Action (1976) - Happy 47th Birthday.

   Action was a weekly comic that was first published in the UK on the 14th of February 1976. That was a Saturday according to my diary so I'm getting these birthday best wishes in ready for the real big day, or a close as i can get it.

  For a comic book, Action was somewhat controversial due the high levels of violence and anarchy within its many stories and it was eventually, and very suddenly, withdrawn from sale at issue 37, which was pulped. It came back in a much neutered form a few weeks later but sales then quickly declined and it died that same strange death that most comic books of that time did, which was to be merged with some other lesser comic before eventually being fully absorbed.

   One day I might just research the evolution of my comic book reading as a kid because I'm sure it would explain quite a lot but suffice to say that as a 7 or 8 year old back then, Action was just about the most exciting visual story telling going and yes I absolutely understood that is was dangerous and violent and exciting and not to be left around for your parents to look at.  I remember my mate telling me it had been banned and that was why you couldn't find it in the newsagents anymore. We pondered on which idiot had shown his mum their copy and wondered if it was anyone in our school.

   So happy birthday to Hook Jaw, Death Game 1999, Kids Rule OK!, Hellman of Hammer Force, Dredger and all the rest of them.  Thanks for the wonderful dark memories and the absolute fun and thrill and I'm really sorry my mum made me give you all away to the jumble sale.  If I could go back in time, I would save you all.

      

Steve

Torchwood - Night of the Fendahl by Tim Foley (2019)

Torchwood - Night of the Fendahl

Written By: Tim Foley

Big Finish - 2019

CD / digital download

   Having recently revisited the Doctor Who story; The Image of the Fendahl on DVD and then again as an audio novelisation, I’ve developed a bit of a hankering to return to both the location of the story and its titular monster.  What I could really do with is a sequel.  However, as the Fendahl has only ever made that one TV appearance back in 1977, that might represent something of problem… were it not for the expanded and expansive universe of Doctor Who spinoffs.  And as Big Finish pretty much own that territory now days, they were the obvious place to go looking.

   I recall seeing Torchwood – Night of the Fendahl being released on CD back in the day and had mentally bookmarked it as a possible future purchase should I have a few quid spare.  And then somewhat fortuitously as I was focussing in on it again, the digital download was serendipitously announced as part of this year’s Big Finish Christmas sale.  And at an incredibly generous £2.99.  It was clearly meant to be.

   I think it’s fair to say that sometimes Big Finish make stories that serve the Doctor Who fanbase rather than the story itself and that old monsters can come back for the necessity of sales rather than because there is genuinely another story left in them that needs telling.  And I also think that Torchwood is at its best when it’s telling a very Doctor Who kind of story but from within a depth of shadow that the main show just couldn’t venture into because of its family audience.

   And with both of those points in mind, I think it’s safe to say that The Night of the Fendahl is a perfect sequel to the original tv story and that it could also only have been told through the Torchwood perspective.

   Without giving too much away, a small team of film makers have decided to make a movie all about the dreadful events that occurred at Fetch Priory back in the late 1970s.  They are shooting it on the actual location for authenticity and also for budgetary constraints.  It’s clearly going to be an unapologetically exploitative horror film and likewise the banter between the small crew would suggest that they themselves are not the most noble and honourable of souls. Enter the movie’s soon to be next ‘victim’’ their actress and our undercover Torchwood agent; Gwen Cooper.  The trouble is that Gwen, as we know her, doesn’t appear to be herself and seems to be genuinely lost within her cover story, almost as if she is being made to play out a greater role, compelled by a dark force that just might be rising again.

   It’s a great set up that allows us to revisit the Fetch Priory location of the original TV story, to recreate the rituals that empowered the Fendahl last time but also through a far darker filter than previously. This really feels like it could have been a Torchwood TV episode, all be it shorter on the main cast and minus the subplot that would have taken care of them.

   All in all, it was really enjoyable and it definitely ticked all the right boxes because I found myself listened to it twice within the same week.

   I should probably go and read or watch something light and fluffy next but I don't suppose I will

Steve