{"id":14002,"date":"2022-04-17T21:00:27","date_gmt":"2022-04-17T19:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1628318"},"modified":"2022-04-17T21:18:28","modified_gmt":"2022-04-17T19:18:28","slug":"doctor-who-legend-of-the-sea-devils-review-classic-monsters-resurface-in-maritime-mediocrity","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/doctor-who-legend-of-the-sea-devils-review-classic-monsters-resurface-in-maritime-mediocrity\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Who: Legend of the Sea Devils review \u2013 classic monsters resurface in maritime mediocrity"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Patrick Mulkern\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Sunday, 17 April 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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<\/div> 3.0 out of 5 star rating<\/span> <\/span> <\/div> <\/div>

I feel a bit sorry for today\u2019s young viewers. I grew up watching Doctor Who<\/a> in the 1970s and, while it might not have been immense every single week, we could rely on a fairly steady stream of classics \u2013 and scares and chills agogo. Sitting through Legend of the Sea Devils is like watching seaweed dry.<\/p>\n

The 50-minute Easter special has a problem in common with so much modern Doctor Who in that, while it abounds in action, CGI spectacle and bombastic music, there\u2019s a dearth of tension and suspense, there\u2019s no time for a slow build, no eeriness, no real appetite for proper frights or even the mildest stab at the macabre. Doctor Who can be, and is well-known for being, behind-the-sofa or edge-of-the-seat viewing but making that is almost a forgotten art. The closest this era has come to it was Village of the Angels<\/a> in last year\u2019s Flux<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kudos to Chris Chibnall, though, for bothering to bring back the Sea Devils<\/a>. They are legendary Doctor Who monsters \u2013 first emerging from the Solent half a century ago<\/a> \u2013 and their resurrection is long overdue. Apart from fleeting glimpses since (and a mask used out of context in a 1981 Blake\u2019s 7), there was one dismal rematch 38 years ago (alongside their lizard cousins, the Silurians) in Warriors of the Deep<\/a>. Otherwise, flap all to write home about.<\/p>

Perhaps mindful of the design compromises of the Silurians\u2019 return in The Hungry Earth<\/a> (2010), Chibnall has steered costume designer Ray Holman and the monster-making team to honour faithfully the 1970s Sea Devil look \u2013 in particular, the turtle-like head with gills sculpted by John Friedlander in 1971. They\u2019ve clothed the creatures in more appropriate garb than the originals\u2019 ragged blue fish-nets, and there\u2019s now moderate animation around their eyes and mouth \u2013 more than the rigid \u201970s masks could muster.<\/p>\n

That said, these Sea Devils still don\u2019t enjoy a Big Moment, a major chill, a mass emergence from the waves that their predecessors enjoyed 50 years ago, searing themselves into the memories and nightmares of the nation\u2019s children. It wasn\u2019t Jaws but the first airing of The Sea Devils<\/a> and its two repeats that made nippers think twice about wading into the sea in the 1970s.<\/p>\n