Doctor Who: Legend of the Sea Devils (2022) - Review

It was very difficult not to be excited for Legend of the Sea Devils. Not only did it mark the first time since 1984 that the aquatic foes had appeared in the series, but only their third story since their debut fifty years ago, despite being one of the most iconic Doctor Who monsters ever. The return of the Sea Devils has been on fans' wishlists for years, even after the horrific redesign of the Silurians for The Hungry Earth, so hopes were high for this 2022 Easter special. My expectations had been tempered somewhat prior to broadcast, not helped by a general lack of promotion for the special, yet even so I find myself thoroughly disappointed.

I'd recently discovered rumours that Legend of the Sea Devils had been a turbulent production for the Doctor Who team, scheduled just after a last-minute New Year's Special that had been written in around a week by showrunner Chris Chibnall (after writing/co-writing six scripts consecutively, all drastic reworkings of an existing pre-Covid plan), penned in a hurry between successful playwright Ella Road and Chibnall, and going in front of the cameras before a teleplay could be finalised. Supposedly the initial cut of the episode wasn't well-received, and a lot of post-production work had been required to salvage something vaguely resembling treasure out of this penultimate tale for the Thirteenth Doctor.

Even if I hadn't known that prior to seeing the episode, the finished production reeks of behind the scenes issues. The script is incredibly convoluted, the direction feels clunky and awkward, hindered by some choppy editing, alongside awkward ADR and inconsistent pacing. In his Doctor Who Magazine interview for Legend, Chibnall cited the socially relevant themes Sea Devil creator Malcolm Hulke explored through the aquatic creatures, although none of that seemed to manifest in this tale. The Sea Devils were simply generic, hulking brutes, devoid of personality and led by a Captain who didn't even get named on screen. Not to mention the flippant way companion Dan seemed to murder so many of them, simply to throw out a completely flat punchline. While the masks look fantastic, and authentic to the original 1972 look, the lack of movement is instantly apparent, with some CGI tinkering evidently required to give the Captain some vague expressions; to talk, his necklace glowed akin to the Daleks' lights - a bit lazy for a 2022 Doctor Who story, in my opinion.

The impact of coronavirus can be felt throughout, from a lack of Sea Devils, to Madam Ching's missing crew, and even the absence of extras in the village at the start. While the script jumps from location to location in the hopes of spinning a sprawling narrative, the whole production feels lesser when scenes are confined to three or four actors wondering around some overlarge, green-screen-enhanced sets. It's as though the script wasn't really tailored towards the limitations of the production team.

It also doesn't help that the script is a mess, throwing around various ideas left, right and centre and forgetting to tie them together into a satisfying narrative. The Sea Devils intend to flood the Earth to reclaim it, but rather than tie this into a climate change theme, it's simply shrugged off because of the time period, proving once again that Series 12's Praxeus really should have been a Sea Devil story. The whole thing feels like a first draft, the way Madam Ching isn't properly introduced to the audience, or the statue of the Sea Devil Captain that isn't a statue but is never explained as to why, or how the Sea Devil pirates found their Captain so quickly after his rejuvenation (have they been waiting around for over two hundred years, or did they rush out of hibernation?). Madam Ching meets the Doctor and co and then the next time we cut back to the characters they're separated and Ching is now on her own ship, and then Dan heads off towards the ship without any indication of where the Doctor and Yaz are and then the episode immediately cuts to the two of them already having run back into the TARDIS knowing that Dan has gone off. The story is littered with these things: unnecessarily convoluted writing and choppy editing, making it hard to invest in what's going on.

Legend of the Sea Devils does try to continue the Yaz/Doctor romance storyline, although tacks it on at the end like an afterthought, much like Dan trying to reach out to Di. Madam Ching seems like an interesting character not given enough time or focus, while the inclusion of Ji-Hun adds absolutely nothing to tale, simply another plot-thread that adds nothing to the overall narrative. None of the ensemble cast have a clear dynamic, and the frequent efforts to separate them - presumably to limit the number of actors on set at any one time - only serves as a hinderance. And yet again, it feels as though John Bishop's Dan isn't allowed to develop a clear dynamic with Jodie Whittaker's Doctor, despite having been travelling in the TARDIS for eight episodes now.

I appreciate that the Doctor Who production team struggled through a worldwide pandemic to make these last nine episodes for the Thirteenth Doctor, and I'm sure that Chris Chibnall and company did everything in their power to make these episodes the best they could be, but Legend of the Sea Devils is, quite frankly, an amateurish mess of a script and a mixed bag of a production. The pirate ships look great on screen, the visual effects work is as good as one could expect (although that Myrka-like creature seemed to simply appear and disappear randomly), but it's let down by either clunky direction or poor editing decisions. The visual storytelling is lacking throughout, whether it's transitioning between scenes, or the awkward cuts during scenes, or the way key pieces of visual information aren't being focused on by the camera. Together with such a convoluted script, I'd be amazed if anyone could follow exactly what was going on without being thrown out of the episode every five minutes trying to figure key plot beats out.

Most disappointingly of all, Legend of the Sea Devils marks the penultimate episode for this creative team. If the upcoming regeneration special is disappointing - and based on Who's track record, it's quite likely - then the last five episodes of their run will have been consistent disappointments. If last year's Village of the Angels reminded me of how great Doctor Who can be, even when revisiting old monsters, Legend of the Sea Devils served as a reminder of the various weaknesses within this era of the show - and no, not because it's "too woke", but because the scripts clearly needed more work.

If this Easter Special left a sour taste in fans' mouths - and perhaps it was only mine - then at least the "coming soon" trailer offered a nice mix of exciting reveals for the Thirteenth Doctor's final adventure. It looks so be something truly epic! All we have to do now is hope that it sticks the landing...