Underworld [Doctor Who, Story 96]

Underworld by Bob Baker & Dave Martin

7 - 28 January 1978​

I try to approach every Doctor Who story with a certain level of charity and optimism. Really, I do! That's why I like The Web Planet, and why, after some time and reflection, I really don't hate The Space Museum. There's a very short list of issues that I can't forgive. Those relatively common and acceptable flaws of low production values, duff acting, and dialog or scripting quibbles are not a part of that list. There are, therefore, only two potential cardinal flaws that I really can't get over: a Doctor Who story that's morally bankrupt, and a Doctor Who story that's mortally boring.

Underworld is a boring Doctor Who story.

I should at least throw it one bone: Part One shows potential. As I mentioned back in the Invisible Enemy post, Baker and Martin can always be counted on to propose some interesting science fiction concepts, even if the execution is lacking. In Part One we meet the Minyans, an ancient race who were introduced to the concept of regeneration by the Time Lords early in their history. This gives us the interesting lore concept of the incident which brought about the Time Lords' non-intervention policy, which in a stronger story would absolutely be fun to explore. Part One even has some interesting scenes, like the Minyan woman regenerating in the healing pod and the planet accreting around the Minyan ship.

But once you clear that first cliffhanger, I'm afraid that there's nothing more of interest to be found. As soon as the Minyan ship lands, all the life drains out of the story like someone pulled a plug at the bottom. There are no stakes in particular, and no interesting side characters, either.

A lot is made of the bad CSO in this story, and sure enough, that's there too. I didn't mind this in The Mutants, for example, where there was at least somewhat of a story with real stakes, albeit a flawed one. Here the misapplication of technology just makes an already threadbare story labor under the weight of its own televisual inadequacies. The excuse that the budget was low and the technology was untested doesn't extend far enough to forgive the other visual shortcoming of the story, namely its set and color design. Never has there been a more unremittingly beige Doctor Who story, a color that will characterize Underworld more in my memory than any of its actual characters or monsters could.

I hate to go on about things I don't like; it makes me self-conscious. Since I think everyone gets the picture by now, I'll just drop a glib statement of "this is surely the weakest Doctor Who story so far" and leave it be. The somewhat more interesting season finale, The Invasion of Time, is up next after all, and I'd hate to spoil my appetite.

(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 6 July 2021.)