'Doctor Who: Warriors of the Deep' (1984)


I don't quite have the wherewithal to go for the Britbox subscription at the moment, not without cancelling either Disney or Shudder and I'm not quite there yet. Where does that leave my Doctor Who watching? Well, it's rather dependant on what I can turn up in CEX, or am lucky enough to win on eBay, and I actually prefer it like that to be honest. Thrill of the hunt and all that ;o)

'Warriors of the Deep' was a lucky eBay win and another story that I hadn't seen since it aired, way way back in the day. All I had was vague memories of a giant monster that looked like a reptilian pantomime horse so of course I settled down to watch it as soon as I got the chance...

Earth: 2084. Two global superpowers hover on the brink of war. When the TARDIS is forced to make an unplanned visit to Sea Base Four, the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough find themselves accused of being enemy agents. Quickly embroiled in a deadly game of paranoid intrigue, it becomes clear that others in the base have sabotage and murder in mind. However, there is a greater threat to Mankind; the Silurians and Sea Devils, prehistoric reptiles seeking to reclaim the Earth. Can the Doctor prevent them implementing their deadly plan to trigger a war that could wipe out the human race?

Now, I can't lead with the 'pantomime monster' bit and then make you wait, can I? No, I can't so lets cut to the chase. The Myrka is totally a reptilian pantomime horse, albeit with at least three people inside instead of two. Having said that though, its awkward gait actually does the Myrka some favours in a 'beast out of its natural habitat' kind of way. You could see it being really graceful in the water but an absolute lump of a thing on dry land. And what the hell was the base's Doctor thinking, karate kicking it...? The more sensible of us would have run back the way they came, not her though.

On to the plot itself and it's not a bad one with a hidden base, that is already under siege by paranoia, placed under even more siege by the Silurians and Sea Devils. 'Doctor Who' does a number of things well (although I would say that) and one of the things that I think it does really well is the whole 'base under siege' thing. The tension is already high (thanks to those two opposing blocs who are nameless but we all know who they are really) and then it gets even worse with the arrival of the Sea Devils who can take a lot of punishment and dish out even more. There is actually more going on here than you'd think and I found the whole thing surprisingly watchable.

And most of this is down to the Doctor himself but also Tegan and Turlough (to an extent). The Doctor is the Doctor and there are no real surprises here although it's always kind of refreshing to see him when he doesn't quite win through. The Doctor is always really deflated by it although not as deflated as those Sea Devil heads in the final episode (I love it when 'Classic Doctor Who' does a 'head deflating'). Tegan is also brave to a fault but it was Turlough and his constant inner struggles that swung it for me. Imagine being a bit of a coward and finding yourself travelling the galaxy with a Time Lord that wants to help those in need. Some of that has to rub off but you're also aware that while the Doctor may be invincible, you are not. That's Turlough, for me, and I loved seeing that struggle play out amongst a base under siege and a world on the brink of war. More of that please.

I wasn't expecting too much from 'Warriors of the Deep' and ended up really enjoying it in the end, 'pantomime Myrka' and all :o)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

‘Alien Harvest’ – Robert Sheckley (Titan Books)

Image
  Page Count: 326 Pages It feels like a while since I last had an ‘Aliens’ post here (‘Aliens: Genocide’, back in May , just in case you were wondering…) but I have been pecking away at ‘Alien Harvest’, a page here and then a few pages here. And that should be a little bit of a red flag right there. The four preceding ‘Aliens’ novels (or, one and a half omnibuses) were all very readable and, ultimately, a lot of fun despite a few misgivings here and there. ‘Alien Harvest’ though…? Honestly, it has taken me weeks to get through and if it wasn’t for my generally enjoying the franchise (and being an awkward middle-aged chap who sometimes, just won’t let a book beat him…), I’d have DNF’d this book and moved on without a second thought. I didn’t though (because I’m awkward and needed the win) and here I am, trying to make a little sense of how I feel about ‘Alien Harvest’. Lets see how I do… Royal jelly, the most illicit of Alien by-products, is keeping Dr, Stan Myakovsky alive. A once ...
Read more

‘Wolverine : Old Man Logan’ – Millar, McNiven (Marvel)

Image
  Page Count: 256 Pages Long ago, there lived a Graeme who was having a pretty rough time and bought loads of comic books to cheer himself up. Some tough lessons, about the transient nature of money, followed but the comic books stuck around for a little longer so, things (kind of) balanced out ;o) One of those comic books was the collected ‘Old Man Logan’ and it was an awesome read (yes, I was that Graeme, in case you hadn’t worked it out). Thanks to the aforementioned transient nature of money, and the need for more, I had to get rid of my old copy but a couple of weeks ago, I saw another copy for sale and figured that it was time to pay ‘Old Man Logan’ another visit. When eBay is full of overpriced second hand copies, it’s nice to see Marvel do the decent thing and publish a new edition. Or, more likely, see an opportunity to make more money. Either way, I have a new book so I’m happy :o) A future world savaged and sundered by super villains, the United States ain’t what it used...
Read more

‘Green and Grey’ & ‘Waiting Death’ (From ‘Soldiers of the Imperium: An Astra Miltarum Omnibus’ – Black Library’)

Image
  The weather is cooling down a bit, at least for now, but my tired (slightly overheated) old brain is taking a little while to catch up so, as you’ve probably gathered, I’m all about the short reads this week. Bits and pieces to keep me ticking over and entertained. And ‘Alien Harvest’, as well, but I already moaned about that yesterday , no more moaning about it today ;o) Anyway… I’m doing pretty well with my, kind of, resolution to read more books that I already own (it’s still a ‘work in progress’ but I’m happy with it) so it was no surprise that I decided to go for a couple of Imperial Guard short stories from the ‘Soldiers of the Imperium’ collection – a book that has gone unread for… lets just say ‘too long’. I picked one tale from an author that I’ve never read and the other tale? Well, does it count as a re-read if I listened to the audio-book years ago and could barely remember the plot when I came back to it the other day? Technically, yes, I guess ;o) Enough of that, le...
Read more