10 Huge Questions After Doctor Who: Legend Of The Sea Devils
8. What Do The Sea Devils Call Themselves?
Although fleshed out in multiple extended universe works, this is only the third time the aquatic creatures have featured in a televised story. Debuting in 1972’s The Sea Devils, they were presented as distant cousins of the Silurians. Clark, a human maintenance worker at an abandoned sea fort, dubbed them "the Sea Devils", a term that the third Doctor wasn’t exactly fond of, but which appears to have stuck.
When they next return in 1984’s Warriors of the Deep, even their Silurian cousins are now calling them Sea Devils. The 13th Doctor has no problem using it, but she is pulled up by the Sea Devil for her implicit racism. He then goes on to refer to all humans as "Land Parasites". But what the Sea Devils call themselves remains a mystery.
Interviewed by Doctor Who Magazine, costume designer Ray Holman calls the Sea Devil leader Marsissus, but he is never named as such on screen. In the credits, Craige Els’ character is billed as Chief Sea Devil. There is little exploration of Sea Devil culture in the episode, instead we are left with a possibly rogue vengeful leader and an unquestioning army of subordinates. It feels like a surprisingly retrograde step, given how well developed the Silurians were by Chibnall in The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood.