The Sea Devils

The Sea Devils begins brilliantly with the Jo and Doctor on a boat, visiting a small island prison dedicated the imprisonment of one man: The Master. The build up to The Doctor's encounter with his arch nemesis is very well handled, once they are on land we pass heavy surveillance, armed guards and identity checks before being allowed anywhere near him. This suspenseful introduction reminded me of Hannibal Lecter, even more so when the excellent twist is revealed; the entire prison is under his control.

The introduction shows that the story's primarily purpose is not to be a sequel to the Silurians (Eocenes, Sea Devils, etc.) but to explore The Master's relationship with The Doctor. Whilst The Master steals the show (proving what a special treat he can be when not overused) the Sea Devils are a real flop when compared to their land dwelling cousins. Whilst they *can* speak, I can't recall many scenes in which they choose to do so. I criticised The Silurians for introducing the species as highly intelligent, but then failing to deliver this in terms of their presentation or speech. In The Sea Devils the problem is made worse, they are mostly mute villains without a trace of their supposed super-intelligence. Are they supposed to be considered intellectual compare to humans, or just all other Earth animals? Last week's The Curse of Peladon had seven races (Human, Peladon, Time Lord, Ice Warrior, Aggador, Alpha Centauri and Arcturus) only one of which I would consider to be less intelligent then the Sea Devils. This problem undermines the entire plot, it rids these creatures of one of their key distinguishing features.

The Silurian element of the plot is also hampered by the fact that we've already seen the same scenario played out two seasons ago. Swapping underground creatures to creatures from the sea adds no more than visual difference. This lack of substance means that their elements of episodes three to six drag terribly. It would have been preferable for them to see where The Silurian race was two years later, after being betrayed by UNIT. It would be amazing to see some righteous (and justified) ire directed at the human race.

The Navy's contribution to this story is highly significant, both The Master and The Doctor feel very at home in this hierarchical environment. Seeing The Master flit in and out of prison, then be saluted by a large group of naval officers makes him by far the coolest man in the show, his escape via hovercraft at the end of episode six is just as ostentatious. It is wonderful to see how this villain has grown. The Master does not just want to cause havoc, he wants to cause it in style.

They have made a conscious decision to not include UNIT in this story, it would have been nice to have a cameo appearance - especially as we were shown so many Navel equivalents to our favourite characters. For all my talk of loving variety, I must say that I've missed UNIT over the last couple of stories!

As time has gone on I have felt more and more attached to Jo, she is a truly excellent and versatile companion. In the previous story she was glamorously scaling buildings and here, I am also in love with Pertwee's Doctor, even if his attempts to make lofty, pretentious James Bond-like statements sometimes gets under my skin. Together these two make the best and most natural duo the show has seen so far.

I had an excellent time with the Sea Devils. While the story is a standard affair considering this era, I'm most impressed by the amount of resources the crew put into filming around water, and a pretty cool set for the Master's prison. The Sea Devils themselves look just okay but I think compare well to something like The Silurians. Overall, I had a good time. The Master, Jo, and the Doctor are all a lot of fun here - everyone has good chemistry with each other and it is just easy to let Pertwee's charm just carry you through the story. Most of the guest actors are quite solid, too. Just when I think the premise started wearing thin, the story is brought to an end, and I'm left with a pretty fond feeling towards this story overall.

Sometimes in Classic Who you find the longer serials (or to be fair, any serials) don't have enough plot to fill their time. I'm so glad The Sea Devils is not one of those

I liked the plot and the acting, the Sea Devil costumes are charming, and the location filming was enthralling (shout out to the sea <3). The Doctor had a sword fight with the Master, stole his sandwich, and then stole Jo's sandwich too. What more do you want from Doctor Who