Doctor Who and the Silurians - Episode 6

The penultimate episode is where the virus starts to take hold of most people. The virus is pretty much the main focus of the story as we get to see how effective this virus is. The Silurians are a more effective villain than there had been in the last dozen stories of the Troughton era. It’s not as clear cut as a normal villain because there the possibility of the villains being tamed and the only Silurian that was likely too be peaceful has been killed which instantly cranks up the drama and know that there is another thing that the Doctor has to try and solve. It only dawned on me whilst watching this episode that I don’t worry that Pertwee’s Doctor cant deal with it. I’m not so sure whether Troughton’s Doctor or Hartnell’s Doctor would have been able to deal with it even though it’s the same character. Pertwee is having a great time being the scientist, trying to figure things out and it’s a shame that Liz Shaw is reduced to being bossed about by the Brigadier. She’s a bleedin’ scientist not a receptionist and this just feels like she’s been badly used.

Miss Dawson seems to have disappeared with only a brief line explaining where she’s gone. To be honest I cant say that I am sad to see her go because if Dr Quinn had served his purpose several episodes ago, then Miss Dawson has definitely done the same. Miss Dawson isn’t the only supporting character to be written out in this episode. We say goodbye firstly to Masters who after doing very little in the previous episodes that appeared in, made up for that in this one. Masters has left the facility and this is where trouble really starts to go as everyone he encounters becomes ill. He manages to last quite a while before he succumbs to the virus and has a very impressive death scene. Dr Lawrence takes a turn for the worst during this episode and it’s the end for him as he also gets a good death scene when he lunges for the Brigadier and seems to suffer a heart attack. As much as he was reduced to a high pitched shrieker in the latter part of his involvement in the story, I found the character to be quite fun to watch and it’s a shame that it will be several stories before we see Peter Miles again.

The cliffhanger is rather good as the Doctor is prevented from writing out the formula that will stop the virus from spreading any further. It’s agonising how close they are from sorting things out but with another episode left to run its needed to add one last bit of drama to the adventure. I think that its still working quite well and compared to most six parters that I have had to endure recently, this story shows that it is possible to make longer stories work and nothing has changed in my opinion of this story and with one episode left, I cant see that opinion changing.