A decent enough Doctor Who adventure, and honestly the first I have seen with Turlough as a companion, and also interesting in that the Doctor (Peter Davison) seems a bit more martial and devious than I have seen this doctor be before. Not amazing, but certainly enjoyable. I am liking the fifth Doctor more and more, too bad it seems I am about to catch up on all his adventures that have been released on DVD (much as I have done with my favorite, the Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker).

In 2084 on Earth there is another planetary sized cold war going on. One side runs underwater missile bases, which can launch the countries strategic nuclear missiles, one such base us Sea Base 4 which cannot be activated without a human operator to sync his mind with the computer, but the base operator has recently been killed, so the Commander Vorshak (Tom Adams) has put an apprentice Ensign Maddox (Martin Neil) into that position, as he is the only one who can sync, though he does not feel up for the job at all. The base notices something on it’s long range sensors. Outside there is a Silurian battleship led by Icthar (Norman Comer) who plan on taking Base 4, and also plan on reviving their warrior cast to do battle. In the Tardis, the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) has promised to take Tegan (Janet Fielding) to Earth’s future, and Turlough (Mark Strickson) is along for the ride. The Tardis ends up in orbit around the Earth, and is attacked by an automated defense robot, and has to make an emergency materialization aboard the Sea Base so the Doctor can affect repairs. The base computer initiates a missile run, which turns out to be a practice, but it is too much for Maddox and he faints, and he is taken to the bases medical officer Doctor Solow (Ingrid Pitt) and Nilson (Ian McCulloch) who are in fact enemy agents. They get the captain to ggive them a program disk, and use it to program Maddox to destroy the ships computer. Meanwhile the crew realize they have intruders, and the Doctor rigs the reactor to overload so they can escape, but it doesn’t work, and they are found (after the Doctor is almost killed) and brought to the Captain.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

The Siluirans review their warriors, the Sea Devils led by Saucix (Christopher Farries) and they launch an attack on the base. The Doctor tries to stop the Captain from fighting them, but is too late, and the attack is on, and the bases defenses neutralized. The Siluriuans send the Sea Devils to one airlock and the evil Myrka to the other.

Maddox is activated and begins dismantling the computer, and kills his friend Karina (Nitza Saul).

The Myrka gets into the airlock, with the Doctor and Tegan, but Turlough forces Nilson to open the door to save the doctor, thus letting the monster into the ship, and it starts heading for the bridge. Solow is killed by the creature before the Doctor can use an ultra violet light generator to kill it.

The Silurians head to the base with a device called the manipulator, and come in with the Sea Devils who have broken through.

NIlson is revealed to be a traitor and takes Tegan hostage, but the Doctor blinds him with his device, and he is killed by the Sea Devils. The Doctor and Tegan are taken prisoner by the Silurians on the bridge.

The Doctor recognizes Icthar and confronts him about the massacre of the crew. Icthar reveals he plans to use the base to make a global war to kill off all humans so Silurians can again take over Earth, which seems to be less honorable than their old tactics.

The Doctor escapes, and finds some gas which is lethal to reptiles, and though he does not want to do it, he hooks up the gas to the central air system, and they feed it in to stop the missile launch which is now possible with the manipulator.

The warriors all begin to die, but Tegan and Turlough give them oxygen to keep them alive, and the Doctor syncs with the computer to stop the missile launch. The Captain is killed by Ichtar who is then killed by Turlough.

The Doctor believes their should have been another way.

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Really a violent Doctor, and a violent solution to global armageddon, which does not even stop the cold war. Quite enjoyable, and Turlough is quite a strange companion.