Warriors of the Deep (TV story)

"There should have been another way..."

- The Doctor

Synopsis
The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough arrive on Sea Base 4, a nuclear warhead station under the Sea that has some very nasty neighbours.

Part One
An undersea craft travels toward Sea Base 4 and docks with an underwater berth. Inside he craft Icthar tells Tarpok and Scibus that they must remain undetected. In the TARDIS, the Doctor tells Turlough that they are heading for Earth as he promised to show Tegan a little of her planet's history. Back on Sea Base four an unmanned probe is launched to check out a disturbance. On the Silurian craft Icthar assures Scibus that the Myrka will deal with the probe their sensors picked up. The trio then descend to the underwater berth were the Sea Devils have been in hibernation for hundreds of years. On the Sea Bases Bridge Sych operator Maddox fears he will not be able to cope if a missile run is ordered. The TARDIS materialises in orbit around Earth were a guard craft called Sentinel Six demands that the Doctor transmits his security code. After sometime the Doctor has still not dematerialised and so Sentinel Six fires upon the TARDIS attempting to shoot it down. This tips the TARDIS on an angel but the Doctor soon rights this. Back on Sea Base 4 in a different room Nilson and Solow confer about their murderous plans. They reveal that they are happy that Maddox is not in a good state as it benefits their plans. A missile run is ordered and Maddox has to go into a chair to Sych him to the computer, the countdown ends short, it was a practice run. Maddox collapses and Nilson orders he is taken to the PS unit. The TARDIS materialises in the Sea Base. The travellers enter a chemical storage area and the Doctor estimates the year to be 2084, a time when two power-blocs are on the point of war. Solow tells Captain Vorshak that Maddox is unfit for service. Nilson tell Vorshak tat his only option is that a special disc is used to reprogram Maddox's brain. A search party set out to find the Doctor and his companions the Doctor sets a reactor to overload so delay his pursuers. The Search party pass his obstacle and a security guard grabs the Doctor while Tegan and Turlough get away. The Security guard wrestles with the Doctor, the fight ends with the Doctor falling backwards over a ledge in a pool of water.

Part Two
The Doctor swims down and escapes through a hatchway. Tegan and Turlough escape through a bulkhead sabotaging it so they cannot be followed by Bulic and his security guards. A security guard is electrocuted while trying to open the bulkhead the Doctor takes his radiation suit. Turlough allows himself to be captured in order to give Tegan time to escape. Icthar has revived the Sea Devils and orders Sauvix to take his warriors and attack the Sea Base but leave the controls intact. The Doctor meets up with Tegan who is hiding, he leaves Tegan in the corridor as he enters the bridge to help Turlough. Preston, a worker on the Sea Base finds Tegan and brings her to the Bridge. The Silurian craft comes into view and Vorshak orders a missile run, the Doctor calls it off stating the Silurian’s are a noble race. The Silurians use a particle compressor to lower the bases defences. Icthar orders the release of the Myrka. Solow and Nilson programme Maddox to sabotage the station, they are enemy agents fighting the Sea Bases occupants. Karina finds Maddox doing this and tries to stop him, she is strangled to death. The Myrka immediately attacks Airlock 1 and the Sea Devils attack Airlock 5. The Doctor and his companions head to Airlock 2 while Vorshak and Preston head to Airlock 5. The Myrka breaks the door down and it lands on Tegan’s foot trapping her. The Myrka kills some of the crew with its electric touch, the others leave but the Doctor Stays to help free Tegan. The Myrka accidentally frees Tegan by stepping on one side of the door binging the other up. The others who fled the room have sealed the bulkhead and therefore trapped them with the Myrka.

Part Three
The Doctor temporarily blinds the Myrka with a rifle power pack. Turlough races to the Bridge and threatens Nilson with a rifle to open it. Nilson does this and the Doctor and Tegan escape and head to Airlock 5. The Myrka goes through the bulkhead and slowly makes for the bridge. Preston leaves Vorshak at Airlock 5 and heads off with the Doctor and Tegan to stop the Myrka. Just as Preston leaves the airlock blows and the Sea Devils ruthlessly kill the defenders with no casualties, Vorshak gets away. Solow tries to escape with the reprogramming disc but is killed by the Myrka. The Silurians enter the base and follow in the Sea Devils path. Vorshak, who questions Nilson about it, regains the stolen disc. Preston discovers Maddox still trashing the base. The Doctor uses an Ultra-violet converter to kill the Myrka. They all arrive on the bridge were Nilson is threatening Preston and Vorshak with a gun. Maddox tries to stop him but ides when Nilson overloads the control unit for Maddox’s brain. Nilson uses Tegan as a hostage to escape but the Doctor dazzles him with the ultra-violet converter. The Sea Devils hear the sound and kill Nilson. Turlough and Bulic and locked away by the Sea Devils in a dormitory. The Sea Devils then turn their guns on the Doctor.

Part Four
The Sea Devils take the Doctor to the bridge and Tegan and Preston are removed to the dormitory. Icthar explains his plan to kill humanity by causing a nuclear war with the bases missiles. Everyone will retaliate killing each other. Tegan and Bulic escape through a ventilation shaft but Turlough refuses to head for the bridge so he and Preston head for the TARDIS. Bulic beckons the Doctor out of the Bridge and they meet up with Preston and Turlough. They head for the Chemicals store and hide when a Sea Devil enters. The Sea Devil spots the Doctor and fires but hits some Hexachromite gas, it sprays the Sea Devil and being deadly to reptiles kills it. The Sea Devil oozes green goo. Sauvix enters and shoots Preston before being sprayed with the gas, dead. The Doctor orders Bulic to release the gas into the ventilation shaft. The Doctor and his companions then head for the bridge. Scibus activates the missiles as the gas kills them all. Tegan acts at the Doctors wishes and gives oxygen to Icthar. Icthar awakes and shoots Vorshak. The Doctor synchs with the computer and halts the missiles. Around them all the Silurians, Sea Devils and the crew are dead apart from Bulic. The Doctor sums it up, “There should have been another way”.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Peter Davison
 * Tegan - Janet Fielding
 * Turlough - Mark Strickson
 * Solow - Ingrid Pitt
 * Vorshak - Tom Adams
 * Nilson - Ian McCulloch
 * Bulic - Nigel Humphreys
 * Maddox - Martin Neil
 * Preston - Tara Ward
 * Icthar - Norman Comer
 * Karina - Nitza Saul
 * Scibus - Stuart Blake
 * Tarpok - Vincent Brimble
 * Sauvix - Christopher Farries
 * Paroli - James Coombes

Crew

 * Assistant Floor Manager - Adrian Hayward
 * Costumes - Judy Pepperdine
 * Designer - Tony Burrough
 * Incidental Music - Jonathan Gibbs
 * Make-Up - Jennifer Hughes
 * OB Cameraman - Alastair Mitchell
 * Producer - John Nathan-Turner
 * Production Assistant - Norma Flint
 * Production Associate - June Collins
 * Script Editor - Eric Saward
 * Special Sounds - Dick Mills
 * Studio Lighting - Peter Smee
 * Studio Sound - Martin Ridout
 * Theme Arrangement - Peter Howell
 * Title Music - Ron Grainer
 * Visual Effects - Mat Irvine

Story Notes

 * During the production of this story, Janet Fielding and Peter Davison both announced their decision to leave later in the year.
 * This story was beset with numerous production problems and even political considerations (Margaret Thatcher had called an election when production began, and the reference to two superpowers in the story would be scene as a reference to the Cold War). The story is generally acknowledge as one of the most badly produced Doctor Who stories.
 * In the last episode there is a comical scene where Solow attempts to fight the Myrka by dealing it a karate kick. She is electrocuted as a result. It was this footage, amongst others, that was later to be presented by BBC executives who wanted to axe Doctor Who.

Ratings

 * Part One - 7.6 million viewers
 * Part Two - 7.5 million viewers
 * Part Three - 7.3 million viewers
 * Part Four - 6.6 million viewers

Myths
to be added

Filming Locations

 * Royal Engineer's Diving Establishment, McMullen Barracks, Marchwood, Hampshire
 * BBC Television Centre (TC6), Shepherd's Bush, London
 * Shepperton Studios (Stage A), Littleton, Middlesex,
 * BBC (Kendal Avenue) (Visual Effects Workshop), Kendal Avenue, Acton

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors
''This story suffered from more than usual continuity problems. At one point more than 120 points of discontinuity were identified before production. As many as possible were corrected, but because of time constraints many remained.''
 * Why would the sea Devils call themselves, 'Sea Devils?' Ditto for the Silurians, which according to the standard Evolutionary theory could not have been around until the Mesozoic era. Indeed, in The Sea Devils the Third Doctor says the Silurians should have been called Eocenes (but even this is wrong, as the Eocene is in the Age of Mammals, not the Age of Reptiles). He also claims that the 'Silurians' and 'Sea Devils' are variants of the the same race.
 * In Doctor Who and the Silurians the Silurians are land-based beings. It is not explained how they come to be in the sea.
 * The function of the "light" on the Silurians head has changed from Doctor Who and the Silurians and is now closer to the Daleks lightbulbs showing which one is speaking.
 * The Doctor says that the Silurians had always wanted to live in peace with humanity. This is not exactly true. In Doctor Who and the Silurians their attitude is at first ambivalent. They regard humans with contempt and call them 'apes'. It is the Third Doctor who persuades the leader of the Silurians to seek peaceful co-existence. But there exists a more powerful faction amongst them, which, lead by a younger Silurian, overthrows and kills the leader. From that point they mean to exterminate humanity.In The Sea Devils the creatures have hostile intentions toward humanity. The Doctor very briefly persuades their leader to seek peace. But after the humans attack their base, they resume their malevolent intent.
 * How can the Doctor know Icthar as a leader of the Silurians? In Doctor Who and the Silurians, the leader (unamed, as were all the Silurians) was murdered by a younger, who took his place. The successor wanted to destroy mankind, and died in an attack on the Silurian base. Some identify Icthar as the Silurian scientist in the story. But the Doctor never had any contact with this figure. And in any case, he would not have been worthy of the plaudits the Fifth Doctor gives him: he infected humans with a plague in order to kill them.
 * How can the Doctor be offended that the personnel of the base suspect he is a saboteur when he has initiated a nuclear meltdown merely to provide a distraction so he and his companions can escape?
 * Why would a vital military base have an inexperienced, nervous youth as a synch-operator? And why would it have no back-up in case the synch-operator failed or was incapacitated?

Continuity

 * The Silurians previously featured in DW: Doctor Who and the Silurians.
 * The Sea Devils previously featured in DW: The Sea Devils.
 * The Silurians also appear in MA: The Scales of Injustice, BFA: Bloodtide, U.N.I.T.: The Coup.
 * The Sea Devils and the Silurians also appear in NA: Blood Heat.

DVD and Video Releases

 * Warriors of the Deep was released on video by BBC Worldwide in 1995.
 * It was also released as part of the Beneath the Surface DVD box set.

Novelisation

 * Main article: Warriors of the Deep (novelisation)


 * Novelised by Terrance Dicks in 1984.