Fixing Warriors Of The Deep

Warriors Of The Deep is perhaps the most hated original series story on this place and we've had many a discussion about it. But if you were given the script and forced to make it into something workable, what would you do?

It would almost take too much.

I would say either it was a mistake to revisit the reptiles after the Pertwee era had told their story and when the last thing the show should've been doing was alienating casual viewers.

Or I would've gone for a completely different premise that had never been done before. For me the best angle would've been to have the surviving remnants of the Silurians and Sea Devils, actually fighting each other for scraps of land, and the Doctor having to try and mediate peace between them. (and hopefully maybe this time succeeding)

But if given the script they wrote to work with, and there was no way I could just scrap it in favour of a better story, I would at the very least revert back to how it was before Saward rewrote the ending to kill everyone off (if some of the human soldiers survive, it makes the Doctor at least look less of a hopeless liability).

I think some kind of change would have to be made to the Hexacromite Gas solution so that it's not so obvious from the start, and so the Doctor doesn't just look malevolent in his avoidance of it, despite the human lives it could save. For instance, maybe the Doctor has to mix up the right chemicals in the store to make the required gas, which would somewhat mitigate why it wasn't an obvious option he could've went for sooner. Though there could still be a hint earlier with the Doctor still saying he thought these chemicals were banned for their damage to ocean life.

I would give more of a rationale for his oddest actions in Episode One. For instance I would have him explain that once they'd survived the Sentinel 6 encounter, the reason they were leaving the safety of the Tardis is because he wants to make sure he can reach someone in authority to explain and de-escalate what just happened, lest it precipitate the superpowers boiling closer toward war.

I would not have him sabotage the base reactor so stupidly. On the contrary I would have it be one of the traitors (either masked in a radiation suit or the sabotage was already pre-programmed by the time the Doctor arrrived), and the Doctor tries to tackle or stop them but is ultimately beaten down and when security arrive he is framed to look guilty.

(That way the story doesn't shoot its supposed point in the foot by having the Doctor act so guilty and antagonistically that the humans' suspicions of him seem not only completely reasonable, but their later extension of trust after he did all that, makes them seem like they actually have the patience of saints).

I would actually do something with the scene where the Sea Devils are first revived. I would actually have the Silurians explain to the Sea Devils what events have taken place since they slept and why they're now being awoken immediately on a war footing with mankind. Through that it would fill in the casual viewers, and you could show some of the Sea Devils actually reluctant and horrified at the idea of having to go to war with a species they've never met before. So that they're not just a bunch of uniform aggressors anymore.

Well, that's even if I retain the Silurians. It would probably be simpler and easier if they were eliminated and the story solely concerned Sea Devils. I never thought the Silurians were that sympathetic anyway, and I thought the Sea Devils' grudge was a little more legitimate. (I can believe a Sea Devil claiming they extended a hand of friendship somewhat in their previous story, whereas the Silurians only extended us a biological weapon).

I would probably not have the Doctor able to identify the attackers as Silurians or Sea Devils until deep into the fighting. Certainly I wouldn't have him be able to identify their battle cruiser or the Myrka (if it has to be there). Part of what made the Sea Devils and their moral ambiguity work was the mystery about what they are and what their intentions are. Warriors really blows that by simply having the Doctor tell us again and again how noble we should see them, whilst their actions just present them as mindless thugs. And I would try to recreate that mystery (which is a bit of a fool's errand when their story has been told before) by having the Doctor slightly in the dark about who these attackers are until he meets them face-to-face later later.

If however he does identify them from the off, and I was to retain the Hexacromite gas solution, I might have the Doctor use the threat of it sooner as a deterrent. He could go to an airlock with a cannister and order the Sea Devils to come in unarmed otherwise he'll release it. And they could comply, only for some trigger happy human guard to go for the gas and kill them with it anyway, which would legitimately enrage the Doctor and give reason for his torn allegiances now. It would also lead the Sea Devils to make protective provisions and wear protective suits to make the gas useless against them now, forcing the Doctor and humans to have to try something else.

I don't think I'd keep the Myrka. It was a useless addition that added up to little more than padding.

In terms of discussing Silurian/Sea devil grievances, I would make it less about the past grievances and encounters, and more about the fact that securing peaceful co-existence with humanity seems impossible to the reptiles given humanity can't even maintain peaceful co-existence with itself without damn near destroying the planet.

Obviously I would not have the Doctor ranting at Preston in the chemical store for wanting to defend herself from the Silruians' ethnic cleansing (in the process insulting anyone who's ever actually lived through war). I would also not have her die taking a bullet for the Doctor anyway.

One possibility (that is if we stuck with the idea of the Hexacromite being removed entirely from the plot) is that the Doctor procures a gas mixture that if not killing them all, will simply retrigger the reptiles' state of hibernation and make them all fall harmlessly asleep so they can be incarcerated. The problem is, when he finally does so, it's too late. The nukes have been set to launch and there's no way to cancel.

Vorshak reveals the only way to stop the launch is to simply detonate the missiles on the base itself, which will of course destroy it. This means he will have to remain in interface and sacrifice himself to save the world. The Doctor rushes to the Tardis with the few Sea Base survivors (probably just Preston and Bulic), can't stop for the sleeping Sea Devils and just escapes last minute.

The Sea Devils have been destroyed by the same mutually assured destruction, and Vorshak has died having to prevent the very nuclear strike and war he'd been trained to be ready to start.

That way some kind of point could've been made rather than it being an either/or question of are you prepared to be a warmonger, or are you prepared instead to be a 'true fan' and join the Doctor's suicide cult?

Another point is, I might've had the Doctor explain to Tegan that a reason he partly laments the Sea Devils is that it was the Master who was largely instrumental in sabotaging the possibility of peace beforehand and he didn't want the Master to have effectively won again here, and that if not for him, maybe these Sea Devils who died today would've been peacefully co-existing with the humans rather than dying waging this suicidal war against them. Which would resonate with Tegan over the murder of her auntie.

Actually the easiest way to fix the story would be to save it for the Trial season and present it unchanged (aside from the Doctor and companions involved) as yet more of the Valeyard's tampered prosecution evidence to misrepresent the hero.

Apply some toothpaste to the reflective surface side of the disc and rub it over the scratches. After an hour or so wash the toothpaste off with some warm water and then dry it. Hopefully that should fix your copy of Warriors of the Deep.

Yeah but I shot it with a BB gun in the first place for a reason, Maxil.

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Reason: Intellectual property used without author's permission.

I watched Peter's run from start to finish a couple of years back having only seen the odd story before then.

I had no qualms with Warriors of The Deep. It was a flawed story and it felt like there was a missing off screen adventure that would have joined the Pertwee era to this one but overall far from terrible

......this is what NuWho does perhaps......

Rick Deckard 2.0 wrote:......this is what NuWho does perhaps......

Maybe.

To me, there are only about four New Who stories that have ever equaled or topped Warriors for awfulness or ruination of the franchise.

Love & Monsters, Last of the Time Lords, Death in Heaven and Orphan 55 (that one I think did majorly shift the Overton window).

I don't really mind it either. There are obviously a lot of flaws and I see why Tanmann feels the way he does about it, but I can enjoy it as an action piece. I'd rather watch it than something truly dull like Terminus.


Warriors > Androzani

Terminus is great. I've never understood where it's supposed to be boring.

I push myself through the insipid second and third parts just so that I can see Nyssa straddle Olvir in part four. It isn't his worst story, but it really is weak compared to the other two stories in the trilogy.

Terminus is great. Warriors is boring.

What is this crazy world I'm living in?

Terminus at least had some imagination to it.

Warriors had Tara Ward in it.


Boom! Beat that

Terminus gave us some of the most 80s-looking spacesuits ever!

The outfits in Warriors were way cooler.

Pepsi Maxil wrote:Warriors had Tara Ward in it.


Boom! Beat that

She doesn't make the story any less ugly on the inside.

Warriors Of The Deep pisses over that twee Graham Williams shit City Of Death from a great height.

Rob Filth wrote:Warriors Of The Deep pisses over that twee Graham Williams shit City Of Death from a great height.

Lalla Ward in that schoolgirl uniform is wank material of the highest order.

Nah.

If it doesn't have a big body-count, he can't wank to it.

Pepsi Maxil wrote:

Rob Filth wrote:Warriors Of The Deep pisses over that twee Graham Williams shit City Of Death from a great height.

Lalla Ward in that schoolgirl uniform is wank material of the highest order.

Okay, in every respect apart from that one.

Tanmann wrote:Nah.

If it doesn't have a big body-count, he can't wank to it.

Sadako cries over Warriors Of The Deep so badly because he can't stop wanking over nuclear missiles.

"Boo hoo hoo, that human-hating Doctor! How dare he diss us for our glorious fucking arsenal of WMD's! He's supposed to be my hewo and cheerleader!"