History Recap / DoctorWhoS4E5TheUnderwaterMenace

'''Production code:''' GG

Written by Geoffrey Orme. This four-episode serial first aired from January 14 to February 4, 1967.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Zarvoff’s face when the Doctor actually asks him ''why'' he intends to blow up the world makes it clear that the question had simply never occurred to him before.

For a long time it was thought that only Episode 3 remained, until [[http://www.scifinow.co.uk/news/doctor-who-galaxy-4-and-the-underwater-menace-missing-episodes-found/ Episode 2]] turned up in 2011. They are the earliest Troughton episodes known to exist, as his first two serials remain lost in their entirety. It was released as an animayed reconstruction in 2023.

%%zce* {{Mythpunk}}

%%zce* SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum: Zaroff.

JustForFun/{{The one w|ith}}here Jamie slaps Polly.

For a long time it was thought that only Episode 3 remained, until [[http://www.scifinow.co.uk/news/doctor-who-galaxy-4-and-the-underwater-menace-missing-episodes-found/ Episode 2]] turned up in 2011. They are the earliest Troughton episodes known to exist, as his first two serials remain lost in their entirety. Got a animation in 2023.

For a long time it was thought that only Episode 3 remained, until [[http://www.scifinow.co.uk/news/doctor-who-galaxy-4-and-the-underwater-menace-missing-episodes-found/ Episode 2]] turned up in 2011. They are the earliest Troughton episodes known to exist, as his first two serials remain lost in their entirety.

* OutOfCharacterMoment: There's a scene where Polly is trapped in a flooding chamber and [[HystericalWoman panicking and screaming that she can't do it]], and Jamie pulls her to her feet and [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan slaps her on the face]]. This was in a MissingEpisode[[invoked]], and when Creator/TheBBC's narrated audio reconstruction was made, Creator/AnnekeWills and the director both agreed that Jamie [[CanonDiscontinuity didn't slap Polly]] because it didn't fit his character or their relationship, and they felt that Jamie dragging Polly to her feet would have been enough to snap her out of it.

-> ''Nossing in ze vorld can ztop me now!''
-->-- What many fans think '''Zaroff''' said.

-> ''Nothing in the world can stop me now!''

The one where Jamie slaps Polly.

* AdaptationExpansion: The novelization gives a deeper motivation for Zaroff's scheme-his wife and daughter died in an accident, and he can't stand the thought of the world going on without them.

* [[ForScience For SCIENCE!]]: The closest Zaroff comes to an explanation of his motives in the TV story (but see the All There In The Manual entry above) is pretty much this.

* [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan Get a Hold of Yourself, Woman!]]: The now-infamous scene of Jamie slapping Polly to snap her out of a mental breakdown; the bit was originally written with the more overtly chauvinistic Ben in mind before Jamie was unexpectedly added to the regular cast.

* {{Mythpunk}}

* ReligionIsWrong: The conclusion the surviving Atlanteans reach through [[BrokenAesop dubious]] [[AuthorFilibuster means]] at the end.

* SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum: Zaroff.

Written by Geoffrey Orme. This serial first aired January 14-February 4, 1967.

* BottleEpisode: It was an unpopular script that was dashed out as cheaply as possible when the producers realized it was the best script out of the bad bunch they had. Unlike other examples, this does not work in the story's favour as it relies very heavily on sets (representing a massive Atlantean temple system with a series of box rooms with shells glued on), costumes (cardboard headdresses for everyone!) and monsters (the 'fish people' are dressed in what look like Pierrot-style white ruffled bodysuits with sequins to represent scales and big cardboard eyes). Some people find this to be enjoyable 1960s camp and link it to the psychedelia movement. Others find it SpecialEffectFailure.

* OutOfCharacterMoment: There's a scene where Polly is trapped in a flooding chamber and [[HystericalWoman panicking and screaming that she can't do it]], and Jamie pulls her to her feet and [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan slaps her on the face]]. This was in a MissingEpisode, and when Creator/TheBBC's narrated audio reconstruction was made, Creator/AnnekeWills and the director both agreed that Jamie [[CanonDiscontinuity didn't slap Polly]] because it didn't fit his character or their relationship, and they felt that Jamie dragging Polly to her feet would have been enough to snap her out of it.

* {{Chickification}}: This story is particularly extreme in depicting Polly as a DistressedDamsel with no redeeming moments of agency, to the displeasure of the actor Anneke Wills.

* OutOfCharacterMoment: There's a scene where Polly is trapped in a flooding chamber and [[HystericalWoman panicking and screaming that she can't do it]], and Jamie pulls her to her feet and [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan slaps her on the face]]. This was in a MissingEpisode, and when Creator/TheBBC's narrated audio reconstruction was made, Anneke Wills and the director both agreed that Jamie [[CanonDiscontinuity didn't slap Polly]] because it didn't fit his character or their relationship, and they felt that Jamie dragging Polly to her feet would have been enough to snap her out of it.

For a long time it was thought that only Episode 3 remained, until [[http://www.scifinow.co.uk/news/doctor-who-galaxy-4-and-the-underwater-menace-missing-episodes-found/ episode 2]] turned up in 2011. They are the earliest Troughton episodes known to exist, as his first two serials remain lost in their entirety.

For a long time it was thought that only episode 3 remained, until [[http://www.scifinow.co.uk/news/doctor-who-galaxy-4-and-the-underwater-menace-missing-episodes-found/ episode 2]] turned up in 2011. They are the earliest Troughton episodes known to exist, as his first two serials remain lost in their entirety.

* BottleEpisode: It was an unpopular script that was dashed out as cheaply as possible when the producers realized it was the best script out of the bad bunch they had. Unlike other examples, this does not work in the episode's favour as it relies very heavily on sets (representing a massive Atlantean temple system with a series of box rooms with shells glued on), costumes (cardboard headdresses for everyone!) and monsters (the 'fish people' are dressed in what look like Pierrot-style white ruffled bodysuits with sequins to represent scales and big cardboard eyes). Some people find this to be enjoyable 1960s camp and link it to the psychedelia movement. Others find it SpecialEffectFailure.

* FamilyUnfriendlyViolence: A surviving clip from episode one shows Polly being forcibly anaesthetised in preparation for being turned into a [[{{Cyborg}} fish-person]] while screaming and bellowing in protest.
* FishPeople: Created by surgery rather than a natural species. Polly almost becomes one in some of the few clips to survive from episode 1 and in the newly-recovered episode 2.

* {{Adorkable}}: The Doctor practically vibrates with glee when Ramo offers him his people's ceremonial robes and [[NiceHat bizarre headdress]] as a disguise, then looks a little sheepish at his own excitement.

* AdaptionExpansion: The novelization gives a deeper motivation for Zaroff's scheme-his wife and daughter died in an accident, and he can't stand the thought of the world going on without them.

For a long time it was thought that only episode 3 remained, until [[http://www.scifinow.co.uk/news/doctor-who-galaxy-4-and-the-underwater-menace-missing-episodes-found/ episode 2]] turned up in 2011.

* OminousLatinChanting: multiple times in the temple of Amdo.

* EvilIsHammy: Zaroff could have a HamToHamCombat with the Daleks and have a good chance of winning.

* ObscuredSpecialEffects: The KnockoutGas used by the Atlanteans is invisible — although this overlaps with FridgeBrilliance, because the Doctor explains it's high-pressure nitrogen, presumably to invoke the famous diving hazard of "the bends" where nitrogen under high pressure begins to act on the body like laughing gas (of course, in reality you'd probably just suffocate, but it goes with the undersea theme of the episode quite well).