Hogan Reviews

The latest animated Doctor Who release has arrived (well, it arrived a month or so ago, I’m just getting to it now because I decided to wait to get it as a Christmas present…) and while I’m thrilled the range isn’t dead I have to say that the Underwater Menace is among my least favourite Who stories and this release hasn’t changed that opinion. The animation is fun and helps hold my attention more than the screenshot slideshows did but the old idiom “You can’t polish a turd” comes to mind… Let’s take a look!

Jamie (Frazer Hines), freshly on board the TARDIS, is understandably confused by it all and teasing from Ben (Michael Craze) and Polly (Anneke Wills) doesn’t help matters, but it’s all irrelevant as the ship soon lands and its time for a new adventure. You really can tell that this script was written before they decided to make Jamie a regular companion, that’s for sure… Anyway, they arrive on a Volcanic island and begin exploring, with The Doctor (Patrick Troughton) staying behind to look at some rocks while his companions head off up a cliff face and find a cave. They split up further leading to Polly being captured by cloaked, spear-wielding figures but it’s kind of irrelevant because soon all four of our TARDIS travellers are captured and thrown in a lift together that descends deep into the depths. As they wake surrounded by old fashioned Greek stuff they wonder what time period they’re in but Polly reveals she found a bracelet from the ‘68 Olympics so it must be some time after that, confusing things further, especially when they’re taken to a massive chamber and prepared for execution in a very old fashioned religious ceremony.

Our cheeky trio of companions!

Our travellers are saved from their execution by Professor Zaroff (Joseph Furst), who The Doctor gave a note to via a servant girl called Ara (Catherine Howe) before he was carried away. Zaroff is, frankly, insane in a very cartoony way (complete with what I always thought was an intentionally silly OTT accent, though as it turns out its just his natural accent! Whoops! Still, really adds to the cartoon villain either way…) so The Doctor manages to sweet talk him into letting him live, though Jamie and Ben are sent to work in the mines while Polly is taken off to be turned into a kind of genetically modified fish-person that they use to live in the ocean and harvest food for them. Yep. Oh I haven’t mentioned yet that this is Atlantis, hidden away but still very much active in the modern era, but no Aquaman or Namor I’m afraid. Ara frees Polly while Jamie and Ben escape the terror of the mines thanks to fellow miners Sean (PG Stephens) and Jacko (Paul Anil), leading to all four reuniting. Meanwhile The Doctor has a rather unnerving talk with Zaroff where the “scientist” reveals that he is aware his plan to raise Atlantis from the depths will actually cause the entire Earth to explode but he’s happy to continue with the plan because of the thrill of being the man who blow up the Earth… not that anyone would be left to be impressed by that, but you know… he’s clearly insane and all that. The Doctor tries to convince the Atlantian top brass of Thous (Noel Johnson) and his right-hand man Ramo (Tom Watson), the latter of whom believed The Doctor that Zaroff was mad but the leader was less convinced.

Our cheeky trio of Companions! … About to be executed.

The Doctor and Ramo were about to be beheaded when the voice of local God Amdo emanates from the nearby statue, making everyone bow and allowing The Doctor and Ramo to escape and meet back up with Ben, Polly and Jamie (plus Sean and Jacko), who were behind the statue and responsible for the ruse. The TARDIS crew come up with a plan and successfully kidnap Zaroff while Sean and Jacko go off to convince the Fish-people to rebel against their captors. The Doctor heads off with Ben and Jamie disguised as guards and soon Zaroff escapes by killing Ramo and kidnapping Polly (though she is soon rescued by Jamie) and then tops it off by seemingly killing Thous and his men, declaring that “nothing in the world can stop him now!” as the classically over-the-top delivered line goes.

The Underwater Menace is a strange one because it’s fun seeing the two existing episodes as it’s the earliest footage of Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines in their respective roles, but the actual story is… pants. The phrase “doing the runaround” comes to mind as it, more even than most stories, was just “cast member gets captured, escapes, meets up with other cast members, one gets captured again, repeat”, and with the exception of the hilariously over-board Zaroff none of the new cast members are particularly interesting. I did enjoy the animated episodes though, they had a real 70s cartoon feel to them that fitted the bizarre costumes and sets they had to work with. Didn’t help with the slow pacing or dull characters though!

The Continuity:

Even The Doctor finds Zaroff’s villainy funny!

Unsurprisingly this has never had any kind of follow up or even a casual mention, really. The only thing linking it to other stories is the fact that in the Third Doctor classic “The Daemons” the titular Daemon Azal claims to be the one who “destroyed Atlantis” while the later Third Doctor story “The Time Monster” sees Atlantis visited and later destroyed by a being known as a Chronovore. So not only was Atlantis destroyed twice but at least some of it survived into the present to be seen here… *shrugs*

Overall Thoughts:

A shot of the Fish-People. There’s a scene of them “swimming” that goes on forever that I’ve just realised I haven’t mentioned in the review. Well, now I have. Hooray!

“The Underwater Menace” is a sadly rather boring story, with serious pacing issues, a dull guest cast (apart from the admittedly funny cartoon villain Zaroff) and very few moments of excitement. The animation is fun and certainly helps as a photo recon with this glacial pace was a REAL killer, but overall it’s just not a very engaging story and I really don’t see myself watching it again…

The final part of the story is basically “The Doctor chooses to flood Atlantis to stop Zaroff’s machines” but it feels like 50% of its runtime is Jamie and Polly trying to escape the caves, complete with the latter constantly complaining about everything while they slowly make their way up an incline.

Check out those henchmen outfits… You wouldn’t be able to get away with those your leader wasn’t clearly insane.

There is at least a good end to Zaroff as he outsmarts The Doctor by putting himself and the button to stop his machine behind a cage wall but then stupidly comes out of the cage when The Doctor turns his lights off, leading to Ben sneaking around and dropping the cage again with no one in it. As the water pours in The Doctor and Ben flee while Zaroff drowns desperately trying to reach his world-ending button, but its JUST out of his reach. The Atlantians have all been taken to the upper levels and will begin anew, leaving The Doctor and co. to head back to the TARDIS and depart.