OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 261
STORY NUMBER: 052
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 21 February 1970
WRITER: Malcolm Hulke
DIRECTOR: Timothy Combe
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Barry Letts
RATINGS: 8.2 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - Beneath the Surface (The Silurians/The Sea Devils /Warriors of the Deep)
EPISODE FORMAT: 16mm b&w film recording recoloured using 525 off air video
"Look, do you understand me? Well, what do your people want? How can we help you? How many are there of you? Tell us what we can do! No, wait! Wait! Wait! Unless you Silurians tell us what you want, the humans will destroy you!"
The Doctor tries to befriend the Silurian, as he calls it, but it's scared off by a noise outside. Major Baker escapes from the centre sickbay, goes down into the caves and is captured by the Silurians. The Doctor conceals the Silurians' existence from the Brigadier. The Doctor & Liz go into the caves where they find Baker's abandoned gear. The Doctor uses the signalling device he took from Doctor Quinn to enter the Silurian base. They find where Baker is held captive. He has been interrogated and is convinced they're going to invade. They see the Silurians using research centre power to revive more of their number from hibernation and find where the Silurians keep their dinosaur pet. There's another power failure at the centre as secretary Masters arrives. He tells Lawrence that the centre's future is at stake due to the problems. Lawrence wants UNIT out, believing the problem is a technical one that can be solved with more scientists. The Doctor tells the Brigadier not to take men into caves, but the Brigadier, Masters and Lawrence want to know what's going on. The Doctor explains, and wants to negotiate with Silurians, but Miss Dawson arrives and tells them that the Silurians killed Quinn. The Brigadier decides to attack the Silurians, while Miss Dawson is convinced Silurians want to destroy them. The Doctor decides to warn the Silurians, but is imprisoned with Baker. The Silurians trap the UNIT troops in the caves and, having foiled the assault, a Silurian attacks Doctor.
This is yet another episode that ends with some quality Pertwee goggle eyes gurning!
It's a horribly messy situation being presented in this story with lots of personal interests and prejudices coming to the surface: Dawson wants to kill the Silurians because they killed Quinn, Baker's convinced there are saboteurs and Lawrence is worried about his career & wants UNIT out. Masters is the first in a line of politicians/civil servants obstructing the Doctor during his stay on Earth and even the Brigadier, who's seen the Doctor save Earth three times now, is being obstinate and pig headed by not listening to him. Really there's very little to redeem almost all the human characters in this story, save for Liz Shaw, which might be one of the reasons I don't really get on with it. Still at least Masters isn't as bad as those who follow in his wake like Chinn in Claws of Axos and Walker in The Sea Devils!
We get to see the Silurians in force for the first time this episode.
Unfortunately the clarity of the colour restored video isn't terribly good, made worse by the dark lighting in the underground sets, which makes the Silurians hard to see. There's some nice clear pictures of the Silurians on the DVD though.
There's a big jump early in the episode when The Doctor calls the creature a Silurian: where did he pluck that name from? Purely on having seen the continents on the globe in episode 3 and dating them? Worse comes when Miss Dawson uses the same name later! We'll ignore it being completely the wrong era for reptiles to be walking around because the show itself cops to this in a later story.....and then gets it wrong *AGAIN*.
The Old Silurian and other unidentified Silurians are played by Dave Carter, who Katy Manning takes great pleasure in pointing out on DVD commentaries every time she spots him. He's already been Male Rebel in The Power of the Daleks and an IE guard in The Invasion and he'll be back for Inferno as a Primord, Terror of the Autons as a Museum Attendant, The Mind of Evil as a Prison Officer, The Mutants as a Skybase Guard, The Time Monster as a Roundhead Officer, Invasion of the Dinosaurs as Sergeant Duffy and The Android Invasion as Grierson. There's an Adam Adamant Lives! on his CV where he plays a Partygoer/Tourist in Death Has a Thousand Faces and an episode of The Tomorrow People, The Living Skins: Cold War where he's a Guard.
Carter's Old Silurian is on the right of the picture bellow left with Nigel Johns' Young Silurian on the left.
The late great Pat Gorman, who is in many Doctor who stories, plays the Silurian Scientist, who was trapped in Quinn's cottage. Since it's his first appearance in a Pertwee story we probably should have a ceremonial reading of his full Doctor Who credits: he was a Freedom Fighter/Rebel in Dalek Invasion of Earth, a Planetarian in Mission to the Unknown: Delegate Detective thinks he's Sentreal the black Christmas tree, a Greek Soldier in The Myth Makers, a Guard in Massacre, a Worker in The War Machines, a Monk in The Abominable Snowmen, a Guard in The Enemy of the World, a Cyberman in The Invasion, a Technician in The Seeds of Death and a Military Policeman in The War Games episode two. He will be back in the very next story as a Technician in The Ambassadors of Death, a Primord in Inferno, the Auton Leader in Terror of the Autons, Long, the Primitive and Voice in Colony in Space, a Coven Member in The The Dæmons, a Guard & Film Cameraman in Day of the Daleks, a Sea Devil in The Sea Devils, a UNIT Soldier in The Three Doctors, an Earth Guard/Presidential Guard/Sea Devil in Frontier in Space, a Global Chemicals Guard/'Nuthatch' Resident in The Green Death, a UNIT Corporal in Invasion of the Dinosaurs, a Guard in The Monster of Peladon, a Soldier in Planet of the Spiders, the Gate Guard in Robot part one, a Thal Soldier in Genesis of the Daleks, a Cyberman/Dead Crewman in Revenge of the Cybermen, a Guard in The Seeds of Doom, a Soldier/Brother in The Masque of Mandragora, a Chancellory Guard in The Deadly Assassin, a Medic in The Invisible Enemy, a Kro in The Ribos Operation, the Pilot in The Armageddon Factor, a Thug in City of Death part one, a Gundan in Warriors' Gate, a Foster in The Keeper of Traken, Grogan in Enlightenment, a Soldier in The Caves of Androzani, a Slave Worker and a Cyberman in Attack of the Cybermen. Of those it' easiest to spot his face in Abominable Snowmen, Planet of the Spiders, Robot and The Armageddon Factor! He's got several Blake's 7 appearances to his name as a Scavenger in Deliverance, Federation Trooper/Rebel in Voice from the Past, Trantinian planet hopper Captain in Gambit, Death Squad Trooper in Powerplay, Federation Trooper in The Harvest of Kairos & Rumours of Death, Hommik Warrior in Power, Helot in Traitor and a Federation Trooper in Games & Blake. We was also in Adam Adamant Lives! as a Guard in More Deadly Than the Sword, a Man at Club in Beauty Is an Ugly Word, a Coven Member in The Village of Evil, a War Office Guard/TA Soldier in D for Destruction and an S.S. Guard in A Sinister Sort of Service. He appears once in The Prisoner as a Hospital Orderly in Hammer Into Anvil and just once in Doomwatch as Man in Hear No Evil. His Porridge appearance in the second Christmas Special The Desperate Hours is another easy spot: he's the Prison Officer who comes into the loos as Fletcher and friends are sampling the contraband home brew. He was in two episodes of The Sweeney as a Flying Squad Officer in Thou Shalt Not Kill (director: D Camfield) & Latin Lady, and two The Tomorrow People stories: Worlds Away as the Vesh Hunter and War of the Empires as a US Marine. In the BBC The Day of the Triffids he played a Blind Man in episode 5 while in Douglas Camfield & Robert Holmes adaption of The Nightmare Man he played The Killer with Camfield using him again as a Legionnaire in Beau Geste. He was in The Professionals five times: as a Golfer in Killer with a Long Arm, a CI5 Agent in Close Quarters & Servant of Two Masters, a Security Man in Weekend in the Country and the Police Superintendent at inquest in Discovered in a Graveyard. He's a Policeman again in The Young Ones: Interesting and towards the end of his career Russell T Davies uses him in Dark Season as a Heavy.
One of the other background Silurians is Simon Cain who was Curly in The Enemy of the World and UNIT Soldier Private Upton in episode 7. He also appears in the Doomwatch episode Invasion as a Soldier.
Providing the Silurian voices is Peter Halliday. He was in The Invasion as Packer, and returns in The Ambassadors of Death as the Alien Voices, Carnival of Monsters as Pletrac, City of Death as Captain Tancredi's guard, and Remembrance of the Daleks as the Vicar. He appeared in two of the earliest television series A for Andromeda and The Andromeda Breakthrough as Doctor John Fleming. He too was in Out of the Unknown appearing in the sole completely surviving third season episode The Last Lonely Man, directed by Douglas Camfield where he played Patrick Wilson. This episode is also on the Out of the Unknown DVD Set. He appears in UFO as Dr. Segal in A Question of Priorities, the missing third season Doomwatch episode Say Knife, Fat Man as Rafael Dominguez, The Sweeney episode I Want the Man as Chief Insp. Gordon and the last first season episode of The Tripods as the Interrogator.
First appearing in this episode is Under Secretary Masters who is of played by course Geoffrey Palmer. In Doctor Who he'll be back as the Administrator in The Mutants. Over a long career he's been in nearly everything! Palmer features in Out of the Unknown three times playing the Chief Officer in the first episode No Place Like Earth, which you can see on the Out of the Unknown DVD Set, then returning in the third season as Gosford in 1+1=1.5 by Doctor Who author Brian Hayles and finally playing Jack Mervyn in he penultimate episode The Uninvited. He was in Doomwatch twice, as Major Sims in the second season episode Invasion, which is on The Doomwatch DVD and Chief Supt. Mallory in he missing third season episode Say Knife, Fat Man. He can be seen in The Sweeney as Commander Watson in Feet of Clay, Fawlty Towers as Dr. Price in The Kipper and the Corpse, The Professionals as Simon Sinclair in Where the Jungle Ends and Avery in The Ojuka Situation, in Clockwise as a Headmaster, Inspector Morse as Matthew Copley-Barnes in The Infernal Serpent, Blackadder Goes Forth as Field Marshal Haig in Goodbyeee, Ashes to Ashes as Lord Scarman in the eighth episode and Tomorrow Never Dies as Admiral Roebuck. He returned to Doctor Who as Hardaker in Voyage of the Damned, which was directed by his son Charles Palmer who's worked on many new series episodes.
Also seen here are Sergeant Hart, who was guarding Baker: He's played by Richard Steele who was Gorton in The War Games and will be a Guard in The Mark of the Rani. He'd been the television Quatermass and the Pit as a Sightseer in Hob.
Travis, the technician controlling the power room during the cut, is played by Ian Talbot who returns as Klout in The Leisure Hive. According to IMDB he was awarded the O.B.E. in the 2008 Queen's New Years Honours List for his services to drama as the former Artistic Director of the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park in London, England
No new Technicians this episode, just Alex Hood, Barry Kennington, Michael Earl, Keith Ashley, Olive MacNeill and Pat Matthews from earlier episodes.
Given the large amounts of location work in the previous two episode it's something of a surprise to discover that this is the only episode of Doctor Who in the first two years of Jon Pertwee's time as the Doctor to be completely filmed in the studio with no location work.
Two day after this episode was broadcast the third Doomwatch episode Burial at Sea was shown on BBC1.
No comments:
Post a Comment