Directed by Julia Smith
Main Cast-
The Doctor - Patrick Troughton
Polly - Anneke Wills
Ben - Michael Craze
Jamie - Frazer Hines
Main Guest Cast-
Professor Zaroff - Joseph Furst
Ara - Catherine Howe
Ramo - Tom Watson
Damon - Colin Jeavons
Jacko - Paul Ani
Sean - P.G. Stephens
Synopsis-
The Doctor and his companions arrive on a volcanic island somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. They are eventually captured by the inhabitants and taken down into the cavern system present on the island.
The island, as it turns out, is what remains of Atlantis. The Doctor and his companions are due to be sacrificed to the Atlantian god Amdo. However, a scientist by the name of Professor Zaroff intervenes during the sacrifice, saving their lives. The Doctor is taken by Professor Zaroff to his lab, while Ben and Jamie are sent to work in the mines below the city. Polly is sent to be converted into a fishperson, who work as slaves to feed Atlantis via the plankton that they harvest.
The Doctor is able to convince a young Atlantian girl by the name of Ara to rescue Polly. Meanwhile, Ben and Jamie have gained a couple of reluctant allies in the mines, Jacko and Sean. The four escape their captors, and eventually make their way through the caves to the temple room in the city, where they meet up with Polly.
The Doctor, meanwhile, has discovered that Professor Zaroff intends to raise Atlantis from the sea, by flooding the Earth's core with seawater. This will cause a chain reaction that will destroy the Earth. The Doctor intends to stop Professor Zaroff, so Zaroff decides to have The Doctor and Ramo, an Atlantian priest who has become The Doctor's ally, sacrificed to Ramo.
The Doctor and Ramo escape, thanks to help from Polly and the others. The Doctor hatches a plan to stop Zaroff. Sean and Jacko meet up with the fishpeople and convince them to stop working, thus cutting off Atlantis' food supply. The Doctor and the others are able to capture Zaroff, but Zaroff fakes a seizure and kills Ramo. After escaping, Zaroff finds that the Atlantians have lost faith in Zaroff and his plan due to the strike by the fishpeople. Zaroff kills the Atlantian leader, and begins the countdown.
The Doctor decides to flood Atlantis to stop Zaroff. Polly, Jamie and the others go off to warn the population about the rising water. The Doctor and Ben go off to confront Zaroff. The three eventually face off in Zaroff's lab as the water level continues to rise. Zaroff ends up trapped behind a metal grille, unable to reach the detonator switch. Zaroff drowns in the rising waters, while The Doctor and Ben make their escape. The Doctor and Ben then meet up with Polly and Jamie and they all return to the Tardis to resume their travels.
Review-
The Underwater Menace is a fun adventure, if you're willing to ignore the absolutely bad science behind the tale. First, if Atlantis is an island, then there should be alternative food sources beyond the easily spoiled plankton food that the fishpeople provide. Secondly, it's pretty ludicrous to believe that flooding the Earth's core with seawater would cause the Earth to be destroyed.
Still, Joseph Furst's performance as Professor Zaroff dominates this story and makes it most worthwhile. The Doctor's companions and allies are given quite a bit to do to advance the plot, particularly in the early part of the story where The Doctor is being kept in Zaroff's laboratory as a "guest".
I should probably fault The Underwater Menace for its bad science, much like I faulted the previous story The Highlanders for its bad history. However, I have to give the nod to the Underwater Menace for simply being the more entertaining of the two stories.
The Underwater Menace is yet another story with missing episodes. Currently, only episode three is available on the Lost in Time DVD. Since the release of Lost in Time, episode two has been found and returned to the BBC. The BBC haven't yet announced their release plans for episode two, but I suspect it will be something similar to what they did with the other episode found at the same time ("Air Lock" from Galaxy 4).
Until the BBC releases episode two on DVD, one does have to content themselves with the one released episode and the audio soundtracks/reconstructions/novelizations that are currently available for The Underwater Menace. I'll admit I'm looking forward to the release of the recently found episode and given the good job that they did with Air Lock from Galaxy 4, I'm sure it will be worth the wait.
