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For awhile, I was beginning to think that the most likely classic era Doctor Who monster would not be likely to return. Given that recent years have seen a rise with their cavern dwelling cousins the Silurians, I didn't think that the Sea Devils would possibly ever make their return appearance (there was a nice bit of misdirection in the episode Cold War, which did see the return of the Ice Warriors but I won't deny that I thought for a moment that we'd see the Sea Devils come back). And with that stunning teaser at the end of the New Year's special Eve of the Daleks, I'm glad that for their 50th anniversary year that the show has brought them back.

Today also marks the 50th of their debut serial from season 9 of the series and it's probably a good example of the era: opening with a duel between the Doctor and longtime nemesis the Master while the Master is imprisoned due to all the webs he was at the center of last season, and continuing on with many wide-ranging and sweeping adventure as the Doctor and UNIT try to stop their amphibious bipedal foes in this somewhat sequel to Doctor Who and the Silurians (I somewhat wonder if someone on Doctor Who's production team was a fan of fantasy and horror writer Robert E. Howard--best known as the creator of Conan the Barbarian--and his stories of underground nightmares involving the Snake-People of King Kull's time or the hated Worms of the Earth, also a very good short story by the way) up and down the English Channel. While probably not the best showcase of the Third Doctor's era, it's certainly a key one that can't and shouldn't be missed.

For the photo, I was both inspired by a scene in the story where the Doctor and the Master have been captured by the Sea Devils (after the Master's failure at trying to control them) but I was also wanting to try and capture a bit of Harry Lindfield's color style from the pages of the comic magazine Countdown here a little, just to make the photo stand out a little bit more than my usual fare.

Description
For awhile, I was beginning to think that the most likely classic era Doctor Who monster would not be likely to return. Given that recent years have seen a rise with their cavern dwelling cousins the Silurians, I didn't think that the Sea Devils would possibly ever make their return appearance (there was a nice bit of misdirection in the episode Cold War, which did see the return of the Ice Warriors but I won't deny that I thought for a moment that we'd see the Sea Devils come back). And with that stunning teaser at the end of the New Year's special Eve of the Daleks, I'm glad that for their 50th anniversary year that the show has brought them back.

Today also marks the 50th of their debut serial from season 9 of the series and it's probably a good example of the era: opening with a duel between the Doctor and longtime nemesis the Master while the Master is imprisoned due to all the webs he was at the center of last season, and continuing on with many wide-ranging and sweeping adventure as the Doctor and UNIT try to stop their amphibious bipedal foes in this somewhat sequel to Doctor Who and the Silurians (I somewhat wonder if someone on Doctor Who's production team was a fan of fantasy and horror writer Robert E. Howard--best known as the creator of Conan the Barbarian--and his stories of underground nightmares involving the Snake-People of King Kull's time or the hated Worms of the Earth, also a very good short story by the way) up and down the English Channel. While probably not the best showcase of the Third Doctor's era, it's certainly a key one that can't and shouldn't be missed.

For the photo, I was both inspired by a scene in the story where the Doctor and the Master have been captured by the Sea Devils (after the Master's failure at trying to control them) but I was also wanting to try and capture a bit of Harry Lindfield's color style from the pages of the comic magazine Countdown here a little, just to make the photo stand out a little bit more than my usual fare.