Doctor Who and the Sea-Devils


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The Sea Devils


The Sea Devils

BOOK DETAILS

Pages 139
ISBN  0-426-1138-X
Publication Date 17 October 1974

SYNOPSIS

1974 Target Books edition

Whilst visiting the MASTER, who has been exiled to a luxurious castle prison on a small island, DOCTOR WHO and Jo Grant learn that a number of ships have vanished in the area. Whilst investigating these mysterious disappearances, Jo and the Doctor are attacked by a SEA-DEVIL, one of a submarine colony distantly related to the Silurians. Soon they discover that the SEA-DEVILS plan to conquer the Earth and enslave humanity, aided and abetted by the MASTER. What can DOCTOR WHO do to stop them?

1981 Hardback edition

When The Doctor and Jo visit The Master in the island prison to which he has been sentenced for life, they learn that a number of ships have mysteriously disappeared at sea.

While investigating they are attacked by a Sea-Devil, one of a submarine species related to the Silurians.

The Doctor uncovers a plot to conquer the Earth and enslave the population. His attempts to prevent it’s success are frustrated because the authorities refuse to believe that the Sea-Devils are not a figment of the Doctor’s imagination or that The Master is not to be trusted…

NOTES

CHAPTER TITLES

  1. ‘Abandon Ship!’
  2. Visitors for The Master
  3. The Vanished Ships
  4. Stranded!
  5. Air-Sea Rescue
  6. ‘This Man Came to Kill Me!’
  7. Captain Hart Becomes Suspicous
  8. The Submarine
  9. Visitors for Governor Trenchard
  10. The Diving Bell
  11. ‘Depth Charges Away!’
  12. Attack in Force
  13. Escape

DEVIATIONS FROM THE TELEVISED STORY

  • The novelisation uses Sea-Devil rather than Sea Devil.
  • We learn about media publicity surrounding The Master’s lengthy trial and the ethical debate as to whether to execute him and the ethical difficulty of putting an immortal being, a Time Lord, in prison for life. During the trial, The Doctor gave testimony urging punishment other than the death penalty.
  • The Third Doctor frequently tells Jo that the Sea Devils are related to the Silurians and that they are “just like those cave monsters we met in Derbyshire”. This perhaps implies that Jo herself met the Silurians, which she never did on screen.
  • On page 83, The Master‘ tells The Doctor that he plans to use the Sea Devils, just like he used the Ogrons. As the book was published a year after Frontier in Space was transmitted, Malcolm Hulke included the reference. In Frontier and its novelisation Doctor Who and the Space War, The Master tells The Doctor he thought he’d come and see him in prison like he came to see him when he was locked up in Sea.
  • At the end of the book, The Master escapes in a helicopter, rather than a hovercraft which he used in the televised version.
  • The Doctor and Jo find a spooky engraving suggesting the locals know about the Sea Devils.
  • The Sea Devils live in a metal cave and only turn on The Master when the new Sea Devil leader needs to assert his dominance.
  • The Master tells The Doctor off for murdering The Sea Devils and then claiming the moral highground.
  • Several characters are given first names: Thomas Robbins, Robert Walker, Robin Ridgeway and Tony Mitchell.
  • Several of the SS Pevensey Castle“s crew are given names or nicknames: the radio operator is nicknamed Sharps, the First officer is named Mason, and several other crew members are nicknamed: the Jamaican, the Scouse and Jock.

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