Customer Reviews

Doctor Who - Warriors of the Deep [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

In Warriors Of The Deep, which follows the 20th anniversary story, The Five Doctors, the Doctor, Tegan, and Turlough land on a Earth Sea Base in the year 2084, which comes under attack of two Earth Reptile races he encountered before in his third incarnation--the misnamed Silurians and the Sea Devils. This time, the Earth Reptiles have abandoned the way of mediation and are out to reclaim the Earth, which was theirs when man was just an ape. To them, men are "ape-descended primitives, an evolutionary error they obviously mean to correct."

The Earth Reptile attack is not the only crisis. As in Tegan's era, the 1980's, there are "still two power blocs, fingers poised to annihilate each other." And there are two members of the Sea Base, Nilson, the second-in-command, and the psychosurgeon Dr. Solow, who have an agenda of their own involving Maddox, the base's synch-operator, the person who links up to the computer to fire the base's missiles. Maddox's mental state is such that he'll suffer a mental collapse if untreated. To that end, they brainwash him to do their dirty work.

Playing Dr. Solow is Hammer star Ingrid Pitt, who is stout and bearlike here. I was shocked--this was the sensual Elizabeth Bathory in Countess Dracula and Carmilla/Mercalla in The Vampire Lovers? She also came out as Galleia in the Who story The Time Monster in 1972.

The action starts when the Earth Reptiles and the Myrka, a giant quadrupedal sea dragon that has been modified into a cyborg, invade the base and with their superior technology, start killing the base's personnel. It is up to the Doctor to simultaneously save the Base and to negotiate with the Earth Reptiles.

The tension of nuclear war explored in Fail-Safe and Wargames is touched on here. There are three stages, green alert, yellow, alert, and red alert, with two possibilities, a computer-simulation to keep the personnel on their toes, or worse, a real attack. Maddox, the sensitive synch-operator, tells Lieutenant Karina in a stricken voice that yes, it is the commander who gives the orders, "but I still have to press that button." He simply finds the prospect of pushing the button impossible for his conscience.

The design and continuity people should've watched The Silurians story, as the third eye on the Silurians' forehead was a weapon. Here, it's a light that blinks on and off when they speak. And they speak in a more mechanized voice here. Also, they are tan rather than green. Icthar, the leader of the Silurians, says "twice we offered the hand of friendship." He can't count the Sea Devils encounter, so there must have been an untelevised second encounter with the Silurians. And the Myrka is clearly a variation of a pantomime horse, requiring two people, one playing the front, the other the back.

The Doctor keeps referring to the Silurians as a noble race, but here, they have had enough. "There can be no alternative to peaceful coexistence," says Icthar, who horrifically adds in a reference to the Third Reich, "There is a final solution." Humans too have their good and bad sides. When one of the crew sees the Silurians as invaders rather than the noble race the Doctor knows them as, the Doctor bitterly says "I sometimes wonder why I like the people of this miserable planet so much", yet later, when Tegan and the others decide to risk a rescue of the Doctor, Turlough says in exasperation, "What is it about human beings that make them think a futile gesture is a noble one?"

Influences include The Manchurian Candidate (Maddox's brainwashing), and nuclear war films like Fail-Safe. The appearance of the robot weapons system in space at the beginning echoes Reagan's SDI plan of an anti-missile system. And the invasion of the base's airlock doors is reminiscent of the stormtroopers attacking Princess Leia's Blockade Runner at the beginning of Star Wars.

This has one of the highest bodycounts of all Dr. Who stories, with only one character other than the Doctor and his companions surviving. While continuity lapses and design flaws abound, Warriors Of The Deep is a worthy story with Cold War influences and race relations. The final line, spoken in an angst-ridden voice by the Doctor, is tragic but universal: "There should have been a better way."

Eighties Doctor Who always contains more style than plot, and in this area, Warriors Of The Deep is a disaster. The sets are so brightly lit the place CAN'T be underwater. The guest cast are so appalling they're painful to watch. The costumes (when properly fixed on) are just silly. The Sea Devils do little more than blink, and they walk like Ballroom Dancers. All the men in the story wear eye-shadow for some reason. The plot is okay, but the casting and special effects are just so awful - even the famous Ingrid Pitt is terrible. The Myrka is literally a green pantomime horse, and the Silurians.... An absolutely appallling start to season 21.

"Warriors of the Deep" has always been highly criticised for being too cheap, too slow, and just down right bad! But it really isn't. It's one of the last of the 5th Doctor stories to have that Davison charm. The Silurians and the Sea Devils aren't that bad(even if they are slow moving, and their masks are coming loose), they appear right at the beginning of the story, rather than the end of episode 1. Although, the Myrka is better as an idea rather than a realisation. Nice cold war irony, nueral imputs, and some silly gun play add up to fun runaround with the regulars. An interresting story, often neglected.

This story has a lot to attract viewers. Despite its dramatic-sounding name, it heralds the return of the Silurians and Sea Devils, and is set in a not-too-distant future of political tension between two super-powers. The problems lie in its execution. The Silurians now talk like Cybermen, have flashing light-bulbs in their foreheads and are actors in baggy ill-fitting costumes complete with flares (!?) The Sea Devils are now parrot-faced beanpoles with stiff necks. And why do they call themselves Silurians and Sea Devils, when these were inaccurate names coined by humans? These faults might be forgiven if it weren't for the story itself. The Doctor spends this tale telling everyone how they should respect the reptiles. But the Silurians and Sea Devils have been reduced to bog-standard 'evil monsters', who are characterless clones, think of nothing but killing and destroying others. The humans are a dull lot, and the base never gives the impression of being underwater. With its bright lights, there's nowhere anything nasty could be lurking. Thing go from bad to worse, with the appearance of the Myrka. This is Dobbin the pantomime horse disguised as I-don't-know-quite-what, seems to be wearing washing-up gloves with claws (they even hired the two men who operated Dobbin in 'Rentaghost'). Scenes of the 'tough lady' kung-fu fighting the Myrka, and of actors trying desperately to make it look like obviously-fake rubber doors are actually very heavy, are in the realms of the spoof. In fact, if the Myrka had starting doing a funny dance, accompanied by jolly music, I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised. The only good set is the interior of the Silurian ship, which is quite dark and looks genuinely sinister. If only all the sets had been like this. Despite the above, I'm giving this story three stars, as I actually quite enjoyed it. Fans of serious science-fiction, however, would be better off with the seventies 'Dr Who and the Silurians' and 'The Sea Devils', which are much better. In fact, 'Silurians' is an all-time classic. Shame nobody involved with the making of 'Warriors' watched it properly.

I rather liked this episode despite finding some of the revisions on the Silurians voice (I do perfer how they originally spoke in the Pertwee era) and the silliness of the Myrka (Pantomine Horse, Goose and Queen Victoria come to mind). Other than those minor setbacks, I thought the futuristic story set underwater was very good which clearly reflected on the power struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union at that time. The Silurians wish to push the two Earth powers further into war with each other. Aiding the Silurians in their plans for conquest are their blood related cousins, the Sea Devils. Peter Davison's gives a very strong and vicious performance as he tries to convince the Humans of the seabase and the surviving Silurian Triad to coexist, only to become fed up himself as neither side is willing to listen to the Doctor's plead for peace. Although not as strong as it's Pertwee era predessessor, I think this is not a bad episode. Although, I find the revisions to the Silurians voices to be very grating. I kind of wish John Nathan Turner just stuck with the original voices. They were so much effective. The Doctor delivers a great last line at the end of this episode. Not a classic, but not bad.

This is one of the worst Doctor Who searials ever. It tries very had to be a sequel to the excellent Doctor Who and the Silurians, and the fair Sea Devils, but fails miserably. The costumes suck, the dialogue sucks, this whole thing was a waste of my hard earned money.

My Advice is get the earler Silurians and Sea Devils episodes, as they are far superior.

'Warriors Of The Deep' is absolutely every bit as bad as it has been made out to be. The acting is absurd, the costumes terrible, the direction flat and the poor production values brightly lit for all to see. As a piece of unintentional comedy, 'Warriors' works rather well even though the cast takes itself so seriously.
On paper, this is actually an interesting story. Set on a seabase during a futuristic cold war being attacked by two popular monsters from the Pertwee era and complete with devious double agents and a hideous, unstoppable cybernetic creature, this story has plenty going for it. Unfortunately, the Silurians and Sea Devils are pale imitations of their 70s predecessors, the double agents are served by wooden actors with bad accents and the hideous unstoppable cyborg turns out to be a bug eyed, slow-moving pantomime thing with two guys inside it fumbling to get it to lumber menacingly. On top of that the sets are so white & brightly lit and the direction so indifferent, nothing - not the loose Silurian costumes nor the hilarious Myrka creature or the foam mattress walls that get torn down at a cliffhanger - nothing is obscured or left to the imagination.
The regular cast isn't given much to do of any consequence but should be applauded for keeping so many straight faces. Tegan runs around a bit, Turlough mopes and the Doctor plays the pacifist for too long even as the Sea Devils and Silurians show no mercy. The human characters are universally dull and serviced by utterly forgettable and/or over-the-top performances.
In the end, 'Warriors of the Deep' is worthwhile only as a dose of comedy. The appearance of the Myrka, the poorly constructed sets, props and costumes and the bad acting are all worth quite a few chuckles. The best scene is when evil agent Dr. Solow tries to engage in a kung-fu fight with the Myrka. What had some potential as a script ends up being massacred by bad production values and clueless direction. The Doctor was right about one thing: there -certainly- should have been another way. As a DW story: 1 star. As a piece of comedy (and taken with a stiff drink): 2 stars.

You can't watch this episode without going back to the Pertwee series and watching them all. If you don't you will miss all of the hidden double meanings.

Yes, props and costumes may have been poor, but that is what made DOCTOR WHO what it is...the longest running sci fi show EVER. Peter Davison greatly portrays the Doctor, which would be hard to do, since he played the part after Tom Baker, the longest ever to play the Doctor. Peter Davison GREATLY deserves admiration for his acting capabilty and his ability to prove he could play the Doctor just as good as Tom Baker. I do love his earlier episodes, but this one was not to bad. Turlough is naturally a mopey character so of course he should be that way; Tegan is BRILLIANT as always and deeply shows her concern for the Doctor when it appears he has drowned in one scene. I loved it, and I don't care for these new shows with CGI graphics .. you want to stick to REAL and GREAT acting, REAL efforts put into the show, and great storylines, Doctor
Who is just right for you!

Follow-up to The Silurians and The Sea Devils. This story takes the creatures from two thought-provoking, excellent tales and turns out a boring, seen-it-all-before humans V evil rubber monsters scenario. And why on earth are the Sea Devils wearing metalic-looking dresses? One of the things that ruins the fear factor of Dr Who monsters all too often is that it's obvious they can't move fast enough to pose any real kind of a threat. And as for the Myrka, a supposedly powerful underwater beast. It's a green-painted pantomime horse! Had special effects regressed rather than progressed? Terrible, laughable, tedious rubbish!