Materalising in a deep sea military base in 2084 The Doctor finds that the human condition of tribalism never changes . Humanity is split in to two massive power blocs with each side possessing weapons of mass destruction . It transpires that reptilian hands want to get their hands on these WMDs
A new season starts and I looked forward with great anticipation to the opening story that teamed up The Silurians and Sea Devils together . I had no memories of the original Silurian story except for the opening scene but did vividly remember The Sea Devils who were probably my all time favourite one off monsters from the show . However on a cold January evening I realised it was best to let sleeping reptiles lie
Plot wise it's very similar to Earthshock or a great number of Season 5 stories where The Doctor , Jamie and Victoria find themselves trapped in a remote location with a handful of humans . Where these stories succeeded was in creating a dark brooding atmosphere whether it be in the tombs of Telos or the London Underground . Sadly director Pennant Roberts makes this undersea base as atmospheric as the local Tesco supermarket . There is a logic to having a military base brightly lit but couldn't the script have shoehorned some sort of power drain that meant we had lots of dark creepy scenes ? The script can't be accused of having a leftfield plot device of defeating the reptile menace since in the opening minutes The Doctor kindly points out the base has an abundant supply of hexachromite which is toxic to reptiles . This foreshadowing effectively makes the rest of he story redundant
The major problem however is the reappearance of the reptiles . They could be any alien race and one wishes they had been an original foe if only for them to be as quickly forgotten as the rest of the story . The Silurians are bad enough with their flashing third eye ala The Daleks ( Though they're better here than in NuWho ) but the Sea Devils are an absolute travesty . Gone are the minimalist but oh so effective fishing net costume and instead we see them wearing a long black frock and a silly Samuria helmet . You can tell the actors playing them are having a problem seeing out of their costumes due to the way they walk . Likewise their ray guns from their have been changed in to one of those bats used to play air hockey . On top of that The Sea Devils now need help in the form of a monster called The Myrka which has to be seen to be believed and I don't mean that in any good way . How the cast didn't receive Oscar nominations for keeping a straight face in those scenes is one of life's great mysteries
The only thing that makes this story remarkable in anyway is what happened outside in the real world . Wrriors is obvious cold war allegory and watching this in 1984 no one would have predicted that a few years later humanity would no longer be living in fear of global nuclear war between the USA and the Soviet Union and despite being set in 2084 it's a small window of the world in 1984 so makes the story a dated curiosity piece