Doctor Who/Recap/S15/E03 Image of the Fendahl

""What are you exactly--some sort of wandering Armageddon peddler?""

- Adam Colby, to the Doctor; not too far off the mark, really

Professor Fendelman is studying a human skull which archaeologists estimate to be 12 million years old - far older than it can conceivably be - when the Doctor and Leela arrive. Fendelman is using a "Time Scanner" to study the skull, and it is this which has not only drawn the TARDIS to the lab, but also causing the skull to glow with power every time it is activated.

The Doctor believes that the skull is in fact a relic of the Fendahl - a prehistoric creature that feeds off life force and is a legendary evil from early Time Lord legend. He is proved right when the scientists are transformed into the Fendahl Core and the Fendahleen, while Professor Fendelman's partner, Maximillian Stael, is revealed to have been working with precisely this aim. One scientist, Adam Colby, has escaped the influence of the Fendahl and he, the TARDIS crew and some locals use rock salt to defeat the Fendahl - the Doctor explains that this fatal weakness of the Fendahl inspired a folk memory of throwing salt over one's shoulder for good luck.

The Fendahl are defeated and the Doctor throws the skull into a nearby supernova before getting down to the business of repairing K-9.

Tropes
"Dr. Fendelman: Fendel-man - man of the Fendahl! I have been used! MANKIND HAS BEEN USED!!"
 * Abnormal Ammo: Tyler loads his shotgun with rock salt at the Doctor and his grandmother's urging, which successfully takes down the Fendahleen.
 * A bit of Truth in Television, as rock salt is sometimes loaded into shotguns to cause pain but little damage. See Kill Bill.
 * Ancient Astronauts: sort of.
 * Apocalypse Maiden: Thea Ransome, although most of the associated emotional turmoil is absent simply because Adam Colby never really figures out what is going on.
 * Cult
 * Eldritch Abomination: The Fendahl
 * Green Rooming: Introduced in the previous story, Robot Buddy K-9 promptly breaks down for the duration of the episode, whose script was written before K-9 was added to the cast.
 * Hurl It Into the Sun: How the Doctor eventually disposes of the Fendahl Skull
 * Leave Behind a Pistol: The Doctor leaves the villain a gun when he's frozen in place by the Fendahl, so he can kill himself rather than be taken over.
 * Sound-Only Death / Executive Meddling: The original script called for an on-camera suicide.
 * Life Energy: The Fendahl consumes "the full spectrum of Life Energy", causing rapid decay of the corpses it leaves.
 * Made of Indestructium: The skull, although the Doctor seems confident that tossing it into a supernova will finally kill it.
 * Expanded Universe says no.
 * Meaningful Name: Dr. Fendelman, who has no idea that it is his hidden genetic destiny to aid an ancient and malevolent life force known as the Fendahl; the name is an in-story indication that the Fendahl has been meddling with humanity for a long time.

"Thea:(hysterical) You haven't asked who planned it, Adam. I planned it - I did!"
 * Omnicidal Maniac: The Fendahl.
 * Quieter Than Silence
 * Pivotal Wakeup
 * Power Glows: The Fendahl skull glows when scanned.
 * Sealed Evil in A Can: The Fendahl.
 * Shirtless Scene: Limited - Adam Colby somehow manages to completely unbutton his shirt while tied to a pillar.
 * Sound-Only Death
 * Spot of Tea: specifically, tea and fruitcake bring Mrs. Tyler back from the brink.
 * Tarot Troubles: While waiting for the Doctor to return from a fact-gathering excursion, Mrs Tyler does a tarot reading, and is disturbed when The Tower (which depicts a tower being violently destroyed by lightning, and is considered a bad omen) turns up in the spread.
 * Tomato in The Mirror: Thea Ransome, briefly, before she is chloroformed by Max Stael.


 * Was Once a Man
 * Weaksauce Weakness: Rock salt is deadly to Fendahleen.
 * The X of Y