Doctor Who: The Sea Devils

The Whoathon starts again. People make fun of this episode because of the Sea Devils, but I like the Sea Devils. They're fun. Plus, the Master! Remember, the Master was captured by UNIT. Now he's being held captive in a castle on an island, and the Doctor and Jo go to see him. The warden claims that they're all immune to hypnotism and the Master hasn't tried to escape, but we all know the inmate is running the asylum, right?

the Master

The Doctor suspects the Master has something to do with the vanishing ships in the area. But it's the Sea Devils...hee!

a Sea Devil

They look crazy, they wear fishnet dresses, and they have those weird flat guns. They're fantastic. The Doctor immediately connects them to the Silurians and says they must have been woken up by the work at the old sea fort. He also points out that the Silurians aren't from the Silurian era. Nice.

The Doctor finds out that the Master isn't really a prisoner anymore and confronts him, which leads to a sword fight.

Huzzah!

The Master plans on contacting the Sea Devils and helping them take over the planet. When the Doctor asks what's in it for him, he says the pleasure of seeing the human race exterminated. Ouch. That's cold, even for the Master. The Doctor is captured, but Jo rescues him. I like how they gave her such agency here.

Jo Grant

Check out the 3rd Doctor's sonic screwdriver. He's using it to trigger mines as they make their escape.

the Doctor and Jo Grant

The Master builds a machine to call the Sea Devils, and they invade the castle.

The Doctor travels to the sea floor and makes contact with the Sea Devils. They say the planet is theirs. (They went into hibernation, just as the Silurians did, but the catastrophe never happened.) The Doctor attempts to convince the Sea Devils to make peace with the humans. It seems to work, even when the Master shows up and tries to ruin everything.

Then a political minister arrives at the base and acts like a cartoonish buffoon. He orders the Navy to blow everything up. Bye, peace. Time for a Sea Devil invasion!

With the Master, they take over the military base. Soon the military takes the base back, but the Master escapes. Then there's a jet ski chase that looks quite fun. Roger Delgado's stunt double looks nothing like him, but it does appear that Jon Pertwee rode the jet ski himself.

Whee!

The Master leads the Doctor right to the Sea Devils. The device to revive the rest of the Sea Devils is activated, but the Sea Devils double cross the Master and lock them both up. The Doctor says not to worry, he reversed the polarity of the neutron flow when the Master wasn't looking. It's about to blow up! They get away, but the Master escapes custody in the end and is on the loose again...

THE RUNDOWN

Doctor: Third
Companions: Jo Grant
Episode: #62, "The Sea Devils," six parts
Adversary: the Master and the Sea Devils

Classic Lines: the Doctor, talking about the Master: "He used to be a friend of mine once. A very good friend. In fact, you might almost say we were at school together."

Tuck This Away to Impress Your Friends: The Master watches the Clangers, a puppet show for children. (Later, in a 10th Doctor story, he watches the Teletubbies.)
Next Up: "The Mutants"