Friday, July 10, 2009

RR1 - Fury From the Deep 1



Two massively important (massively) things happen in the first few moments of Fury From The Deep that are noteworthy in the history of Doctor Who, particularly pertaining to the New Series. The first occurs when the TARDIS crew start exploring the beach on which they have just landed. Just as The Doctor remarked in the previous story, The Web of Fear, Jamie wonders aloud as to why the TARDIS always seems to land on Earth. Victoria adds that they also always seem to wind up in England. This is so metatextual that it is no doubt meant as a joke, but it is a question that is never, ever asked again in the history of the show (so far as I remember). It is particularly interesting to note that the whole Earth/England thing is never even mentioned in the New Series, which has taken delight in quick history lessons of the show's past and retroactive continuity (i.e. the chameleon circuit, the TARDIS's telepathic circuits, etc) that this little, convenient, geographical oversight has never even been the subject of a good joke.

Speaking of convenience in the New Series, the sonic screwdriver makes its debut in this episode; surprisingly, given its New Series status as psuedo-companion, the device does here exactly what it says on the tin - unscrewing screws. Do you think writer Victor Pemberton knew what kind of monster he was creating out of such a harmless little device in this episode?

All this, and I haven't even mentioned the fact that the TARDIS is seen to physically land like a helicopter for the first time in the series' history!

Oh, and there's a bunch of seaweed, foam, heartbeats in pipes, spookiness, and John Abineri in this episode, but I imagine we'll see much more of all this stuff in the episodes to come.

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