Will Brooks’ 50 Year Diary - watching Doctor Who one episode a day from the very start...

Day 267: Doctor Who and the Silurians, Episode Three

Dear diary,

There's something about the Silurian's rather unique point-of-view shots that really works for me, and the dash of red to represent the creature's third eye is a great example of the programme taking advantage of the fact that it's not being made in colour. And yet… it's not the most practical of sights, is it? The Silurians have a whole eye extra to the number that we humans sport, and yet their vision seems to be massively impaired when we see from their point of view.

Still, the reveal of the creature in full at the end of this episode is very well done, and I think I'm going to have to rate it as being one of the best that I've seen since starting this marathon. Throughout today's 25 minutes, I've been swinging back and forth in my feelings towards it, so I'm glad things have come out on top. My worry - essentially - was that we'd just have the creature suddenly… sprung on us. For all my praise the other day about how good the Auton looked when we just cut to it in the forest, I didn't want my first shot of the Silurian to be done in quite the same way.

On the other hand, as the episode went on and we were given more and more glimpses of scaled hand, or a hint of claw, or indistinguishable shapes behind the foliage out on the moor… I worried that we'd perhaps not get to see one of the creatures until the next episode. I needn't have worried, though, because of course the story has pulled it off quite well. It's strange in a way because the cliffhanger effectively hinges on the creature simply strolling into the sitting room of a cottage - but it works!

I'm also pleased today to see that Bessie is actually being put to some use. In my mind, the car is just there as a part of the Third Doctor's era, but I'm glad that it's actually useful as opposed to just being a gimmick. Obviously, if the Doctor didn't own a car then they'd have surely patrolled the moor in a generic UNIT jeep, but there's something quite nice about seeing the little yellow roadster bounding down the old dirt tracks!

I'm also pleased to see the way that both the Doctor and the Brigadier react to finally making it inside the locked barn. Our favourite Man From UNIT stands in the doorway, scanning the room for the potential threat, while the Doctor brushes right past him and immediately to check on Liz. They each have a very distinct function within this set up, and it's nice to see them being so clearly drawn. Of course the Brigadier comes to check on Liz a few moments later, but his first priority is to stop the creature escaping - and quite right, too.

I'm finding myself entirely surprised by Doctor Who and the Silurians. It's another one of those stories that everyone tells you is important, and is brilliant, and has to be seen, but I've always somewhat shunned it. When the Beneath the Surface DVD box set came out a few years ago (containing this story, The Sea Devils, and Warriors from the Deep), I actively decided that I didn't want to pick it up right away. It was two Third Doctor stories after all! In the event, I did actually purchase it on day of release - but only because the TV studio I was doing my degree in at the time was at the end of a street brimming with second-hand DVD shops. At one point, there were seven of them between my flat and the studio reception, and I used to pop into them all over the week.

One of my favourites had the Beneath the Surface DVDs in the window on the day of release, each marked up separately, at a rather nice £4 each. It doesn't seem all that impressive when you can pick the set up for little more than a tenner online nowadays, but at the time it was just what I needed to kick me into buying a copy of this story.

And yet… I've still never watched it. I've not watched The Sea Devils, either. I picked all three up that day because I knew I'd not want to double up later on, but the two Pertwee stories simply went on the shelf. I'm quite glad about that, though. It means that I'm coming to this story completely cold, and it's probably benefitting from it. Apart from the fact that there's Silurians in it, I don't think there's a great deal more I could tell you about the story, and that's rare for Doctor Who. It's taken a while to get here, but it's turning out to be worth the wait!