Doctor Who: The Underwater Menace Animation - Should You Buy It? 

While I personally prefer The Smugglers, I'm really excited to hear about this project. It looks pretty great - in my opinion the least successful animations are ones that don't do the surviving soundtracks any justice, for example Fury or Abominable, both of which are lacking in atmosphere. I think that the 'Saturday morning cartoon' feel will work wonders for a story like this, with over-the-top performances and colourful imagery and costumes. I suspect Planet 55 would have done stories like Fury justice - the Moonbase is probably my all time favourite.

Whoever is animating this, please do justice to the "Nothing in the world can stop me now" scene, it's important

I'd love to see the wheel in space next, I know it's not the most popular episode but it would be great to finally have all the cyberman stories done and accessible in this format

I definitely think fans should buy this set. So we can continue the animations. We're so incredibly close to the 2nd doctor era being complete and we need more Hartnell animations. The more we support these sets. The more animations we can have.

I really hope a future animated story is The Daleks' master plan. I just like the idea of all the classic dalek stories being available.

They should just add the rough and tumble scene from macra at a random point in an episode with no context, all perfectly rotoscoped and handdrawn. I would instantly buy 5 copies.

Great stuff as always Josh! For me, I’d like to see The Wheel In Space animated, as that completes the season and primes it for a Pat box set. 😊

Yes, I will be buying this, if only to support the creation of more animations. Also, it's the Underwater Menace. I don't think I could ever get tired of seeing Zaroff screaming that nothing in the world can stop him now.

I will buy any animated version - as they are a way of bringing lost stories back to life. Its a shame there isnt a queue for more.

Like you, I’m a big Hartnell fan, so I’d love to see any 1st Doctor animations, or even colourisations. Clearly, the newly coloured clips from The Smugglers would make great additions to the special features on the animation release, but time will tell. As for Underwater Menace… will I buy it? Nuzzing in ze Vorld can stop me now!!! ❤

I hope we get a savages animation.

Nice Trog t-shirt, Josh.

I’d like to see “The Wheel in Space” as the next animated adventure. It was one of the first stories of Dr. Who I ever saw, as a small child when it was repeated in the early 1970s in Australia.

I want the range to continue as long as possible so I'll be getting it ASAP

Since I don't collect the Blu-ray's I'll be definitely getting the DVD. Hopefully the Smugglers rumours are true too.

2 videos in a week I love it! May sound silly but I'm always giddy when I see an upload from yourself. For lost era content I think you put the best stuff out there.

Hope they do Celestial Toymaker next. That one seems really interesting to me.

the disc changing wouldn't be so bad if you didn't have to sit through, "doctor who title and disc number" - logos etc - "to select audio navigation press enter now" every time

I think Disney+ only has rights to new episodes form the new seasons of Doctor Who and it doesn't cover any previous seasons (new or classic) or even the animations. The animations could be co-funded by BritBox.

I’m loving you’re making vids again!

I’ve bought the Blu-ray version here in America and I love it and they do have two discs. They have the black-and-white animation version on Disc1 and the color animated version on Disc 2. I’m glad they made both versions. I like the color versions better, but to each his own.

I'm excited for this. Evil of the daleks animation was awesome

I honestly would really love to see the Highlanders animated. I watched Power of the Daleks for the first time last week and loved it, went to move on to the next episode (the highlanders) and just didn’t vibe with the Telesnap Recons after the great POTD animation.

The animation looks interesting. It seems to be a mix of both animation teams (BBC Studios who did Shada, Faceless Ones, Evil of the Daleks and Big Finish who did Fury from the Deep, Galaxy 4, Abominable Snowmen). Seems to be a joint effort between both. I imagine character animation & character design was done by one team (BBC Studios) and backgrounds & layouts were done by the other (Big Finish). From the teaser, the characters look like they’re in the same art style as seen in Evil of the Daleks (the 2nd Doctor & Jamie models are the same from Evil, with Jamie being in the wrong costume), but the backgrounds & layouts of characters is more similar to the Big Finish animations (which I personally don’t like). Some people say that because it was said in The Mirror back in January that both Underwater Menace & The Smugglers were getting animated (as well as colourised 60s Doctor Who episodes), a Smugglers animation is basically confirmed, but I still wouldn’t say Smugglers or full colourised 60s episodes is 100% confirmed because of this. I remember back in 2018 when The Mirror said Macra Terror was being aniamted, they also said Wheel in Space. And while it technically wasn’t wrong as a part of Ep. 1 was animated, we still don’t have a full one. Some info mixes up & we don’t get exactly what was said. . Underwater Menace animated = ✅ . Smugglers aniamted =❔ . Colourised 60s Doctor Who =❔ What we might get instead of Smugglers being animated & fully colourised 60s Who is instead just the surviving clips of The Smugglers l being colourised (which just happened) & just Underwater Menace animated But, I am hoping to be wrong there 🤞 What I will say tho is in that original January Mirror article, it did say that the funding for these new animations was not from Disney, so we can scratch that potential off for now…

I like watching these animations in colour. But i love watching the original episodes too. So even on the discs where they have the animated episodes in black and white and the original episodes on the same disc, I still need to swap discs for the original episodes because usually they put the colour versions on a separate disc from the original episodes

Thumbs up for the Trog shirt! Would love to see you cover genre films as well!

Great video Josh! My understanding was that The Underwater Menace animation fell through due to the bankruptcy of Qurios, who did the 2013 Ice Warriors animation. I think this is referenced in the Black Archive on Underwater Menace by James Cooray Smith (which is an excellent read if you haven’t already!). Though both could be true - perhaps Planet 55 were approached afterwards and that also fell through? Would love to know any more info on that.

Good to see you back Josh and this is great news that there is another animated Doctor Who story!!

Josh snares: says he’s not going to upload for a while. 3 days later: uploads video as the previous one coincided with the announcement of a missing episode animation

Yes the #1 choice that I’d love to see animated is The Dalek Master Plan for sure. I’d think that’s almost everyone’s first choice. I’d say my second choice would be the one where Steven leaves to live with cavemen or something. Im to busy to look it up right now but you guys know better than me. It just comes across to me as the most obscure and forgotten Who story so for that reason I’d like to see it.

I will definitely be getting this, to replace the previous release I got for Xmas after it came out... I did love it, but this will be better!

Wouldn’t it be weird if the “mysterious benefactor” turned out to be Ian Levine? 😅😂

Even if we were to ignore the fact that turning the color down on your own TV is like a 15 second process, and I don't think it's worth wasting space on a disc for the exact same animation without the color, surely it couldn't be that big of an issue to just add some sort of feature into the disc so that you can switch it to color or black and white at will.

really hope they animated smugglers, when hear the rumours about the smugglers getting animated please be true. like you said they need animated more hartnell storys. been looking forwards to underwater menace animated for years. very excited for the release. thanks you josh for another amazing video cheers

Another great video Josh. I saw the episodes on their original run (blush). P.S. Love the Trog (1970) T-Shirt.

I'll be buying it, the Collection might only have the episodes in black and white for instance. I doubt a s4 set would have all those episodes twice and the recons.

Me personally, i will probably buy the first release digitally then get the physical series Collection set.. My viewing of it is, the more people who buy the animation either digitally or on DVD/blu-ray the more likely more animations will be funded and we might finally get the Wheel in space and Daleks masterplan.

Already Back Again! :D I should have known as soon as the Underwater Menace was announced you would do a video covering the announcement. Always great to hear your thoughts :)

Kinda wish that VHS releases was still a thing

Love the artwork mockup!

i suppose if people do not buy it then they wont make anymore

See I always have a plan, I will buy the new release but on DVD, and then purchase blu ray in the box set collection 😎

I’m impatient and I’m already struggling to wait until November when it is released Therefore, I couldn’t possibly wait until its release on the Collection Boxset 😂 Also, I don’t really understand the “special features” argument It’s clear that the colour animations are the main draw for people and is most appealing to general audiences. Therefore B&W animation is the special feature and that plus the surviving episodes compliment each other on a separate disc. I dunno, maybe the reasons run deeper and I’m just not knowledgeable enough

I know I'M buyin' it when we get it in the states!

I agree with you, The Daleks Master Plan is definitely the one I would love to see animated next. I really hope some day we get that one.

As always a great video

The Myth Makers, please. Such an underrated story!

That's really cool! I personally would like an animated series of Tobias Vaughn and PACKER!!! where they have to share an apartment after the events of The Invasion, maybe they have one of the crazy Cybermen living next door as a belligerent neighbour. This would be a good spin off show.

Yesssssss! This has made my whole ****** day.

Great news - I will of course buy both separate underwater menace and season four boxset, We need to support any release of reconstructions. Still hoping for missing episodes to be found. 🎉🎉🎉🎉

Obviously getting Daleks Master Plan would be amazing, but mostly I want them to complete a season. Seasons 1, 2, 5, and 6 are one animation away form being complete.

I love the fact that the whole serial is animated - a complete whole in its own right - after all the surviving episodes remain

Meh, I’ll go for the third option…..I’ll buy both! 😄. I’m still hanging out for an animation of Marco Polo. I know, I know - I keep banging on about this in your comment section every time the topic comes up, Josh, but I really want to see those costumes!

I'll definitely be buying the solo release as well as the eventual Collection set. I'll take whatever they give me.

Great hearing your thoughts Josh! I'm definitely going to be buying it in it's DVD form and as part of the collection when season 4 comes out. I really hope they keep the accidentally hilarious swimming scenes goofiness in the animation

I wonder if there would be ever missing live episodes have ever been found yet?

the answer is always: Yes. the disc 2 is basically a upgrade to the original release.

❤ the Trog t-shirt!

Great video, Josh. I'm happy we are getting animations again, even if I wish this was done in the old Planet 55 style. Got the steelbook pre-ordered as I do want to support the animations, and I've never seen UWM before.

Let's hope for The Celestial Toymaker, The Massacre, The Smugglers, The Wheel in Space, The Highlanders and The Savages with animation soon

If I could choose any 2nd Doctor show to animate next it would be The Highlanders, If I could choose any H 1st Doctor to animate it would have to be The Celestial Toymaker (if not that then the Savages or Marco Polo).

You nailed it, exactly my opinion

I just really want Troughton's remaining missing episodes animated first but I'm biased as he's my favourite doctor.I'd happily buy the space pirates animated! Although I will admit I have a preference for wheel in space being next and I could concede that other stories are favoured over space pirates! Will get the DVD as soon as it comes out as it's become a great event watching them as soon as they are released with my dad. I used to watch Troughton on VHS with my dad growing up in the 90s and I'm so happy to see animations brininging to life my favourite era like it's new.

Hey josh. Thanks for the upload again. Brillinat thing to wake up to. I am animating the crusade and the highlanders with ian levine overseeing. Its very exciting to see all the projects hes got me and a few others doing, and were really trying to get them to a professional quality

I'm legally required to mention that OH PEEPY how dare you host a criminal in your home

me in the corner still waiting for Wheel in Space like 😶

I really can’t wait for the dalek master plan as that’s something I am sure we would all want to see

I am so very happy that we are getting more animated reconstructions! I may be a bit biased since Troughton is my favorite, but also I wish Hartnell got more as well. For me I would pick Daleks Master Plan or Celestial Toymaker as ones I’d want to see get animated next.

I'm going to buy it now, but maybe I won't watch it until after I've bought Teh Colleckshun seezun fore. There's a chance that even then, I won't watch it, but will sit smugly in a corner, staring up at the boxsets on my shelf and sniggering to myself, replete in the knowledge that I _possess_ them. I always unwrap them to make sure the discs play tho'...

3D animation it’s better to be stylized than realistic in my opinion, Bionicle 3 Web of Shadows looks better than most 3D movies coming out in recent times.

Easy answer. If you want them to keep making animated reconstructions, YES, you should buy it.

Regarding the possibility of an animation for The Daleks' Master Plan, it's possible that an animation for it might be kept back for an anniversary-type release, since 2025 will mark the serial's 60th. Like how The Power of The Daleks was released on it's 50th anniversary. Since Master Plan is the only missing Dalek story not to currently have an animation, an anniversary release would kind of make sense.

I think Hartnell animations, are far from being all over 😎

I've already preordered it. So yes, I'm buying it.

As a lifetime lover of physical media, Doctor Who is an absolute nightmare to collect!

Really looking forward to your review of this!

After watching this video, you've convinced me. I'm going to buy Downtime.

Well, given it finally lets all four episodes of the story be watchable (rather than Episode One and Episode Four being listen-only), obviously I’m getting this release! I’m not waiting what could be years just for the Collection to reach Season 4, especially when we still don’t even know how it will arrange all the animations to ensure they fit! Regular BD for me; never understood the point of paying more for a worse product as steelbooks require.

I will definitely be buying it. Like you said near the end of the video, it would help the range, so it's a big yes from me! Great video.

This caught me as such a surprise when it was announced - in a good way! I am very much looking forward to this release. I think the one i'd most like to see is The celestial toymaker - i saw the telesnap a few weeks ago and it is honestly one of the best doctor who stories i've ever seen!

I had no real motivation to buy the existing dvd release considering I'm personally not that into telesnap recons. I'm excited to experience the story even though from what I understand its not a story with exactly glowing reviews from fans 😅

Great job as always Josh!

Good news - still not sold on the Letraset colour palette so will be watching the B&W version - and hopefully the new photo-recon will take a leaf out of LC book as their effort really was a sterling effort esp for ep4..

100% gonna buy this even if I'm not a big underwater menace fan, the scare of the range potentially being over had me so frightened I think I'd be betraying myself by not supporting it. I think personally my ideal next animation would need to be a hartnell story, maybe marco polo for the sake of having a complete season 1.

I'll buy the Underwater Menace when it comes out. To support the range and god knows when they will get around to releasing season 4.

I'm absolutely buying this twice.

Oh im buying it.

serious question, for those episodes that theres like a few seconds of video clip for but only audio otherwise, do they sync that up in any of the releases?

Really the one I want animated is Marco Polo and the Highlanders

Im buying both either way😂

not sure about the smugglers three more troughton ones to do highlanders, wheel in space and space pirates

I'd maybe go with The Space Pirates, I know it's bad, but I wanna see them animate a battle scene for the ending episode.

Great news: just take my money now, BBC …and keep going!

I am looking forward to buying my copy - it seems a good choice - hope to see more William Hartnell - but, glad about this - I did not buy the former DVD copy in the hope that this animation would happen - excellent

Personally I'm not interested in Collection sets where the majority of episodes are missing. Meanwhile, Seasons 3-5 of the modern series are some of the most popular, so that could be cool to see.

Delighted to hear that the animations are still being made, I'm putting this one on my wishlist. As always, Daleks' Master Plan gets my vote. Loved the Trog T-shirt, btw 👍

The next release i want to see is The Highlanders, im a huge troughton era fan but ive never sat down to watch a reconstruction of that story as i can struggle with reconstructions but i really want to see jamies introduction next. Then maybe the wheel in space for zoe but im not too fussed about that yet... although a completed set of cyberman stories would be nice.

Trog T-Shirt!

I would absolutely love to see Gerry Anderson "Super Marionation " style reconstructions of Dr Who

We’re going to get into the weeds soon with the really difficult animations. I’d love to see Marco Polo, The Daleks’ Master Plan and The Massacre (and hopefully we’ll get The Smugglers soon) but I know they’re an enormous challenge due to the costume changes, length of stories etc. But I’m hoping the market will be there if Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor Who proves to be a massive success.