The Sea Devils DVD NTSC Region 1 for North America DVD PAL Region 2 "Beneath the Surface" 3-story box set for the U.K. VHS Video NTSC A NTSC B PAL

(Doctor Who Story No. 62, starring Jon Pertwee) written by Malcolm Hulke directed by Michael Briant produced by Barry Letts music by Malcolm Clarke 6 episodes @ 25 minutes each, colour 1972 Story: The conflict beneath the surface continues when the Master (Roger Delgado) discovers the Silurians' underwater cousins and uses them in his plans to escape from an island prison.

DVD Extras include:

• Audio commentary by producer Barry Letts, script editor Terrance Dicks, and director Michael Briant.
• "Hello Sailor" making-of documentary (36 min.)
• Behind-the-scenes 8mm home movies (4 min.)
• Isolated music by Malcolm Clarke
• Pop-up Production Note Subtitles
• Photo Gallery

This is the earliest Jon Pertwee story that I don't particularly like. Malcolm Hulke's best work is pretty much behind him at this point, and this offering comes across as a less inspired rehash of material from "The Silurians" (story no. 52). Two Timelords appear, but not a single TARDIS anywhere in the story. We're also stuck on present day Earth, which usually has the plus of adding the Brigadier and his UNIT buddies to the cast, but in this case we have to settle for some complete unknowns, and go through the whole boring business of watching them get over their mistrust of the Doctor and Jo, and their incredulity at the Doctor's theories. Snore! It is not particularly well scripted; just going through the motions of the formula.

All throughout the eighties, I kept hoping that Malcolm Clarke would get to compose music for a story that featured the Master, as I was convinced he would concoct a truly memorable theme for him as he had done for the Cybermen, the Black and White Guardians, and the Daleks. And when I finally had a chance to see "The Sea Devils" for the first time, in a movie length compilation, I began to curse that Dudley Simpson's music was getting way too random, and irritating in its choice of electronic instruments. Thus I was doubly shocked when it was all over, and the music credit revealed that I had been panning the Malcolm Clarke Master-story music I had always hoped for. Well, I have to keep my bias towards the composers aside in this case, and say that most of the music we get for this story does not, in my gut-opinion, suit the moods of this story very well. Some of it is superbly excellent, particularly the part played for the Master when he hypnotizes someone, which is on par with Clarke's 80's Doctor Who work. Underwater and military drum portions are also extremely effective. And there is a signature 5-note Sea Devil motif running through the musical work as whole, bringing it some unity, although the choice of instrument is often so irritating and non-melodic it may be difficult to pick out or appreciate. But the big problem with the music in this story became clearer when I heard all 45 odd minutes of it on CD - it somehow works better in this format, when one gives all of one's uninterrupted attention to it. Malcolm Clarke seems to be telling the entire narrative of the story in his own language of experimental electronic music. Somehow it seems to work in this format. This format, however, is precisely not what we need to have synchronized with the cinematic story. On tv, the narrative needs to be told by the visuals and the dialogue, while the music supports and enhances the mood. What we get in "The Sea Devils" is the narrative being told twice as music argues with visuals and dialogue over who can tell it best, while the mood is not taken care of at all in many places where it badly needs to be. And viewers more easily understand the visuals and dialogue, while the experimental electronic music is, in effect, a foreign language. I like foreign languages, but don't bombard me with two languages at the same time......

Music by Malcolm Clarke About 95% of the score (totalling 44 minutes here) is available on: Audio CD - Doctor Who at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop Volume 2 More info & buying options A condensed suite of 5:19 duration is available on: Audio CD - Doctor Who - Earthshock Silva Screen FilmCD 709 More info & buying options

Back to the story, Malcolm Hulke is basically getting more and more stuck at cross-purposes in his writing. His passion for the peaceful solution shines through the Doctor's efforts and dialogue, while Jo supports him faithfully. However, they're not very effective at achieving peaceful solutions anywhere, only in making false promises about it, thanks to Hulke's determined efforts to knock the plot back onto lines of violence time and again. Often, the Doctor is his own worst enemy. What's the point of the Doctor getting angry at the submarine captain for shooting the Sea-Devil that commandeered his ship, considering that our hero of peace made a special effort to search a downed Sea-Devil in a collapsed tunnel for that very gun, and then made another special effort to give it to the submarine captain, adding "Here, take this. ....It's a gun!" Lots. If you want to discourage the use of guns, don't go handing them out like freebies. Then there's the Doctor's ability to negotiate. Admitting the truth to the Sea Devils is important, but leaving out the bits that help your case is idiotic, which is precisely what he does, hanging his head all too easily in the face of the Master's accusations, and not explaining his own motivations.

And in the end, it's the good Doctor's meddling that blows up all the Sea Devil bases that the Master was going to reactivate. Nice job, hero of peace. Once more, Hulke can't present a believable peaceful solution, and so opts for the regrettable big bang instead.

Many of the characters in this story do a lot of seemingly silly things, and motivation provided to support their actions is usually very one-dimensional and thin. Trenchard's idiocy is summed up in the word "patriotism" and that's all we get. The Doctor clearly has the advantage all through the duel with the Master at the end of episode two, yet he purposely lets his guard down and helps his enemy at every opportunity until he gets himself caught. Why? Here he is not taking the Master seriously, and people will die because of it. Callous!

The submarine crew get some of the silliest bits. An enormous sense of anticipation builds as they are about to be boarded by sea-devils. Unfortunately, Clarke's flighty random music saps all seriousness out of the scene. Then the crew let one lonely Sea Devil walk right into the room where a moronic staring contest ensues. It's okay if they want to hold back their violent tendancies and not shoot him, but how about trying a peaceful tendancy, like talking to him? No such intelligence today. Making matters worse, we cut away from the scene with one lonely lemming sea-devil sitting like a duck in the middle of a human cross-fire, watch some other stuff for a while, and cut back to find that the sea devils are now somehow in command, and that the humans are all freely taking orders from them. When did this happen? HOW did this happen? Believability is out the window at this point. Then a coded knocking starts on the hull, while the sub-crew start writing things down. Are we supposed to believe that a sea-devil who's been asleep throughout the rise of human culture is going to mistake this for an innocent game of "consequences"? They're lucky enough the creature can speak English. By the time they teach it how to play "consequences", its suspicions would have to be through the roof!

The sea-devils themselves look a bit silly. The hat-headpieces are all right, but they look like they're wearing granny's old rags or something, a far cry from the smart-looking battle uniforms they eventually get in "Warriors of the Deep" (story no. 131, also available in the "Beneath the Surface" DVD box set). Their ray guns don't provide the visual laser effects I'd have hoped for either, but what we do get is still believable and powerful, emotionally and pyrotechnically.

The Master's major motivations are simple in this one, and they work. He needs to escape his incarceration, as secretly as possible, and he desires revenge on the human race, for all the considerable trouble he has been in with them.

Episode Three is the Doctor's big captivity episode in this one, although there's plenty more captivity on its way in episodes five and six for the Doctor and many of the others as well. Episode three's prisoner dynamic is pretty dull, with the Doctor handcuffed to a chair, and going through old routines with the Master yet again. At least a submarine crew gets to explore the depths of the sea in this episode, keeping things somewhat interesting.

The character of Mr. Walker is one of the gems of the story, a civil servant consumed with his own importance and not caring about much of anything else. Director Michael Briant does a good job of highlighting this with some unusual camera angles.

The location filming in this story is also a definite bonus, adding a huge measure of realism, and giving the visuals a terrific feel. Apart from the offices, the studio sets are rarely up to standard, with the castle corridors and the cell in the Sea-Devil base being particular letdowns. The submarine set is not bad, but doesn't look right largely because of ridiculous over-lighting.

The final silliness, of course, is that the Master would want or need the Doctor anywhere near his reactivation machine. How could one possibly trust the other here, with their goals so obviously at odds? The stage is so obviously set for that classic Pertwee cliché: reversing the polarity of the neutron flow.....

In the end, "The Sea Devils" has its moments, and is not too bad a story, but is just a bit stale and outclassed within Season Nine.

Single Story versions:

DVD NTSC Region 1 for the North American market: in the U.S. in Canada	DVD PAL Region 2 for the U.K. See box set below	VHS Video NTSC A for North America NTSC B for North America PAL for the U.K.
"Beneath the Surface" 3-story boxed sets: (Story Nos. 52, 62, & 131: The Silurians, The Sea Devils, & Warriors of the Deep.)
DVD NTSC Region 1 "Beneath the Surface" 3-story box set in the U.S. in Canada	DVD PAL Region 2 "Beneath the Surface" 3-story box set for the U.K.

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