Shut up, I look FABULOUS. |
Series Four, Story 5 (GG)
Starring Patrick Troughton as the Doctor
with Peter Craze (Ben), Anneke Wills (Polly) and Frazer Hines (Jamie)
Written by Geoffrey Orme
Directed by Julia Smith
Produced by Innes Lloyd
Script Editor: Gerry Davis
Broadcast Dates, Ratings, Appreciation
- Episode 1 - 14 Jan 1967 (8.3 million, 48%) **MISSING**
- Episode 2 - 21 Jan 1967 (7.5 million, 46%)
- Episode 3 - 28 Jan 1967 (7.1 million, 45%)
- Episode 4 - 4 Feb 1967 (7.0 million, 47%) **MISSING**
How To Watch:
- Loose Cannon Reconstruction of episodes 1 and 4 are available here (with introductions by Joseph Furst). As for episodes 2 and 3... please support the BBC releases, okay?
- Episode 3, the only known episode to exist at the time, was included in the 2004 "Lost In Time" DVD release, and on the VHS compilation "The Troughton Years."
- DVD release in 2015 using stills/recons of the missing episodes
- DVD/Blu-Ray fully animated version release in 2023-24 with freshly created reconstructions and surviving episodes.
Synopsis
The Doctor, Ben, Polly and a very bewildered Jamie arrive on a rocky shoreline on Earth sometime around 1970. Exploring a cave near an extinct volcano, they are captured and taken deep underground to the lost city of Atlantis. They meet Professor Zaroff, a long-missing scientist who is manipulating the Atlantean leaders by convincing them that he will be able to to raise Atlantis from the depths. Polly is given to the scientist Damon, Zaroff's assistant, to be converted into a fish person, a slave race that breathes underwater and harvests seafood for the city. Ben and Jamie are sent to forced labor on a drilling project in the caves along with several other captured sailors. The Doctor discovers that Zaroff is entirely mad and plans to destroy the world by flooding the earth's molten core with ocean water. Polly is rescued, Jamie and two sailors Sean and Jacko escape and convince the fish people to strike, the Doctor capitalizes on high priest Lolem's hatred of Zaroff and persuades leader Thous of Zaroff's insanity. Ben and the Doctor overload Zaroff's reactor, the lower levels of the city flood, and Zaroff drowns. Our heroes barely escape, and Thous and the surviving Atlanteans resolve to rebuild a new city with no gods.
Notes and Analysis
This is certainly not one of the most fondly remembered stories, and I get it. Zaroff is a campy mad scientist villain with a bonkers plan that can best be described as an absurdly extroverted suicide, exactly the sort that the series had been effectively avoiding for the past four years. And oh, this story is so full of camp. From the fish people and their underwater ballet, to the bitchy repartee between Zaroff and High Priest Lolem, and Zaroff's episode three climactic exclamation... everybody... "NOSSINK IN ZE VERLT KAN SCHTOPP ME NOW!!!"
Before we complain too loudly about the production quality, consider this: between location shooting and a week's vacation for Christmas, from here to the end of the Season Four production block there was only a week between the day the episode was shot in the studio and the day it was broadcast. That means episode two was being filmed the same day episode one was airing on the telly. Any post-production, special effects, music, etc all had to be done in one week. There was No. Margin. For. Error. Any further difficulty or delay and the episodes would have needed to be broadcast live. Imagine the amount of labor required by the production teams fielding scripts, casting, editing, location shoots, etc just to keep the show on the air... and just how much pressure the cast was in to get it right the first time, as there were no opportunities for re-shoots or extra studio time.
Maybe I grade on a curve; we'll likely never know because so few of the episodes from this season survive. But the ones that do exist reveal that the production team's mad adrenaline-fueled panic produced some very memorable and interesting stories that (more or less) still hold up today.
Julia Smith inherited a script that the original director dismissed as unfilmable, and the production delays led to a hasty reshuffling of this story, originally intended to follow "Power of the Daleks," to Troughton's third story, with "Highlanders" being bumped up to second.
Consider just how much worldbuilding exists in the two surviving episodes. Even when they can't particularly hide just how cramped the studio space is, they manage to have a temple with an enormous statue, a town square packed with extras plus market stalls and a fountain, Zaroff's lab, etc.
And on top of all this they manage to create the greatest (or worst) characters ever: the Fish People. Of course we know they're suspended on Kirby wires and not really underwater. Of course they're all wearing tights with sequin scales sewn on. Of course they only appear on film. But when else would the production team have ever attempted something so balls-out ridiculous and audacious?
The challenge of shoehorning a new TARDIS companion into an already mostly complete script is rather painfully obvious, especially when the guest cast includes Sean and Jacko who are effectively surrogate companions themselves. Poor Jamie. There's only so many times one can deliver a tacked-on line like "Ay, tell us!" or "Aye, what?" before one wonders if Fraser Hines was calling his agent to get him the heck outta there. (I did ask Fraser if he was frustrated at his under-use in those early stories, he assured me he didn't, which I presume is at least the polite answer if not the most accurate one.)
Shut up, we look FABULOUS. |
I agree with a general consensus, especially backed up by the rediscovery of episode 2, that this story is where Troughton settles fully into the role. In "Power" and "Highlanders" he's more clownish, mercurial, unpredictable, and the scripts tend to put the focus on the guest actors and companions. Here is where he bids farewell to the silly hats and costumes, and finds the character we associate with his portrayal as the Doctor.
"Underwater Menace" still is considered one of the lesser Troughton stories, but especially now that we have two complete episodes, it allows us to re-evaluate its qualities. It's certainly memorable and not boring, and they shoot for an ambition and scale that they dial down somewhat his in later seasons.
Watch Out For: During the b/w era, the recap of the previous episode would sometimes be a film copy of the previous episode's closing moments, but would frequently be a completely new performance. Note the difference between Josef Furst's scenery chewing delivery of his infamous line at the end of episode three, and his comparatively muted delivery at the start of episode four.
These recaps are noteworthy as sometimes that re-used clip of the previous episode's climax can often be the only bit of surviving footage when that previous episode is missing. And sometimes even to this day, whether a recap is re-used or re-shot is a subject for debate.
Haven't I Seen You...
- Peter Stephens (Lolem) previously appeared as Cyril/Kitchen Boy/Knave of Hearts in "The Celestial Toymaker."
- Colin Jeavons (Damon) also appears as George Tracey in the would-be spin-off "K9 and Company."
- Gerald Taylor (Damon's assistant) appeared in several stories as a Dalek operator, a Zarbi, the voice of WOTAN, etc.
- Noel Johnson (Thous) also appears as Sir Charles Grover in "Invasion of the Dinosaurs."
Does The BIPOC Character Survive? YES! (Jacko, played by Paul Anil)
Sausage Factor: 83.3% (2 females out of 12 credited guest actors) though there are several women among the numerous uncredited extras.
Rating: Two out of Four Wraths of Amdo
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John Geoffrion is a semi-retired semi-professional thespian, a professional data guy, and a Dad. He usually falls asleep to the Classic Doctor Who channel on Pluto.tv
I have the version with the telesnaps from a few years ago and the new version with the animated missing episodes as well. I need to watch the animated version soon, along with a couple others I haven't caught up on yet, but own.
ReplyDeleteThis one was not great, and I recall reading that Troughton himself wasn't a fan. My biggest complaint is how long we spend on the fishpeople's dance routine; it did not help this one out at all. It's not my least favorite classic story, but it's very low. Zaroff's over-the-top-ness is quite amusing at least, even if it too does not help with this story's reputation.
Too many companions for sure here too. I don't dislike Ben and Polly, but Jamie is just so much better than Ben, and once we get Zoe to join as well, we get my favorite 2nd Doctor team, and one of the best TARDIS teams ever.