Are there any two words that warm a Whovian’s heart as quickly as “surviving episode"?
Harry -
Hurrah!
Sarah -
After soldiering on through recons for what seems like ages, it’s a delight to have an entire episode of footage – the earliest surviving episode of the Second Doctor’s era – in "The Underwater Menace." I know we’re focused on the stories, but it’s so much easier to enjoy a story when I can see what’s happening.
Harry -
I'm trying not to hate the recons because we still have many more to soldier through.
Check this out -- someone's found a way to find some humour in it:
LINK
Sarah -
Love it!
The story gets off to a slow start in the first episode. It’s time for Jamie to acclimate to the TARDIS. The moment where they all suggest what they’d like to do next is fun – prehistoric monsters for the Doctor – but things drag a bit from there.
Harry -
I love the childlike/maniacal glee with which the Doctor hopes to encounter prehistoric monsters!
Sarah -
The TARDIS crew separates, as they are apparently contractually obligated to do, and end up almost immediately back together in an elevator taking them farther and farther beneath the sea.
Harry -
That all seemed a bit of filler. But I guess it was there to build up the mystery of Our Heroes whereabouts, to the big reveal...
Sarah -
I don’t think we’re in Cornwall, Polly! But where are they? The future? The past? Clever Polly has the answer. Having found at bracelet from the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, she reckons they’re in 1970.
Harry -
That was so random!
Sarah -
But it’s the future! Disembarking from the lift, they’re given a dinner of plankton, which the Doctor eats with delight, prompting one the best lines of the story from Polly -- “I’ve never seem him go for food like this before; it’s usually hats.” It would be a pity to go an episode without a hat reference, wouldn’t it?
Harry -
I laughed.
Sarah -
Who wouldn’t? Speaking of tropes, it’s been a while since we’ve had a human sacrifice, so let’s toss in a high priest who has been alerted by the goddess that visitors are coming. What would Yetaxa have to say about the TARDIS crew being fed to a pool of sharks?
Harry -
Yeah, here's where the story suddenly accelerates into bizzaro land. Can I just say that the Atlantean fashions are my favourite costumes so far? Especially the fish-head masks. I loved them!
Sarah -
It was a good look.
Harry -
And did you notice who played the high priest Lolem? It was Peter Stephens, who played Cyril the naughty schoolboy in "The Celestial Toymaker." Now he's all grown up and leading sacrifice rituals!
Sarah -
I did not! How far Cyril has come. Unfortunately for Lolem, the story sprints past him. Fortunately for everyone else, the Doctor has heard the name of Professor Zaroff, the greatest scientific genius since Leonardo, mentioned and manages to get a serving girl to carry a message to him – a note that is signed Dr. W. (Just trying to stir up some trouble by bringing that up…)
Harry -
The showmakers were so inconsistent with how to reference the Doctor during these early years, it's no wonder the debate has raged on to the present day. But back to Zaroff.
Sarah -
Zaroff stops the sacrifice to avoid, in the Doctor’s words, having “a modern scientific mind like mine sacrificed to heathen idol.” Zaroff likes the Doctor’s sense of humor, and decides to let him hang around, revealing his ultimate plan to raise Atlantis from the sea. Meanwhile, Jamie and Ben are sent to the mines and Polly is to be converted to being a fish person.
Whew! I take it back, this story doesn’t get off to a slow start – it jams a whole story into the first episode!
Harry -
Yeah, the second half of this episode was non-stop weirdness. From the mystery setting and era, to the peculiar coupling of Atlanteans and modern scientists. Ancient rituals in one room, mad science operations in the next.
Is it any wonder Jamie says barely a word during all of this? I picture him standing at the back, brow furrowed, wondering just what the feck is going on here.
Sarah -
Oh, Jamie. I’m not going to lie – the highlight of the surviving episode for me was Jamie in the wet suit. I got a little light-headed, much as I did when Frazer Hines explained to me at Chicago TARDIS that he was wearing a shirt he had worn back on the series. I know he was saying words, but all I remember was a slight ringing in my ears. If I recall, that was when I passed out and you rolled me under the table out of harm’s way. I can’t thank you enough for the assist, Dear Harry.
Harry -
I'm there to help, Old Girl.
Sarah -
Don’t call me Old Girl!
Sorry, what were we discussing? Oh yes, Zaroff’s plans to drain ocean and blow up the world for the achievement of it. For a show that’s about a time-traveling scientist, there are some seriously wacked-out scientists mucking about. Still, Doctor is good at humoring them – or at least mixing gasses to overtake them.
Harry -
Zaroff is compelling in a "James Bond supervillain" sort of way, but also frustrating in that there seems to be so much delicious backstory to him, but we never learn any of it. I might have to check out the Target novelisation.
Sarah -
Have you got that one?
Harry -
No, but I'm tempted to fish around online for one.
Another compelling character is the servant girl, Ara. She's everywhere! Carrying messages, helping our friends, creating diversions, what an amazing person!
Sarah -
The hardest working maid in Atlantis!
Harry -
I still can't get my head around how bizarre this story is. Let's just backup a bit. The TARDIS lands on a volcanic island, where a seemingly modern elevator takes them down a shaft to Atlantis. Could the Atlanteans not ride the shaft to the surface? Could Zaroff or Damon not have arranged to bring them to the modern world? Why the heck did they remain sequestered down there?
Sarah -
And why did they have such bushy eyebrows?
Harry -
And why, despite the Doctor's warning, does King Thous have complete faith in Zaroff?
Then there's the plankton-farming Fish People. Utterly bizarro! I can't handle this!
Sarah -
And we haven’t even started discussing the Fish People ballet yet! If we only get one surviving episode, I’m so happy it’s the one with the ballet. It’s INSANE!
Harry -
This episode reminded me of "The Web Planet", where you have the writers coming up with amazing concepts, but the production crew unable to pull it off.
And I've never liked those fish-eyed costumes. They creep me out.
Sarah -
I liked shipwreck survivors Sean and Jacko, even if Sean was a walking stereotype – all he needed was a pint of Jameson’s to complete the role. “It will take a great gift of the gab to win them over.” “Well, you are Irish.” Thanks Doctor, after that he can sing them his version of Danny Boy!
Harry -
Oh my! Throw in Zaroff as the Balkan gangster and we've got something to offend everyone!
Sarah -
The Doctor gets to dress up again! His gypsy look with sunglasses was particularly fetching. It was perfect for the madcap little romp around the market.
Harry -
The story descends into complete folly during that scene. I couldn't take it seriously after that -- and I barely did before!
Sarah -
I have to call out the music in this story. It’s just awful – like a bad silent movie.
Harry -
Yeah, maybe it was overloud or something, but I found it interfered with the story.
Sarah -
It was horribly intrusive.
Harry -
And when I say "story", do we still have one by the time we get to episode four? "The Underwater Menace" has dissolved into a ceaseless romp round Atlantis, our heroes chasing and being chased by comic baddies.
And after all that, Zaroff suddenly pulls out the most evil looking pistol we've yet to see on Doctor Who. He had a gun the whole time! So while he was engaging in swordplay, and hauling Polly around, and faking heart attacks, he could have just pulled a gun the whole time. AARGH!
Sarah -
This story is completely INSANE and I kind of love it. I know it’s not terribly well-respected in fandom, but I really quite enjoyed it – despite all its failings. Or maybe because of them.
I desperately hope they will “build a new Atlantis without gods and without fish people.”
Harry -
Oh those Atlanteans, what a passive bunch of drips!
Hey Sarah, you know what would have made this story awesome?
Sarah -
What's that?
Harry -
Prehistoric monsters!
Sarah -
Fact!
So, Our Heroes find themselves back in the TARDIS, where Jamie says he feels safe, despite his suspicion that the Doctor can’t control it. The Doctor replies that he can make it go where he wants, but has just never wanted to. The words are barely out of his mouth before things go wrong…
Best line: Sean, on the beach: “I can’t believe it – flamin’ English police box.”
Favorite moment: The tussle in the marketplace
Lasting image: The wacky fish people ballet
6/10
Harry -
Best line: I was going to go with "NOTHING IN DE VORLD KEN STOP ME NIAOWWW!" but I almost teared up right at the end, as Ben and the Doctor made their way out of the tunnels and Ben said, in a heartbreaking tone: "Doctor, what about Polly?" The cockney sailor really does care!
Favourite moment: the Dance of the Fish People
Lasting image: the Atlanteans' costumes
5/10
Our marathon continues with Story #33 - The Moonbase...
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