This story is only just above Time-Flight and Terminus in the bottom three of worst Davison Stories.

It's another one of those stories that on paper should have worked quite effectively and maybe if the writer's ideas had been fully realised, they may well have done. There are three commonly known issues with this story. The first is the lighting, which the writer intended to be dark and gloomy and ended up anything but. However, I personally don't have a problem with the lighting in the story, yes, it is a bit bright but it doesn't ruin the story for me.

The second is the Myrka. Again, I'm sure the writer didn't intend the Myrka to look as silly as it did. It looks exactly what it is, a pantomine horse painted green and it was as a result not very menacing. Then there was Doctor Solow's strange kick boxing which was a bit strange to say the least.

However, I thought both the Silurian and Sea Devils re-design was good, though I was disappointed the Silurians had lost the shooty thing from their eye piece at the top. I certainly liked their redesign more than the New Series one, which is a rarity for Classic Who. However, there slow movements did mean the pace was equally as slow and not a lot happened much in some scenes.

As for the story itself, I liked the idea of the Silurians and the Sea Devils using the Humans weaponry against them to wipe each other out. I also quite liked the very serious Fifth Doctor in this, his passiveness a complete contrast to the Doctor that would follow the next Season. Turlough is again used sparingly and spends an obligatory scene locked up. Though she didn't have a lot to do in this story, Tegan proved a really good audience mouthpiece as she voiced what most viewers were thinking over The Doctor's actions.

Didn't really like the whole Nillson/Solow sub-plot, thought the story could have done with having the attack come sooner and concentrate just on that. Didn't like the fact Vorshak died either, again the writer had let him live. Just thought in this particular instance, his death was somewhat unnecessary.

So yes, could and should have been a lot better than it was. The weakest story to feature Davison in Season 21.

YAY! The reviews are back!

I keep meaning to watch this one. Now I dont know, everyone seems to think this one's awful

I think I like Time-Flight better than this one. Even Ingrid Pitt doesn't save it from boredom.

Fun Fact (and totally true): The Myrka was performed by the same pair who played Dobbin (the Pantomime Horse) in Rentaghost!

Did michael grade use these episodes to show the bbc director general that the programme needed to be axed? The myrka added to his arguement that the series should be taken off I think. Its certainly used when any documentary narrates the series decline.

Didn't the Sea Devils call themselves the Sea Devils in this one? That was an odd bit of writing.

The Silurians definitely call them the Sea Devils.

I loved this story when I first saw it. It's only as I got older I began to see that it was a bit rubbish.

I actually liked this episode, but I Agee about the Myrka,it was awful, on the commentary, Matt Irvine wanted it to be reminiscent of "Alien". To show it quickly.

This could have been brilliant - instead the production values are so poor, what we end up with something so bad it's almost embarrassing.

There's a total lack of menace when the story should be radiating menace from every pore: trapped in a deep sea station with no means of escape and an encroaching alien(ish) enemy...

Instead we get panto - summed up by the Myrka - in grotesquely over-lit studio sets.

However, the commentary on the DVD is great fun to listen to - OK, Matt Irvine drones on a bit as per, but PD and JF are as entertaining as ever.

I don't rate it quite as harshly as some of you. I'd certainly put it above The King's Demons, as well as Time Flight and Terminus.

The Myrka is bad; that's hard to dispute. That in itself isn't that big a deal; the Myrka gets limited screen time and it's no worse than the Loch Ness Monster in Terror of the Zygons, which is generally a popular story.

I do like the Maddox character. I actually find it quite affecting when he's forced to kill Karina, who'd been kind to him and who he obviously really fancied.

The bit I really like in this story is the Doctor's final line "There should have been another way!" Peter Davison says it really well; you can feel his anguish over all the destruction. It's very notable that he doesn't suggest there was another way.

"There should have been another way" sums up the entire production.

The basic story is sound, and had the episodes been produced as writer Johnny Byrne had envisaged then we would have had a much more fondly remembered story.

It's not that the whole production is really terrible, rather it's just completely wrong. The lighting is good for the bright white sets, which are also pretty impressive - but the fact is that this story doesn't need large airy white sets, nor does it need bright white light. Whoever thought that both would enhance the claustrophobia inherent in the script was sadly mistaken. Probably the fault of the director.

Then there is the redesign of both Silurians and Sea Devils. Again, neither is actually bad, in fact when motionless both look pretty impressive, but the actors inside the costumes have no idea how to move, or how to project menace. They simply shuffle around like bored actors inside rubber suits with wobbly heads - again this is simply poor direction.

The Myrka - again, as Dave The Scot points out, the design isn't actually that bad - we've had worse in Who - but it's the fact that it's shown in full, under the harsh glare of the lights, with little attempt to make it look even slightly scary, that means that the Myrka is a total failure. Pennat Roberts take another bow for this cock up.

And finally, the acting - good in places, dreadful in others with some crucial roles woefully miscast (Hello Ingrid Pitt!). Once again, who hires the actors? The director.

So, pretty much all the faults of this story can be laid at the door of Pennant Roberts, who utterly failed to understand what made the script work. Instead he imposed his own, way off the mark, design, lighting, casting and filming decisions onto the script. In the process what was originally a dark, dank, rusting, dripping, claustrophobic Sea Base became a flat, huge, white TV studio of a base. The shadowy corners and creepy places where the Silurians could hide are gone and the deficencies of the costumes, and the acting, are harshly (and literally) illuminated. Where the scripted Mryka was a terrifyingly monstrous shape in the shadows, on screen it's a flailing lump of a thing, a pantomine horse with lots of green carpet on top, finished off with a Chinese dragon type head. And while they could have just about got away with this if it had been kept in the shadows, here it's horribly obvious that it's a piece of crap.

There are some good points. Davison is superb, not just good as always, but really really good. And frankly he carries the story, giving every scene he's in a genuine sense of urgency. Some of the Sea Base crew are good, and Maddox's story is effective and quite creepy, but sadly the over-riding impression is of a badly mishandled story, helmed by a director with little idea of what he was doing, heading in entirely the opposite direction to the writer, and left to flounder by a production team for whom merely 'that'll do' seems to have become the order of the day.

her karate kick on dobbin the panto horse pretty much sums up how poor this story is also the mention of the toxic gas in episode 1 which pretty much gave the ending away was revealed far to early.

Actually, although I'm in a minority, I quite like Warriors of the Deep. The overall idea of the story is a very good one - just some of the sub-plots don't really work.

The Silurian's speech about the human beings dying as they have lived - 'In a sea of their own blood' is, imo, one of the classic Davidson era speeches.

I also find the very final shot showing the aftermath and Davidson's last line - 'There should have been another way' strangely moving, even now....

It does touchingly point back to the old Third Doctor stories, and now forward to Cold Blood.

Definitely my least favourite Davison story, followed by Kings Demons and Time- Flight.

Biggest problem with this story is the lighting. It is far too bright. A darker light would be more effective. The Myrka was awful!

Liked Davisions closing speech about there being a better way, was similar to Pertwee in the Silurans.

I think you're right. What I did like about The Doctor in this story is that he reacted the same way towards the Silurians and Sea Devils despite being in a different incarnation. Now you mention it, it was a very Pertwee-esque performance at times and I like to think had Pertwee been The Doctor in this he would reacted in a similar way.

If it had been the Sixth Doctor in this, it would have been a very different story I feel.

Reading about the plot of the story, it sounds brilliant. Especially the thought of the Silurians digging out their bro's from the sea to make the ultimate deadly combination.
Unfortunately neither of them seem very intimidating, especially the Silurians, whose voices I just can't take seriously. Although I suppose the Sea Devils can be forgiven for seeming so groggy and docile, being woken up after however many years sleep.
I get the feeling they are just wanting to get the whole thing over with so they can climb back into bed and sleep it off.

I don't think I like any of the guest characters.
And when the story's over I'm left feeling rather flat and annoyed at having watched it.

And to top the whole mess off, the Myrka.

Welcome back the threads and Daveyboy.
Yes, bit of a mixed bag so far. I am a little less harsh on WOTD, I agree that it has a superb potential and decent plot, it just is a bit ponderous and as pointed out the sub-plots are a bit weak and poorly executed. The highlight is the first episode and the end, not because it is the end! but for the scenes of bodies strewn about and the Doctor's speech/comments that there should have been another way.
The Myrka is laughable, but the SIlurians and Sea Devils are well realised, although the Sea Devils again are a bit slow and lumbering at times compared to their previous appearance.
People complained rightly or wrongly in Colin Baker's first season of too much death and violence, but here there is a high body count, a beheading off screen in the next story and Resurrection also is a high body count. So you wonder why the complaints didn't start earlier, although I think they are slightly less violent than in Colin Baker's first season. I'm not complaining about any perceived violence either it is just a reflection.
Do like the supporting cast, and I like the Doctor supposedly drowning cliffhanger, episode 1 if I remember rightly. It is not short of some suspense and drama with the attack on the Sea Base with the unknown ship approaching and the emergence of the invaders.
For me not a bad story just a bit of a dissapointment, considering the potential ingredients we had here. Poor production is what this story will forever get remembered for. Overall in the PD era it is about my 4th or 5th worst story. It is a strong 20 stories though.

Dobbin would have been scarier than the Myrka! Even Molly Weir covered in seaweed would have been scarier than the Myrka! I did not take to Davison as The Doctor at all. Not after the botched Baker regeneration disaster Logopolis. I kept on expecting him to stick his arm up a cow's arse- that would have been one way to take the Myrka down

This one is a nice idea, but really falls apart on production for so many reasons.

- Too many characters
- Too brightly lit
- Some "eccentric" performances
- Costume and make-up bizarre
- Myrka
- Too many deaths (some of them deeply silly)
- Convenient use of gas "poisonous to marine life"

I detect Eric Saward's fingerprints on this one, despite Johnny Byrne's name being over the door.

The early discovery of 'Look! Supplies of a gas poisonous only to marine/reptile life, such as Silurians and Sea Devils!' pretty much sums up everything wrong with this. I seem to remember enjoying it at the time, though, just for the return of the classic monsters (The Sea Devils was one of the first stories I saw). Had much more potential than the final result allowed.

Actually there is one thing worse than the Myrka and that is the polystyrene door that he 'smashes' through. It's painfully obvious that it's as light as a feather because you can see it wobbling around while the Doctor and Turlough are trying to lift it off of Tegan's leg.

Does anyone have a decent explanation for the Silurians having evolved a flashing light bulb on top of their heads.

Darwin would be intrigued.