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24 September 2014

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Doctor Who | Photonovels | The Underwater Menace

Episode One contact sheet

The TARDIS dematerialises from Culloden Moor with an extra passenger on board – Scottish piper Jamie McCrimmon. The Doctor discards his hat while he examines the Ship's instruments.

Jamie stares at the central column as it begins to rise and fall. 'What's this?' he asks.

'You'll find out,' says the Doctor, activating one of the levers on the console. 'It's a machine, my old haggis,' says Ben. 'It's taken you away from Scotland forever.'

Ben explains that the Doctor has no control over their next destination. 'Quite true,' adds Polly, 'and what's more we don't even know what year it will be either.'

'Och, now, I don't believe it,' says Jamie.

'Nae man can tether time nor tide – Robert Burns,' quotes the Doctor, before realising that Jamie comes from 1746 and Burns wasn't born until 1759.

'Hold tight, everyone,' advises the Doctor as the TARDIS begins to land. Polly reassures her new friend: 'Don't be scared, Jamie, it's all right, really.'

Prehistoric monsters?

'Please let it be Chelsea 1966,' says Polly.
'Hope it's the Daleks, I don't think,' says Ben.

'Prehistoric monsters...' muses the Doctor.

'What have I come upon?' wonders Jamie as the TARDIS comes to rest.

The TARDIS materialises on a beach, and its crew eagerly inspect their new surroundings. Polly guesses they are in Cornwall. 'You said that last time,' laughs Ben. 'And I was right,' she replies.

The Doctor guesses that they aren't in the British Isles because the rock is volcanic. 'Not very old either,' he says.
'How old?' asks Ben.
'Ooh, Miocene,' he replies.

'Only about 25 million years old,' he explains. 'Look,' he points to a nearby summit.
'That's an extinct volcano, isn't it?' asks Ben.
'Possibly, possibly,' replies the Doctor.

Ben, Polly and Jamie scale the side of the volcano and stand on the ridge at the top. Polly thinks she can see something below and joins the others as they descend into the crater.

An exhausted Polly stays behind while Ben and Jamie descend further into the volcano. She decides to explore a nearby cave.

While Polly stoops to examine a bracelet on the cave floor, three men come up behind her and tie her up. Ben and Jamie hear Polly's screams and follow her into the cave.

On the beach, the Doctor talks to himself as he examines a broken piece of pottery. 'Mediterranean. Ooh no... tidal sea. That's funny, hasn't been fired long...' He is unaware of someone approaching behind him. Meanwhile, Ben and Jamie are captured by unseen assailants and thrown into what seems to be a huge cage.

Polly is pleased to see her fellow captives. 'Who are they?' says Jamie, asking who seized them. 'I don't know,' says Polly. 'I didn't see them.'

Ben, Polly and Jamie are soon joined by the Doctor, who is shoved into the room. The door closes and it becomes clear that the cage is in fact an elevator. 'Where are we going?' aks Polly.
'That, we shall find out very soon,' says the Doctor, as the elevator begins a rapid descent.

A light on the wall blinks as the elevator approaches its destination. Polly unties herself and succeeds in freeing Ben and Jamie before she complains of feeling unwell. 'Don't be frightened, anybody,' says the Doctor. 'If we pass out it's compressed nitrogen. It's called Caisson's Disease.'

The effects of sudden decompression quickly overwhelm everyone in the room and they lapse into unconsciousness.

Ben is the first person to wake up.

'This must be some sort of compression chamber,' surmises Ben as the others come to. The Doctor consults his diary in an effort to guess which civilisation could be responsible for their new environment.

Polly guesses they are in 1970, and produces the bracelet she retrieved to prove it. The bracelet is inscribed 'Mexico Olympiad'. Ben points out that wasn't due until 1968. 'Right,' says Polly. 'So now it's any time later than that.'

A strangely dressed man enters the room. 'Polly, you speak foreign,' says Ben. 'Go and talk to him, ask him where we are.'
Polly tries a selection of European languages: 'Parlez-vous francais? Sprechen Sie deutsch? Habla si espanol?'

'Au Gaelic akye?' tries Jamie hopefully. The man simply gestures in response. 'That means 'move' in any language,' says the Doctor. 'I think we'd better comply.'

The travellers are ushered through a series of corridors adorned with abstract carvings. They eventually arrive at a large room where food is being laid out by a serving girl called Ara. When Ara finishes her task a guard raises his spear to strike her but the Doctor swiftly gets in the way.

'This is good,' says the Doctor, tucking in. 'This is very good. Mmm. It's delicious. This is excellent. Sit down, sit down. This is ambrosia.'

'What's got into him?' asks Polly. 'I don't know,' says Ben. 'I've never seen him go for food like this before. It's usually hats.'
The Doctor's friends become even more baffled when the Doctor reveals he is eating plankton. 'You'd better get used to it,' he says. 'I don't expect there's much else to be had around here.'

The guards show in Ramo, a priest wearing ceremonial robes. 'We've been expecting you,' he says.
'We didn't know we were coming ourselves,' says Ben.
The priest replies: 'The living goddess Amdo sees and hears all.'

'She told us you would fall from the sky, in time for our festival of the Vernal Equinox,' says Ramo.
'And just what part are we to play in this festival of the Vernal Equinox?' asks the Doctor.
'A very important part, I regret to say,' claims the priest.

Ramo orders the guards to take Ben, Polly and Jamie away. Before they take the Doctor he makes an announcement: 'What I have to say concerns a certain Professor Zaroff. He's here, isn't he? The food! It couldn't be anyone else but Zaroff. He led the field in producing cheap food from the sea. His progress is astonishing.'

'You are a friend of Zaroff's?' asks Ramo suspiciously.
'Just send him this message, and you'll see', says the Doctor.

Ramo refuses to take the message, but when Ara returns to clear the table the Doctor hands his message to her instead. 'Ara, take this message to Professor Zaroff,' he asks. She hesitates, but then agrees.

A huge effigy dominates the temple of Amdo. At the centre of the temple, sharks circle in a large pool.

'I'm scared,' says Polly over the sound of chanting. 'What are they going to do to us?'

Jamie places his faith in the absent Doctor. 'He's a canny one, yon Doctor. Dinna fuss yourself, Polly.'

The Doctor is led into the temple while, elsewhere, the timid Ara requests an audience with Professor Zaroff.

The high priest, Lolem, raises his hand, signalling the beginning of the ceremony.

The high priest adopts the ceremonial headdress and gives the signal for the sacrifices to be offered.

Ben, Polly and Jamie are tied up and placed on planks around the mouth of the shark-pool.

The sharks circle in anticipation of their next meal.

The Doctor is bustled into the temple and placed alongside his companions.

As the ceremony continues, Ara asks to speak to Zaroff's assistant Damon.

'Life is a stream of water that drains away even as time does, and cannot be reclaimed,' proclaims the high priest. 'Accept, oh mighty and powerful Amdo, these your sacrifices.'

Polly screams as the planks start to tilt towards the water.

A poisonous fish languishes in a tank inside Zaroff's laboratory.

Ara enters the room and hands the Doctor's note to Damon. It reads: 'Vital secret will die with me' and is signed 'Dr W.'

The Doctor and his companions continue to slide towards the water. An eerie silence descends, punctuated only by Polly's screams.

Suddenly, Professor Zaroff rushes into the temple. 'Stop the ceremony!' he orders in a clipped German accent. The high priest is furious: 'You dare to interfere with the hour of sacrifice?'

'I will not interfere with your sacrifices. But I must first speak with that man,' says Zaroff, indicating the Doctor. 'Release him!'

The Doctor is untied and brought before the Professor. 'Now,' says Zaroff. 'This information you have – what is it?' The Doctor insists that his friends are released first. Zaroff agrees, and has Ben, Polly and Jamie sent to the labour controller.

'Reports of your death 20 years previously are a little premature,' exclaims the Doctor happily to Zaroff. 'Now, here you are, the greatest scientific genius since Leonardo, under the sea!' He is ultimately forced to admit that he has no secret to divulge. Zaroff, at first furious, breaks into maniacal laughter. 'I need men like you!'

'Your lives have been spared,' says Damon. 'See that they contribute useful service to the community.'

Ben and Jamie are taken to the mines but Damon holds Polly back. 'Don't be afraid, girl. Life is very beautiful under the sea. Come on.'

He leads her to an observation port. 'Seventy per cent of the world's surface is under the oceans,' he tells her. 'You are looking at our food producing areas. Without it, we couldn't survive.'

Polly points to some strange figures swimming towards the window. 'What are those?'

'Those are our farmers,' replies Damon. 'We give them plastic gills.' Polly seems fascinated. 'I'm glad you're taking it like this,' continues Damon. 'Some people get most upset when they find they are to have the operation.' Polly shrinks away in horror. 'Operation? You're not turning me into a fish!'

'We're in the ancient kingdom of Atlantis!' realises the Doctor, seeing ancient ruins outside the observation window. 'But how did you get them to accept you? Surely science is in opposition to... idol worship?' Zaroff smiles. 'I gave them a sugar-coated pill. I have promised to lift Atlantis out of the sea.'

While Zaroff is distracted, Ara bursts in with an urgent message for the Doctor. 'It's the girl,' she says. 'They're going to carry out the fish operation on her.'

'Go back to Polly, and if the chance comes, get her away from there!' says the Doctor. 'Will you do that for me?'

'Don't be difficult, girl,' says Damon. 'It's quite painless.' A terrified Polly says, 'No! No!'

Polly is placed on the operating table. 'One tiny jab, and you'll know no more about it until it's all over,' says Damon. On the other side of the glass, the Fish People peer through as the operation begins...

NEXT WEEK: Will Polly be turned into a fish?

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