3.2: The Silurians

In which the Brig does a genocide.

Broadcast: January-March 1970

Watched: November 2019

The Silurians, Episode 1

First question: is the on screen title a fuck up? [It’s officially titled Doctor Who and the Silurians. This annoys me so I pretend it isn’t.]

In some ways it’s funny it takes them nearly seven years to get to dinosaurs. Then, when you see the dinosaur, you wonder why they didn’t wait longer.

I like that the Doctor is tinkering with Bessie in the way you expect him to be tinkering with the TARDIS. A sign of settling in I suppose.

Something I’ve just realised about this story, and Inferno I think, that had never occured to me before: they’re another two mutated base under sieges. They’re clearly taking the Tenth Planet starting point (high tech base with a paranoid one, a clever one with a secret, a security chief etc) and building on it. Okay, they both extend beyond the original brief, but so did e.g. Seeds, which has a “the danger escapes into the real world!” sequence just like this story.

So – 1970 not the break in continuity I’d always assumed it was.

“As an associate of UNIT, I think you will find I have the authority to do precisely what I please” and we’re not meant to find this sinister?

The mental breakdown stuff is actually strangely frightening – not sure we’ve seen anything like that before.

Love the interplay between the Doctor and the Brig, the latter’s quiet protectiveness of the former, the subtle battle for dominance (”Come on, Doctor Watson” etc.)

AND the cliffhanger is Doctor Who menaced by a dinosaur! Love this one.

The Silurians, Episode 2

Hulke, like Holmes, packs his stories in a way most base under sieges don’t bother with. So even though we still don’t really know what’s going on, there’s enough fresh here to make it feel like stuff has moved on – there are humanoid creatures, Quinn is in contact with them, etc. Like the Silurian’s eye view bits, though no way is that how they’d actually perceive the world – we don’t walk round with two different views at once do we?

I kind of like that they’re testing the bounds of the new set up – the Doctor is working with UNIT, but they’re poking at it to find ways in which it’s uncomfortable, it’s not all cosy and accepted yet.

The Silurians, Episode 3

One thing this story does well is making sure every episode has its own focus. 1 is introducing is to the base, 2 is “what’s in the caves?”, 3 is all about Quinn. Who’s now dead so 4 will be something different.

It is very strange that the Doctor, for so long an outsider, now has the army on side to help him out. Still liking the fact that the Doctor/Brig relationship is a bit strained – this isn’t an easy change.

The Silurians, Episode 4

And this one’s basically all about what the Silurians want, and what that means for the humans’ strategy. Suddenly the A plot (What’s up on Wenley Moor?) and B plot (How’s the Doctor bedding in at UNIT?) come together as the two male leads start to diverge on what should happen next.

Miss Dawson is played by an American. Huh.

Love that the resolution of the “Doctor menaced by monster!” cliffhanger is “Doctor asks monster how he is and how he can help”. Also the way the Brigadier’s entrance stops Miss Dawson from talking is mirrored in the noise of the car putting the Silurian off talking.

Anyway, yes, I’m enjoying this one. Most thoughtful script in ages. 

The Silurians, Episode 5

I’m f**king shattered because I’ve been in hospital with [details of stressful medical crisis redacted] most of the day, and have also discovered the downside of a daily column, e.g. you have to write it every day. But watching one of these before falling into bed. Okay. So.

Continuing the “every episode is different” theme – this one’s sort of about drawing parallels between the two races I guess? There’s dissent in both, those who want to talk, those who want to destroy.

The fact we see three Silurians for budgetary reasons, and they’re all framed as archetypes, and fandom decides to keep writing stories about these three specific Silurians, is everything that’s wrong with fandom.

How does everyone start calling these things Silurians anyway?

God Miss Dawson is a bloodthirsty cow.

!!!INSANE THEORY KLAXON!!! This story could function as an allegory for the Israel/Palestine problem.

When the Doctor tells everyone to move away from Major Baker, Liz does it *immediately* in a way that’s unconvincing/suggests maybe Baker’s some kind of creep.

Thematically, the Capaldi Zygon story is a much better remake of this story than the literal remake Moffat makes.

“Is he dead?” “Yes. The first one” is a bloody great cliffhanger.

Though why all the sequences of Bessie driving seem to be speeded up I will never understand.

The Silurians, Episode 6

I know it’s a genre mainstay, and it works well dramatically, but the “finding the cure is a matter of trying different drugs, and it takes one genius 25 minutes” is very silly.

That said Doctor Who: Outbreak! works very well. The scenes of the disease spreading are well done, and it feels big enough that the fact a lot of this episode is the regular cast in an office is barely even noticeable. Though how on earth they’re going to stop a disease that’s spreading this fast is a mystery.

People die and are identified as dead very very quickly.

The Brig waving a gun at civilians is a big uncomfortable. So is the Doctor telling Liz to do as she’s told. Pertwees’s “I am under attack!” face is ghastly.

Anyway. Next episode, the Van Allen belt. This one works so well I don’t really understand why more stories don’t do the “every episode is about something slightly different” thing.

The Silurians, Episode 7

Paul Darrow! [Later known for the playing Avon in Blake’s 7. He’s a minor UNIT soldier here.]

The words antidote and cure are used interchangeably and hmmm. Also I still don’t entirely buy the idea they can inoculate the entire population of Europe but what the hell. [Man, this bit hits in a way it didn’t before 2020.]

Lot of respect for the fact the way the Silurians show they’re channelling power is to all jiggle about like they’ve got St Vitus Dance. After such a great character-led story, it’s sort of a shame that so much of the resolution is technobabble. 

The real ending is the Brig blowing up the base I guess... But unless I’ve forgotten something it doesn’t go anywhere does it? The tension this seems to create is a great ending but has no impact after the credits. Oh well, such is Doctor Who.

Also you notice the Doctor is fine with the idea of the Brig killing Silurians in cold blood when it’s to save his life. Hypocrite.