471 Underworld Part Two

EPISODE: Underworld Part Two
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 471
STORY NUMBER: 096
TRANSMITTED: 14 January 1978
WRITER: Bob Baker & Dave Martin
DIRECTOR: Norman Stewart
SCRIPT EDITOR: Anthony Read
PRODUCER: Graham Williams
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - Myths & Legends: The Time Monster, Underworld & The Horns of the Nimon

The cannon penetrates the accreting mass and they escape, sighting & crashing on a planet that has formed round the P7E. The ship ploughs through the surface of the planet becoming wedged in more solid rock closer to the P7E. In the cave tunnels the Trog underclass mine under the guards, who in turn are the slaves of the Seers who serve the Oracle. The Minyans venture into the tunnels, followed by the Doctor & Leela, who meet escaped Trog Idas. Herrick encounters a guard, causing the guard's superiors to pump gas into the tunnels. The Doctor adjusts mining equipment to suck the gas out of the tunnels, but is overcome before he can finish the job.

Part 1 was slow and boring..... but nowhere near as bad as this. Just a bunch of wandering around in tunnels and pumping gas through them, in itself an awful effect. Dire. The observant among you might spot that the guards weapons are Minyan shield guns, minus the shield.

Settle yourself in: virtually the entire cast of this story have Doctor Who form or have done something interesting! James Maxwell, as Jackson, has found infamy post mortem for allegedly haunting Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre. Alan Lake, Herrick, was already well known as Diana Dors third husband. Jonathan Newth, Orfe, now has sci fi form appearing since this story in The Day of the Triffids and Nightmare Man, both of which have strong Who connections behind the scenes. Meanwhile the agent of Imogen Bickford-Smith, Tala, on hearing that Louise Jameson was shortly departing Doctor Who was quick to proclaim his client as the new companion!

James Marcus, Raskl, was a peasant in the Doctor Who serial Invasion of the Dinosaurs. Godfrey James, Tarn, has a CV as long as your arm involving virtually anything I've ever watched. Jimmy Gardner, Idmon, was Chenchu in Marco Polo while playing his son Idas is Norman Tipton, one of the few actors to play a supporting role in more than one episode of Blake's 7, appearing as Artix in Spacefall & Cygnus Alpha. Jay Neill, Guard Klimt, was a Pikeman in The Masque of Mandragora & Silvey in The Invisible Enemy. Frank Jarvis, Ankh, was a Corporal in DW: The War Machines and Skart in The Power of Kroll. Finally we saw Richard Shaw, Lakh, as Lobos in The Space Museum & Cross in Frontier in Space.