Wednesday 22 July 2015

The Sea Devils

Season 9, Story 3/5, Serial LLL: 6 x 25 minutes episodes, 26th February to 1st April 1972, Writer: Malcolm Hulke, Director: Michael E. Briant, Script Editor: Terrance Dicks, Producer: Barry Letts
Chris@KosmicKris This is a brilliant story - it's got everything the Doctor Who fan could ask for! Pertwee and Delgado tear chunks out of it!

Richard Grant@richyg360 any Dr Who story that has Roger Delgado as the master in it is just great.

Easy to forget this was the 1st colour title sequence. What an impact that must have made. I mean, most viewers would probably have seen it in black and white, but even so, it looks great by virtue of being designed and filmed in colour.
M@nterik@Manterik my favourite titles.

The original title for this (wasn't) Doctor Who in a Navy Lark with Sea Silurians!
M@nterik@Manterik you can see where Terror of the zygons got its opening scene from !
This guy always seems to play a radio operator. 
His descendant does much the same job in Revenge of the Cybermen.
Mark Walker@Mark_Walker like father like great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great grandson!


The ship he's on to is suddenly attacked by a right old racket...
...and we cut to the Doctor and Jo on a boat. 
M@nterik@Manterik Jo's flares !!
Someone's nicked that car's doors! 
Lisa P & Andrew T@lisacartman All the guards fall out if they take a corner too tightly.#KeystoneKops

Michael Bater@GreenLeftie I expect UNIT took to hide behind if there was a nuclear accident somewhere!



Trenchard is one of those blathering authority types that pepper the Pertwee era.
M@nterik@Manterik just thinking the same. Pompous middle ranking officials. Meat and drink to Pertwee years.
Mark Walker@Mark_Walker there's always one!

The Doctor and Jo have come to see the only prisoner - the Master.

He's still locked up after the events of the Daemons

The Doctor's main concern is not how the Master's being treated in prison but whether or not he's got fatter. 


Trenchard claims all his men are immune to hypnotism, and so it seems...

Mark Walker@Mark_Walker I am The Master, and you WILL obey me. Delgado was definitely the original and the best.

Yep, never bettered for me. 
Richard George@RichardGeorge37 Sad to see what has happened to the character he established. A classy villain no more.
M@nterik@Manterik Tragic the Master went from a character of brooding menace to a twat who danced to the scissor sisters.
Nick Mellish@nickmellish  As opposed to the sophisticate watching The Clangers?
Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakin I liked the master watching the teletubbies in The Sound of Drums that was a nice homage.
Doesn't the Master look very Kryptonian in white like that?

Perhaps surprisingly, the Master's pleased to see them. 

They even share a joke at Trenchard's expense. Colonies claiming independence, whatever next! Sheesh...

The Master says he has everything he could want, apart from his freedom. 

The Doctor's response is blunt. "Quite a few people were in favour of having you executed." 

The Master claims to have reformed. "Look, I'm wearing white instead of black!" Racist. 
He won't give up his TARDIS though, so we know he's still up to no good. As if there was any doubt.
M@nterik@Manterik doc refuses to shake hands, master laughing, something is afoot.

The Doctor admits to Jo that he feels sorry for the Master; they were friends once...
M@nterik@Manterik pertwee doc showing his sensitive side.

"I must have my moment of charm, Terrance!"
The music on this really takes getting used to, but gets in your head. I'm rather fond of it for daring to be bonkers.
The Master's right, Trenchard really is a moron for mentioning the sinking ships. 

He wants "another" TV set; "colour, of course." More UNIT dating evidence?
Oh, and HD, 3D, internet enabled, built in Blu-Ray, Netflix sub...

The Doctor bribes Robbins to let him borrow his boat so he can go and check out the shipwreck on the beach.
M@nterik@Manterik the wonderfully named Royston Tickner
Ah, it's the Sea Brigadier!

Captain Hart's "...treating it like Brighton Beach!" is his "Liberty Hall!"

Some particularly crazy music as Pertwee checks out the wrecked lifeboat.


"Good afternoon. I wonder whether I could see your commanding officer? No, don't speak, we'd have to pay you if you had lines..."

By the way, boring factoid - it was 11am when they visited the Master in his cell (look at the clock), so at least an hour has passed.

Robbins is cleaning up here, flogging Jo the use of his motorbike.

The guy's making a mint selling modes of transport to the cast, though he'll only have roller skates left soon. 
Mark Walker@Mark_Walker there's always some who make profit from (impending) disaster!

Tim Gambrell@Mr_Brell Robbins appears to be straight out of Captain Pugwash...


The scene with the Master watching the Clangers is just joyful.

"It seems to be a rather interesting extra-terrestrial life-form!"
"Only puppets, you know... for children!"

Delgado's look when Trenchard demonstrates his total lack of imagination is priceless.

Trenchard has brought the sea charts the Master was waiting for, and he figures out that the sinkings are all centred on an abandoned sea fort.

I bet the old abandoned sea fort is totally abandoned.

Well, apart from these two maintenance workers, anyway.

M@nterik@Manterik 
'theres a jinx on this place'. At this stage the 7 year old Manterik was becoming very scared. 
Another great bit part actor. Declan Mulholland !!
Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72The original Jabba the Hutt from Star Wars... until his scene was cut!!
The 3rd Doctor never carries ID - but is always asked for it, and always needs it. You think he would, just to save himself hassle. Besides, he loves name-dropping.

He's already sniffing out trouble, from the burn marks on the underside of the lifeboat...

...to the location of the attacks, and how they all take place near that fort.
Jo arrives with the passes in the nick of time. 
Mark Walker@Mark_Walker he never learns.... Wonder at what point he picked up the psychic paper?


Oh dear, the guys on the fort have fallen foul of the green hand of death, and the radiophonic workshop! 

That 1st proper glimpse of the Sea Devil's brilliant.
M@nterik@Manterik The Doctort's name dropping Horatio Nelson now!!
"Good grief. Poor chap's as mad as a hatter."

Now we're getting there; the Doctor's gone where the action is. 

Great shots as a Sea Devil burns the boat.

That whole sea fort set is massively underrated; everything rusting away in the echoing dark...
Steve Powner ‏@StevePowner Nothing better than a old abandoned sea fort #TheSeaDevils Great story this including one of my earliest #DrWho memories. Always remember #TheSeaDevils rising from the sea I was watching at my Grandma's on a black and white TV magic memories.

Something's coming towards them... looks a bit, ahem, big to be a Sea Devil.
M@nterik@Manterik really strong opening episode.

Tim Gambrell@Mr_Brell Episode one was my favourite single Pertwee episode for years

It's only Clark, the fort worker. 

Clark seems driven mad with fear and attacks the Doctor, only to be subdued with a bit of Venusian Aikido.

That Sea Devil's still pottering about.
While Hickman babbles about "Sea Devils" the Doctor tracks down a first aid kit and gives him a sedative...

...and then decides to lash up a radio transmitter from a transistor radio, so goes to the crew quarters to look for one.

Love the way the Sea Devil is as startled as he is, and does a complete double take.

 The Sea Devils' guns are great. 

Lovely Dutch angles as the Sea Devil chases him back.

He'll have to resort to repairing the damaged radio now, but not before he's electrified the door!

Great effect as the Sea Devil starts to cut through the door...

...but he soon gets a nasty surprise.

The Sea Devil, shocked by the Doctor's security measures, stumbles off and dives out of the window.

Blythe's worried about the Doctor & Jo... 


...so Hart sends out the Air Sea Rescue 'copter. 

The Doctor's got his wires crossed.

Jo read the Brig's novel "Doctor Who and the Cave Monsters."


The Doctor "corrects" the term 'Silurian' he was happy to use just 2 seasons ago, and says that they should be called 'Eocenes'. Then sticks to 'Sea Devils' for the rest of the story.

Great little bit as the Doctor rides a wave of smugness at his radio finally working...

...only for it to blow up in his face.
Mark Walker@Mark_Walker remarkably efficient piece of work!

Delgado's Master takes to uniforms and positions of authority with immense ease. 

The Doctor has little success convincing Hart that the fort is infested with Sea Devils.

Trenchard smuggles the Master on to the base...

...and he's soon bossing the place.

Trenchard bumbles into Hart's office by way of a diversion...

...and is soon boring for England.

The Master goes gadget shopping at the Bric-a-Brac store...

...but is rudely interrupted by the CPO.
When hypnotism fails to do the trick, the Master makes his point rather more bluntly.

Trenchard finally stops wanking on about golf.

Jo's playing eye spy out of the window. Something beginning with "M"...

By the time the alarm's been raised, the Master & Trenchard are well away.

The CPO helpfully fingers the Master by describing his beard, and as he's the only man in the world with a beard, it must have been him. Just logic.

The Doctor wants to keep up the pressure on Trenchard and goes straight to the prison.
Trenchard isn't too happy to have his gold practice interrupted and tries to give them the brush off.

As Trenchard goes to prep the Master they discover the phone line to the mainland's dead, so Jo sneaks out.

The Master persuades Trenchard to send the Doctor to him...

...before tricking a guard into his cell so that he can nick his knife.

Trenchard's such a bore the Doctor's taken to playing golf blindfolded.

Although Trenchard sets the Doctor up to walk into the Master's trap, he's seriously considering having him on the golf team. 

Does Trenchard really believe *anyone* could keep Pertwee quiet? Good luck with that.

A quick chat turns a bit sour when the Master pulls a gun...


...and then turns into a swordfight. Business as usual.
Bek Hobbes ‏@Greebobek business as usual in the Doctor Who slash fiction too.

Ha ha, yes. The slashers have it all wrong though, as Pertwee would have sent Terry Walsh in to bat for him.
Bek Hobbes ‏@Greebobek  Just trying to think of something clean to say. Nope. Nothing happening.
Richard Grant@richyg360 the sword fight between the master and the doctor is one of the best parts of this espiode.

Doesn't stop JP stopping for a sandwich mid-fight, of course. 

Mark Walker@Mark_Walker should have been a cup of tea! 


The Master looks to cut through his nonsense... 

...by flinging his pilfered dagger at the Doctor's head!



Oh, it's a miss!

Here comes Trenchard to tell him what he could have won.

"Only a complete fool could listen to such an accusation! Though I suppose in your case..."

Mark Walker@Mark_Walker 2 rubbish security guards that allow Jo to overpower them!


Maybe they were confused and thought it was just their pal Stuart Fell doubling for Jo again.

The Doctor fails to get a rise out of Officer Crabtree...

...then Trenchard rips up his UNIT pass, claiming it's a forgery. Okay, I get why he doesn't carry it round now.

Jo hasn't gone far; after giving the guards the run around she's on her way back to rescue the Doctor.

The Master's busy with his soldering iron and entrusts the capture of Jo to Trenchard. He never learns.

Donald Sumpter as the Submarine Commander. LEGEND.

Can't believe it's taken Pertwee into the 3rd epsiode of a story to get thrown in prison. 

"How very kind of you... how very UN-kind of you!" is brilliant.

Ah, the Master's in his usual togs again. That's better. Though he looks odd without his gloves somehow. 

"You think I really care what Trenchard thinks?" Trenchard would be so hurt.

Blythe tells Hart to get his arse in gear if he wants to live up to his billing as this story's Brigadier-figure.


Meanwhile the sub's run into trouble.Watching this in the 90s, the Sub commander calling his first officer "Number 1" seemed sooo Sci-Fi thanks to ST:TNG

The Master admits he's really just raising the Sea Devils for the satisfaction of seeing the human race exterminated. Daleks a better bet, surely? Maybe not. And don't call him Shirley.

Jo successfully completes her sneak back to the prison grounds.

The Master isn't too worried to hear Hart's on the way and tells Trenchard to just bluff him.

God knows what horrors Jo saw in those other cells.

The Doctor and his companion communicate silently through a window.

It'll never take off.

Jo climbs in through an open window...

...and the Doctor lures his guard in so she can get round the door.

"Guard, I want to talk to you!"
"Good moaning..."

Hart arrives to give Trenchard a grilling, but unlike earlier the prison governor is waffle-free.

It's only a model... but the submarine looks great. 

After the Sea Devils give the radio operator an earbashing, the sub's dead in the water. 

The Master tells Trenchard his device will help expose dangerous saboteurs.

Trenchard pays the price of failing to capture Jo...

She's freed the Doctor. 

(With a little help from the bumbling guard).


The sub's hit rock bottom...

"They're coming in, sir, they're aaaaarrrrrrgggghhhhh!"
"Who was that?"
"Wrong number."

As Terry Walsh clocks the Doctor & Jo heading for the coast...

...the Master decides it's time to test his radiophonic whatchamacallit.

The Doctor & Jo make it to the coast, and abseil down to the beach.

Jo and the Doctor make it down, and start to escape the pursuing guards.

The Master sets his radiophonic doodad to full blast to cut them off...

...as a Sea Devil comes to check out the hubbub.

Great cliffhanger on the beach as the Sea Devil heads straight towards them.

"It's..."


Mark Walker@Mark_Walker a minefield? I wonder how they will get out of that??

Safe and, ahem, sound...?

Luckily, the Sea Devil is distracted by the guards.

Great closeup of the Sea Devil gun in action here.

The Doctor flattens the barbed wire with his cape and heads into the minefield. Seems sensible.


The Master uses his device to drive the Sea Devil after them.

Good old Sonic Screwdriver: now it's a mine detector...

...and blower-upper.
Mark Walker@Mark_Walker more believable than some of the things it is now!
Chris@KosmicKris Loved this scene - for me, the image of Jon with the sonic is truly iconic :)

Hart prepares to send a search party after the sunken sub...

...where the crew are preparing to be boarded by whatever's melting through the bulkheads.

Thankfully for all involved, it's not the Myrka.

Trenchard (finally, too late) realises the Master's been telling porkies. 

 You'd never accuse him of being quick off the mark.

Jo and the Doctor hide behind the radiophonic bush. 

The Master promises Trenchard all his troubles will soon be over...

The sub is renamed the SS Green Gilbert.

Making it back to Hart's office with Jo, the Doctor proceeds to demolish a bottle of Scotch without anyone batting an eyelid.

Hart is incredulous at Jo's story of the Sea Devils, so the Doctor turns the patronising up to 11. "All right, Jo, all right, all right. Let me deal with the explanations. Look, it's like this..."

Thank God, I was beginning to think Pertwee wouldn't eat *any* sandwiches this episode, but then he nicks Jo's.

The Doctor is annoyed that the sub was sent at all - The Sea Devils were bound to interpret that as hostile.

Bowman, the Radio Operator, detects something heading for the prison. Could be the sub.

The Master communicates with the Sea Devils via Clanger-phone, but passes it off as random feedback to Trenchard.

Invitation accepted, it seems, as the Sea Devils indulge in a spot of nightswimming. 

The Sea Devils overrun the prison...

They make short work of the Officer Crabtrees.

Trenchard goes down fighting...

...and the Master is free. 

I'm not really anti any of these things, to be honest.

By the time Hart and the Doctor get there, the Master is long gone.


"What would you say was Trenchard's defining characteristic?"
"Oh, I don't know... idiocy?"

The sub's been detected headed towards the abandoned fort, and the Doctor intends to go after it.

The Navy's contribution to this story is phenomenal.

The Doctor dispenses with his cape in favour of something a bit more seaworthy.

The Doctor's going on a journey - a very long journey...

He's barely on the sea bed more than a few seconds when the nosy neighbours show up.

They bring the diving bell up fast enough to give him the bends...

...but luckily the Doctor's not in it! 

The diving bell is empty!


What a weird organic-tech looking diving bell the Sea Devils have.

Mark off Pompous Civil Servant on your Pertwee-era bingo card! 
Mark Walker@Mark_Walker I'm not happy he's called Walker!

"A little rough cut marmalade if you've got it..."

The Chief Sea Devil is great, takes something special to have that come across as dignified. Oddly soothing voice too! 

"There's no need for a war! Whose idea was it to have a war anyway?"

Guess.

"Murder? War always is. Where's that girl with my toast?" Hulke has fun with his portrayal of civil servant Walker.


The Doctor claims the Master is the "personification of evil" then admits to being involved in blowing up the Silurians.

Do the Sea Devils have some form of psychic/mind-reading abilities?

Lovely bit of stock footage here. Who needs CGI?

Walker's attack on the Sea Devils comes at just the wrong time for the Doctor...

 ...it seemed he'd swayed the chief but the Master gains control.

Another attack allows the Doctor to escape his Sea Devil guards.

The Master tells the chief Sea Devil to float their dead to the surface so the humans will believe their attack has done its work. Pretty grim.

Jo fears the worst when news of bodies reaches Seaspite.

The Master persuades the Sea Devils that an attack on the base is required...

 ...so he can pinch some electronic parts for them, and awaken more of their slumbering kin.

The Doctor's busting out the Naval personnel...

...while the sub crew face the "consequences".
Mark Walker@Mark_Walker guy on the left was a proper thicko!

Unable Seaman Two Short Planks reporting for duty free!

"E's 'ad some dodgy squid!"
"My mum's half-squid, you bastard."

Shame the Sea Devil base set is so poor...

...the model work on the sub etc. is lovely.

Not so fast, though, the Sea Devils have trapped the sub with a forcefield. 

Sumpter goes into Stingray mode: "Action stations!"

They have to chance it by firing torpedoes at the cave wall. Seems to do the trick.

Cool dude celebratory swig of tea from Sumpter, and they're on their way! It's not quite the Patrick Ryecart deluxe, but it'll do.

The Master isn't too concerned, though. That's never a good sign...

Now the Doctor's free he can give Walker a piece of his mind. Not a piece of toast.

Oo 'eck, the Sea Devils are invading!

They get almost to the door before while the Doctor and Walker continue to argue.

The Doctor intends to use the diving vessel again to revist the Sea Devil base.

You don't have to go that far - they're right here! End of part 5!


The Doctor tries it on with his Venusian Karate...

...so a Sea Devil gives him a neck massage. Or something.

The Master tells the Sea Devils that he has a use for the Doctor. I bet you do, mate, I bet you do.

The Master admits that he needs the doctor's help with the Sea Devils' alarm clocks.

Hart & Jo get on with escaping through the ventilation shafts, naturally. Walker becomes a gibbering wreck. Naturally.

The Doctor's critique of the Master's gadget is totally constructive: "What on Earth do you think you're doing!"

Hart has all hands on deck Jo...

...as she makes her escape...

...and manages to plot with the Doctor to break out the captured base personnel.

The Sea Devils look quite at home bossing this base.

The Doctor's defeating the Sea Devils with tinitus...


...which allows Jo to break Hart out. Though Walker's still a cowardy cutlet and shuts himself in the radio room!

Hart & Jo make a getaway in his hovercraft. 

Lucky he parked it on the beach, really.

"What the bloody hell's all this racket?"

"Here's your problem, guv, it was turned up to Eleven!"

The Sea Devils decide to decamp back to their base.

As they prepare to set off, Hart is back, with reinforcements. that was quick!

Brilliantly choreographed battle sequences on the beach...

...looking all the more impressive with the vastly superior picture quality this episode. 

Jo brings up the rear.

Nice stunt work from the Sea Devil performers, by the way.

Although the Navy soon have the upper hand, and free the Doctor...

...The Master is once again able to hypnotise his way out of trouble...

Hart seems to be overcompensating with the size of that weapon, but it's blowing the Sea Devils away, that's for sure.

There's only room for the Master's Sea Devil summoner on the jetski, so he has to leave his bucket & spade behind. 

Lovely chase as the Master does a runner...
M@nterik@Manterik bet they got soaked on those boats.

JP definitely gets a proper soaking at one point, you see a whole wave crash over him.


...but it's a trap, and the Doctor is once again captured by the Sea Devils.

Back at Seaspite Walker hasn't been an idiot for a good few minutes, so demands a nuclear strike.

In their own base, the Sea Devils have had enough of the Master's shenanigans...

...and lock him up with the Doctor.

As per usual just when the Master thinks he's won, his monster allies turn on him. He just doesn't get it, does he?

Luckily for him - for the 1st time ever - the Doctor's reversed the polarity of the neutron flow.

The Doctor admits that his sabotage will blow up the base with them in it.

Jo can only wait, powerless, as Walker's battlefleet bears down on the base.

The good ol' sonic helps the Doctor and the Master escape, and they find some nearby submarine escape equipment and head for the airlock.

Walker's back to scoffing whatever food he can get his hands on. Biccies!

Both the Doctor & the Master have escaped the base and bob to the surface.

They're rescued by the hovercraft crew. Busy day for that crew.

The Sea Devils underwater base goes sky high.

Aboard the hovercraft, the Master appears to suffer a heart attack. Or heart attacks. Or hearts attack. Oh, it's probably just indigestion.

More great great use of stock footage there to show the underwater explosion of the Sea Devils' base.

That's Brigadier 1, Doctor 1 for those keeping score. Feel like the Brig should be popping here to shout, "but that's murder!" at him.

Jo and the Doctor are reunited on the beach.

The classic Pertwee era ending - a rubber mask on some poor clot...

...and the Master escaping to fight another day!

That's how Last of the Time-Lords *should* have ended!


TTFN! K.
Coming Soon... The Talons of Weng-Chiang

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