OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 612
STORY NUMBER: 132
TRANSMITTED: Friday 13 January 1984
WRITER: Johnny Byrne
DIRECTOR: Pennant Roberts
SCRIPT EDITOR: Eric Saward
PRODUCER: John Nathan-Turner
RATINGS: 6.6 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - Beneath the Surface (The Silurians / The Sea Devils / Warriors of the Deep)
The Doctor & Teagn are taken to the bridge where the Silurians are attempting to control the base's computers. Tegan & Preston are locked up with Turlough & Bulic but all four quickly escape through the ventilation ducts. The Doctor sneaks away from the Silurians and with the help of the others releases the hexachromite gas into the ventilation system but Preston is killed by a Sea Devil. The Doctor tries to reason with the Silurians but fails and they are overcome by the gas. The Doctor takes the place of the sync operator and deactivates the missile run but Vorshak is killed by a dying Silurian.
Deary me. Right for a start that's 4 episodes out of 4 on the Ichthar impersonating the Cyberleader by saying "Excellent" front. Surely the Silurians should have been guarding the Doctor to prevent his escape? At just what point is Vorshak shot? It's not obvious watching it! No the entire serial is a mess: it's dodgy doors and monster have earned it the nickname "Warriors on the Cheap". I'd say it needs another pass by the script editor to tidy it up a bit but writer Johnny Byrne on his third and final story for the show reputedly blames Eric Saward's script editing for removing the real anti war message behind the story. A different ending would be good: not only do all the Sea Devils & Silurians die - and didn't that Sea Devil die horrifically with green gunk pouring from it's orifices - just like in both the previous stories featuring them, so do every single one of the human supporting cast bar, possibly, Bulic whose fate is unrevealed. How much of the blame for the show should be laid at Pennant Roberts door I don't know who becomes the only director to have worked on the show before John Nathan-Turner took charge to work on it after that point.....
Warriors of the Deep was the first story from this season to be novelised with Terrance Dicks adapting it during 1984. It was released on video in 1995 and in the Beneath the Surface boxset with The Silurians & The Sea Devils.
It's been years since I've seen this one, but my meories of it are underwhelming. One very strong impression that I do have of the story is that all of the human characters, with a couple of exceptions, were pretty much total bastards. If this was what humanity was going to turn out to be like one hundred years in the future, well, part of me can't help thinking that maybe the Doctor should have just stood back and let the Silurians nuke mankind into oblivion. It looked like they deserved to occupy the Earth much more than warmongering humanity did.
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