Underworld - Episode 1

When I first started this marathon, this story was one that I was dreading. It was a story that until 2010, I hadn’t watched all the way through. I would get till the second or third episode before giving up. This is the first story of 1978 and also the first story with Anthony Read as script editor. It is also Louise Jameson’s penultimate story as Leela.

I have decided to read the Target novel of this story and just reading the prologue has got me looking forward to it. The novelisation was written by Terrance Dicks in 1980 and so two years or so earlier, it fell to Bob Baker and Dave Martin to write this story. The opening scene is just as good as I read it in the novel. This is as about as far as I got in the book. I might make a comment about the book versus the TV versions during this story but I will have to wait and see. There is a nice speech that the Doctor gives about being the first people to see a planet formed. It’s delivered like a child about to see something for the first time after hearing about it for a long time.

The set used for the Minyon’s ship is quite good. It’s clearly designed to be the showpiece of the serial and its clear that this is where the budget went for the episode. I think that the guns they use aren’t quite as impressive as they are too cumbersome and has just a silly little screen to look through.

The Timelords are treated as gods by the minyons because the Timelords gave the minyons all the knowledge and then they were betrayed which leads to their rule on non-intervention. This is quite an interesting premise for the story. The Minyons that we meet are after another ship (which in the book is carrying more minyons). They are after P7E which is their ship. This is where the focus of the episode is and the build up is gradual but it’s a good thing because the tension builds up. The effect of the rocks building a planet around the ship is quite impressive. If only they hadn’t done it then the rest of the story wouldn’t be so CSO heavy. The final shot is of the new planet getting bigger and bigger. This episode has always been my favourite one of the four but that’s because the number of people in the episode is so small and also the CSO doesn’t really get in the way. That’s all going to change in the next episodes but I think that at very least, this story is going to be sort of like ‘The Sun Makers’ at that’s average. Not terrible but not great.