Doctor Who (TV Series) The Underwater Menace: Episode 1 (1967) User Reviews

It doesn't star off too badly.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 6/10 · 27 February 2021]

The TARDIS lands on the coast, the team try to work out where and when they are, before they are captured, and taken to a land under the sea, believed to be a myth.

The early parts of this are rather nice, it sees the team in their costumes from The Highlanders, and Jamie's early days in the TARDIS are very interesting, confusions about time, and The Scot's understanding.

Then the story begins.... it's pretty mild early on, and pretty forgivable, it would definitely decline in quality as it progressed, however on balance, this first part isn't bad.

I know it's missing, but I can imagine the scenes where the Doctors try to start operating on Polly are pretty scary.

The fish people though, I'm not a fan.

Joseph Fürst, he's quite tame here, give it time...

I'll be generous here, and give the opener a score of 6/10.

A Fishy Tale - Disappointing and often silly this is one of Doctor Who's least successful stories.

[A_Kind_Of_CineMagic · 4/10 · 21 August 2014]

This 4 part story has to go down as a major failure in the series history. It takes place on Atlantis and sadly it is silly and badly produced in most respects compared to the series usual great standards. Being quite ridiculous at times it is at best camp fun but it mostly fails to maintain that fun as it is also pretty boring much of the time. The attempts at humour often fall flat and its implausible story (from writer Geoffrey Orme) is not a good idea.

A disappointing adventure in almost every respect with only the regular cast's performances and a few small elements raising it above an Atlantis like descent into total awfulness. One of the worst Doctor Who stories but with just enough fun and decent aspects to keep it above the level of a lot of the dross you see on TV.

One word in its defence, many people accuse the villain Zaroff of having an awful accent but that was the actor Joseph Furst's own natural accent!

All 4 Episodes - 4/10

A cheap-looking, poorly-treated Dr Who adventure

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 3 June 2017]

THE UNDERWATER MENACE is another weak story for Patrick Troughton in his tenure as the Doctor. This story is set on a very cheap-looking Atlantis and involves a mad scientist attempting to raise the sunken continent, although the Doctor suspects that his methods will lead to disaster. Troughton is uninteresting here and saddled with three companions, two of whom are extraneous although Jamie is amusing enough.

In their infinite wisdom the BBC decided to wipe a couple of the episodes, which have been poorly re-created with existing audio and stills. I would rather they had animated the missing footage as they did for something like POWER OF THE DALEKS. Still, even the existing two episodes are lacklustre, going through the motions without offering anything new or interesting. And that ill-advised 'underwater' scene with the aid of wires is perhaps the stupidest thing I've ever seen on Who.

"NOTHING IN THE WORLD CAN STOP ME NOW!"

[wetmars · 4/10 · 19 October 2020]

The TARDIS arrives on an extinct volcanic island. Before long, the travellers are captured and taken into the depths of the Earth, where they find a hidden civilisation - the lost city of Atlantis.

The Atlanteans worship a goddess named Amdo and use fish people - men and women operated upon so that they can breathe under the sea - to farm the plankton-based food on which they survive. A deranged scientist, Professor Zaroff, has convinced them that he can raise their city from the sea, but actually, he plans to drain the ocean into the Earth's molten core so that the resultant superheated steam will cause the planet to explode.

The travellers meet up with two shipwreck survivors, Sean and Jacko, who persuade the fish people to rebel and stop work. The Doctor eventually foils Zaroff's plan, but only by breaking down the sea walls and flooding the city. Zaroff drowns, but everyone else escapes.

Review of four episodes -

Eh, this was quite disappointing. The story was very campy, I had no idea what was happening, the plot was ridiculous and the music was bit interesting. It was great to see Thoughton in this story, he hasn't YET made a Great Doctor Moment. Can't imagine how outrageous the fanbase was, gotta go now.