History Recap / DoctorWhoS21E1WarriorsoftheDeep

* FranchiseKiller: Well, the show wasn't exactly killed outright, but the aforementioned fight scene with Solow and the Myrka was presented by executives who wanted [[Series/DoctorWho Doctor Who]] axed to MichaelGrade.

* Ultraterrestrials

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* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Commander Vashek

* TroubledProduction: The production schedule lost two weeks due to an Parliamentary election, which explains many of the serial's shortcomings.

-->-- The final line of the serial, the Doctor expresses his regrets over how badly everything turned out. It's also a meta-description for the serial itself, sadly enough.

Eventually, it's discovered that a group of [[strike:aliens]] indigenous intelligent reptoids ([[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E2DoctorWhoAndTheSilurians the Silurians]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E3TheSeaDevils the Sea Devils]]) are invading this base to stop the humans from making the next world war so that... the [[strike:aliens]] indigenous reptoids themselves can start up the next world war. Don't bother asking why they didn't just sit and wait, it's a perfect excuse for them to whip out the dreaded Myrka - an [[strike:alien]] bio-engineered weapon so fearsome that humans run up to be embraced by its deadly hugs and random spurts of electricity. Fed up with no one listening to him, the Doctor essentially goes commando on the whole base and ''(not through lack of trying to save the day)''[[hottip:*:...except for the fact that he ''did'' unleash a gas that killed all the aquatic-based [[strike:aliens]] indigenous reptoids on the station, which isn't exactly heroic in general.]] every single person on the base who wasn't in the TARDIS at the start of the adventure (except one) ''[[KillEmAll winds up dead]].''

Mostly remembered for having one of the naffest-looking monsters in ''Series/DoctorWho'': the Myrka, a rubber-suited fish-monster quite obviously incapable of moving more than a few inches a second. That the actors managed to complete the filming with straight faces is a testament to their ability.

This is the kind of story the MST3K guys would have a field day with--can you imagine what they'd have said about the Myrka?

* CreatorBacklash: Writer Johnny Byrne was [[{{Main/Understatement}} not happy]] with the treatment of his script.
-->"Nowhere did I describe [the Myrka] as a four-legged beast on loan from Panto-Horses-Are-Us."
** He's not lying. The scripts had the Myrka down as a eight foot tall "Sea Devil on steroids" with razor-sharp claws, which could have been played by a reasonably tall guy in a suit. The costume designer, on the other hand, thought it'd be a great idea to change the Myrka into the wobbling mess that we got in the final story. People have been shot for lesser crimes.

* FanNickname: "Warriors on the Cheap".

* HeyItsThatGuy: Ingrid Pitt! In a boxy dress! And a ridiculous hairstyle! And DavidBowie's eyeshadow!

* SpecialEffectFailure: '''''MYRKA.'''''

* Main/WhatCouldHaveBeen: The Base, and the Myrka were described quite differently in Johnny Byrne's original script.
-->"I was very specific in my description of the base - rusting, leaking virtually forgotten by all except those on board - the atmosphere and look was something like {{Film/Alien}} with the Myrka essentially a lurking deadly presence waiting to reveal itself."

Mostly remembered for having one of the naffest-looking monsters in ''DoctorWho'': the Myrka, a rubber-suited fish-monster quite obviously incapable of moving more than a few inches a second. That the actors managed to complete the filming with straight faces is a testament to their ability.

* SpecialEffectFailure: '''''MYRKA.'''''

* SpecialEffectFailure: '''''[[MostTriumphantExample MYRKA.]]'''''

* HeyItsThatGuy: Ingrid Pitt in a boxy dress and a ridiculous hairstyle!

* TheGreatPoliticsMessUp

** He's not lying. The scripts had the Myrka down as a eight foot tall "Sea Devil on steroids" with razor-sharp claws, which could have been played by a reasonably tall guy in a suit. The costume designer, on the other hand, thought it'd be a great idea to change the Myrka into the wobbling mess that we got in the final story.

* MoralDissonance: So... the Doctor's solution to peacefully solve the conflict is to ''kill all the reptillians'' in the damned sea station?

Eventually, it's discovered that a group of [[strike:aliens]] indigenous intelligent reptoids ([[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E2DoctorWhoAndTheSilurians the Silurians]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E3TheSeaDevils the Sea Devils]]) are invading this base to stop the humans from making the next world war so that... the [[strike:aliens]] indigenous reptoids themselves can start up the next world war. Don't bother asking why they didn't just sit and wait, it's a perfect excuse for them to whip out the dreaded Myrka - an [[strike:alien]] bio-engineered weapon so fearsome that humans run up to be embraced by its [eadly hugs and random spurts of electricity. Fed up with no one listening to him, the Doctor essentially goes commando on the whole base and ''(not through lack of trying to save the day)''[[hottip:*:...except for the fact that he ''did'' unleash a gas that killed all the aquatic-based [[strike:aliens]] indigenous reptoids on the station, which isn't exactly heroic in general.]] every single person on the base who wasn't in the TARDIS at the start of the adventure (except one) ''[[KillEmAll winds up dead]].''

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pileofdeath_959.jpg

Eventually, it's discovered that a group of [[strike:aliens]] indigenous intelligent reptoids ([[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E2DoctorWhoAndTheSilurians the Silurians]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E3TheSeaDevils the Sea Devils]]) are invading this base to stop the humans from making the next world war so that... the [[strike:aliens]] indigenous reptoids themselves can start up the next world war. Don't bother asking why they didn't just sit and wait, it's a perfect excuse for them to whip out the dreaded Myrka - an [[strike:alien]] bio-engineered weapon [[NightmareRetardant so fearsome]] that humans run up to be embraced by its [[NonMaliciousMonster deadly hugs]] and random spurts of electricity. Fed up with no one listening to him, the Doctor essentially goes commando on the whole base and ''(not through lack of trying to save the day)''[[hottip:*:...except for the fact that he ''did'' unleash a gas that killed all the aquatic-based [[strike:aliens]] indigenous reptoids on the station, which isn't exactly heroic in general.]] every single person on the base who wasn't in the TARDIS at the start of the adventure (except one) ''[[KillEmAll winds up dead]].''

* Main/CreatorBacklash: Writer Johnny Byrne was [[{{Main/Understatement}} not happy]] with the treatment of his script.

* Main/ExtyYearsFromNow

* Main/TheGreatPoliticsMessUp
* Main/KillEmAll
* Main/MoralDissonance: So... the Doctor's solution to peacefully solve the conflict is to ''kill all the reptillians'' in the damned sea station? Wow, something tells [[@/{{NewtypeS3}} this troper]] that even the Master would have been wondering "[[WhatTheHellHero what the hell, Doctor?]]"
** By that point it was a choice between killing all the reptiles or letting them launch the nukes. He wanted to search the stores for a less lethal gas, but didn't have the time.
* Main/NightmareRetardant: What to name...
** The Myrka, whose ineffective attacks consist of 'swiping at the air' and can be outrun by a crippled, one-legged dog?
** The Sea Devils, whose heads are always cocked to one side - which made some of the actors on the DVD comment that "they always look like they're saying 'you what?'"
** The Silurians, who continually look like... well... like they're smiling?
** And none of this is helped by the horrid lighting theory of "make everything look like the sun's going nova just offscreen."
* Main/NonMaliciousMonster: Look, I know the Myrka was trying to kill people, but the footage just makes it look like it's only trying to give out hugs.
* Main/SpecialEffectFailure: The Myrka, who was literally two guys in a modified horse costume painted bright green in a brightly-lit room. Moving very, very slowly. Without any means of fighting other than a vague claw-swipe.
** The story goes that the sad tale of the Myrka wasn't just one failure, but many - the original idea was that it would be a glow-in-the-dark titan dimly glimpsed through the shadows. Unfortunately, they had problems with the lighting, so everything was bright instead of dark; then the paint didn't dry in time, so the operators had no time to practice (hence the slow movement).
** It also doesn't help that the production had about two or three weeks ''less'' to film than they should have, without any compensation whatsoever. That actually explains a lot about the Myrka, though.
* Main/UnderwaterBase

** ...and other than his hair he's frustratingly dry as soon as he leaves the water. Gaah!

-->"I was very specific in my description of the base - rusting, leaking virtually forgotten by all except those on board - the atmosphere and look was something like {{Main/Alien}} with the Myrka essentially a lurking deadly pressence waiting to reveal itself."

--> --The final line of the serial, the Doctor expresses his regrets over how badly everything turned out. It's also a meta-description for the serial itself, sadly enough.

The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough wind up in a military undersea base c.2084 and the Cold War is at it again. Or still at it, possibly, as this was made in 1984. The trio explore this base, and the companions are quickly captured so the Doctor can rescue them later on. As it turns out, this base is the futuristic equivalent of an underwater nuclear missile silo - with Cold-War-ish tensions rising quickly and a spy within the base trying to either capture the base or start the third (fourth? fifth?) world war.

-->The final line of the serial, the Doctor expresses his regrets over how badly everything turned out. It's also a meta-description for the serial itself, sadly enough.

This is the kind of story the MST3K guys would have a field day with-can you imagine what they'll say about the Myrka?

* Main/MoralDissonance: So... the Doctor's solution to peacefully solve the conflict is to ''kill all the [[strike:aliens]]'' in the damned sea station? Wow, something tells [[{{NewtypeS3}} this troper]] that even the Master would have been wondering "[[WhatTheHellHero what the hell, Doctor?]]"

Eventually, it's discovered that a group of [[strike:aliens]] indingenous intelligent reptoids ([[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E2DoctorWhoAndTheSilurians the Silurians]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E3TheSeaDevils the Sea Devils]]) are invading this base to stop the humans from making the next world war so that... the [[strike:aliens]] indingenous reptoids themselves can start up the next world war. Don't bother asking why they didn't just sit and wait, it's a perfect excuse for them to whip out the dreaded Myrka - an [[strike:alien]] bio-engineered weapon [[NightmareRetardant so fearsome]] that humans run up to be embraced by its [[NonMaliciousMonster deadly hugs]] and random spurts of electricity. Fed up with no one listening to him, the Doctor essentially goes commando on the whole base and ''(not through lack of trying to save the day)''[[hottip:*:...except for the fact that he ''did'' unleash a gas that killed all the aquatic-based [[strike:aliens]] indigenous reptoids on the station, which isn't exactly heroic in general.]] every single person on the base who wasn't in the TARDIS at the start of the adventure (except one) ''[[KillEmAll winds up dead]].''

!Tropes

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