Season 21 of Doctor Who opened with the 131st serial Warriors Of The Deep. It first aired January 5 to 13 1984 and there were 4 parts to the story. Peter Davison is still the 5th Doctor, Janet Fielding is Tegan and Mark Strickson is Turlough. The story was the last written by Johnny Byrne and it was directed by Pennant Roberts.
The Doctor and the Tardis gang wind up in Earth's future. It about 2084 and the two big super powers, never really defined, are having a bit of a cold war. One of them has a secret under sea base and that's where the Tardis comes to rest. Turns out the Silurians have decided to launch an attack on the base at that same time. To add some extra problems Ongrid Pitt plays a spy in the ointment. She's got a plan to steal some info and destroy the sea base. The Doc will have his hands full with this one.
I'm of mixed feelings on this one. It starts out ok with the sea base and the invasion plot but some other story elements just didn't come together. The Silurians and the sea devils had ok costumes but their giant monster beast, the Murka, was totally laughable. The extras have some of the creators talking about some of the problems. Here's a bit from the Wikipedia:
Early in the production of the story, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher announced a Parliamentary election. This created a sudden demand for BBC studio space, and as a result the production schedule for the story unexpectedly lost two weeks. Production was completed, but many signs of hurried production are evident. Many scenes had little or no rehearsal, and many scenes received only one take. Perhaps the biggest problem came with the Myrka costume. It was completed only an hour or so before it was scheduled to be used, so that the two puppeteers inside could not be fitted and had no time to rehearse in it. The costume smelled strongly of paint and adhesive, which one puppeteer said made him feel like he was sniffing glue. The paint on the costume had not dried by the time filming started, and tended to rub off on the sets and other costumes, as can be spotted in several scenes.
Many in the cast and production crew have expressed a sense of disappointment with the quality of the finished show; the DVD commentary by visual effects designer Mat Irvine, script editor Eric Saward, Peter Davison and Janet Fielding contained many criticisms of Pennant Roberts' direction of the story and John Nathan-Turner's production of the programme, as well as comments on the special effects, sets and other production problems (the Myrka specifically caused a great deal of amusement). The scenes with the Myrka in Episode Three were also later used by former BBC One controller Michael Grade during his appearance on Room 101 as an example of why he found Doctor Who pathetic and took it off the air. In an interview for the DVD's extra features, scriptwriter Johnny Byrne said that he thought that the basic story was quite solid and effective.
Well, that just reminds me how much Margaret Thatcher, and the BBC, really sucked. The rest of the extras are usual, a making of, a short on the aliens and the sad Murka, a clip from Science In Action that looks at how the effects were made, Trails and Continuities, an isolated score, a photo gallery, that info track and a coming attraction for The Time Meddler and the Radio Times Listings.
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