The sea devils voice.

Not much from me here. I generally don't like the Doctor aligning himself with the establishment, but having the actual navy brings so much authenticity and credibility to the story that it more than makes of it. Other than that, I think this has Pert at one of his most patronising moments. But that's more or less it. Visually it could be a bit more stimulating, but this is one of my favourite Pert stories.

It's definitely a couple of episodes too long. Plus, it really annoys me how little focus the Sea Devils and their conflict against humanity gets in a story that is supposedly about them and bears their name. I didn't necessarily want this thing to just be Doctor Who and the Silurians again but with more water per se, but it still really irritates me how much the political elements (Malcolm Hulke's strongest trait as a writer and one of the best aspects of the Pertwee era as a whole) are pushed to the wayside in favour of having it be yet another story in which the Master attempts to take control of a powerful alien race in order to conquer the earth. Just a disappointment display of wasted potential.

Compared with Doctor Who and the Silurians, the ethical complexity of the basic situation – an “indigenous” race demanding their world back from some “alien” invaders who happen to be us – is somewhat simplified by the inclusion of The Master, who stirs everything up for the fun of it and ensures the Sea Devils easily fall into the role of “monster”—even though Malcolm Hulke attempts to show at least some humans are the real horrors.

However, my main complaint about this story is that there should have been far more Clangers!