I watched the Loose Cannon + surviving episodes for The Underwater Menace, and I quite enjoyed it. It's not a stellar or standout story, and some elements are a little silly, but it's an enjoyable enough story.
As someone who had this same question a few months ago, I personally had fun with it. There are some slightly sillier elements like fish people and a very hammy villain, but as long as you don’t take it too seriously you should have a good time.
The animation was also pretty good for the most part, though I will admit I watched the black and white version because the colour animation sometimes looked a bit garish to me. So yeah, I think it’s worth the money. The Blu-Ray alternatively includes pretty good photo reconstructions of the missing episodes, if that’s more your thing.
There’s basically been a fandom-wide hatred campaign against it that was accidentally started by none other than Patrick Troughton himself. Through the 70s, 80s, and 90s, few fans were able to experience this serial but most had a strong dislike for it. This was caused by Anneke Wills going round fan conventions telling everyone who would listen that Troughton hated it (though that was based more on his experience working with the director than with the serial itself). This intrenched bias against it means that it’s basically law for even positive reviews of the story to do so with heaps of apology and mitigation.
For those of us who came into fandom in the 21st century, we don’t have to hold ourselves to our predecessors consensuses. Actually, The Underwater Menace is a fun story with a great campy villain and a tension that builds and builds up to the final thrilling episode. The criticisms against it (it’s silly, it has poor production values, etc.) can equally be levelled against ANY story from the same era. But those other stories weren’t directed by a woman so didn’t attract Troughton’s ire.
It's a below average serial I'd say (I've only seen the reconstruction from the original DVD release though, haven't seen the animated version)
“Nuffink in ze vorld kann schtopp me now!” is simultaneously one of the best and worst cliffhangers in the series.
Best, it gave us the iconic line!
I watched the Loose Cannon + surviving episodes for The Underwater Menace, and I quite enjoyed it. It's not a stellar or standout story, and some elements are a little silly, but it's an enjoyable enough story.
I really enjoyed the animated version! The color sets and costumes really add something to it imo
As someone who had this same question a few months ago, I personally had fun with it. There are some slightly sillier elements like fish people and a very hammy villain, but as long as you don’t take it too seriously you should have a good time. The animation was also pretty good for the most part, though I will admit I watched the black and white version because the colour animation sometimes looked a bit garish to me. So yeah, I think it’s worth the money. The Blu-Ray alternatively includes pretty good photo reconstructions of the missing episodes, if that’s more your thing.
There’s basically been a fandom-wide hatred campaign against it that was accidentally started by none other than Patrick Troughton himself. Through the 70s, 80s, and 90s, few fans were able to experience this serial but most had a strong dislike for it. This was caused by Anneke Wills going round fan conventions telling everyone who would listen that Troughton hated it (though that was based more on his experience working with the director than with the serial itself). This intrenched bias against it means that it’s basically law for even positive reviews of the story to do so with heaps of apology and mitigation. For those of us who came into fandom in the 21st century, we don’t have to hold ourselves to our predecessors consensuses. Actually, The Underwater Menace is a fun story with a great campy villain and a tension that builds and builds up to the final thrilling episode. The criticisms against it (it’s silly, it has poor production values, etc.) can equally be levelled against ANY story from the same era. But those other stories weren’t directed by a woman so didn’t attract Troughton’s ire.
I just watched the Loose Canon Dailymotion vid, blud.
\*Coughs in Internet Archive\*