Eve of the Daleks and Legend of the Sea Devils (Jodie Whittaker)

(Amazon UK link)

It’s quite complicated acquiring a complete set of DVDs of Doctor Who. The main series episodes are on the relevant series DVDs, but there are often ‘specials’ or other episodes that are produced separately. And since we don’t see them when they’re shown on TV, I have to rely on online information to tell me the order, and my Amazon wishlist to add in the ones I need. 

I knew we would finish the six-episode ‘Flux’, series 13 in April, and that there had been some specials with the fourteenth Doctor broadcast in 2023. But I hadn’t realised there were also three other specials featuring the 13th doctor, Jodie Whittaker, prior to that. I added them to my wishlist, and was given them for my recent birthday. So over the last couple of weekends we watched the first of these DVDs, which features the first two 2022 episodes, ‘Eve of the Daleks’ and ‘Legend of the Sea Devils’. 

The first of these episodes was apparently broadcast on New Year’s Eve as a  ‘special’, and is suitably light-hearted despite having those most frightening of aliens, the daleks. It’s rather confusing at first: the opening sequence sees a woman (Aisling Bea) working on her own in a storage facility. She is visited by a man (Adjani Salmon) who apparently only visits on New Year’s Eve, and who deposits some rather strange things - in this case, a monopoly set. 

We then see the Doctor arriving with Yas (Mandip Gill) and Dan (John Bishop)… only to have everyone ‘exterminated’ by the daleks. Rather a surprising start to an episode which, as we soon discover, is in a bizarre time loop. It’s cleverly done, and after the first confusion of wondering what was going on, it turns out to be quite an enjoyable episode with, as ever, last-minute escape for all concerned. Since there are only five people (in addition to the daleks) there is, inevitably, some human interest and emotional interactions between some of them.

The second episode is about creatures called sea devils, which I didn’t recall at all but apparently they were part of one of the very early Doctor Who series with Jon Pertwee. They should have been scary but I thought they looked oddly appealing despite their violent nature. I’m not sure I entirely understood all the storyline, which involves a pirate ship, the search for some treasure, and the threat of switching the earth’s axes, but it was very well done. I had to turn away from some rapid sword fights which had too much fast action for me, but, again, there are some good interludes of conversation. 

This DVD had three ‘extras’, one about the dalek episode, and two about the sea devils episode. We always find it interesting watching these background features, which show some of the filming and how it all worked. The sea devils episode had, apparently, the biggest and most complex set anyone could remember for Doctor Who. We learned about how the different characters were engaged in the sword fighting - not an easy thing to pick up - and also where stunt people were used in a few places.

These two episodes were considered part of Series 13 and made excellent extra viewing. We know, of course, that Jodie Whittaker’s time as the Doctor is coming to an end, and that the next DVD will have her regenerating at the end - and since the fourteenth Doctor is going to be the same as my favourite tenth Doctor, I’m looking forward to that, and then seeing the 2023 specials. 

It seems a tad extravagant to have to have two extra DVDs for these three 2022 specials, rather than their being part of the Series 13 box set. But I was very pleased to be given these, which are well worth seeing. Jodie Whittaker is an excellent Doctor, albeit sometimes speaking so fast that I can barely catch what she says. Her portrayal is full of energy and ideas, and has certainly dispelled the myth that the Doctor should always be male. 

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