I Watch TV: The War Between The Land And The Sea

 

The War Between The Land And The Sea

Barclay Pierre-Dupont works for UNIT the organisation that deals with weird things on Earth in Dr Who. He’s in transport, arranging taxis, and he’s divorced with a child. When a colleague was called out when his wife was giving birth he covered his phone, and because of that went in the database as his deputy. When they fail to get hold of that colleague they bring Barclay along as civilian observer when a Sea Devil (see previous Dr Who stories) aka Homo Aqua is found in a net. The Homo Aqua body is recovered by them, killing two UNIT soldiers along the way. Homo Aqua reveal themselves to the world and negotiations start in London. Homo Aqua bring out their ambassador Salt, who’s a bit more Homo Sapiens like. They insist on talking to Barclay who showed some respect to the body, and he agrees to talk peace.

Unfortunately this show is not The Peace Between The Land And The Sea. Homo Aqua complain that regular humans have been polluting the sea, they claim complete control over all water and that they have prior claim to the Earth* – which they want renamed to reflect being 70% water. When negotiations break down they start to drop debris from the sea onto the land, and then insist that the humans come and visit them underwater.

There are humans plotting to strike back in the war. They smuggle a bomb into the deep sea meeting, with only Barclay from the humans surviving, thanks to Salt. However she’s then disowned by Homo Aqua who send the more hardline Tide to issue demands, as Salt prioritised saving a human over Homo Aqua. The human plotters also attempt to assassinate Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, the head of UNIT.

All this promising, world-transformative stuff leads to an anticlimactic ending. That it’s more about Barclay and Salt, and how other characters, especially Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, change as a result of the events is inevitable. Yet it’s just, reset to the status quo after a bunch of war crimes. I mean I guess that’s realistic in a way, though not in line with modern Dr Who sensibilities. What wacky hijinks humanity gets up to when the Doctor isn’t there to fix things.

Watch This: Science fiction drama exploring environment, cross-species negotiation, and conspiracy
Don’t Watch This: Fails to add significantly to Dr Who or science fiction drama

* A nonsense as Homo Sapiens ancestors have lived here for as long, unless there’s some bit of Dr Who lore that suggests otherwise.