Doctor Who: Legend Of The Sea Devils Review - 6 Ups & 7 Downs
10. DOWN - A Pointless Revival
Whilst the Sea Devils get a thumbs up on the design front, they’re otherwise completely wasted. In this episode, the conflict of the story feels like the B-plot of the episode, with the character drama taking centre stage. This isn’t a problem at all - in fact, some of the greatest episodes of the show follow this structure (just look at Vincent and The Doctor, for example). The issue here is that, if you’re planning this sort of plot, it shouldn’t be done at the expense of the return of a much-loved antagonist.
The Sea Devils here don’t do a lot, and are a lot more zealous and warmongering than their classic era counterparts - something the Doctor acknowledges but doesn’t explain. The leader of the Sea Devils, who isn’t given the courtesy of a name, is underdeveloped, and is unceremoniously offed before the episode even reaches its final act. Considering that, for most of the episode, this scaly boy seems to be the only Sea Devil on screen, this leaves the episode without an antagonist for the last twenty minutes. An odd choice…
We also have to mention how silly his plan is. Doctor Who is a show that plays it fast and loose with physics fairly often, but it’s not rocket science to work out that playing with the Earth’s gravitational pull so flippantly will do far more than flood the planet, and will have cataclysmic consequences that will definitely eliminate all life on Earth, the Sea Devils included. Back to the drawing board, unnamed Sea Devil #1…