199 Fury from the Deep: Episode Two

EPISODE: Fury from the Deep: Episode Two
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 199
STORY NUMBER: 042
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 23 March 1968
WRITER: Victor Pemberton
DIRECTOR: Hugh David
SCRIPT EDITOR: Derrick Sherwin
PRODUCER: Peter Bryant
RATINGS: 7.9 million viewers
FORMAT: CD: Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes Volume 5 (1967-1969)
TELESNAPS: Fury from the Deep: Episode Two

"There is something alive in the pipeline. It's down there, in the darkness, in the pipeline, waiting....."

The Doctor and Jamie rescue Victoria from the weed and foam. Robson doesn't believe her story and accuses her of sabotage. Maggie Harris tells her husband that the seaweed stung her before passing out. Out on the veranda the sea weed is producing foam. The Doctor and Robson are arguing about the sound the Doctor heard. The Doctor says it was a heartbeat, Robson says it's a propeller mechanism. Harris asks The Doctor to come and see Maggie. She in turn is opening the door to Mr Oak, a short fat man, and Mr Quill, a tall thin man. They claim to be from maintenance but are revealed to have arms covered in seaweed which they cover with white gloves. They breathe toxic gas at Mrs Harris rendering her unconscious again. Gas is vented from the pipeline to reduce pressure. Once more Van Lutyens argues with the stubborn Robson as the main impeller stops moving cutting off the gas flow. The Doctor and Harris find Maggie unconscious: he tells them about the seaweed. Van Lutyens seeks support from Chief Baxter to investigate the problems but Robson won't listen to him either when Van Lutyens' name is mentioned. The Impeller starts again as Van Lutyens explains his concerns:

It's down there, in the darkness, in the pipeline, waiting.....

Oh what a wonderfully creepy bit of dialogue to end with, that's superb.

JAMIE: What happened?
DOCTOR: Deep breaths. Take deep breaths.
CHIEF: Mister Robson, in here. Gas.
ROBSON: Check it then. Find out what it is.
VICTORIA: Oh, Doctor, a horrible creature.
DOCTOR: Creature?
VICTORIA: Didn't you see it? It was in there. It came straight towards me covered with seaweed and foam and this horrible hissing sound, and then I screamed. I didn't know.
DOCTOR: All right, Victoria.
ROBSON: Creature? The girl's hysterical.

Robson's a stubborn old goat, doesn't listen to anything anyone says to him preferring to back his own experience.

ROBSON: So what's the panic?
CHIEF: It's the pump, sir. The revs have dropped.
VAN LUTYENS: The pump is slowing down?
CHIEF: Yes, she's not holding steady even now. I don't understand it.
ROBSON: Well, don't stand there thinking about it, man. Do a complete check.
DOCTOR: Excuse me, may I say something? When I was in the pipe room a short while ago, I'm sure I heard a movement coming from inside the pipe.
VAN LUTYENS: What kind of movement?
DOCTOR: Well, the same as I heard on the beach. A sort of thumping sound.
VAN LUTYENS: But that's what they heard out at the rigs.
ROBSON: What you heard and what everybody else heard was a mechanical fault somewhere along the line.
DOCTOR: Then why did they hear it out at the rigs?
ROBSON: Because, my friend, underneath this impeller shaft is a vast steel gasometer buried in the earth. It acts like an echo chamber. It'll make the sound of a pin dropping sound like that of a thunder clap. It travels along the pipe.
DOCTOR: Oh, this wasn't a mechanical sound.
ROBSON: All right then, suppose there is something in the pipe. A fish or something. What do you expect me to do about it?
DOCTOR: Turn off the gas flow. At least until you've had a chance to investigate.
ROBSON: That's out of the question.
VAN LUTYENS: Mister Robson, if there is something in the pipeline
ROBSON: We do not turn off the flow and that is final.
CHIEF: Mister Robson, sir.
ROBSON: Yes?
CHIEF: Down another half.
ROBSON: It must be a mechanical fault. Get a couple of men and check, man, check.
VAN LUTYENS: If you allow the pressure to build up in the pipeline, you'll blow the whole rig sky-high.
DOCTOR: And blow us with it.
VAN LUTYENS: All because you're too stubborn to turn off the gas.
ROBSON: All right, what do you think it is? One of these creatures the hysterical girl thought she saw?
DOCTOR: Well, who knows.

The controlled Oak & Quill are obviously meant to be a sort rift on Laurel & Hardy and because of that are all the more sinister for it

A brief clip from this episode exists courtesy of the Australian censors showing Oak & Quill breathing out the toxic gas.

Control panel time:

The first panel here with the row of 3 dials and then a row of 2 dials we saw in Dalek Masterplan 5: Counterplot and later in The War Machines in the Warehouse:

The next panel we got 2 partial views of last episode, here we can see all of it:

There's two panels in what looks like one of the side rooms.

The first is obviously another one from Dalek Masterplan 5: Counterplot:

The second there's less to go on but it could well be this third panel along from The Faceless One. We saw the second panel in the previous episode.