.jpg "Doctor Who: 'The Underwater Menace' DVD Mock-Up")
- Broadcast:
- 14th January - 7th February 1967
- Doctor:
- Patrick Troughton
- Companions:
- Ben, Polly, Jamie
- Adversary:
- Mad Scientist
- Written by:
- Geoffrey Orme
- Director:
- Julia Smith
- Music:
- Dudley Simpson
- Script Editor:
- Gerry Davis
- Producer:
- Innes Lloyd
- Average Viewers:
- 7.48m (8.3, 7.5, 7.1, 7.0)
The Underwater Menace is an odd duck. Metaphorically. I've written about thirty one adventures so far and it seems that a significant number of them either hold honorary positions for various reasons, or are marked by dubious honour of some form. The Underwater Menace is yet another, but on multiple layers. Most importantly at the time of writing is the fact that it includes the only existing episode not to have been released on DVD, yet it has been due for well over a year and a few months ago appeared to be dead in the water (if you'll excuse the pun) It was one of the key arguments in support of the so called 'omnirumour' that many more 'missing' episodes, if not all of them, have been discovered and are secretly being withheld (for a number of suggested reasons). After all, why else would an incomplete story be so quietly delayed especially after being included in a "Coming Soon" trailer. A couple of hours after watching the recon, I read that BBC Worldwide had issued a statement hoping that The Underwater Menace would be released next year with the missing episode replaced by animation. This was quite a relief, but not concrete enough to quash the rumours...
Meanwhile, focussing on the serial itself, scripting issues meant that the episodes were only recorded the week before they were broadcast! News events at time of broadcast may never have been more relevant...
Just ahead of the first episode, Dr James Bedford died and became the first person to be cryonically preserved and there was a military coup in Togo. In San Francisco, a mass peaceful protest at the Golden Gate Park took place, partly in reaction to the banning of LSD, and was dubbed the Human-In. It included Timothy Leary's famous "Turn on, tune in, drop out" speech and set the stage for the Summer of Love as well as starting the -in suffix ("love-in" "sit-in" and even "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" comedy television show). Meanwhile in the UK, Parliament decided to nationalise 90% of the British steel industry, began negotiations for joining the EEC, and founded Milton Keynes as a New Town.
In Munich, the trial of Wilhelm Harster began, as leader of German security police during the occupation of the Netherlands he was accused of the murder of 82,856 Jews and would ultimately be sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin was in the UK for an eight-day visit including a meeting with The Queen on 9 February, while demonstrations outside the Soviet embassy in Beijing got out of hand, three US Astronauts died during a launchpad test of Apollo 1 on the same day that the US, UK and USSR signed the Outer Space Treaty.
In the entertainment world, news reported in the Daily Mail inspired the Beatles song "A Day In The Life" and The Monkees topped the charts with "I'm a Believer". Cinemas were full of spy movies The Quiller Memorandum, Murderers' Row, and The Spy in the Green Hat made up of two episodes from "The Man From UNCLE" that hadn't been broadcast in the UK. Other movies included the sequel Return of the Seven and The Night of the Generals.
In the Doctor's world, things were about to get a little odd and a new companion was having his first TARDIS experience"
Meanwhile, focussing on the serial itself, scripting issues meant that the episodes were only recorded the week before they were broadcast! News events at time of broadcast may never have been more relevant...
Just ahead of the first episode, Dr James Bedford died and became the first person to be cryonically preserved and there was a military coup in Togo. In San Francisco, a mass peaceful protest at the Golden Gate Park took place, partly in reaction to the banning of LSD, and was dubbed the Human-In. It included Timothy Leary's famous "Turn on, tune in, drop out" speech and set the stage for the Summer of Love as well as starting the -in suffix ("love-in" "sit-in" and even "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" comedy television show). Meanwhile in the UK, Parliament decided to nationalise 90% of the British steel industry, began negotiations for joining the EEC, and founded Milton Keynes as a New Town.
In Munich, the trial of Wilhelm Harster began, as leader of German security police during the occupation of the Netherlands he was accused of the murder of 82,856 Jews and would ultimately be sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin was in the UK for an eight-day visit including a meeting with The Queen on 9 February, while demonstrations outside the Soviet embassy in Beijing got out of hand, three US Astronauts died during a launchpad test of Apollo 1 on the same day that the US, UK and USSR signed the Outer Space Treaty.
In the entertainment world, news reported in the Daily Mail inspired the Beatles song "A Day In The Life" and The Monkees topped the charts with "I'm a Believer". Cinemas were full of spy movies The Quiller Memorandum, Murderers' Row, and The Spy in the Green Hat made up of two episodes from "The Man From UNCLE" that hadn't been broadcast in the UK. Other movies included the sequel Return of the Seven and The Night of the Generals.
In the Doctor's world, things were about to get a little odd and a new companion was having his first TARDIS experience"
