1)Always liked the Sea Devils - I think they're a better design than the Silurians. Also, I like their whispery voices - it makes them sound more sinister - although when they're injured they have a tendency to sound like distressed parrots. A shame the Brigadier missed this one - they're that rare menace, one that isn't bulletproof! Interesting how it's the Doctor that blows them up this time, after it was the Brigadier that blew up the Silurians.
2)Speaking of the Silurians, the Doctor has a line here regarding their name: "The chap who discovered them must have got the period wrong. Properly speaking, they should have been called the 'Eocenes'." Considering that Malcolm Hulke wrote "The Silurians" as well as "The Sea Devils", perhaps this was his way of confessing that he was the "chap" that "got the period wrong". Interestingly enough, the term "homo reptilia", that is used in their apperance with the Eleventh Doctor, is in Hulke's novelization of this story, so there is a precedent for using that term.
3)We learn more about the Doctor's relationship with the Master: "He used to be a good friend of mine, once. A very good friend. In fact, we might almost say we were at school together." We also see the Master watching children's television, which will get a callback many years later in "The Sound of Drums". You would think that the Master would get tired of these critters that he teams up with turning on him, as they almost invariably do.
4)The music on this is very good - has a real "underwater" feel to it.
5)"Horatio Nelson was a personal friend of mine." You know, either people know he has a time machine, in which case this sort of namedropping becomes tiresome, or they don't know he has a time machine, in which case this sort of thing just makes him sound like a nut.
6)We see here that the Third Doctor shares his predecessor's love of sandwiches.
7)Wow, the reprise most of the fight scene from the end of episode two at the start of episode three - at least about five mintues worth.
8)Jo's quite good in this, getting the Doctor free, and all.
9)I gather they got alot of cooperation from the RN on this - I guess they saw it as good publicity, in case the general public were concerned about the Navy's ability to protect them from aquatic parrot people.
10)Walker - another 1970's Doctor Who obnoxious bureaucrat. He turns into a comedy coward a little too much, I think.
11)"'Murder'? War always is, my dear. Now, where is that girl with my toast?"
12)Another chase scene for Jon Pertwee - they must've been running short.
13)If you look at the Sea Devils in a group, the littlest Sea Devil is Stuart Fell, doing the first of alot of stuntwork he did for this show.
14)"I reversed the polarity of the neutron flow." "You did what?"
15)Cliffhangers:
- Episode One: Something is coming towards the Doctor and Jo!
- Episode Two: The Master throws a knife at the Doctor!
- Episode Three: A Sea Devil comes up out of the sea!
- Episode Four: The diving bell is empty!
- Episode Five: The Sea Devils attack the base!
- Episode Six: The Master escapes using that 1970's TV standby - the mask that looks perfectly realistic when worn, but turns into cheap rubber when it comes time to take it off!
Overall:
Another old favorite - this really was a good period in the show's history.
[Part of list of Doctor Who episodes here.]
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I saw this one in a compilation as a little kid. I think I hid behind the couch when the Sea Devil on the oil rig was burning through the door.
I could see that - it's a good thing you had a laser-proof couch!
Thinking about this, one does wonder why the Doctor entrusted the Master to an Earthly prison, and didn't call the Time Lords to bring him in. Leaving him in human custody ensured that he would almost certainly escape at some point.