September 13th, 2023
156 comments
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Doctor Who The Underwater Menace Ltd Edition Steelbook
Available to order from www.amazon.co.uk
BBC Studios continues to offer Doctor Who fans the opportunity to extend their at home collection by announcing the latest release Doctor Who: The Underwater Menace on DVD and Blu-Ray. The two-disc box set contains the fourth series story as well as special features. This classic series stars the second Doctor Patrick Troughton and co-stars Anneke Wills as Polly, Michael Craze as Ben and Frazer Hines as Jamie McCrimmon.
The original 1967 master recordings of all except episodes two and three of The Underwater Menace were lost soon after the programme’s original transmission. However, audio-only recordings of the missing two episodes have survived and have been used to create a brand new fully animated presentation of this lost classic.
This story sees these characters navigate through their adventures in the underwater city of Atlantis where they meet with Professor Zaroff, who plots to destroy the Earth by draining the oceans. Fans can expect a super jam-packed series bursting with unseen exclusive content. All episodes have been animated in colour and black and white whilst including original film elements.
DISC ONE (Main Feature)
- Episodes 1-4 – Animation – Colour
- Episodes 1-4 – Animation – Black and White
DISC TWO (Special Features)
- Episode 1 – Reconstruction
- Episodes 2 & 3 – Original 1967 Episode
- Episode 4 – Reconstruction
- A Fishy Tale – Making of Documentary
- Australian Censor Clips
- The Man from Miditz
- Frazer Hines Introduction for episode 2 as per the original VHS release
- BBC News Report (South Today)
- BBC Radio Solent Piece (audio only)
- Photo Gallery
- Animation Gallery
- PDF material including camera script
Doctor Who: The Underwater Menace will be available for fans to buy from November 2023.
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Anon
November 19th, 2023 - 7:35pmI’ve watched the b+w version again and have to saw it’s great fun but I did notice that the number of errors where characters have the wrong lines is more than I first thought. What’s particularly annoying about it is that they mainly occur in the existing episodes 2 and 3 so there is really no excuse for the mistakes. Still, I liked the animation but a bit more care next time please!
Gordon
November 17th, 2023 - 10:17pmAnother clip of Ian Levine’s massacre has leaked out https://youtu.be/dkzfRKgO8x4?si=HwNaEgwF6WdVnXc- best thing I can say is at least it’s slightly better than the previous footage
Also apparently been animated by this animation studio https://hancockanimations.com it’s all a bit suspect. Can’t spell headquarters, address is a shopping mall that is a coin dealer, socials and YouTube only started a few months back despite having 5 years experience and the 3 reviews are all within a few days of each other and the reviewers reviewed the same 4
Companies on the exact same days. It’s all suspicious
MDS
November 21st, 2023 - 7:17amJust watched the clip and it looks like Rowan Atkinson’s Blackadder II is making a guest appearance!!!
SV7
November 16th, 2023 - 9:30pmI watched the colour version today and was very impressed. What a fantastic release, my only quibble being that you can’t play all on the B&W animation with the surviving episodes 2 & 3. But they are on the same disc thankfully, so really not a problem.
Just so thankful that the animations are back. As I said previously, keep ‘em coming BBC Studios!!!
D84
November 19th, 2023 - 8:40amI’ve just watched the B&W disc – the restoration is good.
I have noticed some juddering on the surviving episodes, more prevalent on Ep2.
Like when Zaroff tells the doctor of his plan to drain the ocean – then walks over to the fish tank – mine judders on Zaroff walking towards the camera. It’s not massively obvious, and you really have to be glued to the screen to notice it – but it is there. I would say though – one could “forgive” this due to the age of the material. Most on here will disagree and I largely do too – it should be smooth of course
Other sequences see juddering too, mainly fast movements
Slightly disappointing you can’t watch B&W animation combined with the surviving episodes – not the original reconstruction plus surviving episodes. It’s all there on the disc so a small matter of coding surely to create the menu options?
I hope that is rectified for any future animations where there are some surviving episodes
I rarely watch them in that format, and usually go straight to the full colour full animation – but I know others prefer to watch them “as intended” first
Come on BBC get it right please, we pay alot of money for these releases
The Time Lord 1944
November 15th, 2023 - 4:14pmThere are a couple of errors where the wrong character says the wrong line. One scene where Ben says Jamie’s line and another where Ramo says The Doctors line. It’s a shame after so much hard work has gone into it but not a huge issue.
Rex F
November 15th, 2023 - 6:13pmLittle on set changes not reflected in the script the animators used perhaps? Or are these swapped lines real howlers?
Gordon
November 16th, 2023 - 11:11amUnfortunate mistake. I suspect it was a rushed and cheaper production. Whether the new way of funding means they have less money than they used to or it got less money because it was underwater menace I’m not sure though
Bookcollector
November 17th, 2023 - 4:06pmThe other point is that being traditional 2d animation means fixing mistakes is very expensive. The 3d web pointed out in the documentary sections that it was much easier to fix errors in 3d than 2d were numerous layers have to redone. I think all of the animations have some minor errors but it’s better than nothing really. They could have fixed the issues but it would have added to the budget and probably delayed the release.
Jake E
November 15th, 2023 - 9:36amAnimation is fine but on the surviving episodes I’m also getting the juddering. It’s worse than on the Season 20 boxset
The Time Lord 1944
November 15th, 2023 - 3:58pmLooks like it is a software issue in the production of the discs as some had suggested. Whatever software they are using is not compatible with all players. All future releases will continue like this unless they can correct it. The latest Wicker Man Blu-ray produced by StudioCanal is the same. Not many Blu-ray factories now so I imagine the problems are all originating with the same factory, possibly in Poland somewhere.
Rex F
November 15th, 2023 - 6:01pmThis is long before the factory gets involved, they just press and stamp. The issue here is mastering, which’ll be someone on a PC or Mac most likely in London.
The Time Lord 1944
November 15th, 2023 - 6:09pmRex F sorry I stand corrected. They need to find out where the problem is originating or it’s going to be very costly if they decide all discs need to be replaced. That’s two releases effected now. More on the way. Dakeks in colour next.
Rex F
November 15th, 2023 - 9:40pmThis is definitely a local problem, something they can/need to handle themselves. Which you’d think would make it quicker and easier to identify… (If it was overseas, I’d cut them some more slack…)
Bookcollector
November 14th, 2023 - 2:35pmWatched it all now and it’s really good fun. The animation does feature edits though they don’t impact the story at all. In episode three after the doctor announced his kidnap zaroff plan the next scene in the market has its first 40,seconds removed. It goes straight to the doctor talking to polly rather than showing polly walking round the fountain. Doesn’t matter particularly as it’s not noticeable unless you look for it. Very happy with the animated version and minor edits don’t impact it all.
Gordon
November 14th, 2023 - 3:23pmIt’s classified as dead air. The animations quite often cut that out to make the animation remove awkward silences and tighten pacing.
Bookcollector
November 14th, 2023 - 5:02pmOh, I think it makes for a much tighter scene change. I loved the animation and will probably watch the colour version more than the others. Here’s hoping we get more announced soon!
Erato
November 14th, 2023 - 11:31amUnless I had a blink for 30 seconds and miss it moment, did they cut out the bit from episode 1 where all four of them are pondering in their heads where their next destination will be?
Bookcollector
November 14th, 2023 - 11:35amNo it’s there but the animation has them speaking out loud
D84
November 14th, 2023 - 10:08amWatched the full colour animation last night (Disc 2) – very good, really enjoyed it
The Animation style works well and I didn’t notice any juddering (someone mentioned it somewhere)
Here’s hoping we get Smugglers animated too, then i would guess that allows S4 to be “ready” for “The Collection” release once the appropriate amount of time has passed for the animations to sell as a solo product before they re package them into a season set
Good times, excited for whatever is next
Gio
November 14th, 2023 - 10:26pmI’m really disappointed as I’m getting juddering on the original episodes. Animation fine, just the original b&w episodes. The BBC need to sort this out. Season 20, now this. My TV and 4k player fully updated so unless someone can come up with some settings combination that I haven’t tried it to looks like this could happen on all future releases. These are expensive items and my enjoyment has really been diminished.
Rex F
November 15th, 2023 - 6:08pmGio: Make sure you contact the dvd enquiry line with all the details.
Something about the nature of the video is upsetting the intelligent scaling/deinterlacing algorithms on a number of players and/or televisions. Something that’s happened this year.
Gio
November 15th, 2023 - 7:25pmRex f – thanks. Do you have the email address?
Rex F
November 15th, 2023 - 9:35pm[email protected] is the main one, but you could cc in [email protected] as well (who handle known faults). Something has clearly changed in how they’re producing the video files now.
Gio
November 16th, 2023 - 7:38pmThanks Rex F.
Both emailed.
Weirdly only ep2 affected. Ep 3 seems fine.
SV7
November 13th, 2023 - 9:35pmMy Steelbook copy turned up from Amazon today (a nice unexpected surprise, as originally the est. delivery was Nov. 20th!).
So far, I’ve just watched episode 1 in B&W and the new recon of episode 1. Very, very impressed. A trillion miles away from the original 2015 DVD release. I’m saving the rest for the next few days.
Keep ‘em coming BBC Studios!