Dr Who: Legend of the Sea Devils

[Richmond Clements]

Rumour has it, this was cut down from an hour long to its present running time.

That's how it felt to me - a movie or a two-parter sliced into bits.

Doctor:  "Yaz, you're the most amazing person I've ever met!"

Not, say, HG Wells? Rosa Parks? Shakespeare? Queen Victoria? Wyatt Earp? Nikola Tesla? (and that's off the top of my head) Nah, some beat cop from Sheffield.

I love Doctor Who. It's my favourite sci-fi franchise ever, but man... they're making it hard to like right now.

[Tiplodocus]

She did say "one of the greatest" I think. But still not remotely true.

That was just inept and embarrassing. How do you mess up Sea Devils vs. Pirates?

[Tiplodocus]

They cant navigate by instruments, so have to use the stars, but the stars then just start swimming about randomly for no plot reason (I think this might ahve been a Flux lot point rewritten when this was bumped from the Flux series?  Even that doesnt make sense as the Flux event occurred in the 21st C and wouldnt have affected the past)

This but they explained. It was poorly and quickly explained and the reason was shit. But it was explained. Not the Flux but it was whatever geomagnetic thing the baddie was doing. Some non science babble about changing the directions of the poles hence it looked like the constellations were moving.

[Leigh S]

Apologies, didnt make myself clear - I mean theres no reason plot wise for the pirate ship to not be able to navigate, so having the stars shuffle about was completely unnecessary.

I caught some garbled and possibly (probably?) ADR'd diaogue that attempted t explain it, but as the Sea Devils didnt have the gem they are searching to be able to do that kind of stuff at that point, then it was an explanation that  really only made matters worse.

They cant navigate by instruments, so have to use the stars, but the stars then just start swimming about randomly for no plot reason (I think this might ahve been a Flux lot point rewritten when this was bumped from the Flux series?  Even that doesnt make sense as the Flux event occurred in the 21st C and wouldnt have affected the past)

This but they explained. It was poorly and quickly explained and the reason was shit. But it was explained. Not the Flux but it was whatever geomagnetic thing the baddie was doing. Some non science babble about changing the directions of the poles hence it looked like the constellations were moving.

[abelardsnazz]

I don't have much to add to this other than zzzzz. Terrible.

At least it should give John Bishop some material for his stand up shows.

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

I waited for this thread before deciding whether or not to watch.

My conclusion is that I will fast forward to the end, for the trailer for the next episode. I'll enjoy a fleeting moment of excitement before not watching that next special until I see the follow up thread here.

Thanks to those brave souls who have watched this, so that I do not have to do so.

[Tiplodocus]

And John Bishop is terrible.

Reminds of how bad Jerry Seinfeld is (in his own show) when compared to the other actors around him. You can see them editing around his poor acting... Barely holding shots on him for a microsecond longer than they have to. To be fair, there is a meta commentary on this in the episode where Jerry and George get their pilot show.

[IndigoPrime]

Bishop’s casting was deeply weird. It’s like someone late on realised there wasn’t a slightly too old white bloke in the show and panicked. Without him, it would have just been a woman and – horrors! – another woman! Eek!

[Proudhuff]

All of the above... I was really trying to like it, but as stated upthread, it doesn't even make dream logic status.

As a child I lived in fear of the Sea Devils, that's what living in Musselburgh will do for you! This series they  were about as scary as the donkey from Shrek.

Having read about Si's Torch, Wood and peasants, that warning should be in every 'writing for TV' course in the country!