262 Doctor Who and the Silurians: Episode Five

EPISODE: Doctor Who and the Silurians: Episode Five
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 262
STORY NUMBER: 052
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 28 February 1970
WRITER: Malcolm Hulke
DIRECTOR: Timothy Combe
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Barry Letts
RATINGS: 7.5 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

"He has been infected with a deadly disease which may destroy millions of his species!"

Another Silurian, the old Silurian, stops the young Silurian from attacking the Doctor. The old Silurian explains how they went into hibernation when they saw the moon approaching the Earth but the mechanism failed and they were never awakened until the Nuclear Reactor was activated. The Doctor gets the Brigadier & his men released but the Young Silurian has their scientist poison Baker with a virus and releases him. When he discovers this the Old Silurian gives the Doctor a virus sample to analyse but is then killed by the Young Silurian who proclaims that he is Leader now! The Doctor has Baker held at the centre. Masters returns to London as the centre's doctor moves Baker to the local hospital for treatment. Finding out The Doctor & the Brigadier race there to find Baker dead and the virus spreading.

I can see what Malcolm Hulke's trying to do here: He's showing us the Doctor & Old Silurian Leader trying to achieve peace:

DOCTOR: But you must see this is a highly-developed and overcrowded planet which now belongs to man.
SILURIAN: This is our planet. We were here before man. We ruled this world millions of years ago.
DOCTOR: Then why did you stay down here?
SILURIAN: A small planet was approaching the world. We calculated that it would draw off our atmosphere, destroying all life. We built this place, and suspended our lives till the atmosphere should return.
DOCTOR: A small planet? Yes, of course. But don't you see, that small planet was drawn into the Earth's orbit and became the moon? Your catastrophe never happened.

DOCTOR: But I still don't understand why you stayed down here.
SILURIAN: The hibernation mechanism was faulty. It did not function until a new energy source appeared.
DOCTOR: The power station at the research centre?
SILURIAN: Yes. We are now able to drain off its energy. But soon we shall revive our civilisation, and reclaim the Earth for ourselves.
DOCTOR: No, you mustn't, otherwise there'll be the most terrible war.
SILURIAN: You
DOCTOR: But if you trust me, I think I can persuade the humans that you are prepared to live with them on this planet in peace.
SILURIAN: There is not room for both civilisations.
DOCTOR: Oh yes, I think there is. You see, your people are used to living in extreme heat, whereas these areas on Earth are of little interest to man. I believe with your advanced technology that you could build cities in parts of the world that man has hitherto completely ignored.
SILURIAN: Would your people agree to this?
DOCTOR: Well, they're not my people, but I think I could convince them, on the condition that you release those trapped men first.
SILURIAN: Those apes have only shown hostility to us.
DOCTOR: And you to them. Someone has to make a move, otherwise this whole thing will end up in complete catastrophe.

Unfortunately everyone else is intent on killing the opposing side. On the surface Miss Dawson still wants revenge for the death of Dr Quinn:

MASTERS: Then let me ask you again. Where is the Doctor?
LIZ: He went down into the caves.
LAWRENCE: What?
LIZ: Ahead of the Brigadier. He wanted to make contact with the Silurians.
DAWSON: Make contact?
MASTERS: What was he going to say to them?
LIZ: He thought if he could warn the Silurians first.

DAWSON: He warned them? Why, the Brigadier has probably walked straight into a trap.
LIZ: He wanted to prevent bloodshed.
DAWSON: But
LIZ: He has gone down into those caves to try and help. He is risking his own life.
MASTERS: So now you expect us to send troops down there?
LIZ: No, no, no, that's the last thing he'd want.
DAWSON: Oh, never mind what your Doctor wants, he's done enough damage. Mister Masters, can't you see, you've got to get more troops and destroy these monsters.

While underground the Silurians are subject to an old vs young/cohabitation vs extermination power struggle:

YOUNG SILURIAN: He talks of sharing our planet with apes! I shall wipe them out!
SCIENTIST: You have no right to disobey him. He is our leader.
YOUNG SILURIAN: Perhaps he is no longer fit to lead us. Soon I shall be the leader. Help me, or must I destroy you too?
SCIENTIST: Very well. I will help you. When the apes used to raid our crops we used this. Millions were wiped out. Now, we could conduct an experiment on this ape.
YOUNG SILURIAN: Yes.

Fortunately the Old Silurian Leader hears of this and attempts to help the Doctor:

DOCTOR: You once had a great civilisation. I didn't realise how advanced.
SILURIAN: The other prisoner has been released.
DOCTOR: Baker? Why, that's splendid.
SILURIAN: Doctor, listen to me. He has been infected with a deadly disease which may destroy millions of his species.
DOCTOR: But this is diabolical.
SILURIAN: It is not my doing. There are those of us unwilling to share this planet.
DOCTOR: Is there any cure for this disease?
SILURIAN: No. But I have brought the bacteria. Perhaps your scientists can find a cure.
DOCTOR: Yes. Yes, of course, but you must release me at once.
SILURIAN: Come with me.

But his actions cost him his life at the hands of the young Silurian:

YOUNG SILURIAN: Why did you give him the bacteria? Do you want this species to destroy us?
SILURIAN: They will not destroy us, and we need not destroy them. Both species can live together.
YOUNG SILURIAN: That is impossible!
SILURIAN: I am the leader! I have decided!
YOUNG SILURIAN: Not any more!

YOUNG SILURIAN: He was no longer fit to lead us.

Doctor Who hasn't done much with plague and disease before: The Daleks used plague in the run up to Dalek Invasion of Earth and a common cold is a big threat in The Ark but I'm struggling to think of any other times it's come up in the first six year of the show. So it's quite shocking to see the very graphic effect it's having on Baker.

BAKER: We must blow up every entrance to those caves before the Silurians overrun us!
DOCTOR: That is precisely what we must not do.
BAKER: You!
DOCTOR: Now everyone move well away from Major Baker. Now keep right back from him. Right back.
BAKER: What are you talking about?
DOCTOR: Major Baker, you are ill. You are very, very ill.
BAKER: Oh, you don't get out of it like that. I'm placing you under arrest.
BRIGADIER: Wait
DOCTOR: Keep back from him! Look at your wrist. Look at it!

Unfortunately once again nobody listens to The Doctor:

DOCTOR: This whole place should be closed down and put in strict quarantine immediately.
LAWRENCE: It would bring the centre to a standstill.
DOCTOR: Yes, and about time too. Well I've got to get down to the research centre and try to find an antidote.
LAWRENCE: I refuse to permit this. Look, Edward, can't you stop him? This whole story is absurd.
DOCTOR: You just don't understand, do you, Doctor Lawrence?
MASTERS: I'm afraid I don't either. You say these creatures have infected us with a plague, but do you still want us to negotiate with them?
DOCTOR: That is precisely what I want. But if this bacteria isn't contained there won't be anybody left to negotiate.
LIZ: Baker's gone. Doctor Meredith's just taken him to the hospital.
DOCTOR: That's the worst thing that could have happened. Why didn't you stop him?
LIZ: I tried. He wouldn't listen.
DOCTOR: Brigadier, we've got to go down to the hospital straight away before Baker spreads that infection.
BRIGADIER: But surely hospital's the right place for Baker?
DOCTOR: Meredith does not know what he's dealing with. Nobody does! Now please, do as I say.
BRIGADIER: All right. You'll have to excuse me, sir.

Worse is to follow:

LAWRENCE: What do you want me to do?
MASTERS: This could be a national disaster. I must get back to London.
LAWRENCE: What about the research centre?
MASTERS: I'm sorry, Charles, but I intend to recommend that this centre be closed immediately.
LAWRENCE: But all my work? The delay will be crippling.
MASTERS: My report will of course exonerate you completely. I'm sure you've done everything in your power. Well, I must be going.
LAWRENCE: Are you feeling all right?
MASTERS: I didn't get any sleep last night. I'll send you a copy of my report.
LAWRENCE: Thank you, Edward.

The scenes at the Hospital were filmed at Milford Chest Hospital near many of the other locations used in the early episodes of the story.

Unfortunately the story as a whole just isn't working for me. We're on Episode 5 but it's been feeling stretched out and slow for a while now but there's still two episodes to go.

This is the only episode of the story with no Technicians in it!

Harry Swift, playing Private Robins in just this episode, had been a Scotsman in Hold/Highlander in The Highlanders.

Back to missing Pertwee episodes: As we've seen BBC Enterprises retained Black & White film copies of the first four seasons on Jon Pertwee's tenure as Doctor Who. Black & White film was the easiest method of distributing stories abroad in the seventies as many overseas broadcasters used different broadcasting systems and not many used colour. The exceptions were Australia, who bought some stories on 625 line video tape and America. America uses a different TV system to us: Ours had 625 lines, refreshed at 50 frames per second and used the PAL method of colour definition. American TV had 525 lines, refreshed at 60 frames per second and used the NTSC method of colour definition. We'll refer to these as PAL & NTSC for the sake of argument. You can convert PAL to NTSC and vice versa but always with some loss of quality somewhere along the line. Public Broadcast Stations in America & Canada took Doctor Who as converted NTSC recordings. Some of the original NTSC master tapes were recovered giving the BBC a copy of the program in colour albeit at less definition and one that could only then be played back on UK televisions by a second conversion this time back to Pal. Finally certain serials, and the Silurians is one of them, were recorded by enthusiasts off of American TV on their initial broadcast resulting in low quality tapes that do contain a colour signal that Ian Levine obtained from his contacts in the states. As these were the only colour versions of these stories the low quality tapes were kept. What happens next is such a piece of crackpot madness that you wouldn't believe it possible....

So for each Pertwee episode because there's such a range we'll be listing what format each episode is currently held in and what piece of trickery has been used to make it look better. Come back for episode 7 and I'll attempt to explain the colour recovery process which means we now have a decent looking colour copy of this story.

The quality of the colour has varied a little as the story has gone on. Episode 4 was difficult to discern what was happening in the Silurians base. That's much clearer here but I can see a slight moving banding on the scenes in the Power complex with the orangey/red background.

The day after this episode was recorded Jon Pertwee, Caroline John and Nicholas Courtney visited Ranelagh Drive in Twickenham, on the embankment of the Thames to have some publicity photos taken.

I passed this location everyday for two years on my way to college and regularly do still on the train! The bridge visible in the background is Richmond Lock and Footbridge.

Two day after this episode was broadcast the fourth Doomwatch episode Tomorrow, the Rat was shown on BBC1.