Thirteenth Doctor Era
2022 Specials: 1 | 2 | 3
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Legend of the Sea Devils
Swashbuckle your seatbelts.
The one where an old enemy makes a comeback nearly forty years in the making. Arrrrr.
Legend of the Sea Devils is the second in the trio of specials serving as the coda of the Thirteenth Doctor's tenure, marking the return of the Sea Devils to the television side of the franchise.
Tropes:
- All Asians Wear Conical Straw Hats: The Chinese setting is established right away by a child wearing a coolie hat, though other hats soon follow.
- All There in the Script: The Chief Sea Devil is named "Marsissus" on the IMDB page.
- Anguished Declaration of Love: Yaz finally tells the Doctor about her feelings for her, who admits she's given it some thought and has seriously considered a relationship, but the Doctor can't bring herself to pursue it because she knows from her past experiences that it will just end in more heartbreak.
- Artistic License – History: In November 1807, on her husband's death, the historic Zheng Yi Sao became the unofficial commander of the entire Guangdong Pirate Confederation including Guo Podai's Black Fleet. Prior to that, she wasn't even a captain. There is no point in history where she would have just had one ship. Guo Podai turned against her eventually, leading to the collapse of the Confederation, but not until some years later.
- Artistic License – Physics: In real life, the inversion of the Earth's magnetic poles, which has actually happened several times in the planet's history, would certainly cause havoc on navigational tools like compasses, and would probably cause problems for a lot of surface biology, but it would probably not have much of an effect on the climate — certainly not enough to melt the Ice Caps like the Chief Sea Devil hopes — and would definitely not cause the stars to appear to move around the sky like we see at one point.
- Banister Slide: The Doctor gets into the swashbuckling by sliding down the curved rail of the ship.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Thirteen shouts "Geronimo!", the catchphrase of Eleven.
- The Bus Came Back: The Sea Devils make their big return to the series, having last appeared in 1984's "Warriors of the Deep", and even then only in a supporting role.
- Call-Back: River Song gets mentioned indirectly for the first time in the Chibnall era.
- Captain Obvious: "Don't let the swords touch your skin!" is good advice for dealing with swords in general, not just poisoned ones.
- Changed My Jumper: Averted for once by the Doctor, though she's still wearing her boots and earrings.
- Continuity Nod:
- The Doctor is still trying to give Dan and Yaz a trip to the beach.
- Yaz's Nan's definition of courage ("Knowing something will hurt, and then doing it anyway."), is likely meant to be a reference to a similar definition the Third Doctor gave in "Planet of the Daleks" ("It's being afraid, and then doing what you have to do anyway.")
- When Yaz realises the Doctor knows her true feelings, she assumes (correctly) that Dan told her, which happened in the previous episode.
- When the Doctor first calls a Sea Devil by its name, he retorts that they can come up with demeaning nicknames for "land crawlers" too, referring back to the fact that the names "Silurian" and "Sea Devil" were both coined by humans in their original appearances.note
- Cool Airship: The Sea Devils have fitted Ji-Hun's ship with anti-gravity equipment to allow it to fly. The Chief Sea Devil openly admits that it's purely due for Rule of Cool to intimidate humans.
- The End of the World as We Know It: The Chief Sea Devil is trying to use the keystone to change the magnetic fields of the Earth, melting the polar icecaps and flooding the planet.
- Fantastic Slur: The Sea Devil Chief's preferred way of addressing humans is "land-crawler", apparently as a counter to being called a "sea-devil".
- Fish out of Temporal Water: Ji-Hun cites this as the reason why he should stay behind for the Heroic Sacrifice.
- Flat "What": Yaz's reaction to the Doctor telling her she had a wife.
- Getting Crap Past the Radar: "No ship, Sherlock."
- Godzilla Threshold: The Doctor hands Dan a sword, but tells him only to use it in an emergency. Dan snarks that the imminent flooding of the entire world certainly counts.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Ji-Hun stays on the seabed so that the Doctor and everyone else survives and humanity will have a future.
- I Have Your Wife: Madam Ching's crew, including her two young sons, are being held hostage by the Black Flag fleet, and she needs to find a lost treasure hoard to pay off their ransom.
- Impossibly Tacky Clothes: While the Doctor and Yaz are, for once, wearing era-appropriate and practical clothing, Yaz tricks Dan into wearing a ridiculous fancy-dress pirate costume.
- Indy Ploy: Lampshaded by the Doctor, who wants to bedazzle Yaz with a brilliant feat of improvisation.Yaz: So, no plan then...
- Inescapable Net: Averted; the Chief Sea Devil simply uses his sword on the fishing net that Doctor and companions try to snare him in.
- Instant Expert: While Ji-Hun and Madam Ching can understandably hold their own with a sword, and the Doctor as usual, it's not explained how Dan and Yaz can fight well enough against trained Sea Devil soldiers.
- In the Past, Everyone Will Be Famous: The pirate queen Madame Ching
. - Make a Wish: The Doctor says hers out loud, as that's what you do on her planet. It's a wish that her time with Yaz will last forever. From Yaz's expression, she knows full well it's Tempting Fate. Right after this comes the On the Next episode trailer...The Doctor: Nothing is forever...
- Memento MacGuffin: The keystone that the Sea Devils are after was taken by Ji-Hun, who gave it to his first mate, whose family has been keeping it safe for decades, whose descendant is now... onboard the ship.
- Never Be Hurt Again: Thirteen confirms what's been implied her whole run, that she's cut herself from attaching to anyone because the past hurts too much.
- Poisoned Weapons: The Sea Devil's swords, which inject a highly lethal toxin when striking flesh.
- Really 700 Years Old: Ji-Hun has been kept alive by the Sea Devils for almost 300 years as a trophy.
- Revenge Is Not Justice: After the Chief Sea Devil had been disarmed, the Doctor fully intended to imprison him at the bottom of the ocean, but Ji-Hun immediately kills him as soon as the Doctor turns around. The Doctor is angry with Ji-Hun for killing him, but he makes a valid point that the Chief Sea Devil didn't deserve such clemency for killing people, imprisoning him for hundreds of years, and trying to destroy the world.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Ji-Hun is shown driving the crew of his ship into the ocean and pledging his ship to the Chief Sea Devil, only for the Sea Devil to declare he has no intention of co-operating with land-parasites and attempting to kill him. Subverted when it's revealed that Ji-Hun survived, and was trying to trick the Sea Devil — his crew survived jumping off the ship by swimming to the nearby shore, and his right-hand man took the MacGuffin the Sea Devil needed with him.
- Saying Too Much: When the Doctor quips, "Not a bad date, am I?", her Facial Dialogue implies this — the Doctor can't pretend she doesn't know of Yaz's feelings, while Yaz now knows that the Doctor knows.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: The Chief Sea Devil had been turned to stone by the Keystone. He's freed when Madame Ching takes it off him.
- Sealed Good in a Can: The Sea Devils were keeping Ji-Hun alive for several centuries as their prisoner. He is the key to solving the keystone problem.
- Sea Serpent: The Sea Devils have one of these, which they set loose to attack human ships and seize the TARDIS.
- Taken for Granite: The Chief Sea Devil was turned into a statue centuries before but is inadvertently released by Madam Ching.
- Talking Lightbulb: The Chief Sea Devil has a pendant on his chest that flashes when he talks.
- Vocal Evolution: The Sea Devils no longer speak in a bubbling whisper, they are louder and have more of an authoritarian cadence to their voice.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The Hua-Shen sea monster disappears halfway through the story and is not mentioned again.
- You Killed My Father: Ying Ki initially wants to kills Madam Ching for her role in his father's death, though he loses his desire for vengeance after learning she's trying to protect her own family, and she saves his life during a fight with the Sea Devils. At the end, she decides to make him a member of her crew, effectively taking responsibility for him.
- You Talk Too Much!: The Chief Sea Devil surmises it's a gambit by the Doctor to give him time to think of a plan.Chief Sea Devil: Any Last Words? to try and save your skin, Doctor?
Doctor: Yep. Going up!
