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The War Between the Land and the Sea — A monumental debacle for Dr Who fans
It seemed a good idea. Bring back the sea devils, those fishy creatures that terrified Dr Who and his fans during the 1970s. In their rubber suits and almost there but never quite clear voices, they made us cower behind the sofa, almost as scary as Daleks or Cybermen (well, maybe not the Daleks).
Make them a civilisation that has lived beneath the waters of our world for centuries — evolving ahead of us. According to this banal Whoniverse offshoot, the sea devils - or Homo Aqua as this series has ‘scientifically’ named them - were here before us and developed life under the sea (we’ll skate over the fact they survived the meteor that killed the dinosaurs, the ice ages, and numerous other catastrophic Earthly events).
Now, they want Earth back. They sent an ambassador, Salt, who has set out terms. Unfortunately for her, she has fallen for Barclay Pierre-Dupont, a junior at UNIT who finds himself accidentally (he wasn’t meant to be at a meeting, then not at another, then got selected by Salt because he genuflected in front of the body of a member of her race the humans had inadvertently killed, ensnared in a fishing net), so, he is compassionate and kind. Salt chose him to represent Humankind, despite his lack of experience or knowledge of diplomacy. Totally believable.
