The Underwater Menace

“Just one small question. Why do you want to blow up the world?”

Most great seasons in television have at least one clanger, and Doctor Who’s near-perfect fourth season is no exception to the rule. Of the nine stories that make up Doctor Who’s fourth run, Geoffrey Orme’s “The Underwater Menace” is the worst, and it’s the worst by a mile. Ironically, the earliest surviving Pat Troughton episode is Episode 3 of this serial – hardly the best showcase for his era. To think that survived the fires when so much wonderful stuff was lost…

To be fair to Troughton, there is nothing wrong with his performance, nor that of any of his companions; quite the opposite in fact - even Frazer Hines makes the best of a bad situation, after his character had been hastily pencilled in at the last minute. The newly regenerated Doctor is very entertaining - the problem is that the story isn’t compelling. Take the first episode for example. The TARDIS lands on an extinct volcanic rock surrounded by sea, circa 1970. It turns out to be the lost Kingdom of Atlantis. Living there, is a mad scientist called Zaroff who, for no apparent reason, wants to blow up the world. Okay, so initially Zaroff claims that he wants to raise Atlantis from the depths of the ocean, but as the story progresses and he descends further and further into madness (and Joseph Furst descends further and further into over the top, clichéd acting) it becomes clear that the man has no motive; he’s just completely radio rental. 

If anything, “The Underwater Menace” is reminiscent of James Bond… only crap. We have the Doctor signing notes “Doctor W.” (aaaah!!!), Ben and Jamie sent away to work as slave labour (how original), and worst of all we have the absolute worst cliff-hanger of all time. I mean it; it’s dire.

“Nothing in the world can stop me now!”

It’s so bad in fact, that it is the only good thing about the story. At least you can have a laugh at it!