THE UNDERWATER MENACE
by GEOFFREY ORME first broadcast 14th January 1967
[SCENE_BREAK]
1. TARDIS CONSOLE ROOM
(JAMIE looks around him. The central column rises and falls.)
JAMIE: What's this?
DOCTOR: You'll find out.
(The DOCTOR operates the controls.)
JAMIE: Ah, I don't think I want to.
BEN: It's a machine, my old haggis, it's taken you away from Scotland forever.
JAMIE: Where to?
BEN: Ah, well, that as the Doctor would say, that is in the lap of the gods. You never know.
JAMIE: Ah, you'd not be leading me on now, would you? It's a fact, you don't know where we're going?
POLLY: Quite true, and what's more we don't even know what year it will be either.
JAMIE: Och, now, I don't believe it.
DOCTOR: Nae man can tether time nor tide - Robert Burns.
JAMIE: Hey? Who's Robert Burns?
DOCTOR: Oh, I should have remembered.
POLLY: What?
DOCTOR: Well to Jamie, its 1746. Robert Burns wasn't born until 1759.
BEN: It's all complicated, isn't it?
JAMIE: What's happening now?
DOCTOR: We're just beginning to land. Hold tight, everyone.
JAMIE: Land?
POLLY: Don't be scared, Jamie, it's alright, really.
BEN: I get a sort of queer feeling. See, we never know what we're going to find, do we?
DOCTOR: Ah that's the fun. Stand by, here we go.
POLLY: Please let it be Chelsea 1966.
BEN: Hope it's the Daleks, I don't think.
DOCTOR: Prehistoric monsters...
JAMIE: What have I come upon?
(The Tardis lands.)
JAMIE: That wasn't too bad. Lets go outside, Doctor.
BEN: Yeah, Come on, Jamie, you and me first. You never know, you know.
JAMIE: What?
BEN: We don't know what could be waiting for us out there, do we? Come on, Doctor, open up.
DOCTOR: Yes, I don't see why not. It looks alright to me.
(The doors open.)
DOCTOR: Wait!
(The others stop in their tracks.)
DOCTOR: ...For me. Ha ha ha
[SCENE_BREAK]
2. BEACH
POLLY: This time I'll guess where we are.
DOCTOR: Alright then, where are we?
POLLY: Cornwall.
BEN: Ah, you said that last time.
POLLY: And I was right.
JAMIE: The Isles, maybe.
BEN: Don't you know?
DOCTOR: Haven't a clue.
(POLLY laughs.)
DOCTOR: Not the isles of Britain, anyway.
POLLY: How can you tell?
DOCTOR: This rock, it's volcanic. Not very old either.
BEN: How old?
DOCTOR: Oooo, Miocene.
BEN & POLLY: What?
DOCTOR: Only about 25 million years old. Look.
(He points to the island's summit.)
BEN: Hey, that's an extinct volcano, isn't it?
DOCTOR: Possibly, possibly.
JAMIE: Not going for a wee look round?
POLLY: Yes, lets. Come on.
(She slips.)
POLLY: Oooo, give us a hand.
BEN: Here.
(BEN, POLLY and JAMIE begin their ascent.)
[SCENE_BREAK]
3. MOUNTAINSIDE
(BEN, POLLY and JAMIE climb toward the top of the volcano.)
BEN: I don't reckon we're going to see much when we get there.
POLLY: Ben?
BEN: What now?
POLLY: I'm beginning to see things.
BEN: Where?
POLLY: Down there, look. I'm sure I saw something moving.
BEN: Ah, you're round the twist.
POLLY: Ben, there it is again.
BEN: You see anything?
JAMIE: Nothing.
POLLY: Ben, I think we ought to go back.
BEN: No, not me, I'm having a dekko down here.
JAMIE: Yeah, me too.
POLLY: Wait for me!
(They descend into the volcano's crater.)
[SCENE_BREAK]
4. CRATER
POLLY: Oh, can't we stop and have a breather?
JAMIE: Ben and I'll go on, you stay here.
POLLY: Oh, No.
BEN: We shan't be long, love, back before you know it.
POLLY: Alright. Whew.
[SCENE_BREAK]
5. DEEPER INSIDE THE CRATER
(BEN and JAMIE descend.)
POLLY: (OOV.) aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
BEN: Hey, that's Polly.
(They turn back.)
[SCENE_BREAK]
6. MOUNTAINSIDE, CAVE ENTRANCE
BEN: Polly? Polly?
JAMIE: She must have gone inside.
BEN: Hang on, I'll get the torch.
[SCENE_BREAK]
7. CAVE
BEN: Polly?
[SCENE_BREAK]
8. THE BEACH
(The DOCTOR looks at a shard of pottery.)
DOCTOR: Mediterranean. Ooo, no, tidal sea. Funny, hasn't been fired long.
[SCENE_BREAK]
9. CAVE
BEN: Polly? Polly, where are you?
JAMIE: Polly?
BEN: What's that?
(Suddenly, BEN and JAMIE are caught and shoved into a cage.)
POLLY: Ben, Jamie, is it you?
BEN: Who do you think it is?
JAMIE: Are you alright, Polly?
POLLY: Yeah.
BEN: When you're finished get us out of this contraption.
POLLY: I can't. They tied me up.
BEN: Owww...
JAMIE: Who are they?
POLLY: I don't know, I didn't see them.
(Unseen hands throw the DOCTOR into the cage also.)
BEN: That's all we needed.
JAMIE: So they caught you too.
(The cage they are in, an elevator, descends. The air whistles past them.)
BEN: That's draughty on me eyes.
JAMIE: Aye, me too.
POLLY: Where are we going?
DOCTOR: That, we shall find out very soon.
POLLY: Wherever it is it's an awful long way down. Ow.
DOCTOR: Yes, we must be below sea level already.
JAMIE: It's difficult to breathe.
BEN: What is it, Doctor?
POLLY: This cage. I don't feel very well.
DOCTOR: Here we are. Yes, well don't be frightened anybody. If we pass out it's compressed nitrogen. It's called caissons disease.
BEN: Polly, try and get us out of here.
POLLY: I'll try.
(She succeeds in untying herself and releasing BEN and JAMIE. The travellers all black out. After a while BEN recovers first. The elevator has come to rest.)
DOCTOR: Oh.
BEN: What's this? Polly? Jamie?
JAMIE: Oooh.
BEN: Come on man, rise and shine.
JAMIE: You disturb the dead.
BEN: Oh you're not dead, you just got a touch of the submariners', that's all.
JAMIE: What are they?
BEN: Take too long to explain now.
(He looks around.)
BEN: This must be some sort of compression chamber.
DOCTOR: Troglodytes.
BEN: What?
DOCTOR: Ancient tribes from North Africa who lived in caves. Possibly, possibly. Where's my diary?
BEN: Cavemen? Jamie, you better watch it. With that kilt someone might mistake you for a bird.
JAMIE: What?
POLLY: (Recovering.) Oooh.
DOCTOR: Yes, it's difficult to put a precise date on these people.
POLLY: I don't think so.
DOCTOR: Alright then, when?
POLLY: Oh, I'd say about, um, 1970.
DOCTOR: Can you prove it?
BEN: Yeah, go on, prove it.
JAMIE: How d'you know, Polly?
BEN: Ah, she's been studying her crystal ball.
POLLY: Abracadabra.
(She produces a vase.)
DOCTOR: Oh, how interesting, yes. Hmm. It's Aztec, fake of course.
BEN: (Reading.) Mexico Olympiad.
POLLY: When we first left Earth it hadn't happened yet.
BEN: No, that's right, it wasn't due 'til 1968.
POLLY: Right, so now its any time later than that.
JAMIE: Later? Oh I wish I understood.
(They notice a some men watching them. They are armed. One is obviously the leader.)
BEN: Polly, you speak foreign, go and talk to him, ask him where we are.
POLLY: Parlez-vous francais? Sprechen Sie deutsch? Habla si espanol?
LEADER: Bazumi tampost postu!
JAMIE: Au Gaelic akye?
BEN: What's that?
JAMIE: Gaelic.
(The man gestures.)
DOCTOR: Yes well, that means move in any language. I think we better comply. Women and children last. Polly?
[SCENE_BREAK]
10. DINING HALL
(The leader of the guards ushers the DOCTOR and his friends in. Food is laid out on the table. The DOCTOR tucks in.)
DOCTOR: Oh oo. I'm so sorry. Thank you. This is good. This is very good. Mmmm. It's delicious. This is excellent. Sit down, sit down. This is ambrosia.
BEN: What's got into him?
POLLY: I don't know, I've never seen him go for food like this before. It's usually ham.
JAMIE: Better hurry, or he'll scoff the lot.
BEN: What is it?
DOCTOR: Plankton.
JAMIE: Plankton? What's that?
DOCTOR: Well it's small plants and animals from the sea.
POLLY: Animals?
BEN: Yeah, little spidery ones.
POLLY: Ooo, I don't think I'm very hungry, thank you.
DOCTOR: You better get used to it. I don't expect there's much else to be had around here.
(Some men enter the dining hall. Their leader, a priest is dressed in ceremonial robes.)
DOCTOR: Visitors! Good day to you.
LOLEM: We've been expecting you.
POLLY: He speaks English.
BEN: What does he mean, he's been expecting us? We didn't know we were coming ourselves.
LOLEM: The living goddess Amdo sees and hears all.
DOCTOR: And she had a message about us? For you?
LOLEM: Yes. She told us you would fall from the sky, in time for our festival of the vernal equinox.
DOCTOR: And just what part are we to play in this festival of the vernal equinox?
LOLEM: A very important part, I regret to say. Guards.
(The guards grab the DOCTOR and his friends.)
DOCTOR: No wait, I have something important to say.
LOLEM: Be quick and say it, then.
DOCTOR: I won't speak under threats!
LOLEM: You have five minutes in which to make your point. After that you will join your companions, and then we will proceed.
POLLY: Doctor?
LOLEM: Go, girl.
DOCTOR: What will happen to them?
LOLEM: They will come to no harm... yet.
DOCTOR: You'll have to go, Polly.
(The guards take POLLY, BEN and JAMIE away.)
LOLEM: Now, stranger, say what you have to, and do not waste time, there is very little of it left for any of you.
DOCTOR: What I have to say concerns a certain Professor Zaroff.
LOLEM: What do you know of Zaroff?
DOCTOR: A great deal. He's here, isn't he?
LOLEM: How did you know?
DOCTOR: 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.
LOLEM: You are a friend of Zaroff's?
(The DOCTOR writes a short note.)
DOCTOR: Just send him this message, and you'll see.
LOLEM: I will take no message to Zaroff.
DOCTOR: You're making a big mistake!
LOLEM: Yes, what is it, Ara?
ARA: I've come to clear the table.
LOLEM: Yes, yes, we've wasted enough time.
DOCTOR: Ara, take this message to Professor Zaroff.
ARA: But I..
[SCENE_BREAK]
11. THE TEMPLE OF AMDO
(In the centre is a pool where several sharks circle. A chant can be heard, rising in pitch. )
POLLY: I'm scared, what are they going to do to us?
JAMIE: I don't see the Doctor here, he's escaped, mebee.
BEN: Ah, some chance of that.
JAMIE: Oh, he's a canny one, yon Doctor. Dinna fuss yourself, Polly.
LOLEM: Quiet! You profane the sacred temple with your idle chatter.
[SCENE_BREAK]
12. OUTSIDE ZAROFF'S LAB
ARA: I must speak with Professor Zaroff.
(The guard shakes his head.)
ARA: Well, Damon then.
[SCENE_BREAK]
13. TEMPLE
JAMIE: Ben, should we run for it?
BEN: No, wait 'til we hear from the Doctor.
(They are tied and moved toward the pool.)
JAMIE: Put me down.
POLLY: Ben? The Doctor isn't coming.
(The DOCTOR arrives...)
BEN: Don't worry, Pol, just got here, there's still some hope.
(...but he too is a prisoner.)
BEN: Oh no.
[SCENE_BREAK]
14. OUTSIDE ZAROFF'S LAB
DAMON: Well, girl, what do you want? Why are you not at your work?
ARA: I have a note for Professor Zaroff. It's very important.
DAMON: Professor Zaroff? Let me see. Oh, come, girl.
[SCENE_BREAK]
15. TEMPLE
LOLEM: Life is a stream of water that drains away even as time does, and cannot be reclaimed. Accept, oh mighty and powerful Amdo, these, your sacrifices.
POLLY: No! Doctor!
(The four are lifted by ropes and swung out above the shark pool.)
DOCTOR: Hold on! Hold on for your lives.
[SCENE_BREAK]
16. ZAROFF'S LAB
(DAMON gives the DOCTOR'S note to PROFESSOR ZAROFF)
DAMON: Here is the note.
[SCENE_BREAK]
17. TEMPLE
POLLY: aaaaaaaa!
DOCTOR: Don't move, don't even breathe.
POLLY: aaaaaaaaa!
(PROFESSOR ZAROFF enters. He has some of his own guards with him.)
ZAROFF: Stop the ceremony!
LOLEM: You dare to interfere with the hour of sacrifice?
ZAROFF: I will not interfere with your sacrifices. But I must first speak with that man. Release him!
(The guards comply and the DOCTOR is released.)
ZAROFF: Now, zis information you haff, what is it?
DOCTOR: First, release my friends.
ZAROFF: I do not care about your friends. Your information, quick!
DOCTOR: But I do. Professor Zaroff, if anything happens to them, you'll never know the secret I was going to tell you.
ZAROFF: (To guard.) You! Alright, release them. Take them to the labour controller. He will know what to do with them. Well, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Uh, let me say how glad I am to see that the reports of your death twenty years previously are a little premature.
ZAROFF: Hahahaha. The whole world believed I had been kidnapped.
DOCTOR: The East blamed the West, the West; the East.
ZAROFF: Oh I wish I could haff been there.
DOCTOR: Now, here you are, the greatest scientific genius since Leonardo, under the sea! You must have a fantastic story to tell?
ZAROFF: Perhaps I tell you someday, if you will live long enough to hear. Now this vital secret, what is it? I must know.
DOCTOR: (Pauses.) I haven't got one.
ZAROFF: How dare you!
DOCTOR: But I'm sure a great man like you wouldn't want a modern scientific brain like mine to be sacrificed to a heathen idol?
ZAROFF: You know I could have you torn to bits by my guards, yes?
DOCTOR: Yes.
ZAROFF: I could feed you to my pet octopus, yes?
DOCTOR: Yes.
ZAROFF: Well you haff sense of humour. I too, haff sense of humour. I need men like you. Hahahahahaha. You come with me, yes? Hahahahaha.
DOCTOR: I come with you.
(The DOCTOR laughs too.)
[SCENE_BREAK]
18. WORK CENTRE
(BEN, JAMIE and POLLY are brought before the OVERSEER.)
OVERSEER: Your lives have been spared. See that they contribute useful service to the community.
BEN: Whatever you say, mate.
OVERSEER: What did you say?
BEN: Oh nothing, nothing.
OVERSEER: You men look strong. You'll be sent to the mines. Take them away.
BEN: What?
JAMIE: What does he mean, mines?
BEN: Now wait a minute. Now what are you going to do with her?
POLLY: Yes, what?
OVERSEER: I shall decide that later.
(BEN and JAMIE are taken away.)
JAMIE: Don't lose heart, Polly.
OVERSEER: Don't be afraid, girl. Life is very beautiful under the sea. Come on.
[SCENE_BREAK]
19. OBSERVATION GALLERY
OVERSEER: Seventy percent of the world's surface is under the oceans. You are looking at our food producing areas. Without it, we couldn't survive.
POLLY: (Impressed.) Fantastic. What are those?
OVERSEER: Those are our farmers.
POLLY: I think it's splendid. All those people working under the sea to feed the others. But listen, how do they breathe?
OVERSEER: We give them plastic gills. Look.
(He shows POLLY a set.)
OVERSEER: That surprises you, doesn't it?
POLLY: Breathtaking. Sorry that wasn't meant to be a pun.
OVERSEER: No not at all. No, I'm glad you're taking it like this. Some people get most upset when they find they are to have the operation.
POLLY: Operation?
OVERSEER: Well, of course. We couldn't send you out there without it. You'd drown.
POLLY: You're not turning me into a fish!
[SCENE_BREAK]
20. ZAROFF'S LAB
(Ancient ruins are seen through the viewing window.)
DOCTOR: Just give me a clue, Professor.
ZAROFF: West of Gibraltar, south of the Azores. The Atlantic ridge, what does that suggest to you?
DOCTOR: Ancient temples under the sea. But that's not possible! That's only a legend.
ZAROFF: Go on, go on, Doctor.
DOCTOR: We're in the ancient kingdom of Atlantis!
ZAROFF: Yes, yes, and this is not the perfect place to complete my work?
DOCTOR: But how did you get them to accept you? Surely science is in opposition to ancient temple ritual and idol worship?
ZAROFF: I gave them a sugar-coated pill. I haff promised to lift Atlantis out of the sea.
(ARA enters.)
ZAROFF: Yes, what is it? Pardon me, Doctor.
ARA: Doctor?
DOCTOR: What is it?
ARA: It's the girl. They're going to carry out the fish operation on her.
DOCTOR: Fish operation? Well well. Ara, do you know where the main fuses are?
ARA: Fuses?
DOCTOR: Oh never mind. Go back to Polly, and if the chance comes, get her away from there! Will you do that for me?
ARA: Yes.
ZAROFF: (OOV.) Doctor!
[SCENE_BREAK]
21. OPERATING ROOM
POLLY: Keep away!
DAMON: Bring her here. Don't be difficult, girl, it's quite painless. (To assistant) Light.
POLLY: No! no!
DAMON: We're ready now.
POLLY: No no no no no no!
DAMON: One tiny jab, and you'll know no more about it until it's all over.
Plan: A: The TARDIS; Q: What materializes on a stretch of deserted beach? A: Atlantis; Q: Where are the Doctor and his companions taken? Summary: The TARDIS materializes on a stretch of deserted beach. The Doctor and his companions are then captured and taken to the mysterious lost city of Atlantis.