Reptilian Creatures Attack Sea Base to Destroy Humanity: WARRIORS OF THE DEEP

In 2084AD The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough land on Sea Base 4 just as it comes under attack from the Silurians and Sea Devils; the original owner and masters of the planet Earth. With the threat of a nucleaer conflict that could wipe out the planet; will The Doctor be able to make peace between humanity and the prehistoric reptile; or will he have to revert to another way to save the Earth.

Cast

Peter Davison (The Doctor), Tom Adams (Vorshak), Nigel Humphreys (Bulic), Ian McCulloch (Nilson)

Tara Ward (Preston), Martin Neil (Maddox), Nitza Saul (Karina), Norman Comer (Ichtar), Stuart Blake (Scibus)

Vincent Brimble (Tarpok), Mark Strickson (Turlough), Janet Fielding (Tegan), Ingrid Pitt (Solow)

James Coombes (Paroli), Christopher Farries (Sauvix)

UNCREDITED CAST: Julian Hudson, Barney Lawrence, Peter Caton, Dana Miche, Julian Larousse

Rose Pridmore, Dorothy Ottey, Ridgewell Hawkes, Trevor Steedman (Marine Guards), Joanna Garcia, Ling Tai

Joycea Gobom, Arnold Lee, Russell Brook (Sea Base 4 Personnel), James Coombes (Voice of Sentinel Six)

Steve Kelly, Chris Wolff, Jules Walters, Mike Brayburn, Dave Ould (Sea Devils)

William Perrie, John Asquith (Myrka), Gareth Milne (Stunt Double for the Doctor)

Crew

Johnny Byrne (Writer), Jonathan Gibbs (Incidental Music), Dick Mills, BBC Radiophonic Workshop (Special Sound)

Michael Darbon (Production Manager), June Collins (Production Associate), Norma Flint (Production Assistant)

Adrian Hayward (Assistant Floor Manager), Alan Woodford (Engineering Manager)

Alastair Mitchell (O.B. Camera Supervisor), Chris Holcombe (O.B. Sound), Tony Burrough (Set Designer)

Sauvix! I won't want to meet him in a locked room, not unless gas canisters are around

Mat Irvine (Visual Effects Designer), Dave Chapman, John Mitchell (Video Effects)

Nigel Finnis (Vision Mixer)

Alan Arbuthnott (Technical Manager), Bob Baxter, Alec Wheal (Camera Supervisors)

Hugh Parsons (Videotape Editor), Peter Smee (Studio Lighting), Martin Ridout (Studio Sound)

Judy Pepperdine (Costume Designer)

Jennifer Hughes (Make-Up Artist)

Eric Saward (Script Editor)

Sid Sutton (Title Sequence), John Nathan-Turner (Producer), Pennant Roberts (Director)

UNCREDITED CREW: Ray Davis (OB Supervisor), Fergie Stewart (OB Chargehand)

Alan Bennett, Derek Lee, Jim MacCormack (OB Ops), Rod Goodman, Terry Housego (OB Workload Ops)

Richard Bateman, Alan Brewwer, Camillla Gavin, Stephen George, Ron Simpson, Neil Sweetmore (Dressers)

Michael Taylor (Design Assistant), Roger Ashburn (Location Facilities Manager),

Helen Grygar (Location Contracts Assistant), Roger Wood (Props Buyer), Sarah Woodside (Floor Assistant)

Stuart Murdoch (Visual Effects Assistant), Les Runham, Jay Stinton (Show Working Supervisor)

Ron Firth, Ian McLeod (Senior Studio Engineers), Geoff Allen, Dennis Leach (Lighting Chargehands)

Broadcast

EPISODE	DATE	TIME	VIEWING FIGURE	CHART POSITION	APPRECIATION INDEX
1	05/01/1984	6:40-7:05pm	7.6M	51st	65
2	06/01/1984	6:40-7:05pm	7.5M	52nd	64
3	12/01/1984	6:40-7:05pm	7.3M	74th	62
4	13/01/1984	6:40-7:05pm	6.6M	87th	65

Connections in the Who-Niverse

Stuart Blake was previously Zoldaz in State of Decay and landed the small role of the Commander in the previous serial The Five Doctors. Vincent Brimble returned years later as Gerald for Village of the Angels. Ingrid Pitt was previously her Highness, Galleia queen of Atlantis for The Time Monster. Extra Ling Tai was an uncredited Tourist for The Leisure Hive before playing Shou Yuing for Battlefield. Bit-part actor Arnold Lee was a Mongol Warrior for Marco Polo, a Chimney Sweep and Coolie for The Talons of Weng-Chiang and a Party Guest for Enlightenment. Extra Steve Kelly was previously stuck inside an Ogron for Frontier in Space and a Marshman for Full Circle; he was seen in the backgrounds of The Invasion and The Ambassadors of Death (as a UNIT Soldier) and The Deadly Assassin (as a Time Lord); Monster actor William Perrie return as a Vervoid for Terror of the Vervoids and a Caretaker for Paradise Towers; Extra Russell Brook was a uncredited supporting actor for Mawdryn Undead, The King's Demons, Revelation of the Daleks, Time and the Rani and Delta and the Bannermen. Extra Dave Ould returned to be a Walkman for Silver Nemesis. Regular extra actor Barney Lawrence was a Marshmen for Full Circle; and was an extra for State of Decay, Enlightenment and Resurrection of the Daleks. More substantial extra work came with Kinda (as a Kinda Hostage), Earthshock (as a Cyberman Android), Time-Flight (as Dave Culshaw) and Snakedance (as Tanha's Bodyguard)

Death the Constant Companion

Only person survives to tell the tale (we think). Vorshak sacrifices his life to allow The Doctor to save the day.

Some of the Sea Base 4 crew and cast. Don't get used to them, the body count is high with this one.

Nilson is blinded by The Doctor's ultraviolet converter before being shot down by Sea Devils. Preston takes a direct hit by Sauvix. Maddox's brain is burnt out by Nilson. Karina is strangled by a mind-controlled Maddox, under the orders of Nilson. Ichtar is shot by Turlough to prevent the Silurians from killing The Doctor. Both Scibus and Tarpok are killed after being exposed by hexachromite gas. Solow karate chops the Myrka - yes, really - and is promptly electrocuted. Paroli is also killed by a Sea Devil. Sauvix is killed after being exposed to a deadly amount of hexachromite gas. Several Sea Base 4 Personnel and Guards are brutally shot down by the Sea Devils; whilst several more fall victim to the Myrka. The rest of the Sea Devil triad are also killed by hexachromite gas. The Myrka is killed after being exposed to a lethal amount of ultraviolet rays. Some accounts suggest that a few crewmembers survived.

Episode Cliffhangers

(1) The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough have been discovered by Sea Base 4's security guards. The Doctor tell his companions to run . The Doctor attempts to flee as well, but a guard grabs hold of him. In the struggle, The Doctor falls over a railing and into a pool of water. Tegan goes to help, but Turlough insists he's drowned

(2) The Myrka has broken through an airlock door, trapping Tegan underneath. The Myrka kills a Guard as everyone flees. The Doctor tells Turlough to go. The Doctor tries desperately to free Tegan. A bulkhead door seals The Doctor and Tegan inside the airlock with the Myrka. The Doctor tells Tegan to have a 'brave heart' as the Myrka advances on them

Uh no, here it comes! It'll get paint everywhere, and we just cleaned up here.

(3) Nilson still has Tegan hostage but The Doctor catches up with them. The Doctor activates the ultraveviolet convertor he made to kill the Myrka, causing Nilson to be blinded. The convertor explodes as a horde of Sea Devils approach. Nilson is killed, before being killed by Sauvix Sauvix turns his weapon on The Doctor and Tegan, declaring 'your turn''.

(4) The Doctor has succesfully disarmed Sea Base 4's missiles, but a terrible price has been paid. The Sea Devils and Silurians have all been killed, and only survivor remains on Sea Base 4. The Doctor has once failed to get humanity and the prehistoric reptiles to live in peace. The Doctor declares, 'there should have been another way'

Fun Facts

(1) It was during production of Warriors of the Deep when Peter Davison and Janet Fielding announced their decisions to depart the show. The pair had decideed that they would leave towards the the end of 1984 season. To replace Tegan with a new companion, auditions began to be held in May 1983, a month before production for the new season began; (2) Whilst writing this scripts, Johnny Byrne did not intend for Ichtar nor Vorshak to be killed during the stories events. He also did not write the scene when Dr Solow karate-chopped the Myrka - we need to blame someone for that; (3) The Myrka was played by two actor William Perrie (in the front) and John Asquith (in the back), the pair were well known for playing Dobbin the Pantomine Horse in Rentaghost; (4) The original Sea Devil costumes from The Sea Devils with only a single head remaining. The head was borrowed from

The Sea Devils and Silurians invade Sea Base 4, looking a little different from their last outing

the BBC Museum to make the new molds for Warriors of the Deep; (5) Actor Robert Ashby was originally cast as Ichtar, but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. Norman Comer who had been cast as '2nd Silurian Companion' was promoted. Ashby would later play The Borad in Timelash; (6) Most of the cast were written to be male charact]0. It was director Pennant Roberts who changed Dr Solow and Preston to female; (7) Originally Ichtar was the only Silurian to have a name, but eventually the other Silurian companions were christened Scibus and Tarpok (originally Tarpon); (8) The Myrka costume was compelted a mere half hour before filming meaning the paint and glue weren't dry. This meant the costume left green trails of paint everywhere it went. Both William Perrie and John Asquith became light-headed during the recording session; (9) The scripts for part one and two called for The Doctor to be submerged in water. However, the water tank was not prepared nor filled in time for production, meaning the water was freezing cold. Davison's voice went to a high pitch before recording continued; (10) Actor James Coombes also provided the voice of Sentinel Six and other non-seen members on Sea Base 4, according to the actor in an interview, he was a 'jobbing actor' looking for some breaks. Apparently director Pennant Roberts went easy on him, and gave him the extra roles.

Recording Days

The entire production was complete in 12 days over Thursday 23 June - Friday 15 July 1983. Two early production days between 23 - 24 June were spent at Television Centre Studio 6. The production team headed to the Royal

Engineers Diving Establishment in Hants for a single day of recording on Tuesday 28 June. Two more production

Ingrid Pitt, she used to Queen of Atlantis, and now she working on a base under and at the bottom of the sea. How far she's sunk.

days were spent at Shepperton Studios between 29 - 30 June. Production required a number of model shot to be captured for the four episodes. Four days between 4 - 7 July 1983 were spent at the Visual Effects Workshop. The rest of the recording day saw the crew return to Studio 6 at Television Centre for three more recording days between the 13 - 15 July 1983.

Verdict

Warriors of the Deep is frustrating because it combines many original elements but fails to live up to its full potential. A Sea Base under siege, the crew member who is a secret villain, monsters from the deep who want global control what could go wrong? The plot seems so desperate to get going that it literally throws the Silurians and Sea Devils into the mix straight away. The return of the classic pre-historic villains is overdue, and their new designs broadens their universe rather than repeats it. The lighting of the Sea Base sets are far too brightly lit and would have benefitted with a darker atmosphere. The sets are clearly pushing the boundaries whilst the direction is a bit sloppy at times but does disguise the reused corridors sets over and over again. The Myrka is bad! Really bad. It lumbers about killing people with no effort and looks like it is just going for a stroll. The continuation of human ignorance against the Silurians is well performed with ideas such as mistrust, prejudice and worry thrown about. The ending is strong where The Doctor realising that a peaceful treaty is not possible who must resort to harsh options to save the day but even te brave act can save this desperate adventure from survival. Disappointing tale which can be summed with up The Doctor saying ‘There should have been another way’. ***