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| The Master forges an alliance. |
6 episodes. Running Time: Approx. 148 minutes. Written by: Malcolm Hulke. Directed by: Michael E. Briant. Produced by: Barry Letts.
THE PLOT:
Ships are vanishing at sea, all in a very specific area near a sea fortress being renovated by the Royal Navy. This is not on the Doctor's radar at all... until he and Jo visit the Master at his heavily fortified island prison, where the warden, Col. Trenchard (Clive Morton), makes an offhand mention.
The Doctor investigates, leading him to discover aquatic lifeforms that he recognizes as relatives of the Silurians. Like the Silurians, these "Sea Devils" have awakened to find the planet that was once theirs now belongs to man - and they want it back.
As before, the Doctor hopes to find a peaceful solution. But first he'll have to deal with the Master, who is planning to use this situation for his own benefit. But the Doctor's efforts are complicated when he realizes that his old enemy has taken full control of his prison, with Trenchard and all the guards now working for him!
CHARACTERS:
The Doctor: His trust in Jo has grown over time. When she says she's seen the Master at the Naval Base, he doesn't waste a second doubting her. He snaps at Capt. Hart (Edwin Richfield), the ranking officer, to lock the place down immediately. Jon Pertwee is on particularly good form throughout this story. While visiting the Master, the Doctor tries to coax him into revealing the location of his TARDIS. The Master refuses; and Pertwee shows the Doctor's reaction in his frosty delivery of, "Ask a silly question," before returning to his normal affability. Another good moment sees him bribing the boatman into running an errand that will allow him to borrow the man's vessel. He says he would run the errand himself, except that his bad leg is acting up. He runs through a couple historical battle sites ("Crimea... Gallipolli? El Alamein?"). Then he gives up and just smiles, holding up the cash and saying, "Does it really matter?"
Jo Grant: I liked the Doctor/Jo relationship in Season Eight; in Season Nine, to repeat an observation I made about the previous story, the two of them positively sparkle. When Jo helps him to escape a trap set by the Master, they take turns beckoning the other to leave through the open door, exchanging "After you; no, after you" in a bit that feels unscripted (whether it was or not) in the best way possible. One minus, however: There are two scenes in which Jo is written to physically attack guards. In both cases, it looks hilariously unconvincing. I love Jo when she's interacting with the Doctor, or when she has flashes of ingenuity... but let's not try to make her into Emma Peel, because that really doesn't work.
The Master: Imprisonment has done nothing to make him less dangerous. He takes the measure of his captors, manipulating them to turn strengths into weaknesses that can be preyed upon. He does this with Trenchard in the first half of the story, then repeats the same feat with the Sea Devils. Roger Delgado is at his most charming, and his interactions with Pertwee are some of their best. He may want to take revenge on the Doctor for his captivity, but he doesn't underestimate him. When he discovers that Trenchard let slip about the missing ships, he is enraged, and he isn't at all mollified when Trenchard says that the Doctor didn't seem interested. He knows his adversary too well to think that he won't investigate such a mystery.
Pompous Bureaucrat of the Week: Trenchard, the warden of the Master's prison, is a man whose career is mostly behind him. He was once governor of a British colony - but only for long enough to grant the colony its independence. No resentment is ever stated, but it's not hard to imagine his frustration at having his career apex snatched away, only for him to be treated as a silly old man and/or a nuisance thereafter. This makes him easy prey for the Master, who manipulates him with visions of being a hero.
Pompous Bureaucrat #2: Trenchard is basically a good man who has been led astray. The same cannot be said of this story's other bureaucrat, Parliamentary Secretary Walker (Martin Boddey). Walker arrives late in the story, introducing himself by being dismissive and sexist toward both Jo and a female naval officer, whom he treats as a glorified secretary. It only gets worse from there. He preens behind his desk, stuffing his face while gleefully ordering an attack. Later, in a position of weakness, he turns into such a coward that I think even The Claws of Axos's loathsome Mr. Chinn would look down on him in contempt.
Sea Devils: The oceanic cousins of the Silurians. Their design is impressive by Classic Who standards, with their amphibian qualities making them look correct as ocean dwellers and their cold eyes and stature making them threatening. Unfortunately, this story is more concerned with the Master than with them, so they are mainly relegated to the role of "monsters," though their leader at least briefly considers the Doctor's appeals for peace.
THOUGHTS:
The Sea Devils was Season 9's big production, with location filming, reasonably large-scale action scenes, a decent-sized guest cast, and cooperation by the Royal Navy lending significant production value. Aside from a submarine set that's unconvincing even by 1970s TV standards, this is a rare "Classic Who" story that looks good.
Malcolm Hulke's script juggles the different elements well. Though the Master is the main villain, the Sea Devils are established as a presence early, with their activities having drawn the attention of the Navy, the Doctor, and the Master all. The different threads all feed each other narratively. The Doctor sees the Sea Devils; though Capt. Hart (Edwin Richfield) is skeptical, he sends a submarine to investigate, and that submarine plays into the story in its late episodes. The Master spends much of Episode Three building a device, and the construction of a larger version becomes a key part of Episode Six. All the pieces end up fitting together.
The serial is mainly an action piece, and as such it feels less weighty to me than Season Seven's Dr. Who & the Silurians did. The design of the Sea Devils is superior to that of the Silurians; but as they are secondary villains in their own story, they just aren't as interesting on the page. The different Silurians in the earlier story had individual personalities and motivations. The Sea Devils are basically just monsters, with the Doctor's peace overtures feeling more like a token effort than like the increasingly desperate driving force of the earlier story. Unusually for a Malcolm Hulke story, the script makes theme subordinate to incident.
But it's hard to complain when so much of the incident is so entertaining. The Doctor and the Master get into a sword fight, with the Doctor getting the upper hand... and pausing mid-fight to munch on a sandwich. A Sea Devil rises from the water onto the beach where the Doctor and Jo are escaping, forcing them into a minefield. The Doctor descends in a diving bell; when the bell is brought up, he has vanished, with Jo climbing in and staring wide-eyed at the empty chamber. The overall excellent realization and sure-handed direction by Michael E. Briant helps each moment and visual to land that little bit harder.
My only real complaint is with Malcolm Clarke's music. His experimental score is deliberately intrusive. This is effective when the Doctor and Jo investigate an empty facility that has been attacked by Sea Devils, or in scenes that see the Sea Devils attacking or about to attack. In other moments, however, it's just distracting, with the shrill noises particularly detracting from the well-choreographed Doctor/Master swordfight. To the sound editors: We do not need to hear the score "bleep" at us every time their swords touch, thank you.
OVERALL:
I could wish for a bit more of a sense of personality from the Sea Devils themselves, and I don't think this story makes the impact that Dr. Who & the Silurians did. On its own terms, however, The Sea Devils is a well-made and engrossing action/adventure story. Pertwee, Manning, and Delgado are at their best, the script is efficiently structured, and it's among the best-looking stories of all of "Classic Who."
It's very much a set piece story, and I think it benefits from being watched one episode at a time over multiple sittings instead of all at once. But it's a really good set piece story, and it's probably among the serials that would be most accessible to modern viewers.
Overall Rating: 9/10.
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