My first time viewing of this one and I was looking forward to it as it has a fantastic reputation as being one of the very best of the seventh Doctor era. Unfortunately this raised my hopes a little too high and as such the first episode was a bit of a disappointment.
The plot is quite a complex one, but unlike the plot of Ghost Light I think it's one that after another viewing II will at least be able to grasp! Set at a British Naval installation during world war 2 where coded messages from the Germans are being decoded. Unfortunately the commander and his scientist have taken it upon themselves to use the machine to crack the code of an ancient Viking inscription which has terrible repercussion when they resurrect Fenric from his bindings that the Doctor himself placed him in 17 centuries earlier.
What I liked most about this story is that there were plenty of exploration of the characters. For example Nicholas Parson plays a vicar who is going through a crisis of faith and tries desperately to regain it throughout the story. His eventual fate is pretty heartbreaking.
We also learn more about Ace's family, particularly her relationship to her mother when she discovers that the baby she has taken care of is actually her mother!
Sylvester McCoy shows himself to be a truly great Doctor when given the opportunity and he is given such opportunity here when he has to break Ace's faith in him in order to defeat the monster. It's absolutely superb!
The DVD contains a movie version of this story with added footage and special effects and I definitely think I'll give this a try in a month or so.
Only one more adventure the seventh Doctor to go. That's kind of sad as I'm really starting to like him. But many changes are on the way!
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