Doctor Who: Legend Of The Sea Devils Review - 6 Ups & 7 Downs
4. DOWN - The Curious Case Of The Disappearing Sea Monster
This is what is referred to in the business as ‘bait and switch’. Legend Of The Sea Devils promised us Hua Shen, a giant sea monster akin to The Kraken, and, in fairness, this was delivered… for all of two scenes.
Hua Shen does it’s job by injecting some action into the plot, but does precious little else, not to mention its existence is barely explained or justified. After magically teleporting Thirteen and Yaz to the Sea Devil base, it launches an attack on Ching’s ship. Dan, wasting no time, gives the beast a face full of cannonballs. We think for a moment that the beast may be vanquished, until the cannonballs rise from the water and head straight for our protagonists (and Dan). Luckily, the budget doesn’t stretch to damaging the ship set, so the cannonballs collide in the air for some reason.
This is the last we see of Hua Shen. It’s still out there, terrorising sea-farers, and the plot completely abandons it from this point onwards. Bit irresponsible of the Doctor, really.