The opening scene is a great set up with where we see the hand of a sea devil (although at this point we wouldn’t know this at the time). It seems like it should be before the title sequence and then into the action. It’s written by Malcolm Hulke who’s got a great track record and its another reason why I have a certain amount of optimism for this six part adventure. Another reason is that there is an extraordinary amount of location footage and its good to get outside after spending four episodes stuck in a studio bound story.
It’s been eight episodes since we last saw Roger Delgado and whilst I wished that they would have bought him in sooner, it’s good to have him back now. At the end of ‘The Daemons’ he was taken away and it’s good that he didn’t find a way off screen to escape as when we see him in this episode, he is a prisoner. The first scene between the Master, the Doctor and Jo was a good one as it started with a weird friendly chat between Pertwee and Delgado. The scene is good because the Master is trying to pretend that everything is normal and by the end of the scene the Master is laughing showing that he’s back on form like he’d never been away.
It doesn’t take long for the truth about Trenchard being in the Doctor’s pocket. This means that it isn’t so much a prison but a holiday camp. The Master uses Trenchard’s sense of civic duty and makes him feel like things are for the greater good and it’s a shame that Trenchard doesn’t see the Master for what he is and he is a character that comes across like Godfrey in Dad’s Army. A nice character that I enjoy watching.
As the story is set at sea there isn’t any narrative reason to have UNIT in the story so instead we get the navy and we are introduced to Captain Hart. Hart starts off like a no nonsense captain that is furious when the Doctor turns up. Edwin Richfield plays the character exactly right at this moment as someone who isn’t use to the Doctor or what happens to him.
There is a scene where the Master is watching the Clangers and I cant watch this scene now without thinking of the scene in the 2007 episode ‘Sound of Drums’ where John Simm’s Master is watching the Teletubbies. It’s a scene that introduces a fort which is where the story moves to. The fact we don’t see the Sea Devils properly until very late in the episode is no a new plot device but its still good and the look of them IS quite distinctive.
The music is used to great effect in this episode. It instantly gives a creepy impression and is used in a way that adds to the story and it’s the most distinctive music since ‘Doctor Who and the Silurians’. Malcolm Clarke has done a good job with the music and its sadly a rare thing that I don’t comment on as often as I should.
The first time that I saw the cliffhanger I was quite spooked by it. The dark danky setting of the fort twinned with the knowledge that a Sea Devil is about ponce. Sadly after watching it countless times the menace of it is somewhat lost and whilst it might not have the initial impact that it did have, it’s still a lot better than some of the cliffhangers that I’ve seen this season. It’s a good solid opening episode and I feel good about this story which is the first time for a while that I have felt that.
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