Saturday 31 May 2014

Underworld

The vast majority of the reviews have been of the new series under RTD as I am going through a phase at the moment but there was a classic series story I watched earlier - Underworld.

Underworld is a very poorly regarded story being in the bottom ten of most polls but I completely disagree. Yes the CSO is poor but the model shots in episode one do make this up for me. There is a good story in this and I think it is crime for people to disregard this story due to the CSO. I personally think the script is strong - one of Baker and Martin's best and I think this is one of K9's strongest stories. I like all of the Greek mythology elements being integrated into the story, which added a whole new dimension to this story.

The problems with this story is the production itself. If it had been made earlier in the season when they had money, I think they would not have been thwarted by the problems associated with the special effects and had the ability to build actual sets. As they are so flawed it seems to me people cannot appreciate what is actually a good story and script. It is by no means a classic but a strong story filled with strong ideas which permeate through the whole script; this is one of my favourites from this season behind Fang Rock and Fendhal but by no means one of the bottom ten doctor who stories ever.

7/10