May 13: Doctor Who and the Silurians Episode 7 / The Ambassadors of Death Episode 1

Episode 7 is a bit less morally complex than the other episodes.  The cure has been found, the Doctor has been taken into the Silurians' base (merely incapacitated, not killed by the Silurians), and a scheme is hatched by the Silurians to destroy the part of the atmosphere that keeps things cool (Liz Shaw says they want to destroy the Van Allen belt, but we'll assume she misspoke and meant the ozone layer).  The Silurians hope to kill off humanity and make the planet more habitable for them at the same time.  This also leads to the wonderful juxtaposition of seeing the Silurians inside the Wenley Moor research facility, menacing the scientists and setting up their molecular disperser.  But thanks to some quick thinking from the Doctor, the reactor goes into overload (fun fact: dropping all the fuel rods into the reactor at once will only lead to a slow-building overload rather than an instant catastrophic explosion -- well, maybe things are designed differently in the Doctor Who universe) and the Silurians decide to go back into hibernation before the whole place becomes radioactive.  Fortunately, you can rewire a console to prevent a nuclear meltdown (fun fact #2), so the place is saved.

The Doctor watches as the Brigadier blows up the Silurians' base.
(Doctor Who and the Silurians Episode 7) ©BBC

But then the Doctor wants to go back and talk to the Silurians again: "One at a time, so that we can reason with them.  There's a wealth of scientific knowledge down here, Brigadier, and I can't wait to get started on it."  This alarms the Brigadier (and, presumably, the government as well), so as the Doctor leaves to gather equipment and scientists, the Brigadier wires the place with explosives and blows it up -- much to the appallment of the Doctor.  "But that's murder.  They were intelligent alien beings.  A whole race of them.  And he's just wiped them out."

Doctor Who and the Silurians is a pleasingly nuanced and complex story.  Malcolm Hulke's aforementioned complaint about only having mad scientists and alien invasion stories available to the series has been sidestepped by Hulke himself with a lovely "what if?" serial about prior inhabitants of the planet.  There are also some nice morally ambiguous puzzles: do the Silurians have any right to the planet still?  Is there a way to coexist peacefully?  Could humanity -- who aren't averse to killing each other over squabbles, never mind a completely different intelligent species -- actually accept the presence of Silurians?  And then laid over this is an engaging story about reptile men and their effect on people; in other words, something for everyone to enjoy, not just those willing to engage with the philosophical questions.  In this regard, Doctor Who and the Silurians is one of the most adult (in the positive sense of the word, as opposed to the Torchwood meaning) stories the series has yet produced.  More like this, please.

But now we move on to another seven-part story with The Ambassadors of Death.  This is the earliest episode of Doctor Who to exist on its original 2" Quad tape, rather than on a 16mm film telerecording -- so you can get some idea of what the picture quality of these episodes originally was.

This one opens a bit differently: we get the Doctor Who title sequence and then we start the episode, as the basic set-up is laid out (spaceship Recovery 7 is trying to link up with Mars Probe 7, because "something took off from Mars"), and, with the first use of the "sting", normally associated with the end credits, we get the title: "The Ambassadors", followed a beat later by "OF DEATH", appearing with a sproing.

Other than that what we have is the makings of a good thriller.  There's trouble afoot with the two spacecrafts' link-up, and a strange message is transmitted to Earth -- only to have a reply sent back from somewhere in London.  As the team at Space Control try to regain contact with Recovery 7, UNIT heads to an abandoned warehouse to find out who sent that signal.  We get a really exciting fight scene as UNIT has a pitched gun battle with whoever is sending that reply.  And great fun can be had spotting all the doubling-up of stuntmen: Derek Ware in particular shows up repeatedly on both sides, killed multiple times.

While that's going on, the Doctor is trying to translate the alien message.  When he goes to use the computers, Space Control's computer expert Dr. Bruno Taltalian pulls a gun on the Doctor and Liz.  And then finally, in its proper place, we get that glissando-like "sting" that will signify the start of the end credits for the rest of the show's run.  Hard to believe we got through six seasons without that.