The Curse of Fenric / Seventh Doctor Stories

[Pooka]

I watched The Curse of Fenric yesterday - first time I've seen classic Who in quite a while, and also the first time I've seen a complete Seventh Doctor story (not counting the 1996 TVM, in which he was the Doctor for, what, a quatter of the film?)

I liked the story - genuinely scary and very dark in places - and I'm intrigued as to the Seventh Doctor. I'm aware he's got a dark side and can be very manipulative (verbally abusing Ace to get her to safety in the end was very clever but also cruel!) - he's famous for that - but I want to see more examples.

I also want to know more about Ace - where's she from, why she followed the Doctor, why she acts the way she does, etc.

I'm aware that some of the Seventh Doctor stories are meant to be a bit rubbish - particularly Time and the Rani - so I'm looking for good, solid Seventh Doctor stories that feature Ace and have enough character development for me to understand what's going on with these guys! I'm sure there are some, but if fans could give me more accurate ideas of what to go for, I'd appreciate it...

...so I can buy the DVDs before HMV closes!

[Canadanne]

It's been a while since I watched them, but I seem to recall Dragonfire, Ghost Light and Survival containing stuff about Ace's background.

[Drassil]

Auspiciously, the Seventh Doctor began his tenure on 7th September 1987. Survival is the last proper Seventh Doctor and Ace story and has plenty of the latter, including where she's from. Battlefield should interest you from a Knightmare RPG point of view, as Morgaine and Mordred were drawn from it. Plus it features the Brigadier. There's also Dimensions In Time, which you may wish to see (online) just to be controversial.

[Drassil]

I forgot to add that I enjoyed seeing Sylvester McCoy as Bill Oddie in The Hobbit last year. I understand that he was cast in it because Peter Jackson is a Doctor Who fan.

[Kieran]

The "movie edition" of Curse of Fenric (on the DVD) enhances the story by a fair bit in my estimation. It rounds up the scenes in a more coherent manner than the TV version, and has some extra bits n bobs which explain the plot better.

As for Ace stories, you may as well just start at Dragonfire and go on from there, as there's only 9 stories featuring her. Pity they never got to do the original Series 27 as that would have concluded Ace's story, as well as the story of Seven.

[wombstar]

Favourite 7th story was The Greatest show in the galaxy.
He was my doctor, and well and truly pissed his not returning to celebrate 50 years.

[Kieran]

Well we did see his 'cliffhanger moment' in the last story, what more do you want

[wombstar]

The Greatest show in the galaxy is also my first Who story.
I haven't seen it since it was originally aired (the dvds are quite pricey)
We were living in Germany and only have one English tv channel, a special channel set up by the bbc for the forces, so we had to just watch that we we're giving... Doc Who just happened to be one of them

[Drassil]

Battlefield...

...is on Drama (Freeview channel 20) tomorrow at 4pm.

[wombstar]

Not sure if its a freeview channel, i can't pick it up.

[Drassil]

I am 100% sure it's a Freeview channel.

[wombstar]

Oh, I can't get it. All my channels are free viewing.