Underworld Part Four

The one where the Minyans get their race banks and the quest is over...

It makes a change for the good guys and the bad guys to actually talk things through and agree to cooperate for the greater good. Ankh and Lakh ask Herrick what it is the Minyans want, and when Herrick says they just want their race bank cylinders, the domeheads agree to go and get them, and release Herrick unharmed, as long as they all just go away! Makes a change.

What exactly are Ankh and Lakh though? In part 3 they state that they are not Minyan descendants, they have "evolved far beyond them" and are servants of the Oracle, "seers of the realm of Hedas". So they are not humans, and we can see that when they take their hoods off to reveal their domed heads. They look like robots, but how can robots evolve from humans? Nothing more is revealed about what these two characters are, and once they put their hoods back on, it's all forgotten about and they just become like any other hooded baddie. It seems a bit pointless to have them look like that at all if it's not going to be explained. It's not even as if they helped provide a cliffhanger. Baffling.

Underworld Part Three

The one where the Minyans and the trogs join forces...

As if seeing the end of part 2 wasn't punishment enough the first time around, the reprise lasts a full 1 minute 40 seconds, recycling the same bland footage, including that vital vent action! And just to reaffirm the fact we're watching Underworld, director Norman Stewart gets to recycle some footage, reversing it when the vent sucks the gas out.

One thing I will say though, is that this scene with the gas must have been quite tricky to get right, as it involves three different layers. You've got the real-world props of the vent and the air control, as well as an actor, then you've got the CSO background they inhabit, on top of which is a third complication of overlaying the rising gas level. It might still look rubbish, but I bet it wasn't easy to set up. I'm damning with false praise there, aren't I? Well, it's the best I can do.

Underworld Part Two

The one where the R1C plunges into a CSO underworld...

The R1C manages to shoot its way out of the 100 metre thick rocky skin that's formed around it, and proceeds to follow the P7E's signal, which just happens to be coming from the core of a planet. The effect of the ship plunging into the half-formed P7E planet is excellent, the ultimate splashdown! You can't knock the model effects guys on Underworld.

But then something horrific happens: everything goes CSO. As the R1C tears through the body of the planet, heading for the centre, it causes a "skyfall" at the core. Cue lots of drably dressed people running and screaming from left to right through Colour Separation Overlay caves. And then, shamelessly, exactly the same shot again. Then these drably dressed people are seen trying to lift very obviously polystyrene rocks. It's all so shockingly bad, a jarring contrast to the intelligent mystery of part 1.

Underworld Part One

The one where the TARDIS lands on a ship that starts to become a planet...

The opening shot of this episode made me giggle! Not that it's poor, not by any means. Doctor Who went off-air for three weeks over Christmas 1977, and in that gap, on December 27th, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (or whatever it was called back then!) premiered in British cinemas, with its acclaimed special effects, and that now legendary opening shot of the Star Destroyer pursuing the Tantive IV. And what does Doctor Who do the moment it's back after New Year? A tracking shot across a starscape, and then the ickle old TARDIS comes sweeping into view as if to say: "Star Destroyers? Pah!" I know it wasn't planned that way, but the irony doesn't escape me!

Actually, the model and special effects in this episode are pretty impressive, even in 2020. There was one point where I had to check I hadn't accidentally activated an Updated Special Effects option on my DVD because I couldn't believe how well the effects had aged. The spinning spiral nebula looks like something the new series would do, and the model of the R1C ship flying through space looks completely convincing, with not a wobble in sight. I'd say the modelwork is even better than The Invisible Enemy's. Doctor Who might have started to look cheaper at this point in its history, but the guys doing the models were burning on all cylinders.