Warriors of the Deep
Previous: Season 20: The Five Doctors
I like the underwater effect here. Simple, but gets the point acroHEY SILURIANS!
Is it just me, or do they sound like the Kandyman now? They certainly had some sort of overall design makeover.
Back in the TARDIS, ah yes, this is my first new Five in months. Don't have much of him left to go...
TURLOUGH! It's been a while!
Oh, good ol' awkward banter and sidelong smirks.
"For hundreds of years, our Sea Devil brothers have laid entombed..." Wait, I thought "Sea Devils" was just an unofficial name.
If I remember right, it was used in their first serial by that one guy who saw them and freaked out, just calling them "Sea Devils."
I'm going to be playing the game of Place That Woman's Accent in this serial, aren't I? (No, not Tegan.)
Speaking of Tegan, TEGAN! Nice to see your hair's growing back! Ah yes, and we've entered your multi-colored-shirts season.
You know, I think Tegan might by the only companion whose dress style changes very distinctly for each season.
Think about it: She has her purple uniform in season 19, that white ensemble for season 20, and those multi-colored shirts for season 21.
Okay, are ALL the women in this serial going to have strange accents? What's up with that?
I'm still confused as to what the purpose of Seabase is. Is it a military station? A research station?
I *can't* be the only one looking at this and thinking "no, not the Mind Probe!"
I think their missile command graphics might actually be Missile Command.
Come on, kids, lets go exploring! (Somehow I can tell that Tegan and Turlough aren't particularly happy to be there.)
(Then again, neither of them seem to be particularly happy to be anywhere.)
There's our answer: it's a "military colony." And Tegan opens doors with A STRENGTH GREATER THAN TWO MEN!
"What year are we in?"
"Around 2084."
"Little seems to've changed since my time."
I don't think they had sea-floor-level bases in Your Time.
"There are still two power blocs, fingers poised to annihilate each other." I love how that was left open to any future conflicts.
This is shaping up to be another one of those grim-visions-of-Earth's-future Doctor Who stories.
Oh wait, THIS thing must be the "Mind Probe."
Huh. The InfoText says this story's structure was inspired by Earthshock. That might explain the overall feeling of grimness.
Seriously, maybe it's just knowing how it ends, but this story is giving me a lot of dark and unpleasant vibes already.
I have to wonder: so many many Classic Who stories have backgrounds full of detailed control panels; how many of them get reused repeatedly?
I wish I could get a picture of the three of them hiding behind the crate. It's so weird seeing Five with just Two companions...
Especially since it's just not the same without the Science Kids. #adricandnyssa #hushyou #ilovethem
...why are some parts of the control panel written in Hebrew and other parts written in English. That makes no sense.
"When I say run, run. RUN!" Well, Two...I mean, Five, so much for your plan.
WOAH. FIVEY. WHY SO VIOLENT. WHAT IS THIS.
I'm surprised that Tegan is the one about to rappel to Five's aid on a chain and not Turlough. Then again, she tends to be the rasher one.
Hey, I didn't know Ingrid Pitt was in this! Rest her soul.
Oh hey, underwater Fivey. Maybe this serial is looking up after all :D
If I didn't know better, I'd almost say Tegan was in her 30s considering how oddly aged she looked in that last shot.
Yikes. If I was in Five's position right now, I would be horribly claustrophobic. The idea of being inside metal underwater...*shiver*
A weird thing that puts me off about the Silurian redesign: they look like they're smiling all the time. And somehow that just doesn't work.
Oh hay Sea Devils, wakey wakey...
"GO, TEGAN! SAVE YOURSELF!" *having a flashback to one of the most awesome LARPs I ever did...*
Also, is this going to be another case of put-Turlough-in-bondage-because-we-don't-know-what-else-to-do-with-him?
Oh look, a worker conveniently passed out with uniform that Five can steal. I mean, borrow. *STRIP*
*sniff sniff* "What HAVE you been eating?" ...Really, Johnny Byrne? You're going to throw in that joke? Really?
Sneaky Tegan is sneaky. Suddenly, DOCTOR.
A tribute to Tegan's character development that she's gone from "take me back to Heathrow right now!" to "I wanna help find Turlough!"
(Granted, character development in this era of the show was either minimal or non-existent, but Tegan's been around for a while by now.)
She really isn't taking this "stay here" business very well, is she? (of course, she never really does)
And there we go again with the guns, Five! Does that always happen when one of your boys is in trouble?
Wait. WHY DID THEY LEAVE THE TARDIS DOORS UNLOCKED. #theplot
Huh. The @tardistavern boys were right. The Sea Devils do sound like Ice Warriors. I'd forgotten that. Haven't seen Sea Devils in months.
"We are in position. RELEASE THE MYRKA!" IS IT TIME FOR PANTOMIME HORSE NOW?
Oo yay, tales of the Pertwee era from Five!
"They're honorable. All they ever wanted to do was live in peace." And now here they are, on your doorstep, about to blow your shit up.
Deliberate set-wobbling!
"What if these Silurians don't want to reason?"
"Look on the bright side, Tegan..."
Umm, Five? If you wouldn't mind finishing that sentence?
Okay. Seriously. What's up with that one science dude who wants to mind-control the other ginger kid.
"I'm afraid the Myrka takes quite a lot to impress!" Certainly needs more than that to impress the audience.
Guys. If a DOOR just fell on Tegan's LEG that TWO GUYS can't lift, wouldn't her leg be, like, *broken* or something?
Oh. Thank you, Myrka :D (SERIOUSLY TEGAN HOW ARE YOU EVEN MOVING)
I can tell that the next episode is going to start with the cliffhanger being reversed via somebody getting the bulkhead door open again.
This might be my first conceivably good shot of Turlough's infamous socks.
DO NOT MESS WITH THE ANGRY TRION WITH A GUN.
"I know what the commander's orders were but now I'm giving you MINE. Open. That. Bulkhead!" This is a Turlough Appreciation Post.
Okay, so at the VERY least, Tegan has a limp and has to have Five support her. I guess that's better than nothing.
Wow, such gloriously convincing deaths!
Oh my god. The Sea Devils are all samurai. (Seriously, look at those armor designs.)
Turlough looks so...short next to all these guys. But boy does he maintain that chill. And snark.
I never noticed this before, but...Tegan has earrings. #hannahnoticingthings
I THINK INGRID PITT JUST TRIED TO DO KARATE TO A GIANT SEA MONSTER. DID I ACTUALLY JUST SEE THAT.
And according to the InfoText, that was actually her idea "based on her own martial arts experience." Wow.
"They're in, sir. The Sea Devils are everywhere!" Huh. @TerribleZodin was right about the inexplicable correct-name-guessing.
Waaaaaait a minute. Those guns aren't even shooting anything. They fire, there's a sound, but nothing actually comes out.
The way that Sea Devil was moving its head just now, it looked like it was the one talking and not the Silurian.
Well, at least now the creepy scientist dude has finally been caught in the act.
"CLOSE YOUR EYES, TEGAN. MAKE A WISH!" Only you, Doctor. Only you would say that before killing a giant sea monster with a sunlight gun.
Ah yes, I was waiting for the inevitable take-out-a-gun-and-take-over move. Dick.
MOTIVATION AT LAST! He was an enemy agent from the Vague Other Power Bloc of the Future this whole time.
Oh yay. Maddox is dead thanks to making a speech to give the guy time to know he was there with a gun and now Tegan is a hostage. Lovely.
"Where are Bulic and Turlough?"
"Dead or taken, commander."
Five's face. I think he's reaching the pinnacle of just not taking this anymore.
"Keep locked shut" says the door.
Please tell me that doesn't really sound grammatically correct to you, too.
Also, as if the various assortment of rubber sea monsters wasn't bad enough, bubblewrap bed sheets!
"What's this?" TURLOUGH. YOU'RE A GENIUS. THAT'S AN AIR DUCT. YOU CAN ESCAPE. AIR DUCTS ALWAYS LEAD TO SAFETY.
Well, looks like Tegan's leg is magically all better.
Also, it seems that this is one of the specific Silurians that Three met way back in The Silurians. I kinda wish I was watching that now.
I like how Tegan and Turlough get along now, unlike during the Black Guardian Trilogy, but there still seems to be some...warmth missing.
"What is it about Earth people that makes them think that a futile gesture is a noble one?"
"Turlough..."
"You would prefer it if we let our friends to die?"
"If there were any chance of saving them I'd be the first to go, BUT THERE ISN'T!"
Aww, Turlough's wobbly legs.
"PUT YOUR FOOT IN!" ...I can see that winding up in one of GaspingMenace's Naughty Doctor Who videos. #ohgodmybrain
"Connect the manipulator!" Aw, but it's all rainbowy and colory inside!
On second thought, Tegan and Turlough's bitterness towards each other is still kinda cute.
Ew. EW. WHY DO ALL REMOTELY REPTILIAN MONSTERS ON THIS SHOW HAVE TO DISSOLVE INTO PUDDLES OF GOO WHEN THEY DIE.
"We'll use it on the invaders."
"And kill them?"
"Why not? They're about to start a war that will destroy everyone on Earth!"
"I sometimes wonder why I like the people of this miserable planet so much. The Silurians and Sea Devils are noble races. They have skills and talents you pathetic humans can only dream about!"
"That...doesn't alter what they're about to do."
"No...no, and we must stop them."
Two things that amaze me. One: Five. What the actual crap was that. Two: Nice defusing, Turlough.
So it just occurred to me that The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood might be retconning this serial. And I'd be perfectly okay with that.
Although, it's possible (and likely) that the Silurians here had no connections to the Silurians of the Moffat era.
"I will not be responsible for the destruction of my own kind!" Considering that, you REALLY didn't put up much of a fight just now.
Ah yes, this must be the Fivey-in-pain scene that I see on Tumblr all the time. Because Petey is prettiest when he's suffering.
Huh. Even though he managed to stop the missiles, the counter still went down to 1. Also, Turlough finally succeeded in killing somebody.
"They're all dead, you know."
"......There should've been another way..."
Well...yeah. That was a bit of a downer.
Next: The Awakening