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Tag: Silurians

Devils Under the Sea

Review of Warriors of the Deep (#130)

DVD Release Date: 03 Jun 08
Original Air Date: 05 – 13 Jan 1984
Doctors/Companions: Five, Tegan Jovanka, Vislor Turlough
Stars: Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Mark Strickson
Preceding Story: The Five Doctors (Five, Tegan, Turlough)
Succeeding Story: The Awakening (Five, Tegan, Turlough)

One of the unintended benefits of this year’s “Everything Else” themed reviews is that I get to talk about the Sea Devils, who are slated to appear in the next special some time this spring. (My guess is on or around Easter, which is April 17.) In fact, I get to review both of their on-screen appearances, first this month in Warrior of the Deep and then at the end of April (presumably shortly after the aforementioned special) in their debut story The Sea Devils.

Somewhat ironically, while the Sea Devils are the eponymous warriors here, what most people remember about this story (when they bother to remember it at all) is the non-sentient monster of the piece, the Myrka. Before listening to the recent Verity! podcast episode about Warriors, I had forgotten pretty much everything else myself. But the Myrka is actually a relatively small player in the overall story, while humanity’s willingness to annihilate itself, and individual humans’ willingness to exploit each other, are more immediate threats.

Watching Warriors nearly forty years after its broadcast (which makes me feel really old), I get a strange sense both that I completely agree with Tegan’s point that very little has changed in the 100 years since her time (~60 years from now) and that things are quite different. To wit, the last time I watched it, I have a vague recollection of having felt much more sympathetic angst about the destruction of humanity.

Who in the Time of COVID

Review of Doctor Who and the Silurians (#52)

DVD Release Date: 03 Jun 08
Original Air Date: 31 Jan – 14 Mar 1970
Doctors/Companions: Three, Liz Shaw, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Stars: Jon Pertwee, Caroline John, Nicholas Courtney
Preceding Story: Spearhead from Space (Three, Liz, the Brigadier)
Succeeding Story: The Ambassadors of Death (Three, Liz, the Brigadier)

Silurians have never been one of my favorite species. Although I came to Doctor Who through the new series, it was still before they made their return in The Hungry Earth. Thus this story, as for earlier generations of fans, was my introduction to the erstwhile dominant species on Earth.

When my main memory of this story was the questionable rubber monster suits, then, perhaps I can be excused for not knowing off the top of my head which side of the Highs and Lows this month’s entry was meant to fall on. I was pleased to find, when I checked the i09 reference rankings, that it comes in at #24, and settled in to be reminded of a good story I’d forgotten about.

Little did I know how viewing the story in 2021 would color my experience.