The Sea Devils

The Doctor and Jo pay the Master a visit in his high security prison on an island. Escape is impossible – the facility is state of the art and run by a crusty former colonial governor named Trenchard. But nearby there have been a series of mysterious ship sinkings, and the Doctor is compelled to investigate for himself. Allying himself with the Royal Navy, the Doctor discovers that not only has the Master taken control of the prison and can walk out whenever he wants, but he has contacted a colony of marine Earth Reptiles like the Silurians. The world is on the verge of another war between species with the planet once again as the prize.

It was just a matter of time before the Silurians returned, but this time a completely new species was created instead of repeating the same formula of monsters in caves. After all, prehistoric amphibians are just as much fun to write for as reptiles. Adding a new species to the pre-human era of Earth was a terrific idea as so often alien species are homogenized and there is little in the way of variation; just look at the Ice Warriors for that proof. They don’t exactly resemble fish, not entirely; the design is more based on a snapping turtle. I thought they looked a bit comical when I first saw them on a Target book cover to be honest.

The Master is back on the scene – there was no way he was going to be kept locked up, but he’s subverted order at the prison and is effectively running it, keeping up the illusion of being captive while he makes his plans. The notion was picked up and used in The Face of the Enemy already, but given when things were written, this was the first time it was used as a device. It didn’t take much to get control though; Trenchard is gullible and believes the Master is onto some international spies and willingly works with him. The rest of the guards (oddly attired in berets and capes) just do as they are told.

UNIT is swapped for the Royal Navy this time, which leads to some fantastic use of a real naval base and ships… as well as some less than convincing model work with a submarine. Captain Hart steps in as the lead military man in place of the old Brigadier, and he’s just as sceptical as his UNIT counterpart ever was, and just as mired by meddling civil servants. Yes, there’s always one of those getting in the way; it was Chinn in Claws of Axos and this time it’s Private Parliamentary Undersecretary Walker who proceeds to demand constant meals while playing at being in charge of the situation. The situation is, of course, right out of his control; the Doctor wants to try brokering peace again but with the Master stirring things up the Sea Devils are not as easily convinced as the Silurians were.

The Sea Devils themselves do not get as much development as the Silurians did; given that their story is effectively the same there’s not much expansion on their culture. One might think that the aquatic species might be different from the landbound ones seeing as their interactions with primal humans would have been different, if they interacted with them at all out in the oceans. Gary Russell took a swing at that when he retconned them to an extent in The Scales of Injustice but it doesn’t impact these ones at all, nor the Doctor’s meeting with them. Oddly though they wear what look like discarded fishing nets as a sort of clothing whereas the Silurians were absolute nudists. And they carry weapons and don’t reply on the third eye as the Silurians did. 

But now that we have seen the Sea Devils, they won’t get used again for quite some time, which is a disappointment, and when they do come back… well, it’s never as good the second time is it?

NEXT EPISODE: THE MUTANTS