Copyright Inverse
Names carry a lot of weight in science fiction, and changing a name can completely change a character. For example, in the first season of The Mandalorian, Din Djarin’s tiny green ward was only known as “the Child” or “Baby Yoda.” That cloaked him in an air of mystery, meaning he could be anyone. But halfway through Season 2, we learned he was actually a former Jedi youngling named Grogu, and slowly his character morphed into something more specific with an entire personality. Now, Doctor Who is trying something similar with one of its most underrated villains. However, there’s not just one season of precedent. This show is attempting to rewrite over a half-century of history... but for a very good reason. Radio Times recently visited the set of The War Between the Land and the Sea, the upcoming Doctor Who spinoff miniseries following a battle between the humans and the Sea Devils, an aquatic humanoid race that first appeared in Doctor Who back in 1972. But according to showrunner Russell T. Davies, they’re not called Sea Devils anymore. “It’s racist to say Sea Devil,” Davies said. Apparently, the species formerly known as Sea Devils prefer the more politically correct “Homo Aqua,” the Latin words for “man” and “water.” This report also included our first description of the plot of the series: “After years of humankind polluting the oceans, Homo Aqua have had enough, with violence brewing unless human negotiator Barclay (Russell Tovey) and aquatic ambassador Salt (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) can broker peace.” Within the context of the larger plot, the name change makes sense. It seems like this is a story that doesn’t have a clear-cut hero and villain — oftentimes with climate-based stories like this, Homo Sapiens are the perpetrators. But if viewers watched a conflict between their own species and a group called the “Sea Devils,” the situation itself is biased for one side. This renaming isn’t a case of woke going too far or political correctness gone mad: it’s a way to level the playing field for a story that doesn’t pit these creatures as villains set on taking over the world, but as fellow citizens of the world who don’t want to see it destroyed, even if that means conflict.
