UK TV review: Doctor Who: Legend of the Sea Devils
Review Overview
Ssswashbucking
4Ssshipping
6Sssense
2Mark Harrison | On 18, Apr 2022
This review contains no spoilers for Legend Of The Sea Devils – read on at the end for additional observations.
“We are reclaiming what was ours. It is our right and it is our time.”
There’s just one more episode to go for Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor (and for Mandip Gill’s Yaz and John Bishop’s Dan) but it seems there’s always time to bring back one last monster from Doctor Who past. Legend of the Sea Devils brings the titular Earth reptiles back on the 50th anniversary of their first appearance in the classic series, for a swashbuckling adventure that goes from 19th-century China to the depths of the ocean.
The trouble starts when buccaneering pirate queen Madame Ching (Crystal Yu) damages an ancient statue while searching for the lost treasure of the Flor de la Mar. She inadvertently releases a Sea Devil commander (Craige Els) from a centuries-long imprisonment. When the Doctor, Yaz, and Dan arrive, the Sea Devils are resuming long-laid plans and it’s down to their skeleton crew to avert a global upheaval.
The outing comes towards the end of a nine-episode production run during the global pandemic and, up to now, it’s impressive how the producers have worked within limitations that have stumped many other, much more expensive shows. The season-long Flux serial used recurring guest stars and monsters and the New Year special Eve of the Daleks was set entirely in one location.
While the trailer at the end of this special suggests they’re pulling out all the stops for the forthcoming grand finale, this penultimate episode falls sadly short of the show’s own standard. It’s a high-concept high-seas swashbuckler that sails far too close to formula.
Co-authored by Ella Road and showrunner Chris Chibnall, the script is full-on Doctor Who by numbers. There’s a cold open with a monster wreaking havoc, the TARDIS arrives in the right place at the wrong time and there’s a very standard McGuffin changing hands before the climax. That formula covers about 70 per cent of all Doctor Who, and it’s kept this thing going almost 60 years now, so it’s not good enough to serve it up with no new or exciting wrinkles.
This particular show can weather some weak special effects better than most sci-fi series, but touches like an animated stone skimming across stock footage of water stick out more than the more ambitious monster effects. The fidelity of the Sea Devil design gives us a CG-augmented version of the recognisable rubber masks, but the story is stiffer with them than the effects. There’s none of the usual ethical debate around these characters – see our guide to the Sea Devils in Classic Doctor Who – they’re just another interchangeable enemy to be thwarted, with added recognisability.
Obvious logistical issues include the location shooting and the sparse guest cast, but Doctor Who usually has a better time of creatively overcoming such limitations. It doesn’t help that the post-production is noticeably more chaotic than on other recent episodes either. It’s the frantic, incoherent editing that topples this. There’s no suspense, no scares and next-to-no sense of where each character is in relation to the rest of the plot. Coupled with the unusually short 50-minute runtime, it leads you to wonder if this special was hastily reconfigured after shooting was complete.
On the brighter side, there are some nice scenes between Whittaker and Gill, continuing a potentially romantic throughline that was only inferred by fandom up until Eve of the Daleks said it out loud. This may all be too little too late for some shippers but, at this stage, any material for Yaz that doesn’t reduce her to the retrograde companion position of asking “What is it, Doctor?” is much appreciated.
For once, the character beats are the most salvageable aspects. With neither the spectacle and scale of Season 13 nor the “make a Dalek movie for 10 quid“ novelty of the New Year’s special to set it apart, the static A-plot of Legend of the Sea Devils wouldn’t pass muster as a throwaway mid-series mess-about, never mind as event television. It ends on a strong note, but it’s a shame that the rest of the episode is so much bilge.
Doctor’s Notes (contains additional spoilers)
– After the respite of Eve of the Daleks, the exposition is back with a vengeance. As we learn through harried technobabble, the TARDIS is pulled off course by a geomagnetic Sea Devil base inside the sunken Flor de la Mar – the homo reptilia are looking for a plutonic crystal “Keystone” that will power their plan to flip the Earth’s north and south poles, ultimately flooding the planet and washing away humanity. Again, if you need a recap of other Earth reptile plots, we’ve written about the Classic Who outings of the Silurians and the Sea Devils here.
– Does Dan have the highest body count of any companion since Adric wiped out the dinosaurs? After helping kill all the Sontarans in the Flux finale, he merrily cuts down five Sea Devils and jokes about it. Elsewhere, in another of Chibnall’s typical screwdriver-waving conclusions, yet another incidental character presses a button or holds a wire so the Doctor can fettle the baddies and get away scot-free. Despite all the things we’ll miss from this era when it’s over, the awful flippancy about death has got to go.
– The main special-effects triumph is the Doctor and Yaz’s trip to the ocean floor, echoing the sort of outer-space moments we’ve seen in the David Tennant and Matt Smith eras by opening the TARDIS doors and enjoying the beautiful briny vibes. It’s about the wonder of the world and, in true Doctor Who fashion, it’s interrupted by the other solid CG-creation, the Hua-Shan. That said, everyone seems to forget that the Sea Devils’ leviathan is still on the loose when they wave goodbye.
– Thasmin shippers, rejoice? The new series’ trend of romance between the Doctor and their companions has been a sticky wicket since School Reunion (“You can spend the rest of your life with me, but I can’t spend the rest of mine with you”) and was arguably exorcised in the Twelfth Doctor’s era. What we get here affirms fan readings of romance between the Thirteen and Yaz, only to say that it can never happen. It inevitably grapples with the relationship not from Yaz’s perspective but from the Doctor’s, again, and suggests toxic things about them in the process. If nothing else, we hope Yaz gets the resolution she deserves next episode.
– “I wish this would go on forever.” On the other hand, that ending is the sort of thing we haven’t had enough of in this era – a moment of quiet and reflection, with nobody explaining the plot, and it’s a gorgeous sentiment to end a penultimate story on. It’s the calm before the storm, with the “something’s coming” of it all saved for the post-episode trailer.
– The Master, Tegan, and Ace, oh my! Coming this autumn – the BBC Centenary itself is on 12th October – the Thirteenth Doctor’s final adventure brings back regulars new and old, including Sacha Dhawan, Jemma Redgrave, Jacob Anderson, Janet Fielding, and Sophie flipping Aldred, along with the standard rogues’ gallery of monsters. Watch the trailer here.