Doctor Who and the Silurians

But that's murder. They were a race of intelligent, alien beings. A whole race of them and he's just wiped them out.

Seven-part stories make me nervous. I've also been avoiding this one for two reasons: it's the last Liz Shaw story that I've not seen and I enjoy her a great deal, and the Silurians always seem to have the same story told about them. I remember watching The Hungry Earth and In Cold Blood and just not being that drawn by the story. Perhaps it was the secondary characters but I've become nervous that I would end up not liking a story regarded as a classic of the Third Doctor era just because I didn't care for a future version of the story.

Plot Summary

UNIT is called in to investigate an atomic research lab built in a series of natural caves following three months of unexplained accidents and injuries. The Doctor and Liz arrive in Bessie and are given a brief from the station manager, Dr. Lawrence. The Doctor is given a tour by the assistant manager, Dr. Quinn, and while on that, he discovers that the activity log of the cyclotron has had several pages torn out of it.

The Doctor is informed that the man responsible for the log is suffering from psychosis after he and a fellow worker were attacked in an undeveloped part of the caves. The other worker was killed, having cracked his skull in a fall, but also showing claw marks on his hands. The Doctor goes to see the mad worker only to find him possessed by fear, his only activity: making crude drawings on the wall of reptilian people.

During another test, the cyclotron malfunctions and the Doctor is forced to step in an help in the shut down when another worker becomes hysterical. Liz remarks to the Doctor that she felt a kind of terror when she was in the control room as well. The Doctor decides that he needs to investigate the caves as the control room is the deepest point within the caves.

He enters the caves and discovers a dinosaur after squeezing through a crevice. The dinosaur attacks him but is called off by a musical call. He returns to the lab just as the Brigadier is preparing a team to go look for him. They return to the cave and Major Baker, head of the lab security, rushes ahead and fires at a figure down the cave. The dinosaur returns and attacks Baker but is called off once again. Baker is wounded but alive. The Brigadier and his men chase after the figure while the Doctor takes Baker and some blood samples of the figure he shot back to the lab.

In the lab, the Doctor and Liz notice the blood is similar to reptilian blood. The Brigadier returns having lost the figure in the dark on the moors. He will continue the search in the morning. The figure meanwhile, finds a barn of a local farmer and buries itself in some hay bales to rest.

Dr. Lawrence goes looking for Dr. Quinn but is told by his assistant Miss Dawson that he has gone to his cottage to rest. However, Quinn is instead crawling into the cave where he is transfixed by a red beam. He is taken to a communications room where he pleads with the cave creature over the radio to not keep drawing power. The creatures refuse as they still need the power, having given Quinn the technology in the first place. Quinn is given the recall device of the figure on the surface and ordered to find him and bring him back in exchange for their going quiet for a time.

The next morning, the figure is discovered by the farmer. He claws at him and the farmer is so shocked, he dies of a heart attack. He is also spotted by the farmer's wife. The Brigadier is notified of the incident by the police and comes to investigate. Liz stays at the barn to take samples while the Doctor and the Brigadier head to the hospital to see the farmer's wife.

The farmer's wife is near hysterical with fear, much like the worker. The Doctor manages to get through to her by drawing a quick sketch and asking her to identify it. She agrees that it is the creature and she says it's still in the barn. The two men race back as the creature emerges from the hay once more and attacks Liz. It knocks her out, bolts the door to the barn and then runs out a side door.

The Brigadier breaks the door down and they find Liz, stunned and scratched but otherwise unharmed. As UNIT conducts a search for the creature, Dr. Quinn arrives, having stopped briefly to tell Miss Dawson about the device given to him. He takes the Brigadier's information and begins driving around the moors signaling the creature.

Quinn successfully picks up the creature in his car but his use of the signaling device is noticed by UNIT. The Doctor and the Brigadier head after him and find tracks suggesting that the creature was taken away. The Doctor goes and visits Quinn's house. Although he doesn't see the creature, he notices the heat turned up and Quinn behaving oddly. He leaves and Quinn is contacted by Miss Dawson again. He informs her that he plans on keeping the creature prisoner until it tells him all about their technology.

The Doctor returns to the lab and he and Liz break into Dr. Quinn's files. They find a globe with Pangaea and Miss Dawson stumbles into the lab as they do. The Doctor confronts her and she admits that Quinn was in contact with the creatures but she clams up when the Brigadier enters. Concerned over Quinn's safety, the Doctor returns to Quinn's cottage only to find him dead. He uses the signaler in Quinn's hand and the creature emerges. The Doctor, tries to talk to the creature, which he calls a Silurian. Although it understands him, it doesn't answer and runs off when startled by an outside noise.

The Doctor returns to the lab, although he only tells Liz that Quinn is dead. Major Baker asserts that he wants to head back to the caves with an armed force but the Brigadier overrules him and confines him to a hospital room. The Brigadier plans to attack himself but needs more men to search the caves. Major Baker breaks out of his hospital room and heads to the caves himself, but he is captured by the Silurians.

Hearing of Major Baker's escape, the Doctor and Liz head to the caves to find him. They use a map that the Doctor had taken from Quinn's cottage that he had marked. They find evidence of Baker's fight and follow a Silurian into a hidden base. In the base, they find Baker in a cage where he tells them of being interrogated by the Silurians. The Doctor advises him to make it a two-way exchange and learn as much as he can about the creatures while he and Liz return to the lab.

While they are gone, Sir John Masters, senior under-secretary to the minister, arrives at Dr. Lawrence's request. Masters is anxious that the project continue but he denies the Brigadier's request for more men. The Doctor and Liz arrive in the middle of the meeting and try to convince the others to negotiate with the creatures. Unfortunately, Miss Dawson arrives and tells them that Dr. Quinn is dead. The Brigadier makes up his mind to attack at dawn.

The Doctor sneaks off to warn the Silurians but the capture him and place him in the cage with Major Baker. Alerted by the Doctor's warning, the Silurians spring a trap for the Brigadier and his men, sealing them in a chamber in the cave. One of the Silurians then comes up and tries to kill the Doctor, but the colony leader restrains him. He learns of what the younger Silurian has done and does not approve but does not change it.

Major Baker attacks the Doctor but he is restrained by the Silurians. The Doctor pleads to be let out to talk to them and the leader does, taking him to the control room. He and the Doctor talk and the Doctor learns that the Silurians went into hibernation when they feared Earth would suffer a major catastrophe from an incoming planetoid. However, the object was captured and became the moon. Their equipment malfunctioned and they stayed in stasis until the cyclotron was built, supplying them with power.

The Doctor negotiates with the leader to let the Brigadier and his men go in exchange for allowing the Silurians to negotiate with the humans to set up cities in hot areas where the humans are not settled. He agrees and the Brigadier and his men are released before the suffocate. They return to the lab to find that Liz has been forced to reveal that the Doctor went ahead of the Brigadier to warn the Silurians. Miss Dawson is outraged and demands the Brigadier attack at once while Dr. Lawrence slips further into delusion, refusing to believe the Silurians exist. Masters defers to the Brigadier and the Brigadier refuses to go against the Doctor and elects to wait.

When the upstart Silurian learns of what the elder has done, he and another infect Major Baker with a disease they used to kill apes that would steal from their stores millions of years ago. He is released into the caves and escapes. The elder learns of this and is outraged. He gives the Doctor a sample of the infecting agent and sends him to the surface to devise a cure. After the Doctor leaves, the upstart Silurian is confronted and he kills the elder, taking over leadership of the colony.

Major Baker returns to the base with the Doctor right behind him. The Doctor orders no one to touch him but Baker tries to attack him. He collapses and is taken to the sick bay. Against the Doctor's orders, the lab doctor has Baker shipped to a local hospital. The Doctor and the Brigadier head to the hospital to establish quarantine. They arrive just as Baker runs out of the hospital and dies. The Brigadier establishes a quarantine while the Doctor heads back to the lab.

Masters gathers his things and leaves before the Doctor returns, telling Dr. Lawrence that he is going to recommend that the lab be shut down. Once the Doctor is back, he orders quarantine and has all personnel inoculated with a broad range of antibiotics. He and Liz begin work but are unable to find Masters or Dr. Lawrence. The Brigadier returns to coordinate efforts and Dr. Lawrence returns, lashing angrily out at Liz. He storms out but she learns that Masters left and showed early signs of infection. The brigadier orders the police to intercept Masters in London.
In London, Masters leaves the train, encountering a number of people before getting into a cab just before the police arrive. He takes the cab to the ministry of science but stumbles around as the disease takes hold. Back at the station, people become infected from the ticket taker and the police declare quarantine as people begin to collapse.

The Doctor and Liz continue to work testing various drug combinations on infected blood samples. Dr. Lawrence reemerges in full outbreak, having refused to take the antibiotic cocktail that is keeping everyone else relatively healthy. He attacks the Brigadier who pushes him back. Dr. Lawrence then collapses, dead.

The Silurians observe that the humans are showing greater resistance to the plague than anticipated. The new leader decides to capture the Doctor to prevent him from creating a cure. They overrun one UNIT checkpoint, killing two soldiers, although a third escapes. The leader and his lieutenant then head to the part of the cave abutting a wall of the lab and burn a hole, allowing them access.

The Doctor discovers a cure and synthesizes a small batch to test on one of the infected men. It works and he heads back to his work space to write the formula to be sent to the medical team ready to dispense drugs. As he writes the formula, the two Silurians who breached the lab attack him from behind and capture him. As they drag him out, they also kill a UNIT soldier on patrol.

Liz heads down to the lab and finds the Doctor missing. She grabs the Doctor's notes and tells the Brigadier. Another soldier find the dead soldier and informs the Brigadier. He puts the two together and figures a raid took place. He orders all of his men to push back on the Silurians attacking his men at the cave entrances to try and rescue the Doctor. Liz goes over the Doctor's notes and finishes the formula. She telephones the outside labs and gives them the information, allowing them to mass produce the cure.

In the Silurian base, the Doctor informs his captors of his cure and they decide to attack en mass. However, the lab is in the process of being shut down and there is insufficient power from the reactor. The Silurians grab the Doctor and decide to reinvade the base with the men they have and reactivate the reactor.

The Silurians reemerge just outside the Doctor's office and see Liz and the Brigadier, having just discovered that the elevators have been deactivated. They take the two hostage and the three enter the control room. They attack the technicians but the Doctor orders them to stop, saying that he won't help them if they kill anyone. The Silurians then set up a microwave emitter which will disrupt the Van Allen belt, heating the Earth and making it uninhabitable for mammals.

The Doctor begins to activate the reactor but he gives Liz a signal and they dump all the uranium rods in at once. The action causes an overload in the controls and begins to overheat the reactor. The Doctor informs the Silurians that the reactor will blow, bathing the area in radiation for fifty years. The Silurians retreat to the caves and prepare to go into hibernation for fifty years, leaving the humans to die in the explosion. However, the Doctor is able to stop the meltdown, neutralizing the reactor.

The Doctor returns to the caves where all the Silurians have gone back into hibernation except for the leader, who stayed out to man the hibernation controls. He attacks the Doctor but the Brigadier shoots him from behind, having followed the Doctor. The Doctor returns to the base and after bringing the lab back to a minimal operating standard, he informs the Brigadier that he intends to awaken the Silurians one by one and negotiate peaceful terms with them.

The Brigadier, alarmed by this news, informs the ministry and they order him to seal the caves. He orders his men to place explosives around all the entrances to the caves. As the Doctor and Liz drive near the entrances, the explosives are detonated, sealing the entrance and causing many of the Silurian's caves to collapse. The Doctor is horrified and angrily drives back to UNIT HQ.

Analysis

This was enjoyable story, although a bit slow at the start. Usually when dealing with long stories, the padding falls more around Episodes Five or Six, but in this case, the padding is more in Episodes Two and Three with the search for the wounded Silurian. The rest was actually a fairly tight battle story between the two sides. In many ways, it wasn't quite so much padding as it was two different storylines that had an odd meet in the middle.

All the major characters were quite good in this one. The Doctor was his usual egotistical but enjoyable self. Liz was also quite good and her role expanded through the story. She was left to do "women's work" in the first couple of episodes but she expanded with her scientific knowledge, helping out the Doctor and even piecing together the final cure formula from the Doctor's notes after he was captured. I don't think any other companion could have done that.

This is also the first story where you can see the volume of respect that the Doctor has for Liz. He is a bit condescending towards her at a couple of points but mostly when about to go into action. He openly relies on her when it comes to a scientific view and has a strong respect for her mind. He even gives way in arguments, especially when he protests about his alien physiology and the need for the anti-biotic cocktail. Given the way the Third Doctor (and most Doctor's really) treats his other companions, it shows just how good Liz is in the respect that she earns from the Doctor. The Third Doctor is known for having a more father/daughter relationship with both Jo and Sarah. Liz is much more in the vein of a friend.

The Brigadier is well done in this story as well. He is orderly and smart. He has his eye toward action but does restrain himself at times, though mostly due to a desire for more resources. There is a strong respect for the Doctor from the Brigadier and even a deference to him at a couple points, which is somewhat unusual.

The secondary human characters were all pretty good as well. I couldn't help myself when I saw Dr. Lawrence as I instantly recognized him as the same actor who played Nyder in Genesis of the Daleks. What struck me most though was how quickly some of the other were gotten rid of. Dr. Quinn is dead by the end of Episode Three while Miss Dawson is removed from the picture in Episode Five, with only sporadic appearances. Masters is a quick entry and exit, serving mostly as the agent for turning a localized epidemic into a true pandemic. I was reminded of the game Pandemic as he got to London, envisioning how bad it would get because of one man.

Of all of it, I think I liked the pandemic portion of it. More than monsters, this was something really unnerving and well done. It was clearly shot with a number of background people being unaware of what is going on. It added an excellent sense of realism, along with the shooting on film. When you see random people in the street going down and police cars screaming around, it starts to take on an almost documentary type feel which is highly enjoyable.

The Silurians themselves were a bit disappointing. Obviously we've all been spoiled with the advances in the new series regarding the Silurians but you try to put that aside. The main problem is the build up. We are given only shadow glances at first and then we get the Halloween style first person perspective until the end of Episode Three. Even if you're a little disappointed there, it was still recoverable, except for the acting of the men in the suits.

The Silurians had their voices dubbed over so the men in the suits didn't have any real lines. As such, they tended to overact when talking. The tall one who takes over as leader is particularly bad as he constantly bobs his head in a rapid motion that makes it look like he's going to be sick. It effectively means that there is no subtlety in the performance. Even the voice acting is a bit overplayed as it was all done by one actor, who was clearly focused on making sure each Silurian sounded different rather than worrying much over putting much texture in his tone.

I was also disappointed that the third eye in their foreheads was such a catch-all for anything they did. It was a receiver for mechanics, it was a weapon of varying power to attack others, and it was an actual eye to see through. I would have liked if the eye was just a single use and they had to rely on constructed technology, like their signal devices shown in Episodes Two and Three, for most of their other functions. It didn't help that the noise emitted by the third eye was also quite annoying.

Also in the annoying scale was the music. There was very little tonality to the music and a lot of sharp instrumental break-ins that were highly jarring. Incidental music is best when it is in the background, providing mood without the listener being strongly aware of it. In this, the music called a lot of attention to itself and most of it was not the good kind.

As this is a Malcolm Hulke story, you would expect a story that shows both sides being in the wrong. In this case, you don't really get that. The impression given is that the Silurians began to wake up with the installation of the lab and that they made a deal with Dr. Quinn that would benefit both. Quinn does try to take advantage of that deal and pays a price for it. Likewise, some of the people (Miss Dawson for example) are shown to be somewhat bloodthirsty but usually with some justification. Only Major Baker is shown to be a complete fool in the shoot first, ask questions later vein.

So, for a Malcolm Hulke story, this one is rather one-sided as making the Silurian's the bad guys. They are shown as being reasonable with the original leader but he is killed and the more aggressive one takes over. At that instant, his personality is imprinted and the Silurians attack with gusto. I think we are supposed to sympathize with the Doctor at the end when the caves are destroyed that the Brig committed murder, but it is hard to feel much sympathy for the Silurians at this point. If there had been a faction in favor of negotiation and co-existence that was beaten into submission by the new leadership, that would be one thing. But the old leader is the only one who ever expresses any real desire for coexistence. I would also point out that even he does it more out of fear of what a war would humanity would do to his people. Perhaps it is murder, but I side with the Brigadier in what he was ordered to do.

Overall, I'd say this was a really good story. It has a few shortcomings that would keep it from being a great story but as the first full and proper Third Doctor story, it does well in how he is going to act and his relations with UNIT and Liz. As before, it's an episode or two too long but once you get into Episode Four, it really zips along and draws you in well. It would be a marathon, but I could sit through this one fairly easily, though I'd need a bathroom break in the middle.

Overall personal score: 4 out of 5