Doctor Who and the Silurians - Episode 7

It doesn’t feel like a week since I started watching this story. Compared to other long running stories, this one hasn’t felt like a seven part story but this episode is where the threads are all tied up and we get to see the Silurian’s plan in motion. The start of the episode sees the Doctor being taken by Silurians. It was a great start to the episode and there was gunfire and lots of drama. Considering the characters that we had at the beginning of the story, it surprising how few of them made it to the end of the serial.

After spending several episodes doing very little, Liz gets to do something. It’s not very much but its probably the most active that she’s been for the entire story. Caroline John is very good as Liz but its frustrating that she’s been given so little to do. She’s too smart to be a companion and she’s paying the price for her intelligence. There is one thing that doesn’t quite make sense is how she didn’t spot the massive scorch mark on the wall outside the office that the Doctor was working in.

It’s a very action packed episode with an awful lot happening. The main scene is when the Silurians are trying to get the power turned back on so that they can effectively get rid of the Van Allen belt and make the Earth a very hot place indeed. It’s due to the Doctor saving the day that the Silurians are defeated and go back into hibernation. However there is another sting in the tale when the facility is about to explode except that they are trapped and I like how this gives the Doctor the opportunity to save the day for the second time in five minutes when he messes around with some wires and hey-presto, he manages it. The Doctor’s best scene comes when he discovers that the Brigadier has blown up the caves. The look of disgust on his face is what makes this work so well. It might sound silly but I don’t like the idea that the Brigadier has gone behind the Doctor’s back as anyone who does something that the Doctor disapproves of is normally a baddie but we are suppose to like the Brigadier. It’s a unusual way to end the episode as it doesn’t end it on a high positive note but a rather glum and downbeat one.

As an episode I found it to be the most entertaining as it had everything that you would want from a Doctor Who episode and my opinion of the story and the season so far hasn’t changed. This was a cracking story that even with a seven episode running time, managed to hold my attention and another reason why I love this story is that it has a great story, great characters and the pace of the story works well.