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Doctor Who Target Books (Numerical Order) #129
Doctor Who: The Underwater Menace
When the TARDIS lands on a deserted volcanic island the Doctor and his companions find themselves kidnapped by primitive sea-people. Taken into the bowels of the earth they discover they are in the lost kingdom of Atlantis.
Offered as sacrifices to the fish-goddess, Amdo, the Doctor and his companions are rescued from the jaws of death by the famous scientist, Zaroff.
But they are still not safe and nor are the people of Atlantis. For Zaroff has a plan, a plan that will make him the greatest scientist of all time — he will raise Atlantis above the waves — even if it means destroying the world...
Offered as sacrifices to the fish-goddess, Amdo, the Doctor and his companions are rescued from the jaws of death by the famous scientist, Zaroff.
But they are still not safe and nor are the people of Atlantis. For Zaroff has a plan, a plan that will make him the greatest scientist of all time — he will raise Atlantis above the waves — even if it means destroying the world...
144 pages, Paperback
First published February 18, 1988
4 people are currently reading
186 people want to read
About the author
Nigel Robinson
85 books11 followersNigel Robinson is an English author, known for such works as the First Contact series. Nigel was born in Preston, Lancashire and attended St Thomas More school. Robinson's first published book was The Tolkien Quiz Book in 1981, co-written with Linda Wilson. This was followed by a series of three Doctor Who quiz books and a crossword book between 1981 and 1985. In the late 1980s he was the editor of Target Books' range of Doctor Who tie-ins and novelisations, also contributing to the range as a writer.
He later wrote an original Doctor Who novel, Timewyrm: Apocalypse, for the New Adventures series for Virgin Publishing, which had purchased Target in 1989 shortly after Robinson had left the company. He also wrote the New Adventure Birthright, published in 1993.
In the 1990s, Robinson wrote novelisations of episodes of The Tomorrow People, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and Baywatch and the film Free Willy. Between 1994 and 1995, he wrote a series of children's horror novels Remember Me..., All Shook Up, Dream Lover, Rave On, Bad Moon Rising, Symphony of Terror and Demon Brood.In 1996 he continued to write the Luke Cannon Show Jumping Mysteries series,containing four books, namely The Piebald Princess, The Chestnut Chase, The Black Mare of Devils Hill and the last in the series, Decision Day for the Dapple Grey. By 1997 he had also penned a trilogy science fiction novels First Contact, Second Nature and Third Degree.
His most recent work was another quiz book, this time to tie in with the film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
He later wrote an original Doctor Who novel, Timewyrm: Apocalypse, for the New Adventures series for Virgin Publishing, which had purchased Target in 1989 shortly after Robinson had left the company. He also wrote the New Adventure Birthright, published in 1993.
In the 1990s, Robinson wrote novelisations of episodes of The Tomorrow People, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and Baywatch and the film Free Willy. Between 1994 and 1995, he wrote a series of children's horror novels Remember Me..., All Shook Up, Dream Lover, Rave On, Bad Moon Rising, Symphony of Terror and Demon Brood.In 1996 he continued to write the Luke Cannon Show Jumping Mysteries series,containing four books, namely The Piebald Princess, The Chestnut Chase, The Black Mare of Devils Hill and the last in the series, Decision Day for the Dapple Grey. By 1997 he had also penned a trilogy science fiction novels First Contact, Second Nature and Third Degree.
His most recent work was another quiz book, this time to tie in with the film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
January 19, 2019
‘Nothing In The World Will Stop Me Now!’
Not one of the best stories, but there’s certainly some interesting elements.
The body horror of altering people into fish is such a creepy idea, the fact that Professor Zaroff is so completely mad this idea is not the craziest part of the story!
The Doctor must defeat him from attempting to raising the lost city of Atlantis.
Robinson does a great job in novelising this poorly received adventure and makes the initial idea even more scarier.
Not one of the best stories, but there’s certainly some interesting elements.
The body horror of altering people into fish is such a creepy idea, the fact that Professor Zaroff is so completely mad this idea is not the craziest part of the story!
The Doctor must defeat him from attempting to raising the lost city of Atlantis.
Robinson does a great job in novelising this poorly received adventure and makes the initial idea even more scarier.
Read
April 10, 2022Rating: 3(?) stars
Aaah I have nothing to say about this book but I set a goal for myself to review every book I read in 2022 so this is that review.
Aaah I have nothing to say about this book but I set a goal for myself to review every book I read in 2022 so this is that review.
February 17, 2019
Dr Who lands on a volcanic island and is captured and taken to Atlantis. I like the references in the Dr Who books to places and people out of legend. It reminded me of the TV show but wasn't one of the better episodes. I will try another one but I enjoyed it more for the ability to visualize the characters and the show than for the writing itself. But a quick fun read.
Read
February 11, 2021I don’t remember which came first, Doctor Who on television or Doctor Who in print. I can say with certainty that the weekend when I stayed the night at my best friend Matthew’s house and he showed me Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150AD and parts two to four of Remembrance of the Daleks had a destiny-shattering effect on the rest of my life, propelling me into a future of scrawled cartoon Daleks, obsessive reading and cataloguing of fact and fiction, followed by a VHS then DVD and now slightly more cautious blu-ray habit. Nothing serious, you understand: just standard fan stuff. It was bound to happen eventually.
But the books follow a slightly different timeline. They held an appeal for the same reason as the Nicholas Fisk books I devoured: evocative titles matched with evocative images. For all the idiomatic urging not to judge books by their covers, when I was growing up I absolutely did. Still do, truth be told. As has every child I have ever taught. Publishers, get your covers right.
There was an entire children’s Waterstones in Bath where my Grandparents lived – an entire shop full of children’s books – and one of its biggest delights was a whole shelf devoted to the colourful Target series, a universe of stories to explore. On each of our many visits I would hover there for what felt like hours dipping into the treasures on display. I read whole stories there. If you bought your Doctor Who books in Bath and found they were often a bit grubby… well, sorry, that might have been me.
The Underwater Menace - one of a batch of Target novelisations I was bought for Christmas last year - was not one of these, because The Underwater Menace was a Doctor Who book owned by my school library. The only Doctor Who book owned by my school library. So although it might not have been my first Doctor Who book, it was one of the first Doctor Who books I read in the comfort of my own home (the first or second, in fact; the other was Doctor Who In An Exciting Adventure With The Daleks, the grey hardback of which my local library held – oh, those line drawings! The description of the endless TARDIS corridors! The glass Dalek!).
It must, however, have been after that life-changing experience of Doctor Who on television, because I remember this: when I read The Underwater Menace, I attempted to read it as a story featuring the Seventh Doctor and Ace. Quite how long I managed to keep this up for I don’t know; I think it might have been quite stressful, not so much imagining Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor in place of Patrick Troughton’s (not the hugest leap) but somehow turning 60s dolly bird Polly, who in this story is particularly (and uncharacteristically) pathetic, into baseball bat-wielding Ace.
Polly was the only candidate for this treatment: Ben made so little impact I had forgotten he was even in this story until I eventually saw in on video (and even then, he rather fades into the background, possibly because half of his lines have been hastily given to Frazer Hines). And there was no way I’d have tried to turn companion Jamie into Ace, because I was VERY happy to add Jamie to the Seventh Doctor’s crew.
I don’t know why Jamie made such an impact (and having reread this tome, I remain a little baffled). But he did. My pictures of the Seventh Doctor and Ace were immediately and anachronistically joined by the character of Jamie, my ideal TARDIS crew. Which was especially interesting because I had no idea what he had looked like on television. It didn’t matter: I could imagine, and The Underwater Menace put a clear idea of his appearance in my head.
He was a white-haired old man with a fluffy moustache in a kilt and a tam o’shanter.
On picking up this book after all these years, I was curious to see what could possibly account for this – was it possible that Nigel Robinson could be blamed for such a misconception? Well… yes and no. Certainly Jamie’s wide-eyed 18thcentury bewilderment, usually expressed in a colourful vernacular, has more than a little Private Frazer about it. I probably gave him a fluffy moustache because, even though in real life absolutely none of the old men I knew had a fluffy moustaches, in my imagination old men without exception had a fluffy moustache. I blame children’s television.
What I had failed to take note of was a single adjective in the book’s second sentence: ‘It was the only explanation the young Scottish piper could think of’. I picked up his nationality without mishap (I pictured him with a kilt, a detail that I’m pretty sure Nigel Robinson never bothers to fill in). I expect his musical ability didn’t pass unnoticed either (I pictured him with a tam o’shanter, the obligatory uniform of anyone who players the bagpipes – again, I blame children’s television). But thanks to my failure to pick up on his third characteristic, Jamie ended up an old man with a fluffy moustache, and by the time Robinson next mentioned his age the damage was presumably done, picturing-things-in-my-head-wise. This was an adventure featuring the Seventh Doctor, Ace, and an old man with a fluffy white moustache wearing a kilt and a tam o’shanter.
A jolly good adventure I thought it was, too. My subsequent drawings of my portmanteau TARDIS crew attest to that. Reading the book now, its appeal is obvious: it rattles along, Nigel Robinson sticking very much to the Terrance Dicks formula for Target novelisations, and there’s plenty of jeopardy along the way. In fact, it is rather more convincing as a book than it is on television, the idea of the underwater society with its ancient religion continuing uneasily alongside new technology pretty compellingly sold, and the sillier details (‘we turn people into fish so that they can bring us plankton!’) sensibly skirted over. Unfortunately, Robinson can’t skirt over the central plot point that the villain is a man who wants to blow up the world JUST BECAUSE. In a way it’s a pity he doesn’t resign himself more fully and have some fun with this; he’s knowing enough to use the quote ‘Nothing In The World Can Stop Me Now!’ as a chapter title, but I can’t help feeling that a more offbeat narrative approach, like those in the three sublime novelisations Donald Cotton wrote around the same time, would have sold this B-movie stuff rather more effectively.
Not that it bothered me at the time – it is only with adulthood that we fans decide that things like character motivation and scientific plausibility have some part to play in adventures as well as high jinks and derring-do – and even in the absence of those, there is something very modern about the template for this story. The Doctor, an agent of chaos, enters a situation and within 24 hours sparks a rebellion and overturns a regime. Take away the madman trying to blow up the world and you’ve basically got a Cartmel-era archetype right there. Actually, replace the madman with Kate O’Mara and I think we might have found a doppelganger.
So perhaps it wasn’t so inappropriate to try to squeeze the Seventh Doctor and Ace into this scenario after all. The perfect team to take on this kind of fodder, with the aid, lest we forget, of at least one young fan’s favourite moustachioed octogenarian Scotsman, Jamie.
James is occasionally writing reviews of Doctor Who related books on Goodreads, at a rate which should see him get about a quarter of the way through before the inevitable heat death of the universe.
But the books follow a slightly different timeline. They held an appeal for the same reason as the Nicholas Fisk books I devoured: evocative titles matched with evocative images. For all the idiomatic urging not to judge books by their covers, when I was growing up I absolutely did. Still do, truth be told. As has every child I have ever taught. Publishers, get your covers right.
There was an entire children’s Waterstones in Bath where my Grandparents lived – an entire shop full of children’s books – and one of its biggest delights was a whole shelf devoted to the colourful Target series, a universe of stories to explore. On each of our many visits I would hover there for what felt like hours dipping into the treasures on display. I read whole stories there. If you bought your Doctor Who books in Bath and found they were often a bit grubby… well, sorry, that might have been me.
The Underwater Menace - one of a batch of Target novelisations I was bought for Christmas last year - was not one of these, because The Underwater Menace was a Doctor Who book owned by my school library. The only Doctor Who book owned by my school library. So although it might not have been my first Doctor Who book, it was one of the first Doctor Who books I read in the comfort of my own home (the first or second, in fact; the other was Doctor Who In An Exciting Adventure With The Daleks, the grey hardback of which my local library held – oh, those line drawings! The description of the endless TARDIS corridors! The glass Dalek!).
It must, however, have been after that life-changing experience of Doctor Who on television, because I remember this: when I read The Underwater Menace, I attempted to read it as a story featuring the Seventh Doctor and Ace. Quite how long I managed to keep this up for I don’t know; I think it might have been quite stressful, not so much imagining Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor in place of Patrick Troughton’s (not the hugest leap) but somehow turning 60s dolly bird Polly, who in this story is particularly (and uncharacteristically) pathetic, into baseball bat-wielding Ace.
Polly was the only candidate for this treatment: Ben made so little impact I had forgotten he was even in this story until I eventually saw in on video (and even then, he rather fades into the background, possibly because half of his lines have been hastily given to Frazer Hines). And there was no way I’d have tried to turn companion Jamie into Ace, because I was VERY happy to add Jamie to the Seventh Doctor’s crew.
I don’t know why Jamie made such an impact (and having reread this tome, I remain a little baffled). But he did. My pictures of the Seventh Doctor and Ace were immediately and anachronistically joined by the character of Jamie, my ideal TARDIS crew. Which was especially interesting because I had no idea what he had looked like on television. It didn’t matter: I could imagine, and The Underwater Menace put a clear idea of his appearance in my head.
He was a white-haired old man with a fluffy moustache in a kilt and a tam o’shanter.
On picking up this book after all these years, I was curious to see what could possibly account for this – was it possible that Nigel Robinson could be blamed for such a misconception? Well… yes and no. Certainly Jamie’s wide-eyed 18thcentury bewilderment, usually expressed in a colourful vernacular, has more than a little Private Frazer about it. I probably gave him a fluffy moustache because, even though in real life absolutely none of the old men I knew had a fluffy moustaches, in my imagination old men without exception had a fluffy moustache. I blame children’s television.
What I had failed to take note of was a single adjective in the book’s second sentence: ‘It was the only explanation the young Scottish piper could think of’. I picked up his nationality without mishap (I pictured him with a kilt, a detail that I’m pretty sure Nigel Robinson never bothers to fill in). I expect his musical ability didn’t pass unnoticed either (I pictured him with a tam o’shanter, the obligatory uniform of anyone who players the bagpipes – again, I blame children’s television). But thanks to my failure to pick up on his third characteristic, Jamie ended up an old man with a fluffy moustache, and by the time Robinson next mentioned his age the damage was presumably done, picturing-things-in-my-head-wise. This was an adventure featuring the Seventh Doctor, Ace, and an old man with a fluffy white moustache wearing a kilt and a tam o’shanter.
A jolly good adventure I thought it was, too. My subsequent drawings of my portmanteau TARDIS crew attest to that. Reading the book now, its appeal is obvious: it rattles along, Nigel Robinson sticking very much to the Terrance Dicks formula for Target novelisations, and there’s plenty of jeopardy along the way. In fact, it is rather more convincing as a book than it is on television, the idea of the underwater society with its ancient religion continuing uneasily alongside new technology pretty compellingly sold, and the sillier details (‘we turn people into fish so that they can bring us plankton!’) sensibly skirted over. Unfortunately, Robinson can’t skirt over the central plot point that the villain is a man who wants to blow up the world JUST BECAUSE. In a way it’s a pity he doesn’t resign himself more fully and have some fun with this; he’s knowing enough to use the quote ‘Nothing In The World Can Stop Me Now!’ as a chapter title, but I can’t help feeling that a more offbeat narrative approach, like those in the three sublime novelisations Donald Cotton wrote around the same time, would have sold this B-movie stuff rather more effectively.
Not that it bothered me at the time – it is only with adulthood that we fans decide that things like character motivation and scientific plausibility have some part to play in adventures as well as high jinks and derring-do – and even in the absence of those, there is something very modern about the template for this story. The Doctor, an agent of chaos, enters a situation and within 24 hours sparks a rebellion and overturns a regime. Take away the madman trying to blow up the world and you’ve basically got a Cartmel-era archetype right there. Actually, replace the madman with Kate O’Mara and I think we might have found a doppelganger.
So perhaps it wasn’t so inappropriate to try to squeeze the Seventh Doctor and Ace into this scenario after all. The perfect team to take on this kind of fodder, with the aid, lest we forget, of at least one young fan’s favourite moustachioed octogenarian Scotsman, Jamie.
James is occasionally writing reviews of Doctor Who related books on Goodreads, at a rate which should see him get about a quarter of the way through before the inevitable heat death of the universe.
March 15, 2020
This part of my ongoing reviews of "Lost Episode" novelizations of classic Doctor Who is one which demonstrates that, as much of a fan of the series as I am, you really can't polish a turd. I love all of Doctor Who, with the exception of the recent seasons in which the custodians of the show decided to become abusive and gaslighting parents to generations of kids and kids-at-heart who grew up with their beloved Time Lord. But "The Underwater Menace," from the first season to feature Second Doctor Patrick Troughton, is one of those examples where classic Who did not work. I had hoped that the novelization of this story would improve things by allowing the mind's eye to make up for the lack of budget and outrageously tasteless effects in the original broadcast serial. But except for the cinematic ending of the novel, both versions of the story are duds.
As of the time of this writing, the television version is missing two out of four parts, but the whole thing can be seen these days on DVD with Episodes One and Four animated with the original soundtrack. It is a hokey and kitschy entry featuring "fish people" who are actually sequined ballerina girls looking like they are dressed to ride on a Mardi Gras float. The acting is appalling from almost all involved, except for the mad scientist villain Zaroff, as the the actor plays his role with a hammy Eastern European accent and gleeful abandon. I love kitsch in my scifi, and have a large collection of B-grade monster movies that my wife unfortunately gets subjected to when I need a little nerd comfort food. But this is truly the bottom of the barrel.
Therefore, the serial was one of the last of the Patrick Troughton era to receive a commission for novelization. Nigel Robinson was the luckless winner of this assignment, but I truly think a good Radium-Age-style pulp could have been made of this with a few liberties with the script, more awe-inspiring descriptions, better pacing, and spicing up the wooden characters. Instead, the author phoned it in. Only the climax was significantly different, and that's because the original version was too lackluster for words.
Our heroes are as unlikable as the villains in this book. Jamie slaps Polly in the face for being hysterical and the author comments, "That shut her up." This does happen in the actual 4th episode of the serial, without the misogynist commentary, and unfortunately it is just this kind of thing that future "fans" and even the showrunners conflated with being representative of Doctor Who and its "celebration of the male gaze." But this is not Doctor Who. This is Edgar Rice Burroughs on steroids and a little LSD.
With the exception of a few shining moments, the Doctor has very little personality in this story, and though this can be excused in the broadcast (this was Troughton's third-only story and he hadn't settled into the role completely yet), there is no excuse for it with all the limitless creativity that the medium of novels can allow. I feel this novel suffers from the same fate as "Reign of Terror" (see my review of that title as well). In both circumstances, the writer either was stymied by the limitations in their contracts or just got bored to tears with the project.
And that's what this feels like--a project rather than a novel, an assignment rather than a work of art, a paycheck rather than a tribute of love, and a completionist's checkmark rather than a solid piece of entertainment.
Normally, this is just the kind of scifi I really like, a callback to scientific romances of the late 19th Century and the Radium Age lost civilization stories of the 1920s. But as a Doctor Who entry, it is laughable, not in a charming way, but rather as an embarrassment. I would not ever dare show this serial or recommend this book to anyone I was encouraging to check out the original classic Who. For extreme fans and completists only.
As of the time of this writing, the television version is missing two out of four parts, but the whole thing can be seen these days on DVD with Episodes One and Four animated with the original soundtrack. It is a hokey and kitschy entry featuring "fish people" who are actually sequined ballerina girls looking like they are dressed to ride on a Mardi Gras float. The acting is appalling from almost all involved, except for the mad scientist villain Zaroff, as the the actor plays his role with a hammy Eastern European accent and gleeful abandon. I love kitsch in my scifi, and have a large collection of B-grade monster movies that my wife unfortunately gets subjected to when I need a little nerd comfort food. But this is truly the bottom of the barrel.
Therefore, the serial was one of the last of the Patrick Troughton era to receive a commission for novelization. Nigel Robinson was the luckless winner of this assignment, but I truly think a good Radium-Age-style pulp could have been made of this with a few liberties with the script, more awe-inspiring descriptions, better pacing, and spicing up the wooden characters. Instead, the author phoned it in. Only the climax was significantly different, and that's because the original version was too lackluster for words.
Our heroes are as unlikable as the villains in this book. Jamie slaps Polly in the face for being hysterical and the author comments, "That shut her up." This does happen in the actual 4th episode of the serial, without the misogynist commentary, and unfortunately it is just this kind of thing that future "fans" and even the showrunners conflated with being representative of Doctor Who and its "celebration of the male gaze." But this is not Doctor Who. This is Edgar Rice Burroughs on steroids and a little LSD.
With the exception of a few shining moments, the Doctor has very little personality in this story, and though this can be excused in the broadcast (this was Troughton's third-only story and he hadn't settled into the role completely yet), there is no excuse for it with all the limitless creativity that the medium of novels can allow. I feel this novel suffers from the same fate as "Reign of Terror" (see my review of that title as well). In both circumstances, the writer either was stymied by the limitations in their contracts or just got bored to tears with the project.
And that's what this feels like--a project rather than a novel, an assignment rather than a work of art, a paycheck rather than a tribute of love, and a completionist's checkmark rather than a solid piece of entertainment.
Normally, this is just the kind of scifi I really like, a callback to scientific romances of the late 19th Century and the Radium Age lost civilization stories of the 1920s. But as a Doctor Who entry, it is laughable, not in a charming way, but rather as an embarrassment. I would not ever dare show this serial or recommend this book to anyone I was encouraging to check out the original classic Who. For extreme fans and completists only.
July 13, 2023
http://nhw.livejournal.com/1028417.html#cutid2
This is very poor. It's not quite as bad as Robinson's novelisation of The Sensorites, and in the earlier chapters I thought it seemed quite promising. But the prose soon descends into his trademark clunkiness, and the story's most famous line actually manages to come over even worse on the printed page than it does in the original.
https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/the-underwater-menace-by-james-cooray-smith-and-geoffrey-orme-and-nigel-robinson/
I don’t think I was being fair. It’s a perfectly adequate novelisation; a bit of back-story is given to Ara, Sean and Jacko, and even to Zaroff.
This is very poor. It's not quite as bad as Robinson's novelisation of The Sensorites, and in the earlier chapters I thought it seemed quite promising. But the prose soon descends into his trademark clunkiness, and the story's most famous line actually manages to come over even worse on the printed page than it does in the original.
https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/the-underwater-menace-by-james-cooray-smith-and-geoffrey-orme-and-nigel-robinson/
I don’t think I was being fair. It’s a perfectly adequate novelisation; a bit of back-story is given to Ara, Sean and Jacko, and even to Zaroff.
January 22, 2011
The complete antithesis to unambitious tripe such as the novelization of "The Celestial Toymaker". Nigel Robinson takes the scholkiest story of the 2nd Doctor's era, and adapts into into something far more exciting, entertaining, and BELIEVEABLE than what was broadcast on television. As a novelization, it's almost TOO GOOD for its source material!
February 11, 2021
I think a 2.5 for me, if not slightly lower. Based on a poor TV story (haven't seen it, but heard enough about it to form this opinion :) ) and the author here unfortunately for most part seems to follow it pretty faithfully, which doesn't help.
We have an over the top mad scientist here, that really detracts from the story, and stretches the believability of it at times, but seemingly there to try and force some more tension / interactions between the characters, having to deal with this scientist.
Following the last book, where Polly had some great scenes, this one unfortunately turns her into a damsel in distress, with no real agency, and that slap scene is just plain uncomfortable.
Outside of those bad points, it isn't that bad a read otherwise, the Doctor, Ben and Jamie at least seem in reasonably typical form, and Jamie is adapting well in his first adventure since joining the TARDIS. Some of the one off characters are interesting as well, and the overall framing story of Atlantis still surviving in some form, and the science required to try and help them improve, is quite fascinating. Quite a bit of tension at times, and the climax of the story is quite impressive really, like out of some sort of Bond movie.
So the combination of the two makes this middle of the road, without the stronger points though this would be quite a dire story I fear, and even with the good points, some parts are painful to read. I have fonder memories of the next story though, so unlike the Gunfighters, hasn't dented my enthusiasm to pick up the next book.
We have an over the top mad scientist here, that really detracts from the story, and stretches the believability of it at times, but seemingly there to try and force some more tension / interactions between the characters, having to deal with this scientist.
Following the last book, where Polly had some great scenes, this one unfortunately turns her into a damsel in distress, with no real agency, and that slap scene is just plain uncomfortable.
Outside of those bad points, it isn't that bad a read otherwise, the Doctor, Ben and Jamie at least seem in reasonably typical form, and Jamie is adapting well in his first adventure since joining the TARDIS. Some of the one off characters are interesting as well, and the overall framing story of Atlantis still surviving in some form, and the science required to try and help them improve, is quite fascinating. Quite a bit of tension at times, and the climax of the story is quite impressive really, like out of some sort of Bond movie.
So the combination of the two makes this middle of the road, without the stronger points though this would be quite a dire story I fear, and even with the good points, some parts are painful to read. I have fonder memories of the next story though, so unlike the Gunfighters, hasn't dented my enthusiasm to pick up the next book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 28, 2025
Fand have always looked at this story as either ridiculously over the top/goofy or very low budget looking. While the story on paper isn't too bad the final execution with its sets, costumes and sometimes over the top performances, just don't work. All things that aren't an issue for the book.
However, once you get to the main story, it's still rather dull. The concept of the lost civilation is great as are the fish people who are a gory concept. However the main focus is on the mad scientist storyline that's too boring or unbelievable. It's a shame that this book is a more stright forward retelling as it makes that storyline weaker than it could be. We do get some in depth/characters inner thoughts at times. There's a small section in the minds of the fish people that I really enjoyed. But we don't really get any understanding as to why or how someone like Zaroff actually became the way he is. I was hoping to learn some answers as to why he does it. But he's poorly written and gives us no indication as to why. When you see amazing characters like Davros who also wants to do the same thing to see if they can, we at least can see why, why he believes he's si right and how he may not be evil but just deluded.
Overall while this an okay doctor who book, its story is still very weak. I can't help thinking that if this story had really allowed itself to explore things the fish people, a day in the life of someone living in Atlantis and the how and the whys of Zaroff, it could be really interesting.
However, once you get to the main story, it's still rather dull. The concept of the lost civilation is great as are the fish people who are a gory concept. However the main focus is on the mad scientist storyline that's too boring or unbelievable. It's a shame that this book is a more stright forward retelling as it makes that storyline weaker than it could be. We do get some in depth/characters inner thoughts at times. There's a small section in the minds of the fish people that I really enjoyed. But we don't really get any understanding as to why or how someone like Zaroff actually became the way he is. I was hoping to learn some answers as to why he does it. But he's poorly written and gives us no indication as to why. When you see amazing characters like Davros who also wants to do the same thing to see if they can, we at least can see why, why he believes he's si right and how he may not be evil but just deluded.
Overall while this an okay doctor who book, its story is still very weak. I can't help thinking that if this story had really allowed itself to explore things the fish people, a day in the life of someone living in Atlantis and the how and the whys of Zaroff, it could be really interesting.
February 19, 2025
With The Underwater Menace, Target line editor Nigel Robinson assigns himself another story probably no one wanted. It's very much the most sour lemon of the Second Doctor era. It's just so old-fashioned! On television, it looks like a bad matinee serial from 20 years earlier - the designs are silly, the dialog hokey, and the motivations are flat cliches. The theater of the mind created by the book removes one of these problems, and Robinson works hard to create efficient back stories and motivations for the serial's cardboard characters. It still can't save Polly who, in the previous story, was a saucy action girl, but in this one, is a wet screamer who needs to be slapped out of her hysteria by Jamie. It's not a good look, on TV nor in prose. The two things this story is remembered for is the Fish People (they get the cover) and that one over-the-top line from the mad scientist (you know the one). I feel robbed of a little something that Robinson doesn't write in Zaroff's accent, but he at least makes a lot of hay out of the line, referencing it even beyond its moment. Overall, better than the televised version, but I would have been surprised if it hadn't been.
July 27, 2021
This is the second Doctor Who target novelization I've read (the first being The Pescatons, which I gave only one star). It is much better than The Pescatons, overall. The characterizations are much, much stronger. The pacing is brisk and it felt like watching an episode. Having already seen this episode (well, the surviving two and reconstructions of the missing two), it captured the feel of the episode quite well. Zaroff might lose a little in translation, though. He's a cookie cutter mad scientist, and without Joseph Furst's manic performance lines like "To destroy the world - the scientists dream of ultimate power!" look as dumb as they are instead of being delightfully cheesey.
All in all I would have given it three stars just for being better than The Pescatons, but there are a couple of racist/sexist lines that mar the rest of the book and cost it a star. The previous owner of this book even wrote "WTF?!" on the page next to where Jamie slaps Polly for being "hysterical." I agree, previous owner. I agree.
All in all I would have given it three stars just for being better than The Pescatons, but there are a couple of racist/sexist lines that mar the rest of the book and cost it a star. The previous owner of this book even wrote "WTF?!" on the page next to where Jamie slaps Polly for being "hysterical." I agree, previous owner. I agree.
September 28, 2024
Based on a script by Geoffrey Orme this is number 129 in the Target catalogue. The cover art.is by Alister Pearson. This is a half lost story. Only 2 of the original episodes exist, but it recently had the missing episodes animated.
This story always reminds me of the classic 1965 Vincent Price movie City Under the Sea as there are so many plot similarities.
This is the last Robinson Target (reading in story order). I’ve really liked all of them. He doesn’t muck about trying to be clever or making major changes to the story. His prose is clear and engaging and he captures the character of the principle cast well, and extends them with internal thoughts.
There’s nothing spectacular about it. It wouldn’t make my Top 10. But there isn’t anything spectacular about the script it’s based on. It’s just a good solid Doctor Who adventure combining a little science, some monsters, and a madman. The fish people hark back to HG Wells ‘Island of Doctor Moreau’
August 19, 2019
An excellent novelisation of an absolutely bonkers Doctor Who serial. Nigel Robinson does not attempt to re-write Geoffrey Orme's screenplay, so the plot still reads like it is being made up as the writer goes along. Robinson manages to get a few ironic jibes at the expense of the source material, but without resorting to frivolity. Fortunately we are spared some of the television version's poor direction, bargain basement sets and low-budget costumes, especially for the Fish People. I went back to watch the two surviving episodes immediately after finishing this book, and Robinson manages the almost impossible task of making 'The Underwater Menace' vaguely respectable.
October 14, 2021
Wavering a little on rating this one. On the one hand, I do actually enjoy the original serial a fair bit, and this is largely competent, with even a few nice lines. On the other, I think it tries to give the story a bit too much serious depth - it's a weird over the top plot with one of the most insane villain plans Doctor Who ever did, and that's why I like it, but this does occasionally feel like it's not approaching it as such, or wants to explain it rather than sit with it being weird. Also, and this is the real thing that bothers me, I hated Polly being described as 'the hysterical female' so much.
February 26, 2023
Doctor Who : The Underwater Menace (1988) by Nigel Robinson is the novelisation of the fifth serial of the fourth season of Doctor Who. The Second Doctor, Polly, Ben and Jamie land on an island in the Atlantic but are soon captured and taken deep down into the earth where they wind up in Atlantis.
Not content with just being in Atlantis they also encounter a mad scientist, fish people and priests who want to sacrifice them. It’s all amusingly silly and the Second Doctor has fun as usual.
It’s not a great serial but has enough to amuse.
Not content with just being in Atlantis they also encounter a mad scientist, fish people and priests who want to sacrifice them. It’s all amusingly silly and the Second Doctor has fun as usual.
It’s not a great serial but has enough to amuse.
December 22, 2025
This one started off good. I particularly enjoyed how messed up the concept of turning human beings into fish people was. But it very quickly started to meander and just become meh. The writing style was odd too, I can't put my finger on exactly why, but certain sentences read very awkwardly. I would lean towards a 2.5 rather than just 2 but I just don't have that many strong feelings towards this story.
August 13, 2023
Very easy to read but moves wildly fast without giving the reader a chance to take in the ideas properly: the fish people, for example, could have been a wonderful opportunity for some classic body horror, but they are dealt with only fleetingly without the scale (sorry) of what they’ve been through properly examined. Fun but disposable.
June 21, 2020
Another highly enjoyable adaptation by Nigel Robinson. There's not a lot of embellishment, but it is well written and flows nicely. As I'm reading them in order, this is the last Target novel by him, unfortunately.
September 13, 2024
Plenty of action to keep you interested and a surprisingly dense plot for such a little book. The writing could've used some polish, a bit more variation in vocabulary, and a few more commas to break up run-on sentences.
October 2, 2024
Bought this on a whim at a library sale, and it took surprisingly long to read. The writing wasn't stellar, and had so many alliterations it was laughable. But it was an action packed silly read, based on some early missing episodes of Doctor Who.
April 22, 2019
While there's nothing wrong with Robinson's prose, the fault here lies with the original script which betrays a complete lack of understanding of what Doctor Who is all about.
October 16, 2019
But of a (watery) thin plot. Typical early DW romp.
October 23, 2019
I still don't get why the bad guy wanted to blow up the earth, but okay! This is a novelization of a Two story that I never saw, and it has Jamie in it. What's not to love?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 18, 2023
A fishy tale for 1960s fans, this book had great characters and great atmosphere with a description of an English degree, just wish it was more dramatic
January 9, 2024
I hate to give a 2nd Doctor story 2 stars, but not even the original audio with Frasier could save this...
April 23, 2025
Deserves to be turned into a film.
October 25, 2021
It's not really fair to give this a rating, since Nigel Robinson does his best to novelize what is famously one of the worst Doctor Who stories ever. And the original tv story is still entertaining even though only half of it exists, but much like the Web Planet this is one where the budget could never hope to realize the original author's vision of Atlantis. Robinson doesn't change the plot much, the mad scientist Zaroff is still crazy, his scheme to destroy the world is ridiculous, the fish people seem to have no real use, it's basically a 1930's pulp story. I kept wondering if this general storyline could be updated to make it at least somewhat plausible, it would be a shame to make Zaroff too sane, but at least more like a Bond villain anyway, with a better plan than setting off a nuclear bomb underground so the world's oceans would drain into the core and blow up Earth. There's a subgenre of apocalyptic sf where scientists try to dig into the planet and accidentally destroy it instead, not least the DW story Inferno from a few years after this, but I can't think of other instances where they're trying to do it on purpose. Give Robinson 3 stars for filling in some characters motivations for specific actions or inactions, and taking ownership of the Second Doctor completely bluffing his way out of dangerous situations, which on tv just comes across as lazy writing. If you've seen the original, the story in your head will look much more convincing.
June 18, 2016
There's a reason why The Underwater Menace doesn't have a rosy reputation. Watching the episode, it's difficult to take the story seriously as the production values are charmingly terrible. With a novelized version of the story, budgetary concerns are obviously not a concern; the story itself is able to bend and stretch and go without any restrictions.
Unfortunately, however, the story itself is so cliche'd and predictable, there's really no stretching or bending being done by anyone.
Nigel Robinson constructs the most basic of basic stories.
Unfortunately, however, the story itself is so cliche'd and predictable, there's really no stretching or bending being done by anyone.
Nigel Robinson constructs the most basic of basic stories.
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