Chris Chibnall's Doctor Who Special Addressed A Moffat Era Mistake
The Doctor Who 2022 spring special, “Legend of the Sea Devils,” addressed a mistake made during the Steven Moffat era of the show. Set in a Chinese coastal village in the 19th century, the special sees the Doctor and his companions team up with a legendary pirate to take on an old enemy: the Sea Devils, who return to Doctor Who for the first time since 1984’s “Warriors of the Deep." And unlike their Silurian cousins, who were reintroduced in 2010 under Moffat's management of the show, the Sea Devils' redesign feels modern without compromising their original appeal.
Created for the show by Malcolm Hulke in 1972, the Sea Devils are an ancient amphibian race who roamed the Earth prior to the ascent of humanity. Their first episode, “The Sea Devils," was a spiritual sequel to Hulke's 1970 classic “Doctor Who and the Silurians," revealing the titular sea-dwelling villains to be distant relatives of the cave-dwelling Silurians. Current Doctor Who showrunner Chris Chibnall, who co-wrote «Legend of the Sea Devils,» previously brought back the Silurians with his script for the 2010 two-parter Under then-showrunner Steven Moffat's directions, however, the story radically changed Hulke’s creations, removing their third eye and opting for fewer prosthetics to allow their performers to emote.
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In the production of “Legend of the Sea Devils," Chibnall wanted to remain true to the original designs of Hulke and John Friedlander, augmenting the prosthetic masks with visual effects to aid the actors' facial movements. In doing so, “Legend of the Sea Devils” brings back an iconic Doctor Who villain in a way that the 2010 Silurian revival failed to do. This is obviously
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