“Warriors of the Deep” is the first adventure of the twentyfirst season of “Doctor Who” classic series which aired in 1984. It follows “The Five Doctors” and it’s a four parts adventure written by Johnny Byrne and directed by Pennant Roberts.

The story

After being attacked by a sentinel satellite, the Tardis makes an emergency landing in a submarine base on the Earth of 2084. The Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison), Tegan (Janet Fielding) and Turlough (Mark Strickson) explore the base until they’re caught and accused of being spies.

The Earth is divided into two blocks on the brink of a nuclear war and enemy spies are trying to sabotage the base. They’re not the only danger because an attack comes from the outside, where Silurians and sea devils work together to rid the planet of humans. Will the Doctor succeed where he has already failed in the past?

Extras

This DVD contains a good amount of extras. There are typical contents such as production subtitles, Radio Times Billings, a trailer about the next “Doctor Who” DVDs to be released and a gallery of pictures from this adventure.

There are comments in the adventure alternative audio track by protagonists Peter Davison and Janet Fielding, script editor Eric Saward and special effects designer Mat Irvine.

Isolated Music. The option to watch the adventure with Jonathan Gibbs’ soundtrack in an isolated audio track.

The Depths. A documentary a little over 30 minutes long on the production of this adventure.

They Came from Beneath the Sea. A short documentary on the making of the non-human cast of this adventure.

Science in Action. Special effects designer Mat Irvine talks about some techniques and materials he uses in his work in a 1985 program.

Trails and continuities. Some announcements of the original transmission of this adventure.

There’s also an “Easter egg” also dedicated to Mat Irvine and his work.

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In the twentieth season of “Doctor Who” old enemies of the Doctor were brought back and writer Johnny Byrne decided to carry on that road. Together with the production team, he decided to write an adventure that included the creatures seen in “Doctor Who and the Silurians” together with those seen in “The Sea Devils“.

After writing the script, however, Johnny Byrne went to the U.S.A. for work and script editor Eric Saward had to revise the story on his own when he realized that the episodes were far too long, so some of the material had to be cut.

Another big problem hit the production of “Warriors of the Deep” in its early stage when Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher announced an early election. The BBC was forced to restructure the schedule of its work to cover the election campaign. This influenced in particular the availability of studios and personnel with sacrifices for various programs.

The production of “Warriors of the Deep” was delayed for several days and the time available for its completion was reduced accordingly. For this reason, rehearsals were reduced to a minimum and many scenes were shot in one take only. Unfortunately the results can be seen, with performances often approximate and especially in some costumes made hastily.

The sea devils wear helmets that barely stay on the actors’ heads so they’re very clumsy because they must avoid dropping them due to sudden movements. The biggest problem, however, is the infamous Myrka, which was supposed to be a scary and deadly monster but it’s very clumsy and manages to kill only those who are foolish enough to get too close or even try to attack it with martial arts techniques. In fact, the scenes where humans clash with the sea devils and the Myrka are really unconvincing.

“Warriors of the Deep” seems in some ways an “Doctor Who” adventure from the ’60s, when they tried to avoid as much as possible to reshoot a scene so sometimes it happened that moments that were frankly embarrassing were then transmitted. The difference is that watching certain scenes in the first seasons of the show makes you giggle, seeing them in its twentyfirst season makes you facepalm.

It’s a shame because “Warriors of the Deep” really had the potential to be a worthy sequel of the two adventures from the ’70s. The story was inspired by the Cold War with two opposing blocks always on the brink of a nuclear war and the staff of the submarine base that were under tremendous stress. Cleverly, it’s never told which block the base belongs to.

The strength of “Doctor Who and the Silurians” was in the moral ambiguity existing in the contrast between two species that have an equal right to live on the Earth. In “Warriors of the Deep” it seems that all the parties want to prove that they’re more evil and ruthless than the others.

Silurians and sea devils try to take advantage of the Cold War to destroy the humans and you can’t see the the honor the Doctor attributes to them. In this case, the bitterness at the end is due mostly to the fact that in this story you can see no good side.

The way it was produced, “Warriors of the Deep” is an adventure overall dull and the DVD extras are perhaps the best part because their average quality is good though not extraordinary.

This DVD is part of the “Beneath the Surface” box set, available on Amazon UK, Amazon U.S.A. and Amazon Canada. Of the three adventures, the two with the Third Doctor are very good and the extras are on average good quality so even if the third adventure is a clunker I recommend buying the box set.