Doctor Who - Beneath the Surface (The Silurians [1970] / The Sea Devils [1972] / Warriors of the Deep [1984]) [DVD]

RRP: £39.99
Our Price: £11.00 (subject to change)

Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

Bringing together the trio of adventures featuring Doctor Who’s most famous underwater foes, the Beneath The Surface boxset has Sea Devils, Silurians, and adventures from both the Jon Pertwee and Peter Davison eras.

It’s perhaps logical to get past the weakest of the three adventures in this set first, and that honour falls to the Peter Davison story, Warriors of the Deep. It’s not too bad though, even if it does display some of the silliness and budget constraints that helped define 1980s Doctor Who. It’s still fun, however, and worth a spin.

The two Pertwee adventures are terrific, though, and the real highlights of the set. The Silurians finds Jon Pertwee relatively new to the role, and blessed with an adventure that boasts excitement, adventure and a very good script. But our favourite is nonetheless the second story, The Sea Devils, which also brings Roger Delgado’s take on The Master into the mix. It’s a tense, involving adventure, and one of the finest of the Jon Pertwee area. That’s not something to be said lightly, either.

As is the norm with Doctor Who special edition DVDs, the set is then backed up with some terrific archive extras, along with commentary tracks and documentaries that all but justify the asking price alone. That you get two strong adventures and one reasonable one into the mix as well makes this one of the best classic Doctor Who boxsets released to date. Highly recommended. --Simon Brew

Wonderful trilogy!!!
Review date: 2010-08-29 Rating: 10 out of 10

I adore silerian, sea devil stories.
Doctor who and the silerians: A fantastic story. I loved it the first time i saw it and still do. I'd enjoy it alot more if it wernt for the wibbly wobbly electronic 1970's theme.
The sea devils is even better with the master in it and the epic finally.
The warriors of the deep i think everyone would agree was a bit of a dissapointment but in my opinion not as bad as everyone says.
A wonderful boxset. id recomment you buy it.

Reviews

Reptile tendencies
Review date: 2010-05-24 Rating: 8 out of 10

The Silurians 8/10 - but a long haul at 7 episodes
The Sea Devils 7.5/10 - a great 3rd Doctor, Jo, Master romp
Warriors from the Deep 3/10 - yuck!

DVD extras 8/10
includes a excellent documentary about the Silurians, super 8 location footage of the Sea Devils and an entertaining commentary from Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Eric Saward and Mat Irvine on Warriors from the Deep.

Doctor who- beneath the surface
Review date: 2010-05-10 Rating: 10 out of 10

This is what i have been looking for and thanks to amazon i have found it, the dvd's are excellent and cant fault them, this is my favourite Doctor who.

No! No! Not the Myrka!!!
Review date: 2010-04-03 Rating: 6 out of 10

On the whole this is a very good set of stories. "Silurians" sets everything up. It is a well-crafted story where the 'invasion' theme is turned on its head and the "invaders" are the original 'owners' of Earth who are keen to reclaim it from the human Johnny-come-latelies. The Silurian costumes are a bit naff and the subterranean dinosaur isn't terribly scary, but whoever came up with the idea of the plague turned the Silurians from men with nasty claws and a funny-sounding middle eye into a believable threat. The script is snappy and the characters are well-realised and complex. We understand them. And what really works in this episode - as distinct from "Warriors Of The Deep" - is that neither side of the conflict is portrayed as monolithically good or evil

"Sea Devils" is another fine story. Truth to tell I was getting a bit fed up of The Master when this first aired, but seeing it now in isolation I am reminded how good Roger Delgado was. Again the story is well-crafted. If "Silurians" reflects the Cold War threat of the early 70s, the Master's provoking of hostilities perhaps refers to the many "proxy" wars of the period. This time the costumes are first-class and, like "Silurians" the lighting and sets are excellent. Kudos to Jon Pertwee for both episodes - he lets the moral pressures his character is under play across his face beautifully.

And then there's "Warriors Of The Deep". It's not that bad. Really. Honestly. The plot is fine and the acting is good - Mark Strickson in particular does a good job of carrying through the development of his character from self-centred to self-giving in a believable way. Tom Adams gives a fine performance. Characterisation in other areas, though, is weak. Ingrid Pitt and Ian McCulloch are wasted in roles that are little more than ciphers - they are "the Evil Empire" in its most cartoonish form. Where this - and so many other stories of this era - is let down is in the production. The lighting is too flat and too bright. The sets are obviously regarded as of secondary importance. The closing line is lost in a whole-set shot when it was screaming for a close up. And then there's the Myrca. When Dr Who fans gather together to talk about the cheap production values of 80s Who, eventually, in hushed tones, discussion will turn to The Myrka. There was no excuse for this - a pantomime horse is not a credible threat however you cut the videotape or however loudly actors scream.

And it's such a shame. I enjoyed so much of this set. I thoroughly enjoyed "Silurians" and "Sea Devils". I enjoyed lots of "Warriors". The extras are, as always, top-notch. But I can't ignore the slipshod scripting that meant I had no idea whatsoever why the characters of Solow and Nilson were doing what they were doing. And lose another star for the Myrka.

Never meet your heroes
Review date: 2010-02-16 Rating: 6 out of 10

I remember 'Warriors of the deep' from childhood and thought it was brilliant at the time. There's a saying about never meet your childhood heroes because they'll disappoint and going back to this was very much in that vein. If you have fond memories of the first two stories in this boxset then you may well find the same.

The Silurians is the strongest story. The Dr and companion head North to investigate the strange power losses at a nuclear research facility. In the caves below the particle accelerator two men have disappeared and something lurks. The story evolves and the Silurians an ancient reptile race who went into hibernation millions of years ago to avoid a global catastrophe are awakening and are shocked to find the apes are in control of the surface. The Doctor must try and broker a ceasefire and peaceful settlement between the two species but to complicate things their guard dog which is a prehistoric monster is lose and killing and the peacefully inclined Silurian leader face a potential coup within his own ranks whilst the Brigadier seems disinclined to take any risks and would rather go in shooting early.

This a very strong story with plenty of different facets. The struggle within the Silurians mirrored in the humans is excellent. For those used to the new Dr Who this is a lot slower which isn't necessarily a bad thing. The use of outdoors negates the need for sci fi sets which generally would look pretty poor now. The caves look reasonable. The nuclear research control room thing looks good. I'm not sure that a particle accelerator would look like that but hey. The Silurians look pretty good when they're shuffling around with their bent legged gait in the shadows. It's when the camera zooms in that they start to look a bit ropey. In fairness compared with any television sci fi from the era (when aliens looked very much like humans with oddly shaped ears and bad haircuts) they are great. Later when the camera zooms in they do from time to time look good but the first shot is dreadful. The dinosaur doesn't look good. In fact it looks pretty risible now and I can't imagine it looked good then.

The Sea Devils is in some respects a rerun of the first story but this time with a maritime version of the Silurians rising in the vicinity of a secret (except everyone knows where it is) Royal Naval facility on an island. The addition of the Master, who begins the story in an island gaol (guarded by some very oddly dressed men), adds another level of complexity. There's much the same story as the Doctor tries to broker some sort of peaceful settlement whilst a gloriously obnoxious Permanent Undersecretary demands that the Royal Navy go into battle against the menace.

This is from a period when Brits had no issue with Britain being great and the portrayal of the Royal Navy is unabashedly heroic. In fact I think there may well be more Royal Navy vessels on screen at one point than we even have nowadays. There's some great interplay between the Doctor and the Master especially the swordfight. The Sea Devils look pretty good considering especially when they rise out of the sea. Close in shots sometimes look a bit ropey but generally they look pretty good and there's quite a few of them. The firefight between the Royal Navy and the Sea Devils is actually pretty good despite the fact that the Sea Devils weapons appear to be stripped down car headlamps.

Then there's 'Warriors of the Deep'. Apparantly in the future we'll all wear a lot of eye makeup. The surviving Silurians and an army of Sea Devils are preparing to attack Seabase One which houses several neutron bombs. If they can fire them then two opposing world blocks will engage in mutually assured destruction. There's a bit of an espionage subplot and the Doctor does try and broker a ceasefire at one point but basically the Doctor arrives in an isolated station with his companions, Sea Devils try and storm the base, the military are overwhelmed and the Doctor saves the day.

There's lots that is good here. The Silurians actually look pretty good (but not great) and they've put on weight whilst they were in hiding. The Sea Devils actually look pretty good. At least one can actually blink. Their samurai uniforms are a bit cheesy but they're okay. The Myrkha (which may be the dinosaur from the first storyline) looks absolutely terrible. It's a shame because some shots of its hide actually look quite good but overall it looks like a large green pantomime horse with a beard. It is utterly ridiculous and for some reason it's electric and can't be killed by gunfire. The sets look pretty good until anyone has to interact with the background. As the Myrkha breaks through the bulkhead the bulkhead bends and twists because it is blatantly made of foam. The computer screen which shows the countdown to nuclear launch isn't even the height of early eighties technology. The companions are okay but they're no great. The crew of the station are mostly pretty wooden and the fights look ridiculous.

Both the Silurians and Sea Devils are intriguing adversaries but this boxset isn't great. The first two stories are great but one can't escape the fact that it does look more than a little dated now whilst the final story is just bad. Sad really!

Product Details/Specifications

Actor(s):
Jon Pertwee
Peter Davison
Nicholas Courtney
Caroline John
Katy Manning

Creators:
Jon Pertwee (Primary Contributor)
Peter Davison (Primary Contributor)

Recording label: 2 Entertain Video
Manufacturer: 2 Entertain Video
EAN: 5014503243821
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 3
Format: Full Screen, PAL,
Release date: 2008-01-14
Aspect ratio: 4:3 - 1.33:1
Audience rating: Parental Guidance
Region code: 2
Running time: 412 minutes
Language: English (Original Language)
Brand: BBC