Dr. Who Ep.131 Warriors of the

Warriors of the Deep was part of Peter Davison's 3rd and final season as the young & vulnerable 5th incarnation of the Doctor. Final down to a mere two companions, Davison's run as the Doctor had it's fair share of returning classic foes, this time was a double dip. The Sea Devils and the Silurians, both from Jon Pertwee's run as the third Doctor, are really a natural pairing as they are both prehistoric-sea species of Earth, it is almost astonishing that it hadn't been done earlier. Although the earlier incarnation of the Doctor could very easily been inserted in the place of the actual incumbent, most of the dialogue could have come from that era, down to the Doctor's thinly veiled distain for the destroyer / conqueror side of Humanity, thus his classic closing quote draws in sharp relief the return of the love/hate attitude that was in so much the third Doctor's lines, "there should have been another way..." This time the monsters are indigenous Earth prehistoric creatures so the humans are already the invaders in the scenario. Last time the Doctor faced the Silurians he made some hard choices of conscience bordering on treason (in UNIT's eyes) to do the right thing, as it were. This time that moral convection kind seems worn and thin, admittedly inspite of his young appearance this is an older Doctor, and in this story, a usually pessimistic Doctor.

This the 131st story or the six-hundredth and third episode of the 21st season aired in 1984. This was really a golden-age for the series (much like now with the 2005 return of the show). Of course, Tom Baker, like most Americans my age was "my Doctor," but having followed the show through the reworking of the series by executive producer John-Nathan Turner (much like Russell T. Davies reworking for the 21st cen. ) I was as invested in Davison's portrayal as Baker's. This particular season was maybe the darkest of the series history (up `til then, see the Attack of the Cybermen with the 6th Doctor), with dark stories like Resurrection of the Daleks and the Caves of Androzani following this one, all with high body counts. "Warriors of the Deep" is set, like many of this era in the futuristic twenty-first century where a deep undersea base is under attack. Unlike most stories in Doctor Who's history the returning reptilians are unceremoniously revealed seconds into the show, as opposed to the traditional monster reveal at the closing minutes of the 1st part. Anyway, minus the loss of suspense, the creatures, like all returning monsters are all "80ed" up with body armor and latex. Another mystery revealed early is the entire plan of the baddies, followed by the Doctor's discovery of an obvious story resolution minutes upon boarding the base. This discovery is the Hexachromite gas which is serendipitously deadly to all reptile life.

The human characters aren't particularly likeable (maybe it's the eye shadow), partly by design to make us more sympathetic towards the oppressed sea species, very much the voice of the 80's, if only Sting had arrived in time to perform a benefit concert for them.
Unfortunately the "monster" characters are no more likeable, between the Sea Devils and the Silurians weird voices their lines are hard to understand and all that costume and latex remove all opportunity for any facial expressions from the characters. But, the Doctor's companions aren't free of blame, Tegan and Turlough (who are both intolerable at the best of times) immediately leave the Doctor for dead deciding he's drowned instantly because his fallen in some water at the episode's cliffhanger. Turlough does counter this later by melodramatically offering that Tegan save herself while he scurries toward eminent danger (which just seem contradictory, really.) Speaking of companions...where is Kamelion, the shape-shifting robot, who will serve as a plot device in "Planet of Fire?"
Are his batteries low?

One major complaint about this one is on the technical side, the Silurians secret weapon is an oversized sea monster which sets Doctor Who back decades! In what is a pretty good story arc, with the return of some classic monsters, we have the "WORST CREATURE" presentation in I would dare to say the series multi-decade history (20 years at the point this was aired.) Bar none. The Myrka, as it is called looks like a scale pantomime lizard-horse, which is precisely what it is. Obviously, a couple of actors shuffling down halls, really well-light halls I might add. But to add insult to injury one character sees fit to disbatch this embarrassing creature in the most embarrassing manner, ninja-kick to the lizard gut!!! Pity considering the underwater base is one of the best sets of the season.

Over all this one just mixes too many genres to work effectively. It seems unsure of weather it wants to be a stylized action adventure or meaty drama with true emotional impact, resulting in flatly achieving neither. I love the 5th Doctor's final season but this one was poorly handled, even if it does round off a trilogy of prehistoric monster stories including: "The Silurians" and "The Sea Devils." Both of those should be released along with this DVD. Watch for Doctor Who - Beneath The Surface (Doctor Who And The Silurians / The Sea Devils / Warriors Of The Deep)the boxed set.

Some Drinking games for Warriors of the Deep:

Drink whenever...

--Someone or something dies

--camera cuts to someone wearing too much make-up

---the flashy thing on the Silurian's head flashes

--you lament your purchase

Over the many decades of its existence, Doctor Who has always been a show full of ideas--almost endlessly inventive and creative. "Warriors of the Deep" is no different. What a fantastic idea, bringing back the Silurians and the Sea Devils! The basic concept of this story brims with excellent potential and fantastic possibilities. All of which gets tanked like the Titanic by inept realization and shoddy production, sad to say.

What could've gone wrong? The Silurians and the Sea Devils, reptilian Earthlings from before the age of humankind who want their planet back, definitely count as some of the more intriguingly original and complex foes (one can't really say villains per se) from the era of the Third Doctor. Now more than a decade and two Doctors later, surely their tale can be developed in new ways. And to some degree "Warriors of the Deep" does indeed manage gestures in this direction, giving them individual names and personalities, revealing little aspects of their society and politics, and alluding to their ethical systems and life philosophies. On a different level, furthermore, those subtle but vaguely noticeable hints of a Cold War allegory wafting about before in the Silurian/Sea Devil stories by Malcolm Hulke are here cleverly brought vividly to the foreground by Johnny Byrne. He rephrases the conflict as that between two (wisely unnamed) competing human power-blocs in 2084, a conflict the reptilians intend to capitalize upon by hijacking an undersea station and provoking both sides to destroy each other, leaving the Earth all for themselves again. In 1984 such a "mutually assured destruction" premise was sure to get a viewer's attention, no doubt about it. And it still has something to say yet.

But whenever you bring back old foes there's always the risk of diminishing returns, and that's what happens here. All the moral complexity of the human/reptilian conflict is glossed over rather than actually portrayed and explored as it was before. It's taken for granted, really, and you have the Doctor ranting about how nice and civilized the Silurians are to his companions and the other (realistically unlikable) humans on the military sea-base, but so far all this story has in actuality shown them doing is being sneaky, mean, and nasty. In a misplaced attempt at continuity, the Silurians claim that twice before they offered the hand of peace to the humans and aren't inclined to do so again. This is a gross misrepresentation and oversimplification of the prior two stories that we are apparently meant to take at face value--a vast proportion of those stories' greatness owes itself to the fact that inevitable tragedy was brought about by aggressive and narrow-minded individuals on BOTH sides. To put all the blame on the humans and absolve the reptilians sounds sophisticated at first but in the end vastly mutes the intriguing moral dilemma involved (as well as being just factually wrong). To add insult to injury, the Silurians' ethical justification for triggering genocide is the most laughably contorted heap of mendacious sophistry imaginable, but again we're clearly meant to take it seriously--the Doctor, our compass of right and wrong here, listens to it all without so much as a blink or sarcastically wry smile. In short, the whole conflict driving the plot is unsatisfying and unconvincing, sinking the overall story like lead. Clunk.

A million other things go wrong with the actual production, and it would try the patience of this reviewer and any hapless readers to list them all. The extras go into them in hilarious detail, anyway. An important point key to the story though would be the actual costumes for the Silurians and Sea Devils: they look cooler and more realistic, and even have some animatronic eyelids, but something about their design is obviously more hindering than the earlier ones in the 1970's so that the reptilian characters come across as far less agile and realistic in their actual movements, making the battle scenes almost embarrassingly laughable--don't expect one of these Sea Devils to die with a back flip like in 1972. Anyway, and speaking of Cold Wars, Karl Marx might as well have been referring to "Warriors of the Deep" when he quipped that history repeats itself, first as tragedy and then as farce.

P.S. I know, I know, I keep referring to the two prior stories featuring Silurians & Sea Devils ad nauseum, but those classics and this DVD can all be obtained in one conveniently nifty package: Doctor Who - Beneath The Surface (Doctor Who And The Silurians / The Sea Devils / Warriors Of The Deep).

Honestly, this Doctor Who story should have been one of the first of Peter Davison's Doctor Who's to be released to DVD. I rank this one right up there with Earthshock (which I think is his overall best story) and The Visitation.

The Silurians and Sea Devils, together, return in a future Earth time period for the magnificent Doctor Who story "Warriors of the Deep." Their previous experience with humans has taught them that the human race can not be trusted. They decide they have no alternative but to wipe out humanity once and for all in order to reclaim the world they once called home.

To do so, they assault and take over an undersea missile base to start a nuclear war that will destroy the "ape-primitives" with their own weapons. This compelling story gives Peter Davison a chance to shine as a dramatic actor, with the Doctor not sure who he is more angry with-the Silurians or the humans. Especially since in a sub-story, human agents from a rival power have also infiltraited the sea base and unleash murder and treachery even amongst the Silurian and Sea Devil onslaught.

I really liked the fact that many of the human characters in the story, even some of the so-called good guys, were not really all that likeable. They were cranky, irritable, stubborn, and very quick to threaten force on the Doctor and his friends to get them to cooperate. Which makes total sense for characters who have been stuck in an undersea military base for months on end and are now under attack by unknown forces.

I also really liked the sets in this story. It seems they really put a lot of time, energy, effort, and money into making the setting really look like a futuristic undersea base. Right down to large water tanks for reactor coolant, which they use quite well in the story.

Ultimately, the Doctor is forced to make a choice-either destroy the Silurians and Sea Devils or let them slaughter all of humanity? This is despite the fact that the Doctor sympathizes with the Silurians and knows the history of their disastrous encounters with humanity in the past. When the Doctor finally makes his choice, his feelings could best be summed up in the Doctor's own simple, yet heartbreakingly spoken words, "there should have been another way."