Doctor Who "Doctor Who and the Silurians - Episode 5" (1970)

This episode strains the hope of peaceful relations between the humans and Silurians to the breaking point. The Doctor is under attack by the Young Silurian (Nigel Johns), who was also responsible for trapping the UNIT troops when the Old Silurian (Dave Carter), who is also the Leader, intervenes stating the Young Silurian has exceeded his authority. The Doctor makes another plea for the Silurians to listen to him as a full scale war with the humans will leave them devastated which Major Baker sees as an act of treason. The Doctor manages to convince the Old Silurian to hear him out and he is taken to the control center of the Silurian base. Pertwee shines as the Doctor in these scenes as he adamantly works to gain the trust of the Old Silurian, who appears reasonable and does not want to see undue harm come to his own people. We see that the Old Silurian is much like the Doctor, he is pragmatic and even though his people have a rightful claim to the planet as they populated the Earth long before humans had even evolved, he is sensible enough to understand that the humans have formed their own civilized society now and a war could lead to the extinction of one, if not both, species. Meanwhile the Young Silurian who allows his hate for the "apes" who have taken over their world coupled with his own ambition hatches a plan to introduce a bacteria to the general population through Major Baker which will gradually begin to kill off the humans.

With regards to the Silurians themselves, as we begin to see more and more of the costumes it becomes quite apparent that they are in fact costumes. While the first three episodes were quite effective in only showing parts of the Silurians, fulls figures shrouded in darkness and point-of-view shots, the full view of the costumes that become more common as the serial moves forward unfortunately begins to diminish the presence of the Silurians as a whole. On the upside the voices of the Silurians are done quite well due to the fact that a professional actor (Peter Halliday) was hired to do the voice overs. The lip sync between his voices and the mouths of the headpieces are also rather well done and when the shot is limited to just the head dressing, the Silurians are more believable and effective.

The parallel between the human and Silurian attitudes is also interesting. On both sides there are advocates for both peace and violent action and all of the characters are entirely justified in their point of views. Miss Dawson is of particular interest, simply by the fact that even though she is not sure of the Silurian intentions, the fact that they killed Dr. Quinn, who it is hinted she cared about a great deal, blinds her objectivity and leads her to call for hostile action. Dr. Lawrence continues to fret over his own career and standing refusing to believe the reports of these monsters in the caves. This has little to do with his own ignorance and more with his personality traits. As a practical man he cannot comprehend concepts outside the normal scope of human knowledge and the fact that his personal self-esteem is tied to his career fuels his increasing obstinacy in the face of more and more evidence. On the Silurian side, the Young Silurian feels that their planet has been taken from them by essentially animals and it understandable that he would go to great lengths to ensure his species' survival. His murder of the Old Silurian when he discovers he released the Doctor with a sample of the bacteria to find a cure is shocking but he views the former Leader much like Baker viewed the Doctor, a traitor to the respective species who must be stopped at all costs. The plague begins at the cliffhanger with the death of Major Baker and the Doctor assures us this is only the first.

Favorite moment: While the Doctor is negotiating with the Old Silurian, Baker calls out from his cage branding the Doctor a traitor and warning him to think before he continues to aide those who would wish to destroy the human race. Pertwee does a little twitch upon hearing Baker's calls and it speaks volumes with regards to the Doctor's conscience. While he believes he is doing the right thing, he has had to deceive his colleagues and place his friends in great danger if the Silurians do decide to turn on humanity. The fact that the Doctor has this struggle with his conscience shows that at his hearts he realizes he is capable of making mistakes and the consequences of those mistakes can be disastrous.