Get your alarm clocks set because ABC TV’s website has listed Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor for 4:00 a.m. on Monday 5 August. Without fanfare our national broadcaster is giving all Australians the opportunity to “participate” in this global event as the next Doctor is revealed. How many of you will be up for it?
You can check out the ABC programme guide here
Episodes one and four of The Underwater Menace are missing from the BBC Archives. Episode three has been released on the Lost in Time DVD, whilst episode two remains unreleased. For the purposes of this marathon I watched episodes one, two and four using Loose Cannon’s reconstructions, and episode three on the Lost in Time DVD. Episode two part two of Loose Cannon’s reconstructions is presently unavailable on YouTube. In lieu I watched an animated version uploaded by doctorwhoanimator.
Loose Cannon’s The Underwater Menace, Episode 1 Part 1
Loose Cannon’s The Underwater Menace, Episode 1 Part 2
Loose Cannon’s The Underwater Menace, Episode 2 Part 1
Doctorwhoanimator’s The Underwater Menace, Episode 2 Part 2
Loose Cannon’s The Underwater Menace, Episode 4 Part 1
Loose Cannon’s The Underwater Menace, Episode 4 Part 1
The Underwater Menace was originally broadcast in the UK between 14 January and 4 February 1967. Episode 3 is available on the triple DVD set Lost in Time
In the 2009 Doctor Who Magazine Mighty 200 Poll of Doctor Who stories, The Underwater Menace was voted the seventh least popular. Coming in at an appalling 194, it was one story above another long derided Patrick Troughton serial, The Space Pirates. Throw in The Dominators at 191,and the Second Doctor has three of the ten least popular serials. That even beats Colin Baker’s Sixth Doctor and Sylvester McCoy’s Seventh Doctor, each of whom had two serials each in the bottom 10.
Two Fish People resplendent in their sequin costumes
So why is The Underwater Menace so lowly regarded? That until late 2011 only one of its four episodes were held in the BBC Archives may provide part of the answer. In fact, nearly two years after episode two’s return, it has yet to be released on DVD. Episode three was first released to the public on VHS cassette in 1998 and subsequently reissued on the 2004 DVD Lost in Time.
Damon in his funny head gear
Without the context of the previous two episodes, episode three of The Underwater Menace must look extraordinarily bizarre to the casual viewer. The classic disparaging comments dished out to Doctor Who, including bad graphics, wobbly sets and atrocious acting might, to the uninitiated, appear spot on. The Fish People, who are enslaved by the Atlanteans, are surgically modified humans. Having gills, flippers and scales, which are none other than sequins stuck to their faces, the Fish People farm the plankton that they, and the Atlanteans, are reliant upon for food. Being apparently bereft of refrigeration, this food source lasts only several hours before deterioration, thereby requiring the slave labour force to work around the clock to provide a constant fresh supply of stock. Polly narrowly escapes being operated upon to become a Fish Person in the episode one cliff hanger, which thanks for the ever vigilant Australian Censorship Board, we still have for our viewing pleasure.
Polly narrowly escaped being turned into a Fish Person
Polly and Damon. Polly’s Atlantean gear is just fab
Almost universally condemned for their costuming, I personally think the Fish People look fabulous, in a trippy, 1960s sort of way. The Fish People swim around gracefully in an extended performance of synchronized swimming during episode three. I’m not entirely certain what the sequence’s purpose is however it looks completely wild. I can even excuse the trapeze wires that hold up the swimming Fish People up as they elegantly swoon around. Spotting the wires holding up space ships has always been one of my favourite parts of watching Doctor Who (there are some great strings to be spotted in The Dalek Invasion of Earth). This is just a logical extension of that peculiar interest! That the Fish People decide to go on strike after having their humanity questioned by some enslaved miners is a bit farfetched, but hey, the reverse logic worked.
A rare colour photo of the Fish People
Not all Fish People wore sequins. Given that The Underwater Menace went so over budget, the BBC mustn’t have been able to afford more sequins for this poor Fish Person
Joseph Furst’s acting as the insane Polish Professor Zaroff is frequently the source of criticism. Episode three ends with his classic manic cry of “Nothing in ze world can stop me now!” That Zaroff is a parody of the mad scientist, and clearly meant to be played in a hammy, over the top fashion, appears lost on most critics. Where’s everyone’s sense of humour gone? Zaroff’s plan to drain the oceans into the Earth’s molten core, thereby causing the planet’s explosion from overheated steam, is also dismissed as ludicrous. Sure, he only wants to destroy the Earth because he can, and will also die in the resultant explosion, but that’s what mad scientists do. They wouldn’t be mad scientists if their plans were rational. As Philip Sandifer states in Tardis Eruditorum, Zaroff’s scheme is no crazier an idea than the Daleks’ plan in The Dalek Invasion of Earth to drill the core out of the centre of the Earth and use the planet as a space ship. And that second Dalek serial isn’t dismissed out of hand as some form of corny atrocity.
The mad scientist Professor Zaroff. “Nothing in ze world can stop me now!”
The Doctor and Zaroff
The Underwater Menace sees the Doctor take the lead in saving the Earth without recourse to dressing up continuously, although he does look rather cool when briefly dressed as some sort of tambourine playing hippy with sunglasses and bandanna. We are even afforded the opportunity to see a snippet of the Doctor’s good conscience when he decides that he just can’t let Zaroff drown at the end of episode four. A rock fall blocks the path to rescue, although at least the Doctor’s intentions are good. In this story the Doctor begins to display the characteristics that become his staple for the duration of his tenure.
The Doctor is disguised as a tambourine playing hippy
Polly, however, is denied the forthrightness of previous outings, and plays the screaming damsel far too often. Having been buoyed by her characterisation in The Highlanders, Polly’s inability to assertively take control of her own destiny in this serial was more than a little disappointing. She can, however speak “foreign”, as Ben refers to it, and is conversant in German, French and Spanish. Ben displays a good rapport with the Doctor and Jamie appears surprisingly unaffected by being dragged out of the 18th Century Scottish highlands, and into an underwater world of Fish People, temple worship and mad scientists. Ben and Jamie spend much of the time running around in black wetsuits. The synthetic rubber of the wetsuit must have been an unusual sensation against Jamie’s highland skin, but remarkably he is not seen to make a comment about it.
Jamie and Ben spend much of their time in black wet suits
The Underwater Menace ends with the mad scientist dead and the Atlanteans saved from Zaroff’s dastardly plan, although the city of Atlantis is flooded. No more Fish People will be made, and presumably they are freed from servitude. Religion, however, will be no more. Damon believes that priests, superstition and temples made the Atlanteans follow Zaroff’s crazy plans and the temple should be buried forever. Quite how this conclusion is reached is never stated and is certainly a very superficial solution to the Atlanteans’ problems. All told, however, The Underwater Menace is a fun romp and nowhere near as bad as its reputation. Watch it with an eye for the ridiculous and you won’t be disappointed.
The Underwater Menace was originally broadcast in the UK between 14 January and 4 February 1967. Episode 3 is available on the triple DVD set Lost in Time
Vivien Fleming
©Vivien Fleming, 2013.
REFERENCE:
Phil Sandifer, Tardis Eruditorum Volume 1: William Hartnell. Self published, 2011.
The BBC has announced that the name of the Twelfth Doctor will be revealed at 7 p.m. Sunday UK time during a live special on BBC One. The thirty minute programme which will be filmed before a live audience, promises an interview with the new Doctor, together special guests including “Doctors old and new, as well as companions and celebrity fans”.
Details are not yet available on whether Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor will also be screened live by the ABC in Australia.
Since the news was released on 1st June that Matt Smith is leaving Doctor Who all number of names have been suggested for the Twelfth Doctor. According to an article in yesterday’s Radio Times the bookmakers’ current favourite, at odds of 2-1, is Peter Capaldi. The 55 year old Scot is most well known for his role of Malcolm Tucker in the BBC sitcom The Thick of It. Like the Tenth Doctor, David Tennant, Capaldi is a genuine fan of Who and even had a letter published in the Radio Times when aged 15. The thought of an older Doctor is extremely enticing, although I wonder how an actor who’s the same age as William Hartnell was when he first played the Doctor would fare with the fan girls? Perhaps a young male companion, preferably in a skirt like Jamie McCrimmon, would satisfy the younger female viewers?
Peter Capaldi is the current bookies’ favourite to play the Twelfth Doctor
A rumour is currently flying around Twitter that an announcement will be made by the BBC about Doctor Who at midnight tonight (Thursday) UK Time. That’s 9.00 a.m. today Eastern Australian time. Whether the announcement will be the name of the new Doctor, or an announcement of a forthcoming announcement, remains to be seen. The Radio Times had previously said that the new Doctor would be announced on a special edition of Doctor Who Confidential. A special edition it would certainly need to be given that DWC ceased production at the end of 2011. Further rumours have suggested that this special edition will be aired in the UK this coming Sunday.
Bleeding Cool and Metro are now reporting that a one-off Doctor Who Live will be screened on the BBC this Sunday at 7.00 p.m. The Twelfth Doctor will be unveiled and interviewed on the show, it has been stated. More information on this latest rumour can be found at http://metro.co.uk/2013/08/01/new-doctor-the-next-doctor-who-lead-actor-to-be-unveiled-this-sunday-on-bbc-one-3908220/
You can read the latest Radio Times article at http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2013-07-31/doctor-who-read-the-fan-letter-bookies-favourite-peter-capaldi-wrote-to-radio-times-aged-15 and check out the Doctor Who Tweets on Twitter at #DoctorWho
©Vivien Fleming, 2013.
All four episodes of The Highlanders are missing from the BBC Archives. For the purposes of this marathon I viewed Loose Cannon’s reconstructions, links for which appear below.
Loose Cannon’s The Highlanders, Episode 1 Part 1
Loose Cannon’s The Highlanders, Episode 1 Part 2
Loose Cannon’s The Highlanders, Episode 2 Part 1
Loose Cannon’s The Highlanders, Episode 2 Part 2
Loose Cannon’s The Highlanders, Episode 3 Part 1
Loose Cannon’s The Highlanders, Episode 3 Part 2
Loose Cannon’s The Highlanders, Episode 4 Part 1
Loose Cannon’s The Highlanders, Episode 4 Part 2
Viewers who tuned into BBC One between 17th December 1966 and 7th January 1967 to watch Doctor Who must have really been left wondering exactly who or what the good Doctor had become. In the Power of the Daleks they saw a man with a completely different face who did his best to confound and confuse his companions by speaking in the third person. In The Highlanders the Doctor appeared more interested in acting the clown, playing fancy dress and putting on fake accents. First he was a German physician named Doctor Von Wer, then dressed in drag as a Scottish washer woman, and finally he was a Cockney Redcoat soldier. Patrick Troughton was everything that William Hartnell wasn’t. What he didn’t appear to be playing was the Doctor.
One of the Doctor’s many disguises in The Highlanders was as a Scots washer woman
Whilst Patrick Troughton was being anything but the Doctor, Anneke Wills (Polly) and Michael Craze (Ben) were really allowed to shine. The character of Polly as been really growing on me, and I was not disappointed by her outing in The Highlanders. When the party disembark from the Tardis and discover a hot, old fashioned cannon ball, the Doctor is the first to want to leave. The Doctor who was always guaranteed to want to explore, and lead himself and his companions into trouble, was seemingly gone. Polly was dumbfounded and told him that they couldn’t leave as they looked like they were in England. When Polly added, “Doctor, you don’t want us to think you’re afraid, do you?” the Doctor’s quick retort was, “Why not?”
The companions, Polly and Ben, take prominent roles in The Highlanders
The Doctor and Ben are lucky not to be hanged
After meeting up with an injured Laird and his clansmen, Polly is dispatched with the Laird’s daughter, Kirsty, to fetch clean water to bathe the wound. Whilst the women are out Ben clumsily triggers off a gun and attracts the attention of the English redcoats, who are scouring the highlands for rebels following the Battle of Culloden (1746). Forced on the run after the men are captured, Polly has little time for the tears of her lassie companion. She calls Kirsty a peasant, berates her for always crying and storms off in a huff, only to then find herself trapped in an animal pit. Kirsty finds Polly however she promptly falls into the pit herself. Incredibly, the swinging 60’s girl is more resourceful than her 18th Century highland counterpart and is able to devise an escape plan.
Polly and Kirsty are forced to flee from the Redcoats
Upon almost being seen by the Redcoat patrol that have been sent to pursue the women, Polly pulls the commanding officer, Lt Algernon Thomas Alfred ffinch, into the pit with them. It’s here that Polly’s resourcefulness comes to the fore. Taking the officer’s ID, she playfully taunts the upper class Lieutenant with the affected surname. ffinch is spelt with two f’s and no capital so Polly promptly calls him f-finch. Well that’s when she’s not calling him Algy! Robbing ffinch of the vast sum of 20 guineas, they take a lock of his hair and his identification as bargaining tools should they be apprehended. The women have effectively blackmailed ffinch as they demand his silence for fear that he will be exposed as the victim of an assault and robbery at the hands of two women. Polly and Kirsty leave ffinch tied up in the pit as they continue their journey to Inverness where the Doctor, Ben and the highlanders have been taken as prisoners.
Polly seduces the hapless Lt ffinch
Polly, ffinch and Kirsty
Once in Inverness Polly again exhibits her shrewdness with an ingenuous plan to find the Doctor and Ben. Respectable women in 18th Century Scotland didn’t wander the streets alone, least of all enter taverns. Disguised as orange sellers, however, the women were afforded the opportunity enter the Sea Eagle Inn. Deemed to be orange wenches, or women of ill-repute, their plan quickly came to fruition when they ran into the Doctor, who was dressed in drag. Also in the tavern was the corrupt Solicitor Grey and his comic Clerk, Perkins. Grey was in command of rebel prisoners, although he was making money on the side by selling the robust highlanders into the slave trade.
Polly procures suitable clothing for her masquerade as an “orange wench”
Ben, the Laird and the highlanders had become victims of the trafficking scheme and found themselves in chains upon the ship Annabelle. The Doctor would have been in the same situation had he not ingenuously escaped earlier whilst impersonating the German physician von Wer. Following his escape from the dungeon in which the prisoners were held prior to their transfer to the ship, the Doctor had trussed up Grey and left him in a cupboard and pounded Perkins head into a table. Without fail every commentary I’ve read considers the Doctor’s “trick” with Perkins to be hilariously funny. Perhaps it’s because I’m not a man that I find the gratuitous violence uncalled for and decidedly unfunny. Ben displays his own ingenuity once onboard the Annabelle. Trussed up and dunked from the yardarm, he uses a Houdini trick to be able to free himself from his shackles and swim ashore.
The comic relief, Solicitor Grey’s Clerk named Perkins
All four episodes of The Highlanders are missing from the BBC Archives so not surprisingly a lot is lost in the translation to audio and telesnaps. The battle on board the Annabelle in which the highlanders wrest control of the ship, thanks to the weaponry provided by the Doctor, is hard to visualize. So too are the scenes in Culloden. We miss seeing the last Doctor Who historical adventure until 1982’s Black Orchard, and also Frazer Hines’ debut as Jamie McCrimmon. That being said, Jamie’s role is minor and a proper companion he does not become until the next serial, The Underwater Menace. Join me for my next review as I continue my journey through Doctor Who.
The VHS cover art for Loose Cannon’s The Highlanders reconstructions. The Highlanders was originally broadcast in the UK between 17 December 1966 and 7 January 1967
Vivien Fleming
©Vivien Fleming, 2013.
All six episodes of The Power of the Daleks are missing from the BBC Archives. For the purposes of this marathon I watched Loose Cannon’s reconstructions, links for which appear below.
Loose Cannon’s The Power of the Daleks, Episode 1 Part 1
Loose Cannon’s The Power of the Daleks, Episode 1 Part 2
Loose Cannon’s The Power of the Daleks, Episode 2 Part 1
Loose Cannon’s The Power of the Daleks, Episode 2 Part 2
Loose Cannon’s The Power of the Daleks, Episode 3 Part 1
Loose Cannon’s The Power of the Daleks, Episode 3 Part 2
Loose Cannon’s The Power of the Daleks, Episode 4 Part 1
Loose Cannon’s The Power of the Daleks, Episode 4 Part 2
Loose Cannon’s The Power of the Daleks, Episode 5 Part 1
Loose Cannon’s The Power of the Daleks, Episode 5 Part 2
Loose Cannon’s The Power of the Daleks, Episode 6 Part 1
Loose Cannon’s The Power of the Daleks, Episode 6 Part 2
“The Doctor was a great collector, wasn’t he”, the strange little man with the ill-fitting, improvised clothes said as he rummaged through the large chest. “But you’re the Doctor” exclaimed a confused Polly. “Oh, I don’t look like him” quipped the man.
So began the journey of the Second Doctor, Patrick Troughton, as he recovered from his “renewal” as though he’d been on an LSD trip. In fact, the reference to LSD comes directly from the production notes. This was 1966, of course. When Ben had told the “old Doctor” that the ordeal in the Cyberman ship was “all over” (The Tenth Planet) the Doctor had replied by saying “What did you say, my boy? It’s all over. It’s all over. That’s what you said. No, but it isn’t all over. It’s far from being all over”. The “new” Doctor had strangely chuckled “It’s over. It’s over” as he scrambled to his feet upon regenerating. Whilst the Doctor’s “renewal” may have been over, his journey to be understood by his companions was only beginning.
Upon renewal the Doctor is in a confused state, as if he’d been tripping on LSD
Quietly hostile and prone to referring to himself in the third person, the Doctor evaded answering uncomfortable questions by playing a recorder retrieved from the chest. The sceptic Ben was infuriated by the Doctor’s behaviour and didn’t believe the man before him to be the same person as the “old Doctor”. Polly, however, was more willing to believe and recalled the old Doctor’s comment to the effect that perhaps his old body was wearing a bit thin. No one had exited or entered the Tardis so surely this stranger must be the Doctor. It would take a Dalek to recognize the Doctor by sight, towards the end of episode two, for Ben to finally believe that the “new” Doctor was one of the same as the “old Doctor”.
Ben, Polly and the new Doctor with his 500 Year Diary
The Dalek’s recognition of the Doctor, and the Doctor’s visible fear of his oldest foe, was a superbly climatic scene which undoubtedly influenced Rob Shearman as he wrote Dalek, the pepper pots’ debut in Season 1 of the 2005 series. Watch the short clip from Dalek below and marvel at the Ninth Doctor’s fear when he hears the monotone voice of the Dalek say “Dock Toorrr”. The Doctor’s fear as he runs to the door is just palpable. Were The Power of the Daleks not lost and we could watch the serial in its full glory, then I suspect that the Second Doctor’s fear, as he backs into a chair as the Dalek focuses his eye stalk onto him, would be just as unmistakeable.
That The Power of the Daleks should be an influence on the writers of new series Who should come as no surprise. The serial is critically lauded as perhaps the best Dalek story ever and is undoubtedly held in higher regard as a consequence of its missing status. The soundtrack is smashing and the few fragment clips of the Daleks absolutely superb. You can even excuse the production team for the reasonably obvious cardboard cut-out Daleks used to swell the numbers in crowd scenes. We hear much chanting of “exterminate, annihilate, destroy” and “Daleks conquer and destroy”, whilst also seeing the construction of Daleks for the first time. Whilst proceeding down the conveyer belt their mutant insides are plonked inside and seen by viewers for the first time in their live state. The Dalek mutants seen in episode of 12 of the Daleks’ Master Plan were in a regressed form. What makes the Daleks all the more frightening is that they are initially so compliant and obliging.
The Power of the Daleks – Surviving Dalek clips
The similarity between the Series 5 episode Victory of the Daleks and The Power of the Daleks is remarkable. In both stories the Daleks originally portray themselves as servants of humans. In Power the Dalek chants “I am your servant”, whilst in Victory their incantation is “I am your soldier”. In both stories the Doctor is increasingly frustrated at everyone’s refusal to take his concerns about the Daleks seriously. Wildly cognisant of the Dalek’s evil reputation, similar fear and frustration would be instilled into the viewers as well. As Toby Hadoke stated in Running Through Corridors, “… with us, the audience, more aware than most of the characters involved in this adventure just how deadly these creatures are. It’s like watching kids playing with a hand grenade, but being stuck behind soundproofed glass and unable to issue a warning”.
Victory of the Daleks Trailer
Victory of the Daleks’ antecedents can be seen in The Power of the Daleks
Many of the humans in The Power of the Daleks are not particularly likeable. A rebel group within the community are planning a rebellion, however their grievances are unclear. Unlike the young double eye-browed rebels in The Space Museum whose oppression one could empathise with, even though they were the most useless revolutionaries ever portrayed on TV, these rebels are bullish and ignorant. Prepared to sacrifice anyone to achieve their ends, they make the Daleks in earlier episodes appear positively gentlemanly. Whereas the humans were unable to fathom the Cybermen’s lack of empathy in The Tenth Planet, it is in The Power of the Daleks that the monsters express the very same disbelief about the humans. A Dalek innocently asks, “Why do human beings kill human beings?”
It’s invariably the ignorance of humans, and the Rebels’ preparedness to co-opt the Daleks to their cause, which is the reason for their downfall. After using the humans to acquire the materials necessary to construct new Daleks, they have no further need for humans and destroy them. The Daleks are at their evil best and it’s a great shame that the visuals have been lost because the telesnaps make the massacre at the end look magnificent. Ultimately, however, the Doctor saves the day by destroying the Daleks. Or does he?
The Daleks are at their frightening best in The Power of the Daleks
What puzzled me was why the Daleks needed to be charged in Power of the Daleks whenever they were not on metal, yet the Daleks seen in The Chase and The Daleks’ Master Plan didn’t. Wood and Miles in About Time 2 posit cheekily that these Daleks must have been exhausted from their 200 years spent at the bottom of the mercury swamp or not fully-charged as they were fresh models straight off the production-line. One wonders how viewers can pick up these continuity discrepancies in the early years of Doctor Who, and yet the writers could not. Perhaps it was because the serial was written by David Whitaker and was the first Dalek serial in which Terry Nation had no input.
Loose Cannon’s VHS cover art for The Power of the Daleks. The Power of the Daleks was originally broadcast in the UK between 5 November and 10 December 1966
Vivien Fleming
©Vivien Fleming, 2013.
REFERENCES:
Robert Shearman and Toby Hadoke, Running Through Corridors. Rob and Toby’s Marathon Watch of Doctor Who (Mad Norwegian Press, Des Moines, Iowa: 2011),
Tat Wood & Lawrence Miles, About Time. The Unauthorized Guide to Doctor Who. 1966-1969 Seasons 4 to 6. Mad Norweigan Press, Illinois, 2010.
This week’s winner of Chook of the Week goes to an eccentric character known as the Fourth Doctor. All beak and curls, the Doctor is highly energetic and has a fine, distinguished crow. He is frequently mistaken for the aged Tom Baker so being vain, the Doctor is considering dying his feathers brown. Originally a recluse, the Doctor spent time in a monastery before determining that his vocation was marriage. Keen to catch up on lost time, the Doctor has had three wives. An extremely popular rooster he is indeed!
The Fourth Doctor with one of his former wives, Dusty.
The Doctor Who Mind Robber 