It’s finally happened.

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We’re deep into his third season and the Jon Pertwee era has officially reached the status of being a good watch.

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With its heady mix of sandwich theft, floppy creature design, sword-fighting, oodles of Royal Navy stock footage and, err, The Clangers… The Sea Devils is an absurd bunch of joy.

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Yes, whole swathes of this story are utterly pointless (the Master’s bearing on the plot, for example, is scant at best) or incredulous (there’s ALWAYS a minefield when you need one), but if you don’t get a kick out of The Sea Devils then you’ve been mind-controlled by a prisoner with a fitness obsession.

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​You know what? At this uncertain stage of the show’s life, if the good outweighs the bad then we’re breathing a sigh of relief.

 

Especially in a six-parter which is padded to hell with scenes of the utmost oddness.

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And the sum of its parts massively outweighs the individual foibles: taken as a whole, this is a silly and entertaining serving of 70s Who.

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Everyone’s having fun. Including – drum roll please – Jon Pertwee (we know, quick - bottle it).

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Jonny Boy is the most chilled we’ve seen him. He’s finally lightened up, even displaying a sense of humour.​

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He ranges from the slapstick tomfoolery of needlessly diving onto razor wire, to the genuinely hilarious skit with the sandwiches (“This is no time for a picnic, Jo”). We adore his “I knew Nelson” line too.

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You can tell Pertwee's thoroughly revelling in the utterly incongruous swordfight with the Master at the end of Episode Two. Which feels tacked on to fill time but is then, weirdly, speed-ramped.

 

It’s probably best not to question the logic of stashing your cache of cutlasses outside a prisoner’s cell.

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​We’re also big fans of the Doctor appointing himself Humanity’s Chief Negotiator, repeatedly being the one trying to convince the Sea Devils to make peace.

 

Sod’s law of course: his efforts are royally scuppered when the Permanent Private Secretary’s missile bombardment strikes at the precise moment he’s persuaded the creatures to live in harmony.

 

Still, the Master’s sneer as the Doctor is carted off at this point is priceless.

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Throughout The Sea Devils, Pertwee is naturally commanding without resorting to bawling people out and softens the edges with charm and wit.

 

We’ll skip over the fact that every other Doctor actor nails this balance from the get-go* and instead simply implore Jon: more of this sort of thing, please.

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The Sea Devils has a sprawling epic-ness to it. And this can be attributed largely to boasting such an array of excellent locations.

 

The submarine, the abandoned fort, the island prison, the Sea Devils’ undersea base.

 

And then plenty of location shooting with the Doctor and Jo dashing around on docks and freezing-looking beaches, not to mention the ludicrous amount of vehicles that are thrashed about. Some of which even have all their doors attached.

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In a frugal era when stories routinely rely on one or two sets and a corridor in which to kettle the audience, the multiple locations here build a believable and suitably varied world for this story to operate in – and, crucially, prevent the serial from feeling repetitious.

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​Don’t get us wrong, there’s more padding on display than on the Navy guys' ridiculous buoyancy overcoats, but it’s actually pretty well disguised. Unlike the faces of the actors in the gullets of the Sea Devil costumes.

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The creature design comes in for some fan flak but we don’t have any major complaints (wobbly heads aside). Plus, the Sea Devils emerging from the water is a bona fide iconic Who shot.

 

Handily for the art department, the creatures move in packs of no more than six. World domination may take a few months.

 

The Kodak moment isn't even spoiled by the one at right-back trying to quickly yank his prop head off before the director yells cut. Presumably gargling a mouthful of finest English Channel leptospirosis.

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Granted, The Sea Devils includes all the tedious tropes we’ve become so desensitised to in a Third Doctor serial, including such classics as:

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• Scene number 83 of a white Englishman shouting at Mr Faceless Bureaucracy down a phone.

• And the 164th time we’ve marvelled at Jon Pertwee standing over a seated bureaucrat, fruitlessly arguing for him to forego bureaucracy.

• The Master being a doofus. As ever, he doesn’t need to be in this story but in fairness he does provide the light relief we crave - and his appearance is surely worth it for The Clangers scene alone.

 

But where so many Pertwee stories get throttled by the red tape, this one manages to break free, thanks in no small part to having a decent core plot and the strong titular creatures.

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Oh, and Jo Phenomenal Grant.

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She’s sporting an outrageously kickass outfit. Shrugs off the creep Trenchard leering over her. Rides a motorbike. Beats up two guards. And… pilots a motherflippin’ hovercraft.

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The sheer fantabulousness of this strong female character is beautifully ironic (dontcha think, Alanis?) in a story that sets out to be a commentary on man’s thirst for violence. And is all the stronger for it.

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We’re also blessed with the sexist greedy snob that is the Parliamentary Secretary. The Doc appealing to his vanity is happy-making (“Walker the Peacemaker, they’ll call you”) and he’s inspired us to start demanding toast during meetings. With admittedly mixed results.

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Overall, there’s some great stuff on display here.

 

Obvs, there are numerous moments of utter lunacy too and if you pull at any of the superficial threads of the plot the whole thing'll unspool faster than a frock coat caught on barbed wire.

 

But take The Sea Devils at face value and you’ll have a blast. Unless you’re an amphibious race being screwed over by the Doctor for a second time, of course.

 

It's probably best not to overdo the moralising though. We don't want to stress out Jon.

 

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*Fair enough, Colin never stood a chance but even Peter had found his Doctor by his third season.

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