn’t allow the attention to be anywhere else.

Editing

• The pace of the editing is quite fast, most scenes lasting less than a minute. This is because there are lots of different elements to cover in the story and they only had 100 minutes to convey it all in. There are lots of jump cuts to different locations and a few minutes in the future, but it flows as a solid self contained narrative that stretches over a day.

Music

• Most of the incidental music is played on an organ sounding instrument to keep the theme of horror going. There are lots of stings to emphasise the drama and make the climactic moments appear more climatic.

• There are lots of diegetic sounds, like the birds chirping near the start to create verisimilitude in an unrealistic diegesis.

How Mise-En-Scene adds to the atmosphere

• It’s mainly the Haemovores costumes that add to the creepy and scary atmosphere. It is an old looking costume all ripped, and torn which instantly makes it appear more frightening and atmospheric.

• A grave yard location also adds to the tension because a lot of superstition is connected to graves and graveyards.