Doctor Who: Underworld (1978)

Underworld has long had a reputation among Doctor Who fans as being one of the long-running series' weakest stories and its release on DVD has done nothing to dispel that reputation.

The Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker), Leela (Louise Jameson) and K-9 take the TARDIS to the very edge of the known universe, where they are forced to materialise on a Minyan spacecraft, the R1C, to avoid being pulled into a nebula.

The R1C, and its continually regenerating crew, is nearing the end of a 100,000 year quest to retrieve the Minyan 'race banks' - a pair of data stores with the complete genetic make-up of their species - from a lost colony ship, the P7E.

The P7E is found at the heart of the nebula, where a newly-formed planet has grown-up around it.

The inhabitants of this new planet - who all live underground in a strict caste system - are the descendants of the Minyans and all pay homage to "the Oracle", which turns out to be the old ship's computer and guardian of the race bank.

There's an awful lot of tedious wandering around - broken up by some running around - and a tired plot of about a society ruled by an insane computer (a cliché even back then as it had been done to death in Star Trek and done better in earlier Doctor Who).

It's a tedious, linear script with no surprises and no convincing motivation for the forced conflict that unfolds between the crew of the R1C and the people of the underworld.

Matters aren't helped by painfully hammy acting from several members of the supporting cast and some wonky science in the script, but Underworld's biggest problem - heightened by the crisp quality of the DVD image - is the excessive use of shockingly bad Colour Separation Overlay (CSO).

Instead of shipping everyone off to Chislehurst Caves in Kent, new producer Graham Williams opted to cut costs by filming the cave sequences against a green (or blue) screen in a studio, so the 'underworld' could be superimposed.

The effect is so poor that it totally destroys any attempt by the viewer to suspend disbelief as parts of people's bodies fade in and out, or K-9's flank suddenly becomes transparent.

CSO was used quite frequently in this mid-period of Doctor Who, but usually with a bit more restraint (or, as in Warrior's Gate, to create a deliberately unreal-feeling environment). However, here, it is totally inexcusable and overshadows the story which, to be fair, has a couple of moments of interest.

These, too, though are sadly squandered.

It is revealed that an earlier encounter between the Time Lords of Gallifrey and the Minyans led to the creation of the Time Lord's policy of non-intervention; the Minyans regarded the Time Lords as 'gods' but then took the gifts the Gallifreyans gave them and used them to wage war on each other, but this sub-plot goes nowhere.

The caste structure of the underground world - which, naturally, leads to a slave revolt and the least inspiring rebellion seen on Doctor Who - includes a group called the Seers who, beneath their cowls, wear very retro sci-fi helmets with three eye-pieces. I thought these were going to be shown to be robots or some similar extension of the Oracle, but, again, this is never explored or revealed.

The story, by Bob Baker and Dave Martin, is full of unsubtle references to the Greek myths of Jason and The Argonauts - with many of the main characters sharing similar names with their mythical antecedents (ie. Captain Jackson = Jason; Herrick = Heracles; Minyans = Minoans; P7E = Persephone etc); a cheap trick that rarely works out well.

But just in case the audience didn't pick up on this, The Doctor 'accidentally' calls Captain Jackson (James Maxwell) 'Jason' and then has to explain to Leela the similarities (even though earlier she had seemed aware of who Ulysses was), suggesting that maybe old Earth myths are actually prophecies - a truly cringe-worthy piece of corny writing.

A tiresome and unengaging story to watch, Underworld is only really worth suffering through for Leela's skimpy costume, but that's small reward for 89-minutes of low-grade Doctor Who.