Day 604: Warriors of the Deep Part 2

The purpose of this episode is clearly to increase the tension on the base as Silurian and Sea Devil forces threaten to attack. The last ten minutes or so, for instance, are spent staring at an air lock attempting to prepare for the attack, whilst spies on the base from the other global superpower are attempting to bring down the base from the inside as part of some nefarious scheme. It forces us to spend more time with the characters, in particular the regulars, and it's interesting to see how they're written in this story.

The Doctor is written as some sort of peacemaker, the person who clearly wants the solution with as little bloodshed as possible. An example can be seen, for instance, when he attempts to tell the commander of the Seabase that he is telling the truth, so he hands him a gun that he picked up as a sign of confidence and trust. This echoes the original story Doctor Who and the Silurians, where the Doctor's role was again to try and act as a peacemaker between humans and Silurians, to which he found varying degrees of success.

As for the companions, Turlough's role seems to be the sensible one. He'll help the Doctor, and do the right thing in most circumstances, but he knows when to retreat and move on, even if it's not the 'right' thing to do. The cliffhanger to the previous episode is a good example as it shows the Doctor falling into a vast pool of water. Turlough's immediate reaction is to keep running, as there are guards chasing him and Tegan. He says to Tegan that there's nothing they can do, and that it is likely that the Doctor has drowned. He wasn't right, obviously, and the right thing to do in that situation would be to try and help the Doctor, but Turlough makes the sensible decision to try and run away, because he knows that this way, he and Tegan at least have a better chance of staying alive.

Speaking of Tegan, she's badly treated in this story, in my opinion. The main things that happen to her are: she says a fart joke, hides in a corner, and has a wall fall on her. It's not a good Tegan story overall. Indeed, it's not a good story overall, as we'll see tomorrow with one of the story's major failings.