Fury From the Deep

Ask anyone to name the "big guns" of sixties Who and they will most likely place "Fury from the Deep" in with the crowd. It's an interesting story to be a nominated as a Doctor Who classic for a number of reasons; firstly, it's completely missing, unlike "Evil of the Daleks" or "The Web of Fear". Secondly, it hasn't been elevated there by the presence of a "big" monster (Daleks, Cybermen, Yeti). So it seems appropriate to ask just why this curious, not particularly loved and yet quietly admired tale, is the one that many of us would like to see returned to the archives.

I'm not qualified to make a judgment on this alone, so I enlisted the help of some friends, the posters of "Planet Skaro" no less, and gradually an answer seemed to emerge. For a start, "Fury" has, by a series of fortunate happenstances, managed to stay relatively unknown over the years. As already stated, no episodes (and until very recently, not even any clips) have ever turned up and the novel remains among the most collectable target books, its nineties reprint suspiciously the next book due to be issued when the range was cancelled a few years back. At the time of writing, it's even somehow managed to end up among the few missing stories not available on audio since the tape (or, as Planet Skaro poster Bob McCow calls it, the "Classic Crackle" version) was long ago deleted. As Si Hart notes, "there was a time before the novelisation when it was never even talked about."

So "Fury" has the freshness of the new about it. Around half the posters asked had never heard the soundtrack, which begs the question of just what they are left with to judge the story. Interestingly, the tale was almost unanimously voted "very good", with almost nobody declaring it an all-time classic. Perhaps after the disappointment of "Tomb" fans tend to side with caution, or maybe "Fury" is one of those tales that you have to actually experience (even on audio) to fully enjoy. Whilst everyone knows that "The Web of Fear" featured tremendously exciting sequences of the Yeti in the underground, "the dinner scene" in "Fury" is unlikely to be discovered until the audio is purchased and played.

And without the lure of a big monster (aside from McCow's odd foam fixation, nobody really got excited about seeing the Seaweed Creature) it's the little things about "Fury" that seem to make it popular amongst those that have sampled it. Richard offered the "lump in the throat" ending as a high-point, while a certain Simon Rayner shared a penchant for the "bizarre TARDIS landing on the sea scene". As with other adventures, everyone has their favourite bits, but a lot of "Fury"'s take time to unearth.

That said, this is surely one story which DID boast some suitably frightening and iconic scenes; the Weed Creature attacking the refinery or Van Luytens being dragged into the foam for example. It seems only bad luck that none of these extracts were immediately recovered, perhaps by featuring on other shows like "Blue Peter", and this itself has had an inevitable bearing on the stories reputation. Many posters quizzed cited the recently returned clip of "the two guys breathing gas everywhere" (as put by Paul) as reason for liking the story, proof perhaps that it's gained new converts since little bits have come back.

So what are we left with after our group discussion about this lost tale? Surviving evidence seems to keep everyone cautiously optimistic - in the words of Pippy, "it's a classic Doctor Who plot about a small community under attack from scary enemies - something Doctor Who did so well", sentiments echoed by Jonno, who pointed out that "on an oil rig there is no-where left to run". Yet in this day and age nobody, it seems, is going to stick their neck out and set this one up among the greats. This wary attitude, drawn perhaps from having our hopes frayed in the past, is best summed up by Benny who reckons that, "I don't think listening to it or even seeing it via magic or time travel will change my opinion of it."

What's nice about "Fury", a tale with few trump cards other than now-trustless myths about scary deaths by foam, is that everything we seem to unearth actually does topple over anticipated disappointment. This is one story that, just maybe, would be better than we all imagine if it ever made it's way back. Until then, we'll remain happily on the fence. Just in case...