Doctor Who:
The Silurians
By Malcom Hulke
“But that's murder. They
were intelligent alien beings. A whole race of them. And he's just wiped them
out.”
There is something wrong
with the over at the nuclear power plant over that is built into the cave
system at Wenley Moore. Constant power
surges, technicians going crazy and something living down in the caves. The Doctor and UNIT head over there to
investigate what is going on and The Doctor and Liz immediately figure out
something strange is going on. Wanting
to find out more The Doctor heads into the cave and finds out that there is
indeed something living in the caves. It
is one of the oldest races on earth. The
Silurians have awakened and they want to take the earth back from the apes that
now live on the surface. The Silurians are bent on wiping out all humanity if
they have to to get what they want and its up to The Doctor to stop both races
from eliminating each other.
Doctor Who and The
Silurians is one of those stories that is actually two separate stories. Yes it is actually called Doctor Who and The
Silurians and for god knows why this story is called Doctor Who and The
Silurians and wasn’t corrected in production we might never know. But yes this story has two storylines. The first is trying to find the Silurians and
then the Silurian disease killing the humans.
It is a pretty basic story of trying to get people who are different to
work and live together. It is a pretty
basic and strong message that has always been a staple in Science Fiction
especially in shows like Doctor Who and Star Trek.
This is obviously the
first story to feature the Silurians who would make more appearances in the
show and was also brought back in the new series albeit with a new look. It is also the first appearance of the
Doctors car Bessie. The car was a wonderful
prop that would be a significant staple piece in the Third Doctor’s era.
For the most part The
Silurians is not one of my favorite stories.
In fact Season 7 is not one of my favorite seasons besides Spearhead
From Space. I just find the whole season
boring and the stories really drawn out and in my opinion could have been
benefitted to being shorter. But in saying
that, breaking up The Silurians into two stories really does benefit the story
as the shift in storyline does keep it from being boring. I did
like the first part better than the second.
I prefer the mystery of what was going on and what the creatures would
look like. Did not care for the killer
disease part as it seemed that all the Doctor did was spend the entire episode
just sitting at a lab table.
The Silurians is trying to
get out its message and you can place any group as the Silurians. In fact that message still works today as the
world is still like it was in 1970 but not as bad though as more and more
acceptance has occurred. But none the
less it is a strong message that takes on a science fiction feel to get it out.
Grade B
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