Underworld

The Doctor Who production team must have had a slight masochistic tendency which made them repeatedly commission scripts from Bob Baker and Dave Martin. Many of their contributions call for production values wholly unreasonable for the programme and the subsequent failure draws attention to some of the failures in plotting. This really comes to a head in Underworld. This is one of those stories that is remembered by no-one except hardcore Doctor Who fans and has a pretty dismal reputation, so I was not looking forward to watching it.

However, I must say that episode one was actually quite good. We are treated to some of the best model shots the programme has had so far, with some interesting direction from Norman Stewart. There are memorable scenes such as the spacecraft flying through a gas nebula and then attracting asteroids to form a new planet. It seems that the Baker/Martin propensity for intriguing, if barmy ideas has finally translated well to the screen. However, from the moment in episode two when we see the ‘trogs’ running around a badly superimposed ‘sky-fall’ the story collapses like a meringue under custard. The failure is largely a production failure- for whatever reason (probably budgetary) the production team decided to render the caves of the planet by using CSO. One of the problems with CSO is that it relies on the camera being static for it to work- no tracking, panning, zooming or even wobbling. Another problem is that it is very difficult to light the scenes atmospherically as the lighting of the actors often contrasts considerably with the lighting of the backgrounds making them jarringly stand out from the backgrounds. All this results in a large proportion of the story being visually uninteresting at best and downright amateurish at worst. This is a pity, as a few of the scenes that do not rely on CSO are rather well shot and lit, especially the chamber of the Oracle. The shield guns are actually quite cool and the effect used for their beam is actually quite good. However, there is little else to commend it, visually- there is the ludicrous scene of the Doctor, Leela and Idas float in zero gravity along a shaft accompanied by lift muzak and what pass for monsters in this story- in the service of the Oracle, the Seers have become fully robotic. They take off their masks to reveal- two giant sponge fingers!

The script is mercilessly padded, which doesn’t help when there are no flashy visuals to distract from it. Of course, it is ‘cleverly’ based on the myth of Jason and the Golden Fleece (with other aspects of Greek Myth thrown in – P7E…Persephone- geddit?) and even if you were one of the 8 people who missed the parallels, don’t worry, the Doctor explains them at the end, if you make it that far. There are nice ideas, such as the Minyans being the reason why the Time Lords no longer intervene and the endless regeneration of the R1C crew, but there is little in this story that was not explored infinitely better in The Face of Evil. There is, of course, the complete lack of scientific knowledge that all Baker/Martin scripts have and strange things such as the P7E Minyans eating rock. The characterisation is basic and poorly thought out. ‘The Quest is the Quest’ as we are told ad nauseum, so it should be something which is so ingrained in the R1C crew that it should affect every fibre of their being. When they meet the slaves, they are not overjoyed at meeting their kin, or appalled at their degradation, they are simply ignored. The P7E trogs are also underwritten. There are some nice performances from the R1C crew, but the P7E people are largely forgettable. Tom Baker seems not to care about his performance, which is understandable, but doesn't exactly help matters. Louise Jameson is wonderful as ever, though.

In conclusion it is only the fun first episode that stops this story from being the most boring, uninspiring story ever broadcast under the Doctor Who banner- and there can be nothing that recommends a Doctor Who story less.

NEXT: The Invasion of Time