Doctor Who and the Silurians: Episode 7

An experimental nuclear facility being constructed in a complex of caves is experiencing some minor problems such as delays in deliverables but also staff mauled to death by some sort of giant clawed creature and staff who suffer mental breakdowns to the point of regressing to caveman levels – no biggie but still UNIT and the Doctor get called in to investigate. Initially keen to understand the technology and why it isn't working, the Doctor starts to suspect much greater forces in play from deep below the ground.

The second serial from the John Pertwee era is a pretty strong one and benefits from not being constrained by the need to introduce the new Doctor and a new set of characters; this time UNIT is the plot device to get the Doctor involved and off we go from there. The plot is quite dialogue heavy (even with the creatures) but it works well because there is a lot of ideas and nice plotting around the various cliffhangers and plot twists. It isn't perhaps perfect but as a story it holds together well, with varying motivations on both sides of the fence and reasonably well drawn character as opposed to goodies/baddies/fodder. The role of the Doctor is good although I am still trying to work out Pertwee – so far I still prefer Troughton's Doctor but still it is solid here. This serial is 7 episodes long and to be fair it probably could have stripped it down a little because there is room here to lose one episode and be tighter and slicker for it, but generally it works well and engages even if I felt some of the cliffhangers were done for the sake of having one rather than them really fitting.

While the plotting and script makes it work well, it must be said that other aspects work against it. The rubbery costumes and effects are part of the show dating perhaps, but the rubbery Silurians are working against their costumes a lot and the people inside do physically exaggerate when dialogue is being delivered. This side of it didn't bother me too much because it is a show from the 1970's so you accept the work of the time, but the thing that I found unforgivable was the terrible score. Through we have this awful series of sounds and music which sounds for all the world like a series of people being winded while holding kazoos in their mouths – it doesn't set an atmosphere and it doesn't work; at times it was hard to watch the scenes in the caves due to how bad the music was. The audio effects sort of match this and they started to grate too.

In terms of performances Pertwee is a good presence although his "under attack cross-eyed" look was more comical than I think it was meant to be. Courtney-Stewart is a bit dry in my view but is a reliable role and fills it well, but Caroline John seems all at sea. She started out as a skeptical scientist in the first serial and now we have her in a red miniskirt, running round with the Doctor, I don't think the writers know what to do with her (they just know that the Doctor needs a companion) and it is clear in her performance that she isn't sure if she is an able scientist, a skeptic, a bit of totty for the viewers or what – she doesn't have much to do but doesn't do it well. Supporting turns from Mackay, Palmer and others are all good, even the voicework of the Silurians is good, with decent characters in their ranks too.

The Silurians is a strong serial in the plotting and writing, with only the dated effects and an awful soundtrack working against it.

Review of all 7 episodes:

This very impressive story has a prehistoric but advanced race of reptilian beings becoming involved in a confrontation with humans having been in a state of suspended animation for millions of years. They are named Silurians by a scientist but in a future story The Doctor asserts Eocenes would be a slightly more likely description of the era of history in which they originate. However, while it is stated they were on Earth long before humans it is not stated that they originate from Earth. It would make more sense if they are aliens who evolved on another planet and arrived on Earth many millions of years ago. The Doctor does refer to them repeatedly as "aliens".

These 'Silurians' have returned in recent Doctor Who, one even becoming a close ally of the 11th and 12th Doctors, but look very different in this original appearance. They are well realised (although the dinosaur they keep like a guard dog is an unnecessary and less successful addition) and the whole story is thoroughly absorbing.

This adventure is cleverly written by Malcolm Hulke with fine scripts and an intelligent plot, the only big problem in the writing is one bad scientific blunder where the Doctor theorises that an object the Silurians saw on collision course with Earth millions of years ago was captured by the Earth's gravity and became the Moon. Modern science estimates the Moon has been in Earth's orbit for 4 to 4.5 billion years! Even the very ancient Silurian period, when moss like plants and small arthropods are the only known life to have existed on land, began 443 million years ago. That was 3.5 to 4 billion years after the Moon came into orbit. Early humans only came into existence 1 or 2 million years ago and the Silurians say this object was coming towards Earth AFTER they had been co-existing with humans so the Doctor would be making an uncharacteristically horrendous bit of historical and scientific judgement in stating it was the Moon.

That one blunder in episode 5 drops that otherwise excellent episode down in my estimation but otherwise the writing is top notch with very intelligent ideas and smart dialogue. The whole story is very well acted. Jon Pertwee, Nicholas Courtney, Caroline John, Peter Miles, Fulton Mackay and Geoffrey Palmer are all superb. The story is also very nicely filmed and has some cracking scenes throughout. There is a great moral theme underlying the story of whether to deal with a threat by peaceful negotiation or by military means. A theme just as relevant today as it ever was. The Brigadier and the Doctor are put on opposite sides of this debate which adds greatly to the moral dilemma the audience has to consider.

Apart from that one glaring line of dialogue regarding the Moon there are only really two other small minus points. Firstly the incidental music by Carey Blyton, which has silly and annoying kazoo sounds recurring. Secondly, a few of the effects which were not convincingly realised such as the dinosaur and the Silurians scorching their way through walls in episode 7. But bearing in mind the limitations of age and budget this is very forgivable. I would ideally have cut the superfluous dinosaur and the line about the Moon entirely and changed the way they entered the research centre. This is a terrific story and well within my top 100 but it could possibly have been a top 30 story, for me, with a few issues ironed out, particularly the scientific error about the Moon which drops episode 5 in my ratings.

Pertwee begins to establish himself nicely after his strong debut and Courtney and John as the Brigadier and Liz Shaw build upon their already engaging characters whilst already developing a little depth with the Brigadier showing a slightly darker side. The alien plague subplot neatly added into the mix later in the story reignites interest and drama and provides some of the best scenes such as Masters (Palmer) inadvertently spreading the plague in London and Dr. Lawrence (Miles) going berserk in episode 6.

A must see story for fans.

My Episode Ratings: Episode 1 - 10, Episode 2 - 9.5, Episode 3 - 9.5, Episode 4 - 10, Episode 5 - 8, Episode 6 - 10, Episode 7 - 9.5

The Doctor reaches a breakthrough, but gets taken by The Silurians. It's a desperate rush to get the formula out.

It's been a great few episodes that lead to this final part, and Part 7 doesn't disappoint either, it's an excellent finale. It has a real science fiction content, and lots of technological gobbledygook.

Liz has once again proven to be a great companion, this story was well written for her.

It was overlong, this should have been a maximum five part story, the early parts were nice, but too padded, Parts 5 - 7 have been excellent.

The ending was terrific, does The Brigadier overstep the mark? Or does he do the right thing? It's a shock of a scene, and would be brought up again.