Doctor Who animations are Back!
Following a rumour that surfaced via the Daily Mirror at the start of the year, the BBC have officially announced that The Underwater Menace will be animated for a November 2023 release.
This four-Part story was the fifth serial from Season 4, and was broadcast from 14th January to 4th February 1967, starring Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor, appearing alongside Frazer Hines as Jamie McCrimmon, Michael Craze as Ben and Anneke Wills as Polly.
A teaser trailer for the release can be seen below:
A description for the release has been provided, which reads:
“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.”
A list of the main and special features for the release has also been provided:
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 Episodes
- 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
It’s great to see that the animations are resuming, and it also means that Season 4 has just two of its nine serials (The Smugglers & The Highlanders) left to be animated – The Smugglers was also touted for an animation in the aforementioned Daily Mirror leak, though it remains to be seen whether this will materialise, or if wires were potentially crossed with leaked information concerning the recent Kaleidoscope censor clip colourisations for the serial, which were screened for the first time at the BFI’s Missing Believed Wiped on 5th August.
Fans might recall that this serial was originally released on DVD back in 2015, following the recovery of episode 2 back in 2011 alongside Galaxy 4 episode 3. The release was criticised for the poor quality of its photo reconstructions of episodes 1 & 4, which was no fault of the team working on the release but instead down to decisions made at the time higher up at the BBC. This new release, however, should provide us with improved reconstructions, alongside new animations for all four episodes, which are being presented in full colour and black and white. The approach of animating entire serials, including surviving episodes, has been implemented for all the animations post The Power of the Daleks (excepting The Web of Fear’s Special Edition release), and is done by the BBC for future broadcast purposes.
My only issue with the release is the relegation of the surviving episodes to the bonus disc, though ultimately the main product here is the new animation, and hopefully when The Collection Season 4 comes around we’ll have the option to watch the animated episodes of 1 & 4 alongside the surviving 2 & 3. Commentaries are also absent from the features lists, so it remains to be seen if any will be included here.
Stay tuned for more Classic Doctor Who news and reviews!
By HW Reynolds
Images Courtesy of BBC Studios
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