Customer Reviews
ATMOSPHERIC, AND REMINISCENT OF THE HAMMER HORRORS! - By: Adam Jackson, 28 Jun 2008 
One of my fav Tom Baker stories! It's early 20th century Lighthouse setting & gothic atmosphere juxtaposes well with the scifi elements.
A clear example of studio sets, & fog machines working REALLY well!
Eerily reminiscent of such movies as Tower Of Evil, Day Of The Triffids (lighthouse scenes), The Island Of Terror & even John Carpenter's The Fog AND The Thing!!
If you prefer the Earthbound stories (I do),then you will like this 1977 production.
If you've seen the recent Sontaran story, in the latest series, you will have heard mention of the Sontaran war with the Rutans - want to see a Rutan?? Then this is the place as the shapeshifting beastie picks off people one by one (in true Alien fashion!). An unusual design, when finallly revealed - reminded me of the brain monsters from 1958's Fiend Without A Face.
Decent extras, & audio/visual quality.
Classic Baker; along with Planet Of Evil, Pyramids Of Mars & Genesis Of The Daleks.
THE DOCTOR AND LEELA ARE TRAPPED IN AN OLD SPOOKY LIGHTHOUSE .(Spoiler in this review) - By: NEO, 18 Mar 2008 The Fourth Doctor so well played by Tom Baker & sexy sidekick Leela played by Louise Jameson. Travel back to victorian times to Fang Rock which has a lighthouse built on it with a raged crew. This is a brilliant atmospheric story alll the better with good solid performances. The set is also very good by the then lacklustere BBC norm of the era & set the story. When the Doctor arrives he is confronted by a terrified lighthouse crew who are vanishing one by one. Then mid way through the story a ship crashed into Fang Rock & the crew are rescued through the thick green fog to the lighthouse. More people die & the Doctor finallly realises that the green light that was seen was in fact a crashed space ship. Suffice to say the monster finallly emerges & tries to kill the rest of the crew. The green glowing blob of a monster is a Rutan which was shot out of space by a Sontaran ship during there war. The Doctor manages to stop it & leaves in the Tardis just in the nick of time. The special features are extensive & are well worth the purchase for this alone.
Calm before the storm - By: Shaun Cryer, 09 Feb 2008 
This is an absolute classic. Traditional DW format, a smalll group of people, isolated & under threat. But it's the mix of diverse characters & rich dialogue that reallly elevates this story to the top of the tree. Oddly enough, most of the people behind this story dislike it. I reallly don't understand this... notably Tom Baker has gone on record as disparaging the tale. (But then Tom seems to have a low opinion of any story that doesn't involve talking cabbages, sitting on his shoulder.)
I love the claustrophobic feel of the production from the fog on the rocks to the cramped quarters of the lighthouse. Yes, the Rutan looks a bit ropy but again the quality of the story far outweighs visual effects. This is Terrance Dicks at his best.
`Aye, though they hunted high & low
and hunted everywhere. Of the three mens' fate
they found no trace, of any kind in any place.
But a door ajar & an untouched meal & an
Over toppled chair.'
Marvelous!
Above average Doctor Who, if not quite an all time classic - By: James Peter Scully, 12 Aug 2007 On the DVD:
Pros: The story is reasonably pacy & interesting, the ruton is easy on the eyes (if a bit dodgy when it slithers around), the cast are very high quality, the first episode cliffhanger of the ship is one of the spookiest cliffhangers I've seen in Doctor who (honestly it gives me the chills), the cover for the DVD is gorgeous & looks great on the shelf, there are some very strong moments for Leela in the story, the sub-plot of the yacht owner adds an interesting extra dynamic to the story, it's written by veteran writer Terrance Dicks, it involves a good piece of doctor who continuity, the characters are mostly very involving, there are some incredibly scary moments of gothic horror sprinkled around & the set of the lighthouse works reasonably well as does the island around it.
Cons:the effects of the Ruton crafts are rubbish even by 1970s standards & because of that you lose a great deal of strength from the final moments of the story, the screaming woman Adelaide is useless & annoying & doesn't reallly contribute at alll to the story, the problem seems a bit too easily resolved & very last minute (perhaps introducing the idea of diamonds earlier would have helped), the Doctor seems to do a lot of disappearing & reappearing which gets annoying after a while, Tom Baker isn't quite as involved in the story (it is revealed that he did not much care for it) & sadly it shows, the extras are fairly sub-standard & dull (although the Terrance Dicks story is quite entertaining it does go on a bit)
Overalll: This is well worth buying, the story is very enjoyable & good to watch. Get out your cash, order the DVD & put the kettle on, it's great to watch it with a cup of tea.
Dense fog and a Victorian lighthouse. What's not to like? - By: M. Wilberforce, 17 Oct 2006 Story: 5/5 - Extras: 4/5
Five stars may be a little over-generous for this early offering by incoming producer Graham Williams, as penned by Who veteran Terrance Dicks, but "Horror of Fang Rock" remains a very atmospheric instalment of "Doctor Who", even though it was produced entirely in the studio.
The gloomy lighthouse is an innately claustrophobic setting, especiallly since the new electric generator is being tampered with, causing the lights to go out without warning on a semi-regular basis. Something alien is haunting the lighthouse, raising paranoia among its depleted crew, including the young & naïve junior keeper Vince (John Abbott) & the old-fashioned senior keeper Reuben (Colin Douglas). The Doctor & Leela, of course, arrive at exactly the wrong moment, but for once they don't spend most of the story under suspicion of murder.
A shipwreck on the rocks whilst the light is out brings a smalll collection of additional survivors into the confines of the lighthouse, alll of whom are distinct characters, & they help to sustain the story (and the body count) over its full four episodes. The anxiety of the new arrivals is set against the backdrop of the intermittent lights & the sinister sound of the fog horn, & combined with the good set design it alll works rather well. The lamp galllery is a particular technical accomplishment given the studio-bound nature of the story.
The special effects are poor, of course, & the enemy (when it finallly reveals itself in its true form) is a massive disappointment, but on atmosphere & performances alone, "Horror of Fang Rock" deserves a high score. On the DVD, we have a commentary with writer Terrance Dicks, & actors John Abbott & Louise Jameson (Leela). The bonus documentaries are devoted to writer Dicks & director Paddy Russell & their respective careers, with particular focus on "Doctor Who". A decent package.
