10 Huge Questions After Doctor Who: Legend Of The Sea Devils

6. Why Do Sea Devils Need Pet Monsters?

Doctor Who Legend of the Sea Devils Yaz
BBC

The Sea Devils have at their command a fearsome sea creature, the legendary Hua Shen, which provides a fitting link to Madame Ching’s oriental heritage. It doesn’t shapeshift like the mythical aquatic Chinese dragon, but like the Skarasen/Loch Ness Monster in Terror of the Zygon, a real creature is presented as the source of a human myth.

It’s not the first time the Sea Devils and their Silurian cousins have used another creature in their bid to overcome human opposition. In Warriors of the Deep, they have at their disposal the infamous dinosaur-like Myrka, and in Doctor Who and the Silurians they have as a pet another T-Rex-type monster.

Quite why they need the extra back-up is a moot point. These Sea Devils have superpowers, such as the ability to leap across impossible distances (even though they can also teleport), and technology that can make it appear as if the stars are moving. One can imagine a future earth as an underwater world with all manner of amphibious genetically modified lifeforms, with Sea Devils and Silurians as the ruling elite. Perhaps they enjoy the thrill of scaring their human enemies. After all, that’s the only reason they pimp the Flor De La Mar.

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Paul Driscoll is a freelance writer and author across a range of subjects from Cult TV to religion and social policy. He is a passionate Doctor Who fan and January 2017 will see the publication of his first extended study of the series (based on Toby Whithouse's series six episode, The God Complex) in the critically acclaimed Black Archive range by Obverse Books. He is a regular writer for the fan site Doctor Who Worldwide and has contributed several essays to Watching Books' You and Who range. Recently he has branched out into fiction writing, with two short stories in the charity Doctor Who anthology Seasons of War (Chinbeard Books). Paul's work will also feature in the forthcoming Iris Wildthyme collection (A Clockwork Iris, Obverse Books) and Chinbeard Books' collection of drabbles, A Time Lord for Change.