Doctor Who and the Silurians (Story 52) Review

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(More customer reviews)I fondly recall watching this classic Doctor Who storyline as a teenager in the 1980's and being utterly blown away by its moral complexity. Decades have passed, I'm older and a fair bit more jaded, and it still blows me away! The somewhat unusually titled "Doctor Who and the Silurians" is perhaps one of the most intelligent stories penned for what is typically a very well-written series, and this in a manner cleverly conducive to the tale's good old thrills & chills and general entertainment value. If anything demonstrates that a show can be sophisticated and fun at the same time, this does in style.
Part of what makes this one so great is that it takes one of the most tired clichés of sci-fi and turns it on its head. Reptilian invaders? Well, sort of, except for the fact they were here first. The eponymous Silurians evolved on Earth millions of years ago and developed a highly advanced civilization before an impending catastrophe drove them to seek shelter underground, waiting in suspended animation for the disaster to blow over. The inevitable malfunction keeps them slumbering much longer, until an experimental nuclear power plant built into the caves of England's countryside circa 1970 jolts some of them awake and they start preparing to take their planet back regardless of the johnny-come-lately hominids that seem to have taken their place. The premise alone is incredibly imaginative and astutely draws upon some of the latest geological theories of the day while providing the crux of the story's mature complexity: there are no absolute good guys or bad guys here, only conflicting interests who through mutual fear, suspicion, misunderstanding, and xenophobia both end up tragically resorting to violence rather than the compromise and coexistence the Doctor tries and fails to broker between them.
Speaking of the Doctor, it's hard to believe that this is only Jon Pertwee's second story in the role. He's already quintessentially the third Doctor: dapper, dashing, and dynamic, delightfully sarcastic with petty authority, an eccentric individualist incongruously stuck with a hierarchical military organization. The camaraderie and conflict between him and the Brigadier is well depicted, and the clash between one's martial pragmatism and the other's principled idealism (both understandable under the circumstances) propels the plotline forwards and gives the conclusion its forlorn sting. The Doctor's assistant, Liz Shaw, is more than just a pretty face here, but one can see her scientific expertise already slipping inexorably to the back burner despite the production staff's best intentions. Last but not least, a great variety of supporting characters with memorable personality quirks and motivations all add essential twists and turns to the story's tragic progress, and a strikingly bizarre soundtrack (sounding like a schizophrenic mix of Stravinsky and Javanese Gamelan music) gives it an unforgettably appropriate eerie ambiance.
In short, "Doctor Who and the Silurians" is every bit as excellent as I remember, and it looks even better. The version I saw in the '80's was patched together from color and black & white episodes, while for this DVD all seven episodes have been painstakingly restored--in full color as originally intended and as sharp an image as possible under the chancy circumstances of its survival. Of course, the Silurians appeared a bit more convincing in monochrome as I recall, so the gain in authenticity and quality is ironically somewhat of a mixed blessing. But to expect a BBC production in 1970 to display the whiz-bang special effects of today would be unrealistic folly in the first place. Instead I would suggest losing yourself in this adventure's consummate science fiction storytelling at its best, then your imagination will do the rest.
P.S. As fate would have it, this was not the last time the Doctor would try to referee between two sets of Earthlings, reptile and mammal, and "Doctor Who and The Silurians" can be purchased together with those later two adventures conveniently in one set: Doctor Who - Beneath The Surface (Doctor Who And The Silurians / The Sea Devils / Warriors Of The Deep).

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It's a rude awakening for the Silurians, an intelligent dinosaur race only now emerging from a hibernation begun at the dawn of the Ice Age.DVD Features:Audio CommentaryDocumentariesMusic Only TrackPhoto galleryProduction Notes

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Doctor Who - Beneath The Surface:The Silurians, The Sea Devils, and Warriors Of The Deep (Stories 52, 62, and 161) Review

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(More customer reviews)I have been a huge fan of the original Doctor Who series since I was a boy. My local PBS station used to run Doctor Who on Saturday night, and it was a highlight of my boyhood weekends. As a boy, the episodes being released in this set were among my favorites because I loved sea monsters and the Silurians and Sea Devils were great looking creatures.
As an adult, I now have a special appreciation for the unique nature of the Silurians and Sea Devils in the history of Doctor Who creatures. Most of the antagonists that the Doctor encounters in the series are evil aliens and monsters bent on destruction and conquest. But the Silurians and Sea Devils aren't. Instead, they were the original inhabitants of the Earth during pre-historic times, and they want their planet back from the "ape-descended primitives" who now occupy it, i.e. humans. If you see it from their point of view, they just want their home back. The Doctor does see it, and several times seeks to negotiate a peace between them and humanity, pointing out that both species can share the planet since the reptilian Silurians can live in environments that humans avoid.
In "the Silurians", the Doctor (Jon Pertwee) makes his first attempt at negotiated settlement between humanity and the Silurians. But he is thwarted by closed minded individuals among both the Silurians and Humans. In many ways, the humans look more evil than the Silurians in this storyline, although some of the Silurians do take monstrous steps to try to wipe out humanity. In the end, human fear takes advantage of the Doctor's success in countering the destructive plans of the rogue Silurians. The Doctor finds himself disgusted by humanity and even by the actions of his friend, the Brigadier. By the way, for fans of the Brigadier, this story represents some of Nicholas Courtney's best work on the series.
In "the Sea Devils," a cousin species of the Silurians begins to pop up off the coast of Britain and strike out against the humans who once again have invaded their territory. Once again, the Doctor (Pertwee) attempts a negotiated settlement. But this time his plans are thwarted by the Master, who wishes to use the Sea Devils and their superior technology to conquer humanity.
Fast forward in time a decade to the years of Peter Davidson as the Doctor. The Silurians and Sea Devils, together, return in a future Earth time period for the magnificent Doctor Who story "Warriors of the Deep." This time, the Silurians and Sea Devils will not hear the Doctor's entreaties for a negotiated settlement with humanity. Their previous experience with humans has taught them that the human race can not be trusted. They decide they have no alternative but to wipe out humanity once and for all in order to reclaim the world they once called home.
To do so, they assault and take over an undersea missile base to start a nuclear war that will destroy the "ape-primitives" with their own weapons. The Doctor is forced to make a choice-either destroy the Silurians and Sea Devils or let them slaughter all of humanity? In the Doctor's own simple, yet heartbreakingly spoken words, "there should have been another way." This compelling story gives Peter Davidson a chance to shine as a dramatic actor, with the Doctor not sure who he is more angry with-the Silurians or the humans. Especially since in a sub-story, human agents from a rival power have also infiltraited the sea base and unleash murder and treachery even amongst the Silurian and Sea Devil onslaught.
I am so pleased that these stories that span two Doctors and two decades are being released as a set. The stories of the Doctor's encounters with the Silurians and Sea Devils I think will become all the more compelling when taken as a whole. If the DVD quality is as good as the other Doctor Who releases have been so far, especially in terms of the commentaries and special features, this set will be a must have for Doctor Who fans.


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All three classic battles with the Silurians and the Sea Devils! Doctor Who and the Silurians Exiled to Earth and now working for UNIT as their scientific advisor, the Doctor is summoned to an underground research center at Wenley Moor to investigate a series of inexplicable power losses. Initially suspecting sabotage, he soon discovers that the nearby cave system conceals a colony of an ancient race called the Silurians. Awaking from a hibernation which has lasted millions of years, they are now planning to reclaim the Earth from humankind. The Sea Devils Arrested after the events at Devils End, the Master has been incarcerated at a top security prison on a remote island off the south coast of England. When the Doctor and Jo Grant pay a visit to their old enemy, they find him a reformed character. But can the spate of mysterious shipping accidents and garbled reports of sea monsters in the local area really be a coincidence? The Doctor soon finds himself pitted against the Sea Devils, an ancient race of reptile intent on eliminating humankind and reclaiming the Earth for themselves. Warriors of the Deep Earth, 2084. Two global superpowers hover on the brink of war. When the TARDIS is forced to make an unplanned visit to Sea Base Four, the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough find themselves accused of being enemy agents. Quickly embroiled in a deadly game of paranoid intrigue, it becomes clear that others on the base have sabotage and murder in mind. However, there is a greater threat to humankind: the Silurians and Sea Devils, prehistoric reptiles seeking to reclaim the Earth. Can the Doctor prevent them from implementing their "final solution" and triggering a war that could wipe out the entire human race?

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Doctor Who: Warriors of the Deep (Story 131) Review

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(More customer reviews)Warriors of the Deep was part of Peter Davison's 3rd and final season as the young & vulnerable 5th incarnation of the Doctor. Final down to a mere two companions, Davison's run as the Doctor had it's fair share of returning classic foes, this time was a double dip. The Sea Devils and the Silurians, both from Jon Pertwee's run as the third Doctor, are really a natural pairing as they are both prehistoric-sea species of Earth, it is almost astonishing that it hadn't been done earlier. Although the earlier incarnation of the Doctor could very easily been inserted in the place of the actual incumbent, most of the dialogue could have come from that era, down to the Doctor's thinly veiled distain for the destroyer / conqueror side of Humanity, thus his classic closing quote draws in sharp relief the return of the love/hate attitude that was in so much the third Doctor's lines, "there should have been another way..." This time the monsters are indigenous Earth prehistoric creatures so the humans are already the invaders in the scenario. Last time the Doctor faced the Silurians he made some hard choices of conscience bordering on treason (in UNIT's eyes) to do the right thing, as it were. This time that moral convection kind seems worn and thin, admittedly inspite of his young appearance this is an older Doctor, and in this story, a usually pessimistic Doctor. This the 131st story or the six-hundredth and third episode of the 21st season aired in 1984. This was really a golden-age for the series (much like now with the 2005 return of the show). Of course, Tom Baker, like most Americans my age was "my Doctor," but having followed the show through the reworking of the series by executive producer John-Nathan Turner (much like Russell T. Davies reworking for the 21st cen. ) I was as invested in Davison's portrayal as Baker's. This particular season was maybe the darkest of the series history (up `til then, see the Attack of the Cybermen with the 6th Doctor), with dark stories like Resurrection of the Daleks and the Caves of Androzani following this one, all with high body counts. "Warriors of the Deep" is set, like many of this era in the futuristic twenty-first century where a deep undersea base is under attack. Unlike most stories in Doctor Who's history the returning reptilians are unceremoniously revealed seconds into the show, as opposed to the traditional monster reveal at the closing minutes of the 1st part. Anyway, minus the loss of suspense, the creatures, like all returning monsters are all "80ed" up with body armor and latex. Another mystery revealed early is the entire plan of the baddies, followed by the Doctor's discovery of an obvious story resolution minutes upon boarding the base. This discovery is the Hexachromite gas which is serendipitously deadly to all reptile life.
The human characters aren't particularly likeable (maybe it's the eye shadow), partly by design to make us more sympathetic towards the oppressed sea species, very much the voice of the 80's, if only Sting had arrived in time to perform a benefit concert for them.
Unfortunately the "monster" characters are no more likeable, between the Sea Devils and the Silurians weird voices their lines are hard to understand and all that costume and latex remove all opportunity for any facial expressions from the characters. But, the Doctor's companions aren't free of blame, Tegan and Turlough (who are both intolerable at the best of times) immediately leave the Doctor for dead deciding he's drowned instantly because his fallen in some water at the episode's cliffhanger. Turlough does counter this later by melodramatically offering that Tegan save herself while he scurries toward eminent danger (which just seem contradictory, really.) Speaking of companions...where is Kamelion, the shape-shifting robot, who will serve as a plot device in "Planet of Fire?"
Are his batteries low?
One major complaint about this one is on the technical side, the Silurians secret weapon is an oversized sea monster which sets Doctor Who back decades! In what is a pretty good story arc, with the return of some classic monsters, we have the "WORST CREATURE" presentation in I would dare to say the series multi-decade history (20 years at the point this was aired.) Bar none. The Myrka, as it is called looks like a scale pantomime lizard-horse, which is precisely what it is. Obviously, a couple of actors shuffling down halls, really well-light halls I might add. But to add insult to injury one character sees fit to disbatch this embarrassing creature in the most embarrassing manner, ninja-kick to the lizard gut!!! Pity considering the underwater base is one of the best sets of the season.
Over all this one just mixes too many genres to work effectively. It seems unsure of weather it wants to be a stylized action adventure or meaty drama with true emotional impact, resulting in flatly achieving neither. I love the 5th Doctor's final season but this one was poorly handled, even if it does round off a trilogy of prehistoric monster stories including: "The Silurians" and "The Sea Devils." Both of those should be released along with this DVD. Watch for Doctor Who - Beneath The Surface (Doctor Who And The Silurians / The Sea Devils / Warriors Of The Deep)the boxed set.
Some Drinking games for Warriors of the Deep:
Drink whenever...
--Someone or something dies
--camera cuts to someone wearing too much make-up
---the flashy thing on the Silurian's head flashes
--you lament your purchase


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"These human beings will die as they have lived-in a sea of their own blood!" The year is 2084, and two power-blocs are poised on the brink of war. Using a series of undersea complexes and deep-space satellites, each bloc carefully monitors the other's movements, slowly edging towards the moment when one will launch an all-out nuclear attack on the other. Arriving on Sea Base Four, the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough are rapidly drawn into the web of intrigue which enmeshes this era's paranoid political maneuverings. Not everyone on board the base is working for the same team, and the officer directly responsible for implementing the bases nuclear capability has died in mysterious circumstances. Amid this already tense atmosphere, the crew of Sea Base Four faces an even greater threat to mankind. The Silurians and Sea Devils, prehistoric reptile men who went into hibernation millions of years before, have reawoken and intend to launch another attempt to reclaim the Earth from humanity. The Doctor must tackle enemy sabotage and face the Myrka, a giant marine monster. But can he prevent the Silurians from implementing their "final solution" - launching the missiles to start a war that threatens to wipe out the human race?DVD Features:Audio CommentaryFeaturetteMusic Only TrackPhoto galleryProduction Notes

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