Doctor Who: The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood

Chris Chibnall's two-part Doctor Who story sees the return of the Silurians, aka the Eocenes, aka Homo Reptilia, aka Earth Reptiles, aka the Cave Monsters -- and probably a few other names I'm forgetting. I don't think any other Doctor Who creatures have had so many alternate names.

The Silurians originally appeared on television in 1970. The creation of writer Malcolm Hulke, the Silurians are not aliens from another world. Rather, they are the original dominant species on Earth in prehistoric times, when humanity's distant ancestors were nothing more than primitive ape-like creatures.

After millennia of ruling the Earth, the Silurians' scientists predicted that a massive asteroid would crash into the planet. All over the globe, the various sub-species of Homo Reptilia went into suspended animation. Their computers were programmed to revive them after the asteroid hit the Earth and the global climate finally returned to normal.

Unfortunately for the Silurians, they had miscalculated. The asteroid did not impact, but was instead captured by the Earth's gravitational pull, becoming the Moon. And so the Silurians slept on for tens of thousands of years, while the "apes" they regarded as lowly pests evolved into the human race.

Flash forward to the present day, when humanity's explorations beneath the surface of the Earth began to finally awaken isolated groups of Silurians. The Doctor, a long-lived alien with a broad, cosmic perspective on events, saw that both species had an equal claim to the Earth. Unfortunately, despite his efforts to negotiate peace between the two species, both Homo Sapiens and Homo Reptilia seemed determined to wipe the other out.

In a way, this is not surprising. I mean, human beings cannot even get along with each other peacefully. We will murder each other over religion, skin color, politics, natural resources, money, and a dozen other reasons that, when you come right down to it, are just stupid and pointless. So if a race of prehistoric reptile men suddenly popped up claiming ownership of the Earth, I doubt we would welcome them with open arms. No, it's rather more likely that we'd attempt to destroy them completely.

I've never seen the original 1970 serial The Silurians all the way through, but I have read Malcolm Hulke's novelisation (re-titled The Cave Monsters) several times. It is one of the darkest, most morally complex, Doctor Who stories ever told. To quote Doctor Who Magazine issue #422, "the Silurians have the unfortunate effect of bringing out the very worst in humanity."

When I saw that The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood were written by Chris Chibnall, I initially groaned. Chibnall was the original head writer on Who spin-off Torchwood, and the first year of that series was very spotty in quality. For example, Countrycide seemed like the Torchwood team had wandered into a particularly twisted & violent episode of Criminal Minds. And did everyone have to spend the entire first season having sex with everyone else?

So I was very pleasantly surprised at the high quality of the two-part return of the Silurians. Perhaps writing for an all-ages show resulted in Chibnall reigning in most of his excessively gritty writing tics. Or maybe current Doctor Who show runner Steven Moffat was a positive influence. Whatever the case, The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood were a fine pair of scripts.

Set in Wales in the year 2020, the Eleventh Doctor arrives with his companions Amy Pond and Rory Williams. An experimental drilling project headed up by Nasreen Chaudhry is burrowing deep into the ground. What Nasreen does not realize is that directly below is a massive subterranean city of Homo Reptilia. Mistaking the drilling for an unprovoked attack, the Silurians dispatch warriors to the surface to capture humans for interrogation. Amy is abducted, along with both the son-in-law and grandson of the drill's project manager Tony Mack. During the assault, Tony is also infected with venom by the Silurians, leaving his daughter Ambrose fearing that she is going to lose everything.

The Doctor and Rory capture Alaya, one of the Silurian soldiers. Hoping that he can arrange an exchange of hostages, and then try to set up peace negotiations between humans and Homo Reptilia, the Doctor (accompanied by Nasreen) heads underground to the Silurian city. Before departing, the Doctor leaves Rory in charge. He also encourages Tony and Ambrose to put aside their prejudices & ignorance, to represent the very best that humanity is capable of, and ensure that Alaya remains unharmed.

However, Ambrose, distraught by the kidnapping of her husband and son, as well as the poisoning of he father, is desperate to save her family. She uses a taser in an attempt to force Alaya to reveal a cure for Tony. Tragically, Ambrose does not realize that Silurians' bodies function differently from humans, and she accidentally kills Alaya.

Restac, the military commander of the Silurians, is also Alaya's sister. Already itching for an excuse to destroy the "apes," Restac learns of her sibling's death, giving her what she feels is ample justification to declare war. She awakens the hibernating Silurian warriors and initiates a coup against the city's leadership as a prelude to invading the surface world.

And so we see that the Doctor is correct, that humans and Silurians are more alike than different, albeit in a way he never wanted to address. Namely, both species are driven to rash action by fear & grief, and both are more than willing to kill members of their own kind. Ambrose and Restac are opposite sides of the same coin, ready to resort to violence to protect their families and civilizations.

Regarding Ambrose's actions, I find it very difficult to judge her too harshly. She did not intend to kill Alaya. Given the desperate circumstances Ambrose found herself in, can any of us say with absolute certainty that we would have acted differently? As for Restac, though she is an incredibly ruthless individual, we see that she is genuinely devastated by the death of her sister. That certainly helps explain, though it does not excuse, her subsequent attempt to overthrow her own government and attack humanity.

In the end, to avert war, the Doctor, aided by the Silurian's civilian leader Eldane, places the whole city back into suspended animation, set to reawaken in one thousand years. The Doctor hopes that a millennium in the future, humanity will have become enlightened enough to be able to share the Earth with the Silurians. Certainly, given that in Doctor Who continuity by the year 3000 AD humans will have traveled out into space and contact with aliens will be commonplace, it is likely that mankind will be more open to co-existing with the Silurians. This is a rather more optimistic conclusion than the previous three television appearances by Homo Reptilia, which saw them all seemingly killed.

Mind you, as far as setting up a positive atmosphere for peace negotiations, the Doctor really needs some practice. He informs the Silurians that another group of Homo Reptilia had previously been destroyed by the human military. The Doctor really ought to have clarified, and explained that this was in retaliation to the Silurians' efforts to exterminate mankind with a lethal plague.

It's worth noting that the Silurian weapons in Cold Blood were designed to resemble those used by their aquatic cousins way back in the 1972 serial The Sea Devils. In Doctor Who Magazine #422, Chibnall explains "I really wanted that, to show that they are related and have the same technology." It's a nice, subtle use of continuity. Long-time viewers such as myself will pick up on that, and appreciate the nod to past stories. Newer fans probably won't get the reference, but it's an incidental detail that won't detract from understanding the story.

I think that this is probably one of the best ways to use continuity in the revived Doctor Who. It acknowledges the past, but it does not require that younger viewers have an encyclopedic knowledge of decades-old stories to be able to follow what's going on.

The big twist ending to Cold Blood was the death of Rory, who sacrifices his life to save the Doctor from Restac. We haven't seen one of the Doctor's companions die in a long time. Making matters worse, one of those cracks in time & space that have been popping up all season appears. The energy from it sucks up poor Rory's corpse, in effect erasing him from history. Talk about adding insult to injury. This results in Amy completely forgetting that her fiancé ever existed. And so the Doctor sadly knows just what Amy has lost, even if she does not.

I'm surprised at how quickly I've warmed to Matt Smith as the latest incarnation of the Doctor. Normally it takes me several episodes after a regeneration to get used to the new guy. But by only his second story, I was already fond of Smith's portrayal. His Doctor reminds me quite a bit of Peter Davison's, but with his own unique spin.

I was initially leery of the Doctor being played by such a young actor. But Smith really does a brilliant job, portraying the Doctor as an old soul inhabiting what appears to be a very young body, and taking full advantage of the drama caused by this dichotomy. I hope Smith stays in the role of the Doctor for at least a few years.

All in all, The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood was one of the strongest entries so far in the 2010 season of Doctor Who. Hopefully the remaining episodes of the year will maintain that level of quality.