Doctor Who and the Silurians
Settling into his exile and working with UNIT and Liz, the Doctor is more than a bit annoyed at being at the Brigadier's beck and call. UNIT are investigating a series of power losses at an underground nuclear research centre, and alongside this they have to contend with nervous breakdowns amongst the staff. The Doctor discovers that one of the base personnel has made contact with an underground colony of reptile-men called Silurians, and it is they who are causing the power losses in an attempt to revive their hibernating masses. The Silurians were the dominant life form on Earth millions of years before man evolved and they went into hibernation to avoid destruction from an approaching planet, but the planet became the moon and the Silurians slumbered on. Now awakened, the ambitious Young Silurian plans to infect mankind with a disease to wipe the planet clear of its human population, but the Doctor manages to find a cure and force the Silurians to take other measures. A plan to disperse the Van Allen radiation belt around the planet is foiled by a clever bluff, and the Brigadier takes his chance to blow up the caves used by the Silurians and seal them in forever. The Doctor is, of course, furious.
7 episodes for this one, and very good ones at that. This first season for Jon Pertwee looks a bit like the latter years of the show on paper with only a total of four adventures, but with three of them at the 7 episode length, they become small epics in their own rights. This story has the distinction of being the only one with the actual words "Doctor Who" in its title.
I love the Silurians. Script writer Malcolm Hulke does a great job establishing their history and culture, making them not mindless savage lizard creatures but a noble race with ideals and a society all their own. There is dissention in the ranks of the Silurians at the prospect of attempting to share the planet with humanity; some view the humans as equals now that they have evolved and formed their own civilization, but more agressive elements still see man as nothing more than an over-evolved ape that needs to be exterminated. It's good to be able to say that the Silurians will return over time in the series, and when the series left the air and became a novel range, the Silurians were also back, although as allies and not wary opponants. For the most part, anyways.
What's up with Liz Shaw's hair? It seems to have grown quite a bit since Spearhead from Space. Couldn't be a wig, could it? Hmm. And speaking of things cosmetic, note the second appearance of Jon Pertwee's naval tattoo on his forearm (the first time was during a shower scene in Spearhead from Space, which was a benchmark on it's own - the first time we ever saw the Doctor's nipples!) with no attempt to cover it up or anything. And now that the TARDIS is effectively grounded, the Doctor has a new vehicle: a bright yellow Edwardian puddlejumper named Bessie.
And just when you thought we were safe from the BBC archive purge that denied us the bulk of the Troughton years, here it comes again: all the colour episodes of this epic are lost, leaving overseas black and white film prints in the archive. All was not lost, however; the black and white prints were merged with off-air colour copies to form a colourized version of the story, the end result of this being somewhat muddy colours and grainy picture quality, but a colour version nonetheless. I like to think that maybe this is a better version to watch than the sharp clarity of the BBC studio sessions as it adds a different feel to the adventure, makes it look a bit less cheap. It looks old, but not like it was shot with a public broadcasting budget; the shadows are deeper, the brown skin of the Silurians is richer, but the faces of the human actors are a bit jaundiced, and the colours of the opening sequence just plain gaudy. The colourization efforts were made on a total of four of Jon Pertwee's stories where the material existed to make the attempt, but in some cases all we have left are black and white prints. It could be worse; we could be back in the mid 60's with nothing.
NEXT EPISODE : THE AMBASSADORS OF DEATH
7 episodes for this one, and very good ones at that. This first season for Jon Pertwee looks a bit like the latter years of the show on paper with only a total of four adventures, but with three of them at the 7 episode length, they become small epics in their own rights. This story has the distinction of being the only one with the actual words "Doctor Who" in its title.
I love the Silurians. Script writer Malcolm Hulke does a great job establishing their history and culture, making them not mindless savage lizard creatures but a noble race with ideals and a society all their own. There is dissention in the ranks of the Silurians at the prospect of attempting to share the planet with humanity; some view the humans as equals now that they have evolved and formed their own civilization, but more agressive elements still see man as nothing more than an over-evolved ape that needs to be exterminated. It's good to be able to say that the Silurians will return over time in the series, and when the series left the air and became a novel range, the Silurians were also back, although as allies and not wary opponants. For the most part, anyways.
What's up with Liz Shaw's hair? It seems to have grown quite a bit since Spearhead from Space. Couldn't be a wig, could it? Hmm. And speaking of things cosmetic, note the second appearance of Jon Pertwee's naval tattoo on his forearm (the first time was during a shower scene in Spearhead from Space, which was a benchmark on it's own - the first time we ever saw the Doctor's nipples!) with no attempt to cover it up or anything. And now that the TARDIS is effectively grounded, the Doctor has a new vehicle: a bright yellow Edwardian puddlejumper named Bessie.
And just when you thought we were safe from the BBC archive purge that denied us the bulk of the Troughton years, here it comes again: all the colour episodes of this epic are lost, leaving overseas black and white film prints in the archive. All was not lost, however; the black and white prints were merged with off-air colour copies to form a colourized version of the story, the end result of this being somewhat muddy colours and grainy picture quality, but a colour version nonetheless. I like to think that maybe this is a better version to watch than the sharp clarity of the BBC studio sessions as it adds a different feel to the adventure, makes it look a bit less cheap. It looks old, but not like it was shot with a public broadcasting budget; the shadows are deeper, the brown skin of the Silurians is richer, but the faces of the human actors are a bit jaundiced, and the colours of the opening sequence just plain gaudy. The colourization efforts were made on a total of four of Jon Pertwee's stories where the material existed to make the attempt, but in some cases all we have left are black and white prints. It could be worse; we could be back in the mid 60's with nothing.
NEXT EPISODE : THE AMBASSADORS OF DEATH
Labels: Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart, Liz Shaw, Silurians, The 3rd Doctor, UNIT
posted by Sean Hoover @ 9:46 AM
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