The Underwater Menace - Episode 3

Ah at last! For the first time since The Tenth Planet Episode 3, I get to put a Doctor Who disc in my DVD player and instantly there’s a problem because it’s a lot of people in wetsuits. Though at least we get to see Patrick Troughton. We also get to see the surrounding that the new TARDIS crew find themselves in and its just nice to see Doctor Who. This episode starts off quite well as The Doctor is about to be beheaded within the first 5 minutes but the way that he gets out of it is quite clever and it allows Ben to do something clever and heroic.

I’ve just noticed that the actor playing Cyril in ‘The Celestial Toymaker’ makes a return here. Also King Thous is a familiar face as he appears in ‘Invasion of the Dinosaurs’. I also recognised Colin Jeavons who plays Damon in this story and played Tim Stamper in the BBC version of House of Cards.

Some of the problems with this story are noticeable in this episode. The fish people are a stupidly named group of people and look just as bad. Credit to the people playing the fish people because they have to give up their dignity to play this stupid role. Then there is the market scene where they are trying to kidnap Zaroff. The music is repetitive and annoying. Though it’s the most crowded scene I think there has been in Doctor Who. It’s hard to take the situation seriously when people are dressed so badly.  It’s one of the few good things about listening to it on CD.

There is a slightly boring scene where the fish people are…. Well I don’t know what they are doing becase its so boring. It lasts for too long and doesn’t really achieve anything. Another silly moment is when Polly becomes a bit dim when she falls for Zaroff’s acting.  One final bit comes at the end when Zaroff is firing a gun and its clear that nothing comes out of it but due to the acting it seems a bit silly really. Despite the things that are wrong with this episode, its hard to actually find anything bad to really say about it. It find myself feeling quite positive towards it. It’s a credit to the performances that I find myself not instantly giving up on it. I know that it’s back to the cd tomorrow and that there is one episode left but it’s shaping up to be a good story.