Doctor Who and the Silurians - Episode 5

The cliffhanger from the previous episode wasn’t as exciting as others but what we got at the beginning of this episode is an interesting plot idea where the elder Silurian seems to be more hospitable than the senior one. The drama in the early stages of this episode is centred around the Brigadier and the UNIT soldiers are trapped in the caves. I personally wasn’t so bothered really as the main interest was coming from the Doctor’s conversations with the elder Silurians and the power struggle that seems to be coming between the elder and younger Silurian.

We learn finally why the Silurians are underground and why they have remained asleep until now. It’s a simple reason of getting confused about the moon and a problem with a timer. Despite this minor example of them being a bit silly, they have a plan (or some of them do) to try and rid humans and this is done in a good way of contaminating Major Baker with a poison and letting him come into contact with everyone else. The elder Silurian gives the Doctor the antidote and this forms the structure of the last two episodes.

Dr Lawrence continues to be the best of the supporting characters as his lack of caring over whats happening to the Doctor and the Brigadier. His mood doesn’t improve when Masters tells his that he’s going to recommend closing the facility thus ending Lawrence’s career. Speaking of Masters, he again does very little in this episode except at the end when he starts to look ill and that’s it. Miss Dawson has become the female equivalent of Major Baker. The difference is that there is a plausible reason why she is the way she is. Major Baker on the other hand does nothing but spout drivel and his only contribution is to be infected. Apart from the Doctor, Liz and the Brigadier do very little again but the Brigadier probably edged in the activity stakes as Nicholas Courtney was doing his very best running out of oxygen acting.

The cliffhanger is good because its simple yet it works because it simply ends with Jon Pertwee just says “The First One”. I think that it means that things are about to get interesting and the plan that the Silurians have got is working and there doesn’t seem like a way that they can be stopped. As an episode I think that once the business with the UNIT soldiers being trapped is dealt with then it gets better but I still found it an enjoyable episode which moved the story along significantly. The final two episodes are going to be just as good as the previous five.