Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Doctor Who: Fury From The Deep’ On AMC+, An Animated Reconstruction Of A Lost 1968 Serial About Mutant Seaweed

In the 1960s, television networks didn’t always preserve the video of shows that they thought were disposable, like game shows and news programs. Doctor Who fell victim to that back then, as over 90 episodes from the ’60s have been lost by the BBC. But, since the aughts, the network has sought to revive the lost episodes via animation that used audio, clips and stills as a basis, but then gave them a life of their own. The latest is Doctor Who: Fury From The Deep, which premieres on AMC+ on March 15 and will have its linear premiere on BBC America on March 21.

DOCTOR WHO: FURY FROM THE DEEP: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: We see the TARDIS land in the middle of the North Sea, off a foggy coast.

The Gist: The Doctor (Patrick Troughton) rafts from the TARDIS to the coast with his companions Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines) and Victoria Waterfield (Deborah Watling). They see a lot of sea foam and a pipeline with the letters ESGO on it. The Doctor hears something going through the natural gas pipeline; it’s a thumping sound that is reminiscent of a heartbeat. As he’s looking into it, he and his companions are shot with tranquilizing darts.

They wake up inside the ESGO compound, and the man in charge, Chief Robson (Victor Maddern) is wondering why they’re there. Because they’re on a high security lockdown, he insists that they be locked up, which he orders one of his scientists, Frank Harris (Roy Spencer) to do. When Harris locks up the trip, The Doctor tells Harris about the thumping noise, and wonders if the pipeline should be shut down to investigate. Harris doesn’t think Robson is amenable to that, because he takes pride in the fact that the pipeline has been flowing consistently since he took over.

But there is data showing a reduction in flow; Harris tries to get Robson to shut down, but Robson insists on seeing the data, which gets swiped from Harris’ bag. He sends his wife Maggie (June Murphy) to find the file, and she finds a piece of seaweed which seems to either bite her or scratch her.

After escaping their makeshift cell, The Doctor and his companions overhear Robson arguing with Van Lutyens (John Abineri), a supervisor on one of the pumping rigs in the North Sea, indicating some sort of power struggle and growing distrust of Robson among the coalition that runs the company. Then he overhears a report to Robson about the same thumping. When The Doctor and Jamie go to investigate, Victoria finds herself trapped in a room with the live seaweed, ready to attack.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Old school Doctor Who mixed with ’60s-era Hanna-Barbera cartoons like Jonny Quest.

Our Take: Doctor Who: Fury From The Deep is the latest animated reconstruction of lost Doctor Who episodes from the 1960s. This one covers a six-episode serial that aired on the BBC in 1968; the audio dialogue from the episodes has been used, enhanced with music and sound effects recorded in the present day. In order to reconstruct the look of the episodes, surviving clips and stills from the episodes were referenced.

Anyone who watched Doctor Who episodes from the series’ early days know just how much of a shaggy dog production it was; it was filmed quickly, more in the fashion of a soap opera than a highly-staged and effects-laden series like it is now. The acting was generally good, but mistakes tended to stay in the final cut and the sets and special effects… well, even for the ’60s they seemed to be a bit lo-tech.

Don’t get us wrong; we loved the seat-of-the-pants style of the early Doctor Who, which was shown extensively in the U.S. on public television. But by animating the series, it brings it to a new level. It’s interesting to listen to the seemingly-improvised dialogue, with varying audio and acting levels, coming out of animated characters. But the animators did a good job of capturing Troughton’s daft-but-genius Second Doctor, as well as the villainy of Robson.

The animation gives the serial a dimension it likely didn’t have before. Reactions can be exaggerated a bit, and things like the foam and the seaweed can be made scarier and more ominous — even if it’s still a little silly, as ’60s Doctor Who can tend to be. Because the video was largely destroyed, the animators had free reign to adapt the scenes to their aesthetic and add in some flair. But, the style connects the show right back to the era when it premiered; if Doctor Who had originally been an animated show, we suspect it would look exactly like it does now.

No one is making an attempt to make Fury From The Deep into something that brings the serial into the 2020s, and we’re just fine with that.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: Victoria is trapped in a room with the violent seaweed; she screams for The Doctor and Jamie to save her.

Sleeper Star: As usual for Doctor Who, there is a certain playfulness and sense of humor in the episode. The rivalry and chemistry between Hines as Jamie and Waitling as Victoria is apparent and it comes at times where the episode needs a little bit of levity.

Most Pilot-y Line: Ah, the retro misogyny present when The Doctor tells Victoria to go back to their quarters while he and Jamie investigate the noise. Luckily, she doesn’t listen, but she’s also the one that gets trapped and needs the men to save her. Considering the current Doctor is played by Jodie Whitaker, the franchise has come a long way over the last 53 years.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Doctor Who: Fury From The Deep is a fun way to relive a serial from the show’s 1960’s run that was thought to be lost. The animation is old-school but contemporary, and it enhances what was a good old-fashioned sci-fi serial.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.

Stream Doctor Who: Fury From The Deep On AMC+