The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon: Doctor Who And The Silurians

Doctor Who And The Silurians: Episode 1 (31/01/10)

Good start this week. The Doctor and Liz have been called to help the Brigadier investigate goings on at a Nuclear research complex built into a cave system in Derbyshire. There's an unusually high level of people having nervous breakdowns on the staff, and two scientists were attacked while pot-holing - one was killed and the other has gone mad and started drawing weird reptile men on the walls of his hospital room.

Meanwhile, chief scientist Doctor Quinn and his deputy seem to be up to something; the man running the place, Doctor Lawrence, is determined to keep the place running at full power and seems likely to crack up at any point, too; and the security officer is determined to make sure everything's done by the book, which means he's very suspicious of the Doctor as the Brigadier has forbidden a security check on him.

There was a wonderful scene at the start with the Doctor tinkering with an old yellow roadster which he's got to replace the one he stole off the doctor at Ashbridge Cottage Hospital and called Bessy - Liz seemed less than impressed. And the episode ended with the Doctor going down into the caves to investigate and being attacked by what seems to be a Dinosaur!

The quality of production from the last story has continued and it's all very intriguing setting the plot up as a whodunnit. There's funny goings on in the reactor room with pages being torn out of logs and people going a bit bonkers. On the whole, a very promising story.

Doctor Who And The Silurians: Episode 2 (07/02/10)

Really good this week, slightly more adult than the last story with monsters attacking people. Anyhow, the Dinosaur was called off, the Doctor took Major Baker (the security officer) down to the caves where Baker was attacked by the Dinosaur after shooting at a reptile man (presumably a titular Silurian) which escaped out onto the moors.

Dr Lawrence has refused point blank to close down the research station, and Doctor Quinn has made contact with the Silurians and is letting them drain power from the reactor in exchange for scientific knowledge. His Deputy, Miss Dawson, is covering up for him but now he's been instructed to rescue the injured Silurian. This, in turn, took refuge overnight in a barn but was found by the farmer who it attacked and he died of heart failure. His wife was found in the barn paralysed with fear; she may have seen something! (Best line this series) and on questioning her by flapping a naff drawing of a Silurian in her face and thus scaring her half to death, the Doctor and the Brigadier learnt (while visiting her in hospital) that the Silurian was still in the barn - where they'd left Liz to do some tests. And yes, she's been attacked!

Really enjoying this story. It's well written and directed with some great location footage - the Silurian emerging onto the moor was particularly good, as was the sequence at the farm before the Silurian's discovery. The caves aren't that bad either, and the way the Silurians have been dealt with is very good; showing only an arm or a leg at a time, a silhouette or, best of all, a point of view shot.

I've warmed to the new Doctor very quickly; we're only on the second episode of the second story. By this point with Patrick Troughton (the end of his debut or halfway through The Highlanders) I really didn't like him much, but Pertwee's developed a very warm personality and a pleasingly condescending view of authority. Liz is smart and strong, and she and the Doctor get along great. Even the Brigadier's likeable, for all his being an army type!

Doctor Who And The Silurians: Episode 3 (14/02/10)

Yet another great episode! Liz survived with no more than a nasty scratch and was able to describe the Silurian to the Doctor. However, the Silurian had already headed back onto the moors.

Doctor Quinn turned up at the farm looking for the Silurian, claiming to be heading back from his cottage to the research centre, but Liz realised after he'd left that he was miles out of his way. The army's search of the moor came to nothing and, suspicious, the Doctor visited Doctor Quinn's cottage and found he was there. He couldn't get Quinn to cooperate, even after offering his help, because Quinn had the Silurian locked up and was planning to hold it hostage until the Silurians gave him the knowledge he desired. He told Miss Dawson as much when she visited him after walking in on the Doctor and Liz going through Quinn's personal papers (which included a globe of the Earth before the Continental shift).

Major Baker has been confined to the sick bay and the Brigadier is determined to storm the caves en masse in search of the Silurian base. Meanwhile, Dr Lawrence has called in the Permanent Under-Secretary in order to get UNIT removed from his establishment. The episode ended with the Doctor finding Quinn dead in his cottage, switching on the device Quinn used to summon the Silurian, and the Silurian entering the room. First time you've got to see it in full and it was very fleeting. Doesn't look that bad.

The location footage was again very good and looked quite expensive with flare guns and helicopters all over the place when the army was searching the moor. All very enjoyable; serious, adult, but fun!

Doctor Who And The Silurians: Episode 4 (21/02/10)

So, the Silurian was scared off by a passing car and the Doctor elected not to tell the Brigadier Quinn was dead and instead go in search of the Silurian base with Liz. They found it and got in using Quinn's summoning device to open the main door. There they found Major Baker, who'd been captured after escaping the sick bay and going off to search the caves alone. The Permanent Under-Secretary (it's Geoffrey Palmer!) turned up for a meeting with Lawrence, the Brigadier and the Doctor, and when the Doctor and Liz returned from the Silurian base Miss Dawson turned up and said that Quinn had cooperated with the Silurians and they'd killed him. Which didn't help matters.

The Brigadier took his troops straight into the caves. The Doctor went ahead of him to warn the Silurians and try to form a peaceful solution but they caught him and locked him up, trapped the Brigadier and his men and started to seemingly fry the Doctor's brain.

This is a really good story. The Silurians are not aliens - they're indigenous to Earth and have every right to claim it back. The power losses at the research centre are due to the Silurians using the energy to revive their people who are in suspended animation. I think this is one of the best ideas they've had in ages and the Silurians are definitely the best idea for a monster since, well, probably the Ice Warriors in their first story! They aren't evil, they have motives and their motive isn't to invade the Earth (which is cool when done well - the previous story being a prime example) but to survive. Very impressive so far!

Doctor Who And The Silurians: Episode 5 (28/02/10)

Things are getting quite exciting this week. The Doctor eventually got to talk to the Silurian Leader and convinced him to free the Brigadier and his men from the caves, and to let the Doctor go and try to arrange a peaceful cooperation with the Humans so the Silurians could inhabit the hot areas of Earth where no-one lives. Unfortunately, a younger Silurian turned out to be a bit of a psychopath, setting Major Baker free and infecting him with a plague provided by the Silurian Scientist which they used to use to control the Humans' monkey forebears.

Meanwhile, Miss Dawson is also showing a psychotic side, insisting that the Permanent Under-Secretary blows the Silurians up! Baker turned up, gibbering, but was quickly followed by the Doctor who had found out, via the Silurian Leader, about Baker's infection. Baker was taken to the sick bay but was then taken by Doctor Meredith to Wenley Hospital instead of being quarantined! Needless to say, he was dead by the closing credits with no doubt more next week. The Permanent Under-Secretary appears to have been infected and has set off back to London in the Doctor and Brigadier's absence. And if he's infected, so may be Liz, the Doctor and Dr Lawrence as they've all been in contact with him.

Finally, the Young Silurian murdered the Leader and took his place, to the only rational contact with the race is gone. Really very good. I can't fault this story which has, somehow, managed to improve on the season opener!

Doctor Who And The Silurians: Episode 6 (07/03/10)

A steady, rather than exciting, episode this week with some nice visuals and some great location footage. Permanent Under-Secretary Masters reached London, infected loads of people at Marylebone Station and died spectacularly against some railings. Dr Lawrence refused the wide-spectrum antibiotics the Doctor and Liz prescribed, caught the infection, went a bit nutty, tried to strangle the Brigadier, then died. The Doctor and Liz spent a lot of time testing drugs on the plague sample the Silurian Leader gave them and eventually found a cure - but not before the plague reached France - and the Brigadier spent a lot of time on the phone.

Meanwhile, the Psycho Silurian twigged that the Doctor had immunised the UNIT troops and infiltrated the research centre, mind-zapping the Doctor as he wrote out the formula for the cure so the Human Race doesn't die - cue end credits.

The best bits were the location stuff in London of people dropping dead. All very cool. The episode did seem to drag a little - it is part six after all - but the location stuff more than made up for it. Made it quite tense, too. Wonder how many episodes are left; must be ending soon, though it's been an incredible serial. Possibly the best ever! Definitely the best in a fair few years!

Doctor Who And The Silurians: Episode 7 (14/03/10)

Wow! This series is fantastic, and the trailer for next week makes it look like the quality's going to continue in 'The Ambassadors Of Death'!

But back to this week.

The Silurians kidnapped the Doctor and when he told them he'd found a cure for their plague they decided to storm the Nuclear control room and drain enough energy to activate a machine they had that would destroy the Van Allen belt (thus raising the temperature of the Earth so Humans couldn't inhabit it). Liz found the Doctor's formula and passed it on to the right authorities, thus averting a mass extinction, and when the Silurians turned up with the Doctor, he fooled them into thinking he was doing what they wanted and got Liz to start a meltdown (which he, obviously, averted at the last minute).

Believing there was going to be a Nuclear explosion, the Silurians returned to their stasis chambers leaving their psycho Leader in charge and on guard. When the Doctor and the Brigadier turned up he attacked the Doctor but was shot by the Brigadier. The Doctor wanted to revive the Silurians one by one and broker a peace to lead to cohabitation, but the Brigadier had different ideas and, after the Doctor set off for UNIT HQ, he blew the Silurian caves up. Which was a fantastic ending!

Very impressed by the moral dilemmas and various attitudes held by the main characters - it's so much more interesting when each one has their own agenda and moral standpoint. I can't believe that this time last series we'd just had two of the worst stories ever! The quality shift has moved from tedious and lacklustre to thoughtful and exciting. It isn't because it's in colur; it's the writing, the direction, the acting. Everything's so much more focused and layered. They've learnt well from 'The Invasion' and 'The War Games' - I hope they manage to keep it up. Can't wait for next week!