The Underwater Menace (TV story): Difference between revisions

Jamie is blown away by the interior and the workings of the TARDIS. The Doctor quotes [[Robert Burns]] to him — which confuses him further due to the fact that Burns wouldn't be born until ten years after Jamie was taken. The TARDIS materialises on a volcanic island.  

As the three companions climb Polly thinks she sees something in the distance, but Ben and Jamie say she must be imagining it. Polly decides to wait for the boys as she is running out of breath. They leave her on a ledge to return for her when they reach the top. She begins to explore and finds a bracelet that she examines very closely before beginning to explore in a nearby cave. Here she is confronted by robed figures. She screams, which alerts Jamie and Ben. They return back to the cave and begin to explore. They are ambushed by the robed figures who capture them and put them in a small room where Polly is tied up. They discuss what to do until the door opens again and the Doctor is thrown in with them. Once all four are together, the room begins to descend like an elevator. The companions suffer difficulty in breathing, nausea and a strange taste in their mouths before they fall unconscious.  

They awake later in a compression chamber. The Doctor wonders when they are. Polly takes a stab at the [[1970]]s. When challenged she reveals the bracelet which is a souvenir from the 1968 [[Olympics]] in [[Mexico]], alluding to the fact that it must be some point after that. A guard armed with a spear enters. Polly and Jamie try to communicate with him but to no avail. He gesticulates with his spear, indicating that they should go down a corridor.   

They are taken to a dining hall and given a dinner of plankton. The armed guard is hostile towards a serving girl called [[Ara]], for whom the Doctor sticks up. Lolem, a priest, arrives and says that their goddess Amdo prophesied visitors falling from the sky before one of their festivals. He orders his guards to seize the four travellers in preparation for their sacrifice. As they are dragged away the Doctor says he has something important he needs to say. [[Lolem]] humours him and says he has five minutes whilst his friends are dragged away. The Doctor says that Professor Zaroff, who he has [[deduce]]d to be there, would be very disappointed if he heard that Lolem had killed him. When questioned as to how he knew [[Zaroff]] was there the Doctor states that only he could produce such delicious food from plankton. Lolem says that this changes nothing and that the Doctor will still die. The Doctor asks for him to send a note to Zaroff. Lolem forbids this but the Doctor smuggles the note to Ara and asks her to deliver it.  

The companions have been led into a temple surrounded by a moat of shark-infested water. Ben, Polly and Jamie are tied up and placed on ramps that tilt into the water. The Doctor is led into the temple, tied up and placed on the fourth ramp. The ramps slowly begin to lift. The four victims try and cling on as best they can.  

Ara goes to Zaroff's quarters and is forbidden entry. She then asks to see someone called [[Damon (The Underwater Menace)|Damon]]. Damon is given the note which reads, "Vital secret will die with me. Dr.  W." Damon immediately gives the note to Zaroff, who rushes out and stops the ceremony and orders the Doctor to be released. Initially his companions are to be consigned to their fate but the Doctor tells Zaroff that he will not tell his secret whilst his friends are in danger. They are sent to the labour controller. Zaroff and the Doctor speak privately. It is revealed that Zaroff faked his own death, allowing the world to think he was assassinated or kidnapped in a plot between East and West Germany. The Doctor flatters him so much that when he admits that he has no secret, Zaroff praises him for his sense of humour and allows him to live.  

Damon is in charge of the labour and sends Jamie and Ben to the mines. When left alone with Polly he slightly intimidates her before showing her Zaroff's plans. Outside are farmers who have been given plastic gills in order to farm food under the water. Polly marvels at this but blanches when she discovers that this is the fate that Damon has in mind for Polly.  

The Doctor and Zaroff talk and the Doctor [[deduce]]s that they are in the lost city of [[Atlantis]]. Zaroff reveals that in return for raising Atlantis he was allowed to practice his experiments in the city. Ara comes and informs the Doctor of Damon's plans for Polly. The Doctor tells Ara to go back to Polly, watch over her and, if she has a chance, to get her away from Damon.