Saturday 8 August 2015

The Underwater Menace

Chris@KosmicKris this is a very strange old tale - almost needs to be viewed as a comedy pastiche rather than a serious sci fi story.

The soundtrack begins with a short recap of the end of The Highlanders, with Jamie McCrimmon joining us...
50dw50@50dw50 it might have been kinder to tell Jamie that they cannot get him home again before they took off!
50dw50@50dw50
 that terrible hat lasted longer than i thought.

The Doctor confuses Jamie with an anachronistic quote.

We hear the thoughts of the travellers as they hope for somewhere good to land...

"Please let it be Chelsea 1966..."
50dw50@50dw50  interesting that Polly obviously want to go home

"Hope it's the Daleks, I don't think!"

"Prehistoric monsters!" Aren't we all prehistoric monsters to the Doctor?

"What have I come upon?" No comment.
Chris@KosmicKris it must have been a nightmare to write for them, but I loved the three companions together.

Yes, Ben tends to lose some lines but it's even odder when Jamie gets some Polly lines. The Moonbase suffers from it a bit.


They arrive on a rocky beach, and climb around to explore...
M@nterik@Manterik i have been to the quarry from part 1 four times with my mates. Destiny quarry we call it
50dw50@50dw50 so the story so far is them climbing a hill then splitting up and separating always works out so well....

Polly is in trouble almost as soon as she enters a cave alone...

Ben and Jamie follow while the Doctor investigates some pieces of broken pottery.
50dw50@50dw50  they are just finding bracelets and pottery, its like Bargain Hunt

The travellers are captured one by one & bundled into a cage that begins to descend.

They're going deep, deep down underground and struggle to avoid the bends. Not a bad album, in fairness.

The replica medal Polly has found means they must be some time around 1970... or any time later.
50dw50@50dw50 1970! this is a historical story! which is depressing.

They touch bottom and are prodded by a guard.
50dw50@50dw50
 Ben and Polly obviously have no faith in the TARDIS translation system, oui? Then they have dinner! no plot yet!

The travellers tuck into some food, which the Doctor's companions go off once they learn it's Plankton.

The priest Ramo has been expecting them...

The travellers will have an important part to play in their ceremony. Think we can see where this is going.

The Doctor has something important to say.

He's deducted from the plankton-based food that one Professor Zaroff must be nearby...
50dw50@50dw50

 Pat does a Billy fluff for old times sake.

Jamie hopes the Doctor may have escaped but he's soon tied up with the rest of them.

The Doctor's asked a young serving girl, Ara, to get a message to Zaroff, but she has to settle for surgeon Damon.
50dw50@50dw50 death by shark or fishy stock footage may have looked rather good

Seriously, though, who keeps a shark in a well? The Atlanteans, obviously.

Damon passes the message to Zaroff "Vital secret will die with me - Dr. W." 
I'm The Batman@MGW_007 well that clears up the name thing then...

It does the trick - Zaroff arrives and halts the sacrifice!

Zaroff was believed dead, but survived in this city.

The Doctor admits he has no secret.

At first Zaroff is angered by the trick, but decides the Doctor may be useful.
50dw50@50dw50  So the villain does not feed Dr W to his pet octopus because he has a sense of humour... right

I'm The Batman@MGW_007  yeah, I always spare people from sacrifice when they make me laugh!

Jamie and Ben are packed off to the mines, while Damon takes a shine to Polly.

He shows Polly their "farm", with their surgically altered fish-people, who have had gills implanted...

"Some people get most upset when they find they're to have the operation..."

Ara tips the Doctor the wink that Polly is scheduled to have "the fish operation"! Trout pout?
50dw50@50dw50 "your not turning me into a fish!" protests Polly. 
50dw50@50dw50 despite all the barking mad stuff the cliff hanger is quite sinister!

Now for part 2: the not missing episode that the beeb is determined to keep missing!

Of course, we've none of us seen it.

Polly continues to struggle...

...while the Doctor hopes Zaroff is distracted by his pet Octopus as he dims the lights.

Damon complains that Zaroff's experiments are draining power from his surgery lights.

Of course, it's the Doctor playing silly beggars with the lights, allowing Ara to rescue Polly.

Zaroff has a plan to raise Atlantis... by lowering the sea level. Sounds reasonable.
I'm The Batman@MGW_007  while flying on a magic carpet, to go and visit the king of the potato people....

That's 2 hours of W.O.O. (With Out Octopus!)

"Why do you want to blow up the world?"
"You, a scientist ask me why!"
This Zaroff ain't quite right, as Ben would say.

Ben & Jamie meet some fellow prisoners, Jacko & Sean, who've pilfered a compass.

Learning Polly has escaped...

...the Doctor makes a break for it by distracting Damon with chemicals.
50dw50@50dw50 its very nice of Ara but why is she helping the TARDIS crew? 
50dw50@50dw50 Ben protests that he is not one of them.

Once they signed Jamie up it was only a matter of time before he wouldn't be any more...

The guards search for Jamie and Polly as the Doctor takes the opportunity to try on a new hat.

The Doctor and Ara hide as Damon berates Ramo.

When Ramo expresses his concerns about Zaroff, Ara moves to distract Damon...

...so the Doctor takes a chance to recruit him as an ally.
Jamie, Ben & their new friends slip away into the network of tunnels.
The Doctor demonstrates to Ramo what will happen to the planet if Zaroff's plan goes ahead.
After a blow on his recorder...

...he's chuffed to be given a new cloak and head-dress.

Jamie has gone too far and slipped off a ledge! 
50dw50@50dw50 for escapees they are doing an awful lot of shouting.
With Jamie rescued, they're soon reunited with Polly.
Ramo takes the Doctor to see the Atlantean ruler, Thous, who is a big Zaroff fan.
"Have you noticed his eyes? The Professor is as mad as a hatter!"
50dw50@50dw50 nice mental health tip from Dr W, look for glowing eyes...

M@nterik@Manterik also hit the side of your head.


Thous has thought about what the Doctor had to say... 

 ...and hands him over to Zaroff!

As we start Episode 3, the story bobs above the surface into the rarefied atmosphere of an episode the BBC could be arsed to release, and all nicely Vid-Fired, no less.

"So you're just a little man, after all, Doctor, like all the rest."
"Mind your own business."
Zaroff promises Thous he'll raise Atlantis. Does he see what the Doctor meant, albeit too late?
Groovy guard uniform.

The voice of Amdo doesn't half sound like Ben poshing it up, you know.

"A miracle! A great and powerful miracle! Amdo has eaten up her victims!" Maybe not.
Ramo is dismayed to discover the secret of Amdo.

"May the wrath of Amdo engulf you!"
"I'll take my chance. Get out!"
The Doctor plans his attack on Zaroff; 1st, they need the fish people to stop collecting food...
...then they'll kidnap Zaroff himself! 

Seems to be another excuse for the Doctor to dress up.
50dw50@50dw50  i like the market scene, it makes it a real world full of jolly people... that Dr W will drown next week.... oh.

Polly has to hide under a rug - good job it's thick as the guards jab it with a trident!
Zaroff's on his way, really throwing his weight around. Who's the real ruler here?

They've led Zaroff into a trap, and the Doctor uses his recorder to blow pepper in his face!
Jacko & Sean rile up the fish people. "A flatfish from Galway would have more guts in them than that bunch!"
50dw50@50dw50 if Zaroff is that clever how come he did not invent the fridge?

The messge spreads amongst the fish people to down tools.


Love this music.
M@nterik@Manterik love the underwater ballet.
50dw50@50dw50 "the first underwater strike has begun!" that always makes me laugh, these stories are so enhanced by narration!

"I have underrated you, Doctor. I hardly imagined you would have the nerve to kidnap Zaroff himself." Or the lack of marbles to refer to himself in the third person?


Notice the Doctor has retained one of the stud earrings from his disguise. That get up was genuinely one of Troughton's first costume suggestions, amongst other, much worse, ideas.

Zaroff appears to have some sort of heart attack. Or does he...?

The Doctor can't take the chance that Zaroff's plan can go ahead with him so heads off for his lab, leaving Polly and Ramo to tend to the supposedly stricken Professor.

He wants to bathe in Polly's aura. Mucky beggar.

Zaroff miraculously recovers, spears Ramo and hauls Polly away.
M@nterik@Manterik Polly is so naive.

The Doctor and his friends are about to make their way back through the temple, after some fishy business...
...when the wounded Ramo staggers out to warn them Zaroff has escaped.

Jamie grapples with Zaroff, and though he rescues Polly, Zaroff escapes.
Encouraged by Damon, Thous demands to know from Zaroff what's going on, and tries to reassert his authority - too late.

The guards answer to Zaroff now. 
The professor draws a gun on Thous... and fires!
All together now...
"Nothing in the world can stop me now!"

Has to be said, Furst's delivery on the recap is a *lot* more sheepish!
50dw50@50dw50 which is oddly disappointing

The Doctor has a plan - it might even work! 


He plans to flood Atlantis, so the inhabitants will have to be warned to prepare for an exodus...
I'm The Batman@MGW_007  not up to his usual standard, but would put an end to the matter!
Ben tricks a guard into giving him the password and sabotages Zaroff's power source.

"Do you know what you're doing?"
"Oh, what a question. Of course I don't!"
Ben's sabotage puts the plan into motion.

Even Damon is onside now, though he laments the loss of his life's work as the flooding begins in earnest.

Damon is keeping his main shaft available for stragglers.
Zaroff's technicians begin to worry when the Doctor points out the bleedin' obvious. "Oh, have I dropped a brick?"
Zaroff drops a grate to keep the Doctor at bay and ensure his plan can't be foiled.
Ben manages to seal Zaroff away from the detonation controls, but the Doctor goes back, unable to leave Zaroff to die. Although the Doctor does his best, Zaroff's refuses to stop reaching for the detonator...

...and perishes beneath the rising water. He truly is an underwater menace.

Polly and Jamie reach the surface, where she fears the worst...
The surviving Atlanteans contemplate how to rebuild their society in the aftermath. "No more temples. It was temples and priests and superstition that made us follow Zaroff in the first place."
Polly is relieved when the Doctor and Ben emerge, and they all leave in the TARDIS.
"Phwoar, Jamie, you don't half stink of fish!"
"Oh, you want to take a wee sniff of yourself, Benjamin."
When the gang wind the Doctor up about not being able to control the TARDIS, he sets them off towards Mars!

But the TARDIS is soon lurching out of control and headed for the next adventure!
I'm The Batman@MGW_007  have a suspicion may not quite make it to Mars.....

Wonder where they'll land next...


TTFN! K.
Coming Soon... The Greatest Show in the Galaxy

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