Doctor Who and the Image of the Fendahl

Doctor Who Target Books (Numerical Order) #34

by Terrance Dicks

`The Fendahl is death,' said the Doctor. `How do you kill death itself?'

The ultra-modern technology of the Time Scanner combines with the ancient evil of Fetch Wood, and brings to life a terror that has lain hidden for twelve million years.

The Doctor and Leela fight to destroy the Fendahl, a recreated menace that threatens to devour all life in the galaxy.

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Fiction, Horror

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Terrance Dicks was an English author, screenwriter, script editor, and producer best known for his extensive contributions to Doctor Who. Serving as the show's script editor from 1968 to 1974, he helped shape many core elements of the series, including the concept of regeneration, the development of the Time Lords, and the naming of the Doctor’s home planet, Gallifrey. His tenure coincided with major thematic expansions, and he worked closely with producer Barry Letts to bring a socially aware tone to the show. Dicks later wrote several Doctor Who serials, including Robot, Horror of Fang Rock, and The Five Doctors, the 20th-anniversary special.
In parallel with his television work, Dicks became one of the most prolific writers of Doctor Who novelisations for Target Books, authoring over 60 titles and serving as the de facto editor of the range. These adaptations introduced a generation of young readers to the franchise. Beyond Doctor Who, he also wrote original novels, including children’s horror and adventure series such as The Baker Street Irregulars, Star Quest, and The Adventures of Goliath.
Dicks also worked on other television programmes including The Avengers, Moonbase 3, and various BBC literary adaptations. His later work included audio dramas and novels tied to Doctor Who. Widely respected for his clarity, imagination, and dedication to storytelling, he remained a central figure in Doctor Who fandom until his death in 2019, leaving behind a vast legacy in television and children's literature.

Reviews

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

Both Louise Jameson narration and the excellent soundscape rwally helps elevate what feels like a pretty rushed script to page novelisation by Dicks.

This was Doctor Who's last foray into traditional horror tropes and has all the elements in place to be a strongly regarded classic, a priory with scientists testing on a really old human skull whilst witchcraft is also present in the village of Fetchborough.
It just seems to be trying a little too hard to get all the elements to gel.

The audiobook really sales the more creepier elements that during the serials more stronger sequences and actually makes a welcomed addition to the range.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a novelization by Terrance Dicks of a teleplay by Chris Boucher that was the third adventure from the fifteenth season of Doctor Who, broadcast in October and November of 1977. The Doctor was in his fourth incarnation and was ably assisted by companion Leela. It's one of the best true horror stories of the series, with snakes in space, Satanic rituals and witchcraft, gloomy Victorian settings, rifts in time and space, ancient magical skulls, and all manner of nifty imagery. It's a clever and twisty plot, lots of fun. The Doctor meets Cthulhu!? Dicks' novelization doesn't do it justice, being one of the shortest books in the series... we could have done with a few more and longer squelchy descriptions with words like "primordial," "arcane," and, of course, "eldritch." One point which bothered me was that The Doctor and Leela are planning on what is essentially genocide at the end, but don't seem to hesitate about it. A very good story, but I recommend watching it rather than this bare bones version, if you have the opportunity. (Trivia: I've heard that readers of Doctor Who magazine voted the cover of this edition of the novelization the worst of all the ones in the series.)

[Otherwyrld · Rating 2 out of 5]

Image of the Fendahl was a 4 part story first shown in 1977, and starred Tom Baker as the 4th Doctor with Louis Jameson as his companion Leela. As a horror story involving ancient skulls, monsters that can eat whole planets, a coven of witches and at least one mad scientist, this should have been a thrilling story. Instead, I found it so boring that I keep putting it down to read something else - it took me nearly a week to read a 110 page book!

I think that the problem with the story is that is is a bit too convoluted, with too many disparate elements to fit together well. Unusually, author Terrance Dicks fails to adequately describe what was probably a very visual story (I don't have any clear memories of watching the episodes). This was a story that needed a lot more descriptive elements to make it really stand out, and the page length just didn't run to it.



In terms of characterisation, both the Doctor and Leela are handled well here, though to be honest it would be difficult to get such a simple character as Leela wrong. All you have to do if threaten everyone with a knife, totally fail to understand anything the Doctor says, and think that everything is magic, and away you go. The guest characters are all stock stereotypes - power mad scientist, old wise witch and her country bumpkin grandson, weak willed damsel in distress that gets taken over by the monster, and so on. The pagan elements are interesting but probably work rather less well in the English countryside than they would have on, say, a remote Scottish island.



So all in all not the best Doctor Who story around.

[Ivana Richards · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the best of the Target novelisations. At only 109 pages, this is another that was rushed out, so it is just a straight adaptation with little embellishments apart from a bit of background for Stael. The menace of the scenes set in the woods doesn't come across in the book either. I'd watch the dvd instead if I were you.

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1007902.html

Doctor Who and the Image of the Fendahl is again a stick-closely-to-the-script effort, which makes the holes in the story a bit less easy to ignore.

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3816574.html

I should concede that Dicks does (as he often did) give most of the incidental characters an introductory paragraph explaining their background and motivations, which is in fact a nice set of additions to the narrative.

[Mark waite · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favourite adventures for the doctor and the novelisation by the legend that was Terrance Dicks certainly doesn’t disappoint

[Lee Cushing · Rating 5 out of 5]

An archaeological dig revives an ancient evil that threatens to consume all life on Earth. With its Gothic nature, ancient historical threat, and the return of a godlike being through rituals and possessions, this story feels like it belongs within one of the previous two series.

This was the third script written by Chris Boucher another strong story inspired by intriguing ideas (this time utilizing archaeological and anthropological diffusionist theories rather than robotics and artificial intelligence). Dicks does the script justice with his novelization and improves on some issues that marred the original televised version. The whole scene with the hiker always seemed a bit disjointed and muddled within the program but more coherent within the book. The purpose of the Fendahleen is a clearer and doesn't suffer from being poorly realized by special effects. However, opposite to this, the Fendahl/Thea Rome gestalt comes across much better visually within the program, being a little bland and less dramatic in the novelization.

The best improvement comes in Dicks' handling of the where the Doctor appears to hand someone a gun so that they can kill themselves. always felt a little wrong and somewhat out of character for the Doctor. It was treated almost as an event in passing by the program due to bad editing or maybe?), whereas it takes time to explain and justify the Doctor's motivations. The scene is a lot less jarring in prose than on television.

Conceptually, the Fendahl is quite an interesting monster. Its lack of converse or, in a more human way, limits can be done with such a, so it is probably never likely to reappear within the program. However, it has occasionally in other media most reused by Boucher in his Kaldor City series (which also uses elements of "Robots of Death").

[Leila Anani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite the rather ropey look of the creature, Image of the Fendahl is one of my favourite Who stories - mixing a whole bunch of random things (satanic ritual, giant space worms. crystal skull, rift in time and space, mad scientists) and coming up with something really interesting.

At 108 pages this Terrance Dick novelisation sadly doesn't really do the story justice. It's very much the bare bones with, other than Max Stael, hardly any description whatsoever - I found myself googling the characters to recall what they looked & sounded like to build my mental picture. It's very rushed and full of cut aways, which work fine on screen but not so well in a novel. There's a bit where both the Leela and the Doctor chastise Colby for nearly getting them killed for example, but the actual event of that is really unclear/glossed over. I think it's because he rushes back to help Max but it's all super rushed. I was also a bit bemused by the Coleridge misquote added at the beginning - why misquote it when the actual quote works just fine? The other thing this fails to do is expand on the relationships between the characters. I always thought there was a bit of romantic interest between Colby and Thea, but while his at least concern for her, comes across on screen there's zero evidence of it here.

So this novel is useful as a refresher for the episode; for getting details of some of the facts and characters (for the purpose of fan-fiction for example) or for a study on the themes, creatures etc in Who. And I guess if you are a die-hard fan then you know the episode really well and this becomes quite fun. However if you simply want to read a thrilling Who adventure in book form this is certainly not one of the better ones to choose.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Terrance Dicks' novelisation of a Fourth Doctor story, originally scripted by Chris Boucher, featuring Leela.
When a scientist on Earth begins experimenting with a powerful Time Scanner, the TARDIS is pulled off course by the damage caused. As the Doctor determines to prevent the use of the Time Scanner, he and Leela discover that an ancient malign entity is attempting to use the situation to bring death to the entire planet.

There are some moments of genuinely macabre atmosphere to this story of ancient skulls, gestalt entities and witchcraft that occasionally really sold the whole thing to me. However, they're sort of few and far between and the rest feels like paint-by-numbers Who.
The scientists meddling with powers they shouldn't aren't terribly interesting and, similarly, the secret coven of witches aren't as distinct or engaging as they should be. Then there's the Fendahl itself, which is a very vaguely-defined ancient cosmic evil and has slug-like minions that are so poorly described that I can almost here the green-painted bubblewrap that would've been used to make the creatures in the original TV version (which I have not seen, as yet).

The relationship between the iconic Fourth Doctor and his headstrong companion Leela is a great one, which helps move things along nicely but in the end this story feels fairly middling overall.

* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *

[Jason Bleckly · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual Terrance has done a great adaptation, as far as it goes. It’s one of the shorter Targets with very few flourishes added. All the events of the story are included. The characters are good matches of their TV counterparts. But it’s all very brief. This story has a lot going on in it and the characters have a lot of different motivations which I’d love to see more fully explored in a longer version. Theres Mrs Tyler’s relationship with the locals and the people at the priory. If she’s agin what they’re doing both in the science and magic, why is she helping them? And Thea slowly losing her mind as she’s possessed by the Fendahl. So much unexplored scope for introspection. Fendhalman and Colby, both scientist but with differing goals over the same artifact. What drove them? Colby we do get a bit from as his simplistic need for fame is fairly shallow, to match his character. But what was driving Fendhalman? Was it the essence of the Fendhal as was stated? But how did that manifest in his mind? And Ted Moss, what drove him to the dark side of the occult, and who were the other coven members? How did Max end up in charge of the coven? Did he do away with the previous leader?

I love this book and story. It’s one of my favourites, but this could be so much better in an expanded form dealing with the complexity of the plot and characters.

[morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

"It was, thought the Doctor dispassionately, quite the nastiest looking life-form he had ever seen." There is some quirky prose from Dicks in here, though clocking in at 109 pages, it overall may a bit too short. I was hoping to have gotten more expansion on the excavation of the skull, more details of the coven society, and more backstory on the scientists. Adam Colby is maybe the most well described. He's ambitious, dedicated to science, Nobel aspirations. Stael gets a few paragraphs about his his childhood and how it made him all twisted, but that's about it. Thea's personality and life story would have been interesting to flesh out more, since she eventually becomes the Priestess. How and why she was chosen would have been interesting to know. Fendelman comes from some line of descent related to the Fendahl, but it's very vague. There are horrific, darkly macabre moments. Stael's final scene is pretty haunting, though Thea's lost soul is pretty much ignored, not commented upon.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

あらすじ
フェンドルマン教授が極秘にタイム・スキャナーのテスト運行をした時、ティアとコルビーが調べていたドクロが光り出す。その頃、宇宙を飛んでいたターディスが突然タイム・ホールに引き込まれ、ドクターはタイム・スキャンを誰かが使用したせいだと推測。使用元が地球と知りリーラと共に調べに地球に向かう。翌日犬の散歩に出かけていたコルビーは森の中で若者の遺体を見つける。恐ろしい形相をしていたことに恐怖をおぼえ、コルビーは警察に通報しようとするがフェンドルマンに止められる。通報しないことに抵抗を覚えるコルビーだったが、自分が発見したドクロが1200万年ものである可能性とフェンドルマンの研究の真の目的をきかされ、通報しないことに同意する。一方、リーラと共に地球に到着したドクターはフェンドルマンの研究施設について地元民からきき、早速調べにいく。

 感想
ドクターが子供時代にお話で聴いてトラウマになるぐらい怖いと思っていた宇宙生物。他の生命体を根こそぎくらっていくため”死“そのものと恐れられていたため、タイムロードが惑星ごと滅ぼし、さらにタイムループの中に封じ込めることで記録にも残らないように細工した曰く付きのクリーチャー。タイムスキャナーのせいで地球が爆発する寸前だったり、結構危機的状況満載の事件。ドクターとリーラ、地元民のジャック・タイラーとジャックのグランマが協力して世界を滅亡から救う。スピード感があって最後まで楽しく読めた。

 

Leela: Never mind, Doctor, even you can’t think of everything!

Doctor: I can’t? Well, I should have! But I was frightened, you see, Leela, by a horror from my childhood. Too frightened to think clearly...

 

[Pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

Doctor Who and the Image of the Fendahl (1979) by Terrance Dicks is the novelisation of the third serial of season fifteen of Doctor Who.

The TARDIS is disturbed by someone using a Time Scanner. The Doctor and Leela search for the source finding it to be on earth. There, the very rich Fendelman and a team of scientists are investigating a skull that appears to be 12 million years old. In the woods nearby a hiker is mysteriously killed.

It all winds up as a good scary Dr Who series. That is except for the special effects of the Fendahleen which lt the TV series down. That works better in the book.

It’s also a serial I misremembered substantially.

Doctor Who and the Image of the Fendahl is a decent Dr Who tale.

[Ian Banks · Rating 3 out of 5]

This starts beautifully and ends quite hurriedly. I get that Dicks was pressed for time at this point in history but it’s criminal that a beginning that references Rime Of The Ancient Mariner ends with such a whimper. It’s atmospheric and moody, with delightful characters, then it fizzles out, except for that dark moment where the Doctor hands a character the means of their own destruction. I could write a lot more about this book - how it captures the 70s UKTV obsession with parapsychology and the occult so beautifully; how it is such a witty script; how it recaptures the Pertwee era wonderfully whole still being a very obvious Tom Baker story - but it ends as a far inferior book than what it promised.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I adore Image of the Fendahl (it's a top 5 Tom Baker for me!) but there just feels like so little enthusiasm for it in this adaptation, except for a hastily sketched Stael backstory and to clarify a few inconsistencies that appear on screen...and look, that doesn't make the story better, it just makes it slightly more logical in minor points that I never notice when I'm watching it anyway. Increasingly as it goes on it feels like it's reiterating information (Stael and Fendleman having died by the same gun, the number of Fendahleen, etc), almost as if Terrance Dicks was rushing to meet a word-count for a deadline...

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Like the novelization of "Kinda", this is an example of a Terrance Dicks book that was done as quickly and as superficially as possible. A story with so much atmosphere and horrific potential deserved the skill of the earlier (or even mid-80s) Terrance Dicks. Instead, this microscopically thin volume feels like it was shoved out the door in about five minutes. The rubbish cover (the worst of any Target novelization) is a suitable symbol for this massive disappointment.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know why, but this book felt like something had been edited out of it. The page count is unusually short, even for these early Target editions, and the visual imagery of the Fendahl and related critters left a bit too much to the imagination.
That said, I always love 4th Doctor stories, especially with Leela, so it was a fun adventure that reminded me of the joy I had in watching these stories on the local PBS station.

[G. Page · Rating 4 out of 5]

I chose to revisit this book since I hadn’t read it since I was a kid, and despite its flaws I really enjoyed it. It’s quick, yet hits all the story beats while still capturing the atmosphere from the televised version. Mr Dicks clearly made no effort to address all the plot holes and vague ideas presented in the story, yet he still delivers an entertaining book that is true its orginal form.

[Andrewl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic Who sci-fi horror story. Almost tries too hard with priories, pentangles, archaeology and village covens, and given the short length a lot of the characters are very two dimensional. Nice story though.

[Julian White · Rating 3 out of 5]

A modest and somewhat perfunctory retelling of the televised story with only a few added bits. Serviceable! (Word of the week!)

[Olivia Ambrose · Rating 2 out of 5]

Super short. Like the author didn't want to spend any more time with this than he had to. Not worth writing home about.

[Olly Colluphid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another perfectly adequate Dicks write up of the plot. Enjoyable if in the mood, but not great literature!

[Damon Habbin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very quick easy read would like to have known more about the time scanner.

Like a lot of the Dr Who stories it was wrapped up very quickly and easily.

[Angela C · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, quick read, as will all the others! I have yet to encounter this bad guy in the doctor who universe, so that was a treat as well.

[Leo H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another 'cosy when it really shouldn't be' Dr Who book from Terrance Dicks. I enjoyed the novelisation more than I remember enjoying the TV episodes, which is always a point in the book's favour.

[Gareth · Rating 5 out of 5]

From a less memorable one in Invisible Enemy, to another one of my favourite stories (a good run it seems overall here with the 4th Doctor and Leela), though problem for rereading is I know this tale so well, it can colour some of the earlier scenes.
Quite a Lovecraftian tale here, to basically end the run of horror stories that were quite common up until this point since the Planet of Evil, and has a nice amount of mystery to begin with, and a nice moment where one of the characters realises to his horror quite what is / has been going on.
K9 pretty much absent for this story, but Leela and the Doctor are in good form here, helping show the horror of the situation, while at the same time showing their ability to come up with solutions and get out of trouble.
I like the nature / idea of the Fendahl here as well, definitely a Lovecraftian type of being as such, though could have been nice to see a bit more success on their part, or perhaps been set somewhere other than Earth to see more of an impact, in the vein of Horror of Fang Rock, but that is because I sometimes like to see such creatures have a win occasionally.
The ending perhaps didn't quite live up to the build up to that point, but at the same time did sell somewhat the nature of the enemy - not really an intelligent, deliberately evil foe, but more an instinctive, animal almost type foe, where the instincts at times let it down.
Overall though, a really great read for me :)

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the great Doctor Who stories.
There's something evil stalking through the woods. Does it have anything to do with the local research lab?

The first half is a good creepy 'there's something in the dark' story that seamlessly shifts into a vaguely Lovecraft feeling 'fate of the world' finale.

The whole story has the vibe of an old fashioned ghost/ suspense story.
Lots of nice interplay between the fourth Doctor and Leela.

[Rich Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this has all the makings of a sort of Doctor-meets-Cthulhu-type of tale, it's a little lacking on plot. The story itself has Terrence Dicks' usual attention to characterization, but while enjoyable, it seemed a bit rushed and contrived at times. Still, an adventure of the Fourth Doctor and Leeks is ALWAYS entertaining.

[Wealhtheow · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember this as containing a deliciously Elder Gods sort of horror.

[bluetyson]

isbn,original