‘THE SEA DEVILS’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Sea Devils and the Master with the Third Doctor and Jo

For the sake of this updated review, I ended up checking out two versions of ‘The Sea Devils’ that are available in the Season 9 Blu-ray box set. There’s the original six-part story that was transmitted on TV in 1972 as well as the omnibus movie edition that has been reconstructed for the Blu-ray in 2023.

It wasn’t my plan to check out the omnibus edition after seeing the six-part story on Blu-ray, but there was a delay to me updating my review on ‘The Sea Devils’. So, I decided to check out the omnibus edition to refresh my memory of the story. And in a way, I’m really pleased I checked it out.

Because you don’t realise how much you appreciate the six-part version of the story more until you see the omnibus edition and realise that scenes have been edited out. The omnibus edition is about 90 minutes compared to the six-part tale and was shown on TV at Christmas time in December 1972.

Usually, I don’t check out the omnibus editions of certain 1970s ‘Doctor Who’ stories unless I really had to. I didn’t check out the omnibus edition of ‘Day of the Daleks’ in the Season 9 Blu-ray box set, since I consider the four-part Special Edition version of the story to be the superior version of the lot.

After all, the omnibus edition would only contain the original Dalek voices and not the updated voices by Nicholas Briggs. But saying that doesn’t mean checking out the omnibus editions is wasted. I often prefer longer versions of certain ‘Doctor Who’ stories, especially those in the classic TV series.

But that’s enough talking about omnibus editions. Let’s talk about ‘The Sea Devils’ itself. The first time I saw ‘The Sea Devils’ was when it was released in the ‘Beneath the Surface’ DVD box set, containing it, ‘Doctor Who and the Silurians’ and ‘Warriors of the Deep’, which I enjoyed immensely.

I recall having the ‘Beneath the Surface’ DVD box set in May 2008 for my birthday, I believe. Like I said, ‘The Sea Devils’ is a six-part story by Malcolm Hulke. Malcolm Hulke is no stranger to ‘Doctor Who’, as he’s contributed to the series many times and mostly for the Jon Pertwee/Third Doctor era.

He co-wrote ‘The Faceless Ones’ with David Ellis and co-wrote ‘The War Games’ with Terrance Dicks, both with Patrick Troughton. For the Third Doctor era, he wrote ‘Doctor Who and the Silurians’ and he rewrote ‘The Ambassadors of Death’ for Season 7. Later, he wrote ‘Colony In Space’ for Season 8.

That was all before he did ‘The Sea Devils’ for Season 9. After ‘The Sea Devils’, Malcolm Hulke went on to write ‘Fronter In Space’ for Season 10 and ‘Invasion of the Dinosaurs’ for Season 11. There’s no denying that he was quite a popular writer for the Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks production team. 🙂

When ‘The Sea Devils’ was released on DVD in the ‘Beneath the Surface’ DVD box set, it was on a 1-disc DVD set. That’s a contrast compared to ‘Doctor Who and the Silurians’, which was released on a 2-disc DVD set. Then again, ‘Warriors of the Deep’ was released on a 1-disc set too, so there you go.

Once again, we have Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor and Katy Manning as Jo Grant in this ‘Doctor Who’ story. We’re back on Earth this time compared to when we visited Peladon in the previous story ‘The Curse of Peladon’. Except this time, the U.N.I.T. team don’t appear in this earthbound TV story.

No Brigadier, Mike Yates nor Sergeant Benton to be found. Because of the story connected to oceans and such, it was decided to have the Royal Navy recruited to help the Doctor and Jo out in this adventure. This was refreshing in an earthbound tale. And of course, it means we can get to go…

Sebastian: ♪ Under the sea. Under the sea. ♫

Despite the story not featuring U.N.I.T., ‘The Sea Devils’ features the return of Roger Delgado as the Master, who was a regular ‘Doctor Who’ villain in Season 8. This story provides the opportunity to be a follow-up to ‘The Dæmons’, especially since at the end of that tale, the Master had been arrested.

‘The Sea Devils’ is one of my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ stories from the Jon Pertwee/Third Doctor era. I love ‘The Sea Devils’. I found it captivating and gripping from beginning to end. There weren’t any boring bits for me and it’s so fascinating how Malcolm Hulke wrote this as a sequel to another story.

For you see, ‘The Sea Devils’ is a follow-up to ‘Doctor Who and the Silurians’. In that story, the Doctor encountered a group of Earth reptiles in some caves in Derbyshire where they claimed to be the original Earth dwellers before they went into hibernation and then the human race came about.

Whether you believe this to be actual truth or not is up to you. I mean, this is a story in a sci-fi TV series after all. But for the most part, I’ve enjoyed how Malcolm Hulke delivers these stories depicting humanity in conflict with the Silurians and the Sea Devils who want to reclaim the Earth. 🙂

For this occasion, in terms of ‘The Sea Devils’, it was decided to have to a follow-up to ‘The Silurians’ story, but not set inside some caves, but at the sea itself. They could have been called ‘The Sea-Siluirians’ instead, but for some reason it was decided to give them a catchier name and be Sea Devils.

Although, according to the Doctor, the terms ‘Silurians’ happens to be inaccurate, as apparently…

Doctor: That’s a complete misnomer. The chap who discovered them must have got the period wrong. No, properly speaking, they should have been called the Eocenes.

Or ‘homo reptilia’ as the Eleventh Doctor would call them in ‘The Hungry Earth’/’Cold Blood’. Regardless, over the years, the name ‘Silurians’ stuck with the ‘Doctor Who’ monsters over the years and they’ve become popular in the TV series. That’s the case for both the Silurians and Sea Devils. 🙂

As well as ‘Warriors of the Deep’, the Sea Devils have recently returned in ‘Legend of the Sea Devils’ with Jodie Whittaker and the Season 9 Blu-ray trailer ‘Defenders of Earth’. At the time of this review, the Sea Devils will soon be returning in the spin-off series ‘The War Between the Land and the Sea’.

In ‘The Sea Devils’ story, the Doctor and Jo visit the Master a security prison on a small island in the English Channel, run by Colonel Trenchard. The Master claims to have been reformed since his actions in Season 8, though it’s clear that isn’t the case once the Doctor and Jo leave him in his cell.

He won’t even reveal the location of his TARDIS to the Doctor once he declares he’s been reformed. Meanwhile, the Doctor hears reports of ships mysteriously disappearing. Being curious, he decides to investigate an abandoned sea fort where he and Jo are attacked by a sea-adapted bipedal reptile.

Before long, the Doctor and Jo find themselves teaming up with the Royal Navy at a nearby naval base run by Captain Hart. They must work together to confront the menace of the Sea Devils as well as the Master. Can the Doctor also form a peace between humanity and the Sea Devils in this story?

It’s interesting comparing both the Sea Devils and the Silurians when checking out this story. Both have similar aims in terms of wanting to reclaim the planet Earth once they wake up out of hibernation. But both look different, as the Sea Devils seem turtle-like than their land-based cousins.

Also, the Sea Devils wear clothes in this story compared to the Silurians. Well, I say clothes, as they’re mostly in string-like netted vests. This was a little minute addition for them in terms of design, as the story’s director Michael E. Briant wasn’t happy when he saw the Sea Devils naked. 😮

It’s funny how original alien characters like Alpha Centauri in ‘The Curse of Peladon’ and the Sea Devils in their titular story were first naked before being clothed up. 😀 At least the Sea Devils improved in terms of attire in their returns for ‘Warriors of the Deep’ and ‘Legend of the Sea Devils’.

As stated, ‘The Sea Devils’ was directed by Michael E. Briant. He previously directed ‘Colony In Space’ for Season 9. He was also an assistant floor manager for ‘The Crusade’ and a production assistant for the stories ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’, ‘The Power of the Daleks’ and ‘Fury From The Deep’.

Michael E. Briant was an actor before he became a director. Apparently, he was the IMC radio voice in ‘Colony In Space’ and he voiced the DJ in ‘Episode Two’ of ‘The Sea Devils’. I didn’t realise it was him when checking out this ‘Doctor Who’ story. I now see why he happens to be Jo’s favourite DJ. 😀

I’ve had my DVD cover for ‘The Sea Devils’ signed by the lovely Katy Manning and director Michael E. Briant. I saw them both at two ‘Pandorica’ conventions in Bristol. I saw Katy Manning at the ‘Pandorica’ event in September 2014 and I saw Michael at the ‘Pandorica’ event in September 2015.

I’ve enjoyed meeting Katy Manning at conventions over the years, especially when she’s so delightful and manages to cheer me up when I chat to her. Katy shared her memories of making ‘The Sea Devils’ with me, especially when she recalls the Sea Devils as ‘poor little darlings’, which is fair. 🙂

I mean, after all, the guys playing the Sea Devils, including stuntman Stuart Fell, had a lot of hard work to get through, particularly in action scenes as well as rising up from the sea to attack. It must have been difficult for the chaps playing the Sea Devils, especially with wearing the oversized heads.

I’ve also had a photo of Katy Manning as Jo Grant in ‘The Sea Devils’ signed by her when I saw her at the ‘Time Warp’ convention in Weston-super-Mare in July 2014. The photo is well-put together by Ian Fraser, who I’ve met at the ‘Stars of Time’ conventions and I’m pleased Katy signed the photo for me.

I had a lovely chat with Michael E. Briant, who was clearly enthusiastic and pleased to hear how much I love ‘The Sea Devils’, saying it’s one of my favourite stories from the Jon Pertwee era. Though, I did tell him my Dad couldn’t take the Sea Devils seriously when I showed the story to him.

More on that later. 😀 It’s good that Michael E. Briant had help from the Royal Navy to make ‘The Sea Devils’ possible, thanks to producer Barry Letts, who wanted to ensure the experimentation of doing an earthbound ‘Doctor Who’ story with the Navy worked compared to doing U.N.I.T. stories. 🙂

It’s indeed a nice change to have the Royal Navy take part in this ‘Doctor Who’ instead of U.N.I.T. Having the Navy involved does make ‘The Sea Devils’ exciting and compelling as a ‘Doctor Who’ story, especially when you can do a variety of things when being out at the sea and such throughout.

This includes having a subplot where a submarine and its crew become trapped and imprisoned by the Sea Devils and the Doctor has to help them out to escape. There’s also the chase scene featuring the Master and the Doctor where they’re riding in small speedboats before meeting the Sea Devils.

That’s in ‘Episode Six’ of the story. Apparently, Jon Pertwee wanted to ride in those speedboats, being an action man himself and having been in the Navy itself. It fits, considering Jon Pertwee did ‘The Navy Lark’ radio series before doing ‘Doctor Who’. Roger Delgado wasn’t so keen on that scene.

Apparently, Roger Delgado was scared being out and about in the water. I don’t blame him, although it’s pretty noticeable when seeing the Master driving his speedboat with the Doctor chasing him that it’s not Roger Delgado driving him. It’s someone else dressed up as Roger Delgado to drive the boat.

Not sure if it’s Stuart Fell or not. Speaking of which, Stuart Fell had to dress up as Katy Manning as Jo when she climbed up the rigging of the abandoned sea fort with the Doctor climbing up behind her to get inside. It’s difficult to think of Jo Grant climbing up the rigging when it’s Stuart Fell playing her.

Jon Pertwee is great as the Third Doctor in this ‘Doctor Who’ adventure. As always, he gets to be the dashing hero, even when he and Jo are in trouble. I like the scenes where they’re escaping from the prison in ‘Episode Three’ before they find themselves trudging through a minefield in ‘Episode Four’.

The Doctor gets to be resourceful in using his sonic screwdriver, especially to scare a Sea Devil away when they’re chased into the minefield. And of course, there’s the famous swordfight between Jon Pertwee’s Doctor and Roger Delgado’s Master. Jon Pertwee clearly enjoying doing the swordfight. 😀

Roger Delgado wasn’t keen on the swordfight and it’s only in the close-up shots where we see his Master fighting the Doctor. It’s a shame the swordfight isn’t in the Target novelization/audiobook of the story, but I’m glad it’s in the original six-part adventure and the 90-minute omnibus film version.

I enjoyed it in ‘Episode Three’ when Jon Pertwee’s Doctor was un-handcuffed and said, “How very kind of you” before he got re-handcuffed behind the chair he was sitting on and said, “How very unkind of you.” It’s a moment that’s done with good comedic timing and played well by Jon Pertwee.

And of course, this ‘Doctor Who’ story has Jon Pertwee’s Doctor saying the famous catchphrase, “I reversed the polarity of the neutron flow.” I found it funny when Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding gave a round of applause at that moment when watching the ‘Behind the Sofa’ item. 🙂

Surprisingly, ‘The Sea Devils’ is only one of two TV stories where the Third Doctor says the full line. The other would be in ‘The Five Doctors’. The closest we got to him saying it before ‘The Sea Devils’ was ‘The Dæmons’. Peter Davison’s Doctor said the full line in ‘Castrovalva’ and ‘Mawdryn Undead’.

I’m pleased I’ve included the ‘reverse the polarity of the neutron flow’ line in several of my ‘Doctor Who’ stories, including ‘The Matter of Reality’, ‘The Railway of Time’, ‘The Robots of Lonmar’ and ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’. And the famous line has been said by various Doctors and companions over the years.

Katy Manning is wonderful as Jo Grant in this ‘Doctor Who’ story. I wouldn’t really agree with Sophie Aldred in the ‘Behind the Sofa’ item and say that Katy Manning didn’t get to do much as Jo in the story, as I feel she got so much to do when she accompanied the Doctor in this exciting adventure. 🙂

This includes riding a motorcycle, which is lent to her by Royston Tickner as Robbins (who lent his boat to the Doctor to get to the shipwreck close to the naval base). I’m not exactly sure if Katy rode the motorcycle herself or she had a stuntwoman doing that. It could be a combination of the two. 😀

I also liked it when Jo gets to help the Doctor to escape from the Master’s prison cell when he’s handcuffed to the chair he’s sitting in. Her escapology skills are put to good use in this ‘Doctor Who’ story. I’m glad the Doctor was able to understand Jo through her miming instructions via window. 😀

It’s also good to see Jo show her compassionate and caring side in this story. This includes when she tends to Declan Mulholland as Clark (one of the two men aboard the sea fort in ‘Episodes One and Two’) when he’s in shock from seeing a Sea Devil who killed his colleague, Hugh Futcher as Hickman.

I liked it when Jo protested to the politician, Martin Boddey as Walker, about starting a nuclear air strike on the Sea Devils’ base, especially when the Doctor is with them and the Master. It’s also good that Jo is able to climb into a ventilation shaft in order to escape and locate the Doctor in ‘Episode Six’.

Thankfully, and as Wendy Padbury pointed out in the ‘Behind the Sofa’ item for this story, Jo manages to keep her white suit clean throughout this ‘Doctor Who’ story. Which is quite hard to believe when you think about it, as surely Jo would have got her white suit quite filthy at some point.

It was funny when June Murphy as Blythe entered with a plate of cheese sandwiches and the Doctor ate most of them before Jo could have one. This does highlight that the Doctor can be greedy at times when it comes to food. The Fifth Doctor would later nick a chocolate bar from Nyssa in ‘The Elite’. 😀

Roger Delgado is captivating and thrilling to watch as the Master in this ‘Doctor Who’ story, especially with his maniacal and manipulative evil schemes. I had seen him in ‘The Claws of Axos’ before this ‘Doctor Who’ story on DVD. ‘The Sea Devils’ is where I truly appreciate him as the Master.

I still prefer Anthony Ainley as my favourite Master in ‘Doctor Who’ since he was the first I came across, but Roger Delgado is very good too. And so he should be, since he was the first actor to portray the Master on TV. He has that suave elegance about him that makes him truly captivating. 🙂

It’s intriguing how he utilises Colonel Trenchard for his own schemes and how he turns his patriotism against him. I also liked it when he uses his hypnotic skills on a couple of people. One he manages to distract long enough to knock him out. Another he gets under his power before he knocks him out. 🙂

In this story, the Master knows about the Sea Devils already. ‘From the Time Lord’s files’ according to him, and was ‘more stolen information’ according to the Doctor. I assume he collected the Sea Devils’ information whilst also collecting the Doomsday Weapon information in ‘Colony In Space’. 😐

It’s clear the Master wants to provoke a war between humanity and the Sea Devils in order to have ‘the pleasure of seeing the human race exterminated’. Err, didn’t the Daleks want that in ‘Day of the Daleks’? It got tense when the Master managed to win the Sea Devils over at one point in the story. 🙂

This is after the Doctor almost managed to persuade the Sea Devils’ leader into thinking that humanity and their kind could live in harmony on the planet Earth in ‘Episode Five’. And of course, who can forget the scene where the Master enjoyed watching the ‘Clangers’ on TV in his prison cell?

Trenchard: What are you watching?
Master: It seems to be a rather interesting extra-terrestrial life form.

Master: Have you seen these things? This planet’s amazing. Television in their stomach. Now that is evolution.

I’m disappointed the Clangers wasn’t shown in the ‘Behind the Sofa’ item for its contributors to see. I would have liked to have seen Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding’s reaction to the ‘Clangers’ scene in the story. At least it’s included in the 90-minute omnibus film edition of the story.

The story’s guest cast includes Edwin Richfield as Captain John Hart. With U.N.I.T. absent, Captain Hart is this ‘Doctor Who’ story’s Brigadier. This happens to be Edwin Richfield’s first ‘Doctor Who’ story, as he would go on to play Mestor in Colin Baker’s first ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘The Twin Dilemma’.

I prefer Edwin Richfield as Captain Hart in ‘The Sea Devils’ compared to him as Mestor in ‘The Twin Dilemma’, especially when his face is visible, and he uses his own voice in this tale. Edwin Richfield has also appeared in an episode of ‘The Avengers’ and an episode of the original ‘All Creatures Great and Small’.

I like how Captain Hart is developed as a character in this ‘Doctor Who’ story. Initially, he’s sceptical about the Doctor’s claims on what happened to the missing ships and shipwrecks, particularly with the rising threat of the Sea Devils. But gradually, he grows to accept what the Doctor says in this story.

Captain Hart is someone who cares for the men under his command, particularly those sent out in a submarine to uncover what’s been going on. He’s torn when he’s under orders by Walker to initiate a nuclear air strike upon the Sea Devis’ base, even when his men and the Doctor’s lives are at risk. 😐

Clive Morton guest stars as Colonel George Trenchard, the ostensible person in charge of the prison where the Master is incarcerated. It’s fascinating that he’s like the only governing member of the prison. I mean, surely, they would have more staff there as well as him and the guards in this tale. 😐

Initially, Trenchard comes across as someone who is in complete control of the prison, claiming that the Master hasn’t tried to escape and that he and his guards are immune to hypnotism. It becomes apparent that Trenchard is actually working with the Master and he’s doing so on his patriotic terms.

It’s not exactly clear why Trenchard is willing to work with the Master, apart from him believing him to thwart the plans of enemy agents – not sure if it’s enemy agents to Britain or something more…well, quite political like Russia and the Soviet Union were. It’s clear he’s been duped by the Master.

It’s tense when Trenchard has the Doctor put under arrest following his swordfight with the Master, even to the point of tearing up his U.N.I.T. pass. Trenchard is shocked once he sees a Sea Devil rise up from the ocean in ‘Episode Four’ and it’s quite sad when he gets killed by them during a battle. 😦

June Murphy guest stars as 3rd Officer Jane Blythe, who…I suppose you could call Captain Hart’s secretary in this story. I like Blythe in this ‘Doctor Who’ tale, since she comes across as a nice, friendly person when in Hart’s presence, especially when providing sandwiches to the Doctor and Jo.

I also like how Blythe happens to point out the unexplained occurrences that happen in this story, particularly when the Doctor and Jo go missing on the sea fort in ‘Episodes One and Two’ and when they go missing whilst visiting Trenchard’s prison, especially as they didn’t bring the navy jeep back.

It’s funny when Blythe tolerates Walker who keeps demanding tea, breakfast and lunch during his visit to the naval base in ‘Episode Six’. I think Wendy Padbury and Sophie Aldred in the ‘Behind the Sofa’ item were a tiny bit cruel once they suggested that she’d go off to ‘powder her nose’ in the story. 😀

I do have to wonder if there’s more to Blythe’s position as a third officer at the naval base apart from being Captain Hart’s secretary and providing the tea and sandwiches. Incidentally, June Murphy previously played Maggie Harris in the ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘Fury From The Deep’. Uncanny. 🙂

Martin Boddey guest stars as Robert Walker, the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the United Kingdom’s Minister for the Armed Forces. Not related to Billy Walker, my original Fifth Doctor companion, I hasten to add. 😀 Walker is someone you really want to loathe every time you see him.

He’s only in the last two episodes of this story, but it’s clear from Malcolm Hulke’s writing that he’s someone you don’t want to see very often in ‘Doctor Who’. He might be worse than Chin from ‘The Claws of Axos’. In this story, Walker commands for the nuclear air strike upon the Sea Devils’ base. 😐

This is despite Captain Hart and Jo’s protests when the submarine crew and the Doctor are likely to be killed. I liked that scene where the Doctor returns to Captain Hart’s office and he confronts Walker about what he did, telling him that he’s just made the Sea Devils angry. ‘Very, very angry’. 😐

There’s a point where Walker could have redeemed himself once the Doctor tries to persuade him to be known as a peacemaker instead of starting off a war. But in ‘Episode Six’, he decides for another naval attack. There are times where Walker can be silly in his obsessions for food and drink.

Donald Sumpter guest stars as Commander Ridgeway, the naval officer in charge of the submarine expedition to search for the Sea Devils. Previously, Donald Sumpter played Enrico Casali in the ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘The Wheel In Space’. He later played Rassilon in the new TV series episode ‘Hell Bent’. 🙂

He also played Erasmus Darkening in ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’ story ‘The Eternity Trap’. I enjoyed Donald Sumpter’s portrayal of Ridgeway in this story, especially when he’s calm under pressure whilst he and his crew are searching for the Sea Devils. Although his eyes twitches at times. 😀

This is when the Sea Devils make an attack on the submarine and he’s communicating with someone on the radio. It’s unfortunate when he and his number one officer Mitchell are captured by the Sea Devils. It’s interesting that the Sea Devils captured only Ridgeway and Mitchell and not the others. 😐

Fortunately, the Doctor manages to free both Ridgeway and Mitchell when he blows a hole in the prison cell door, using one of the Sea Devils’ guns. Ridgeway also has to make a tough decision when having to get his submarine, his crew and the Doctor through a forcefield so that they can escape. 🙂

David Griffin guest stars as Lt. Commander Mitchell, the naval officer who serves as Commander Ridgeway’s second-in-command aboard the submarine searching for the Sea Devils. For me, David Griffin is well-known for playing Emmet, Elizabeth’s brother in BBC sitcom TV series ‘Keeping Up Appearances’.

It’s so surreal to see David Griffin looking so young in this ‘Doctor Who’ story before he went on to play Emmet in ‘Keeping Up Appearances’. David Griffin has also been in the BBC series ‘Hi-de-Hi!’. I can’t say there’s a lot to say on his character Mitchell when watching him in this ‘Doctor Who’ story.

Basically, he’s there to carry out Ridgeway’s orders whilst on this submarine expedition, particularly when they get into trouble and are invaded by Sea Devils. It’s quite a contrast compared to how David Griffin turns out in ‘Keeping Up Appearances’ since he happens to be energetic and exuberant.

Here in ‘The Sea Devils’, David Griffin is calm when under pressure. I imagine this must be in David Griffin’s early days of acting when he didn’t have many acting credits behind him. I could be wrong of course, but it’s so surreal to see him in a moderately quieter guest role in a ‘Doctor Who’ story. 😀

By the way, Royston Tickner, who plays Robbins in the story, has also been in the ‘Timeslip’ story ‘The Wrong End of Time’, and he played Steinberger P. Green in ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’. Declan Mulholland, who plays Clark in this ‘Doctor Who’ story, later portrayed Till in the story ‘The Androids of Tara’.

The story’s guest cast also includes Alec Wallis as Ldg. Telegraphist Bowman, Brian Justice as Castle Guard Wilson, Terry Walsh as Castle Guard Barclay, Eric Mason as C.P.O. Smedley, Christopher Wray as Ldg. Seaman Lovell, Stanley McGeagh as Castle Guard Drew, and Colin Bell as C.P.O. Summers.

There’s Brian Vaughn as Lt. Commander Watts, Rex Rowland as A/B Girton, Norman Atkyns as the Rear Admiral, John Caesar as C.P.O. Myers and Neil Siler as a Radio Operator. The story is well-cast, and Michael E. Briant cast some of these actors featured in this story from his days of being an actor.

And there are the Sea Devils, played by Peter Forbes-Robertson, Pat Gorman, Stuart Fell, Brian Nolan, Geoff Witherick, Steven Ismay, Frank Seton, Terry Walsh, Mike Stephen, Mike Horsburgh, Marc Boyle and Peter Brace. And I do admire the actors that played the Sea Devils in this TV story. 🙂

I enjoyed seeing the Sea Devils in this ‘Doctor Who’ story, especially when they seem so different compared to the Silurians. Mind you, my parents can’t take them seriously, particularly in their blue string vests and inanimate eyes. At least in ‘Legend of the Sea Devils’, their eyes can move and blink.

My Dad found the Sea Devils funny when he saw them on the TV screen, especially when they rise from the ocean. He sang the song ‘I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside’ when they rose from the water. Katy Manning laughed at that ancedote when I told her at the ‘Pandorica’ convention I saw her at.

I also like the whispery voices that the Sea Devils have whenever they speak to the Doctor and the Master. I prefer their voices in their titular story compared to how they sounded in ‘Warriors of the Deep’ and ‘Legend of the Sea Devils’. It’s a pity they only spoke in ‘Episodes Five and Six’ of the story.

It would be remiss of me not to mention the musical score featured in this ‘Doctor Who’ story, as it’s composed by Malcolm Clarke. Malcolm Clarke would go on to compose more incidental music for ‘Doctor Who’ stories in the 1980s. ‘The Sea Devils’ is the only TV tale that he composed in the 1970s.

He went on to compose music for ‘Earthshock’, ‘Enlightenment’, ‘Resurrection of the Daleks’, ‘The Twin Dilemma’, ‘Attack of the Cybermen’ and the ‘Terror of the Vervoids’ segment of ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’. The music he provides for ‘The Sea Devils’ is unique and unusual than some other scores.

Usually, ‘Doctor Who’ incidental music in the 1970s would be composed by Dudley Simpson. There were experimental composers in the 1970s though, including Carey Blyton and Malcolm Clarke. The musical score for ‘The Sea Devils’ is arguably experiment, since it has an unusual range of sounds. 😀

Sometimes, the score can be distracting with musical cues that often sound like sound effects, including when someone is climbing up the steps of a ladder in the sea fort. The musical score is quite appealing though. I enjoy listening to it whenever it’s on a CD or hearing it on DVD and Blu-ray.

‘The Sea Devils’ concludes with the Doctor defeating the Sea Devils by blowing up their underwater base. However, the Master escapes and the Doctor and Jo watch as he leaves. Thankfully, the story gets a follow-up in the Third Doctor and Jo segment featured in ‘The Eight Doctors’, which I’ve read.

The action scenes featured in ‘The Sea Devils’ are very good and mesmerising to watch. I applaud Michael E. Briant’s efforts in seeing the action scenes played out to their fullest, particularly in the battles between the Navy and the Sea Devils as well as with the Doctor fighting against the Master. 🙂

The original DVD special features were as follows. There was a dual mono sound audio mix option for the story, an audio commentary with director Michael E. Briant, producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks, moderated by Andrew Cartmel, and there was an isolated music option by Malcolm Clarke to enjoy. There was an info-text commentary option to enjoy, the ‘Hello Sailor’ making-of documentary featuring behind-the-scenes interviews with the cast and crew, and a 8mm film containing behind-the-scenes footage of ‘The Sea Devils’ with an audio commentary provided by director Michael E. Briant, producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks. There are BBC trailers and continuity announcements for the story, a photo gallery of the story, a ‘coming soon’ trailer for ‘The Time Meddler’, starring William Hartnell, Maureen O’Brien and Peter Purves (which is now available on Disc 8 of the Season 2 Blu-ray box set of ‘Doctor Who’ containing ‘The Chase’), a ‘Radio Times Listings’ PDF of the story, and there’s a PDF of the Piccolo book called ‘The Making of Doctor Who’, which was first published in 1972.

On Disc 4 of the ‘Doctor Who – The Collection – Season 9’ Blu-ray, there’s the original six-part 1972 TV version of the story. The dual mono sound audio mix option, the DVD audio commentary, the isolated music option, the ‘Hello Sailor’ making-of documentary and the 8mm film with audio commentary can also be found on there. The info-text commentary option, the BBC trailers and continuity announcements and the photo gallery of the story have been updated for 2023 on the Blu-ray.

The new special features on Blu-ray include the ‘Behind the Sofa’ feature on ‘The Sea Devils’ with Katy Manning (Jo) and director Michael E. Briant as well as Peter Davison (the Fifth Doctor), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa) and Janet Fielding (Tegan) as well as Wendy Padbury (Zoe) and Sophie Aldred (Ace). There’s the ‘Defenders of Earth’ Season 9 Blu-ray trailer, the ‘Musical Scales’ music featurette (taken from the ‘Doctor Who and the Silurians’ 2-disc DVD set), the ‘Nationwide’ item featuring a Dalek (taken from the ‘Day of the Daleks’ 2-disc DVD set), a ‘South Today’ item that was shown in November 2013, a ‘coming soon’ trailer for ‘The Mutants’, starring Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning’ (taken from the ‘Meglos’ DVD), and two audio archive items, including a ‘Radio Solent’ 1971 interview with Jon Pertwee, and a ‘Radio 4 Today’ 1972 item on children writing ‘Doctor Who’ stories. There’s also a 5.1. surround sound audio mix option and a Dolby atmos sound audio mix option for the original six-part 1972 TV version of ‘The Sea Devils’.

On the PDF front, as well as the ‘Radio Times Listings’ of ‘The Sea Devils’ and ‘The Making of Doctor Who’ Piccolo book, there are production documents, six camera scripts, the ‘Television Club: Putting on a Show’ script, a ‘Fleet Submarine’ leaflet and a ‘Fleet Submarine’ submarine exhibit special. You need a special Blu-ray computer drive for that.

On Disc 5 of the ‘Doctor Who – The Collection – Season 9’ Blu-ray, the new-special features on Blu-ray include the 90-minute omnibus edition of ‘The Sea Devils’. There’s the ‘Location Location Location – Season 9’ documentary, which features Katy Manning revisiting the locations of ‘Day of the Daleks’, ‘The Sea Devils’ and ‘The Mutants’ with Anna Barry, director Michael E. Briant and Garrick Hagon. There’s the ‘Michael E. Briant: At the Helm’ documentary with director Michael E. Briant, ‘The Fell Guy’ documentary with Stuart Fell, and there are the DVD versions of ‘Episodes One to Three’ of ‘The Sea Devils’ to enjoy, which are presented in standard definition. There’s a dual mono sound audio mix option, a 5.1. surround sound audio mix option, and a Dolby atmos sound audio mix option for the 90-minute omnibus edition of ‘The Sea Devils’.

For me, ‘The Sea Devils’ is a great ‘Doctor Who’ story to check out on DVD and Blu-ray. I didn’t find it boring when I saw it for the first time on DVD, and I continue to enjoy it to this day on Blu-ray. I really like this story for the Doctor battling the Master as well as trying to find a peace with the Sea Devils. 🙂

The swordfight between the Doctor and the Master is very memorable when checking out this story and I found it funny when the Doctor said he ‘reversed the polarity of the neutron flow’. Plus, it was funny when in ‘Episode Two’ that the radio transmitted the Doctor constructed blew up in his face. 🙂

‘The Sea Devils’ is also a great story featuring Jo Grant and I’ve enjoyed how the Royal Navy, led by Captain Hart, are involved. It makes a refreshing change compared to seeing how usual earthbound TV stories in the early 1970s with Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor are handled with U.N.I.T. involved.

The Sea Devils themselves are a treat to watch in this ‘Doctor Who’ story, despite some of their shortcomings, especially when my parents make fun of them. 😀 The action-packed sequences are exciting to watch in this tale, and with lots of fun out on the sea, you can’t go wrong with this one. 🙂

‘The Sea Devils’ rating – 9/10

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‘DOCTOR WHO AND THE SEA-DEVILS’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

More Sailors and Sea Devils

I wish I could say that I found this ‘Doctor Who’ novelization/audiobook very fulfilling. 😦

I’ve read and listened to ‘Doctor Who and the Sea-Devils’, based on the original TV story ‘The Sea Devils’ that was shown in 1972. I enjoyed reading and listening to the Target novelization/audiobook of the TV story. ‘The Sea Devils’ is one of my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ TV stories from the Jon Pertwee era.

Earlier in 2018, I read and reviewed the Target novelization on ‘The Silurians’ story called ‘Doctor Who and the Cave Monsters’. I enjoyed reading and reviewing that novelization and was hoping to continue the journey of exploring these novelizations featuring the Silurians and the Sea Devils. Thankfully, I did.

I was hoping to explore more of the world created in ‘The Sea Devils’ story through the Target novelization by Malcolm Hulke. For the most part, I found it very well-detailed and engaging. It contain some additional background stuff regarding characters featured in the story, especially the Master.

However, I did feel that by the end of the novelization that everything seemed rushed and not everything was as detailed as I hoped it could be in the story. The last two episodes of the six-part story felt compressed to a reduced level in the last three chapters of the novelization, which isn’t good.

The Target novelization was first published in 1974, two years after the story was shown on TV. I purchased my copy of the Target novelization from Amazon.co.uk and it had the 1979 cover with the Sea Devils on it. The story is divided into 13 chapters and yet, it doesn’t feel enough for a six-part story.

In fact, comparing this to ‘The Caves Monsters’ novelization which is 19 chapters, I’m surprised Malcolm Hulke didn’t accommodate the same treatment to ‘The Sea Devils’ that he gave to the first ‘Silurians’ story. I’m not sure why it’s the case, but I would have expected more from Malcolm Hulke.

I purchased the audiobook for this Target novelization as a download via Audible. The audiobook is read by Geoffrey Beevers, who played the Master in ‘The Keeper of Traken’. I would ask why Geoffrey Beever is reading the audiobook for this Target novelization, as he had nothing to do with ‘The Sea Devils’.

But then again, these ‘Doctor Who’ audiobooks are read by random actors these days, so I shouldn’t really be surprised. Otherwise, I’m glad Geoffrey Beevers is reading this Target novelization, since he does a good voice for the Master anyway. I’ve also heard Geoffrey do other ‘Doctor Who’ audiobooks.

Geoffrey has also read the Target novelizations for ‘The Space War’ and ‘State of Decay’. I heard those audiobooks beforehand, so I was familiar with Geoffrey’s reading style anyway. Also, I know Geoffrey worked with Jon Pertwee in ‘The Ambassadors of Death’, so he would’ve had some insight in that era.

Incidentally, when I reviewed ‘The Space War’ novelization on my blog, I wasn’t sure whether Geoffrey attempted to mimic the tone of Roger Delgado’s performance as the Master in the audiobook. Now I’ve heard the audiobook for ‘The Sea Devils’, I’m sure Geoffrey is injecting his version of the character.

That’s okay as far as I’m concerned, as Geoffrey does a really good voice for the Master anyway. And for all intents and purposes, it does almost sound similar and fitting to Roger Delgado’s Master in the story. There were a few occasions when I thought of Roger Delgado’s Master, not Geoffrey Beevers’.

Anyway, let’s talk about the differences between the TV story and the novelizaiton/audiobook. Incidentally, the novelization uses the term ‘Sea-Devil’ with a hyphen in it rather than ‘Sea Devil’ itself. Which tilts my head, as I wonder why Malcolm Hulke would do that since it doesn’t make a difference.

Oh. incidentally, no disrespect to Geoffrey Beevers, but I didn’t feel his voice for the Sea Devils matched the ones that appeared in the TV story. He does provide the hissing sounds for them, but I would’ve expected them to sound quieter and more whispery than the sharper tones Geoffrey seemed to deliver.

I like how the first chapter details the first scene with the SS Pevensey Castle being attacked by the Sea Devils. It makes for very tense drama, especially when the Sea Devils attack out in the open as well as inside the ship. It almost feels like the ship is out in a huge storm when the Sea Devils attack it.

There’s more information given about the media publicity surrounding the Master’s trial, following the events of ‘The Dæmons’. It was interesting to discover what went on in that trial and the ethical debate that ensued about whether to execute the Master or put him in prison for life, as he seemed immortal.

Eventually however, it was the Doctor who gave his testimony to urge the punishment of sentence in prison rather than the death penalty. There’s information given on how the security prison castle on the island, controlled by Colonel Trenchard, was set up in order to have the Master imprisoned for life.

It’s interesting, especially in this Target novelization, how much the Doctor wants to keep the Master alive rather than have him killed. This is echoed in future ‘Doctor Who’ TV stories where the Tenth Doctor was determined to keep John Simm’s Master alive, despite some people wanting him executed.

In the novelization, the character Robbins gets very annoyed when the Doctor steals his boat and Jo follows after him when he refuses to take them to meet Captain Hart at the naval base. This is despite the fact that Robbins seemed willing to turn a blind eye and let the Doctor steal his boat in the TV story.

Why Malcolm Hulke changed this in the novelization, I don’t know. Maybe Hulke wasn’t happy when seeing the scene in the TV story. It makes for amusement when Robbins’ boat gets destroyed near the oil rig and the Doctor and Jo surmise he won’t be happy about it. However, it doesn’t get followed up much.

The Doctor tells Jo that the Sea Devils are related to the Silurians by saying they’re ‘just like those cave monsters we met in Derbyshire’. This is in keeping with Malcolm Hulke reframing from calling them Silurians as he did in ‘The Cave Monsters’ novelization, since they should actually be called the Eocenes.

However, that also raises a continuity error in the Target novelization. The Doctor said ‘we’ when talking about meeting the ‘cave monsters’ in Derbyshire. Assuming that the Doctor referred to both himself and U.N.I.T. from that story, it’s not made clear, since Jo hadn’t met the Silurians before.

Mind you, that’s a minor continuity error. An obvious continuity error in the novelization is when the Master tells the Doctor that he plans to use the Sea Devils just like he used the Ogrons beforehand. Um…didn’t ‘Frontier In Space’ occur after ‘The Sea Devils’ story in the Master’s timeline?

Also, in ‘The Space War’ novelization, the Master told the Doctor he thought he’d come and see him in prison just like when he was locked up in ‘The Sea Devils’. So, ‘The Sea Devils’ novelization says it’s set after ‘The Space War’, and ‘The Space War’ novelization says it’s set after ‘The Sea Devils’. (Pause) Whoops!

What is it with continuity errors in Target novelizations of ‘Doctor Who’? First, I came across it in the Target novelization of ‘Black Orchid’ where there was a mix-up of the Master in ‘The King’s Demons’ set before that story. Now I’ve come across it in two Target novelizations for two Third Doctor era stories.

What’s especially annoying about this Target novelization is that we don’t get the sword fight between the Doctor and the Master in the prison, as shown in the TV story. Okay, I suppose it wasn’t scripted by Malcolm Hulke originally, but come on! That’s one of the best scenes in ‘The Sea Devils’ ever!

How come Malcolm Hulke didn’t include the sword fight?! Also, in the scenes where the Doctor and Jo explore the oil rig, we don’t get introductions to Clark and Hickman beforehand when they’re guarding the rig. The Doctor and Jo find Hickman dead before Clark shows up in a really delirious and shocked state.

Interesting for Malcolm Hulke not to include those introduction scenes for Clark and Hickman, but I suppose this was to save time and it would have slowed down the story. Except of course, as I’ve said, things feel rushed towards the story’s climax in the last three chapters focused on the last two episodes.

Jo is reasonably well-written in the Target novelization and comes across as being a strong character. However, I found it a little uncharacteristic of Jo to call Captain Hart ‘stupid’ during a heated moment in the story. I couldn’t help be reminded of Jo’s characterization in ‘The Curse of Peladon’ novelization.

A number of the supporting characters in the story are given first names in the novelization. The aforementioned Robbins is named ‘Thomas’ whereas Walker, the parliamentary private secretary (Yeah he’s unlikeable in the Target novelization as he is in the TV story) has his first name of ‘Robert’.

Geoffrey does well with voicing Walker in the audiobook, making him sound unlikeable as ever. The submarine officers, including Commander Ridgeway and Lt. Commander Mitchell, also get first names. Ridgeway is named Robin and Mitchell is named Tony. I wish more was developed on their characters.

When the Doctor ‘reversed the polarity of the neutron flow’ to have the Sea Devils’ base destroyed, the Master tells him off that he murdered the Sea Devils, claiming the moral high-ground. The Doctor silently concurs with him. Interesting that this was never depicted in the TV version of ‘The Sea Devils’.

The book ends with the Master escaping in a helicopter instead of a hovercraft as in the TV version. The Doctor surmises that they won’t be seeing the Master for a long while by the story’s end. However, I’ve read ‘The Eight Doctors’ already and I know that the Doctor and Jo immediately chase the Master after this.

Walker is also there is in attendance with Jo and Captain Hart to see the Doctor return, just as the Master escapes. Walker is approving of the Doctor ‘murdering’ the Sea Devils, to which the Doctor chastises. I’m with the Doctor. It was wrong to kill the Sea Devils, but it had to be done to stop a war.

‘Doctor Who and the Sea-Devils’ is…okay. It starts off being an in-depth read based on the TV story, but in the end, I felt a lot of really good scenes were cut out in the novelization. It didn’t make for a fulfilling novelization of one of my favourite Jon Pertwee era stories, and it ended up just being rather average.

This is a shame, as I’ve enjoyed reading the novelization for the most part and I’ve enjoyed Geoffrey Beevers’ reading in the audiobook. I’m guessing Malcolm Hulke ran out of space when focusing too much on the first four episodes of the story and not enough on the last two episodes in the novelization.

I’m glad I’ve read and heard ‘The Sea Devils’ novelization/audiobook by Malcolm Hulke though. Whilst reading the book, there were some nice illustrations provided by Alan Willow, featuring scenes from the story. It reminds me that I’m a reading a classic ‘Doctor Who’ novelization made from the 1970s.

‘Doctor Who and the Sea-Devils’ rating – 7/10

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The previous story For the Third Doctor was ‘Supremacy of the Cybermen’ (Comic) ‘A Stitch in Time’ (Comic) For Jo was ‘Jigsaw’ (ST) For the Master was ‘The Unwanted Gift of Prophecy’ (M&L)	The next story For the Third Doctor is ‘A Stitch in Time’ (Comic) ‘The Eight Doctors’ (Book) For Jo is ‘The Eight Doctors’ (Book) For the Master is ‘The Eight Doctors’ (Book)
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