The Sea Devils - Episode 4

Going slightly off topic, today is the ninth anniversary since the show returned. It seems like not that long ago that there was the excitement of new Doctor Who for the first time since 1996. On March 26 2005, the Ninth Doctor first met Rose and the Autons returned and the shot was back. It’s good to see and think about the differences as I start to watch this fourth episode. After the strong cliffhanger from the previous episode, I was hoping that it wouldn’t be as long as the previous reprise or tidied up as quickly as the first cliffhanger was. The scene where the Doctor and Jo are going through the minefield is a very good one. The Doctor jumps on the barb wire to allow Jo to get through and then the sonic screwdriver is used as a mine detector. This is an enjoyable and exciting start to the episode and ended with a sea devil going back into the sea.

The Master/Trenchard dynamic has been quite fun to watch in these four episodes. I do find Trenchard to be an intriguing character because I think that he’s been naïve more than manipulated by the Master. It does seem like Trenchard has reached the end of his usefulness as he goes down fighting when he shoots the Sea Devils. We don’t see the moment that he’s killed which is perhaps the best thing. It’s a shame that he went out whilst being fooled. The Master ploughs on with his plan. The look on his face when the Sea Devils come into his cell is the one of confidence and its funny to see that because we know how it will go and even watching in 1972 it would have been obvious to see this.

Captain Hart starts off by being just as sceptical as he always been and this is the point when I wish the character would mature and start to believe the Doctor and go along with what he says. Thankfully he does start this in the latter stages of the episode when he lends a diving bell to the Doctor. The shots inside the diving bell were very good and help add to the realistic feel of these scenes. It’s quite good how the Navy were so willing to lend the BBC all this stuff to make this show. It’s hard to imagine that anyone even the BBC would get this level of co-operation from the Navy.

Jon Pertwee starts off quite action like by helping Jo get over the mine-field but does come across as a bit of a swine when he scolds Jo for wanting to eat the sandwiches and then proceeds to do just that. I think that this was a minor blip and redeems himself with a great end to the episode. Katy Manning doesn’t quite have the same good time as Pertwee but seems to fall into the standard companion trap of just being worried about the Doctor.

The cliffhanger is another good one as there is the question of where the Doctor is and what happened after the camera left the Doctor looking at the Sea Devil. This is the second episode in a row where I feel like this is the big story that I felt it was in the past. The writing has been very good and the direction from Michael E Briant is great to look at. From the location filming at the very beginning of the episode to the diving bell stuff at the bottom every shot was well done and everything seems to have worked well together.