 |
| Silurian warriors prepare to attack. |
2 episodes: The Hungry Earth, Cold Blood. Approx. 84 minutes. Written by: Chris Chibnall. Directed by: Ashley Way. Produced by: Peter Bennett.
THE PLOT
Wales, 2020. The TARDIS brings the Doctor, Amy, and Rory to a tiny drilling operation, which has just succeeded in drilling further into the Earth than has ever successfully been done. Nasreen (Meera Syal), the scientist in charge of the projec,t is hoping to find new minerals. Instead, they activate the defense systems of a suberranean civilization, a reptilian species that ruled the planet long before humans evolved: The Silurians!
The drill has registered as an attack by the Silurian defense systems, which have awakened a small number of warriors in response. These warriors quickly take hostages from among the humans above, including Amy, and use their advanced technology to encase the small human settlement beneath an invisible dome. Now the Doctor must fend off the forthcoming attack and prepare to go beneath the surface himself, in an effort to negotiate for a peaceful outcome.
CHARACTERS
The Doctor: As in previous Silurian stories, the Doctor wants to find a way to broker peace between the humans and the reptilians, only to find his efforts stymied by angry elements on both sides. As in the original Silurian story, it appears his efforts would have been unsuccessful even without bad acts by the humans, as the military Silurian has already decided that a coup is more acceptable than sharing the planet. When The Crack becomes visible in the Silurian caves, he pauses in his own fascination with it - which ends up having a grievous cost.
Amy: Her firm choice of Rory shows itself in her eagerness to wear the engagement ring that she previously has not worn. She remains highly observant, and figures out while exploring the Silurian caves the correct path to the surface.
Rory: With Amy absent from most of the first episode, Rory spends a lot of time partnered with the Doctor. They work well together, particularly when they're not distracted by competing for Amy's attention. The Doctor shows a lot of trust in him. He leaves Rory in charge when he and Nasreen go into the Silurian caves, and wants him to be the one to speak for the humans when they communicate with the surface via Silurian technology. Arthur Darvill has done a splendid job of making Rory into someone very easy to like - which makes the ending that much more effective.
The Silurians: The Silurian design has been updated, and is substantially less rubbery than in the 1970 story. The tradeoff is that it's a lot more ordinary. The Silurians look more convincing... but they also look like Star Trek aliens, which is to say humans wearing green makeup with a few latex attachments. This was probably necessary. The rubber monsters of yore would never stand up on modern television. One element that I definitely find less successful than the original, though, is the Silurian POV shots. The original story used a kind of triple-shot that made the bits from the creatures' perspective extremely visually interesting. This story uses... a green lens filter and some post-production effects.
THOUGHTS
You can tell Chris Chibnall was a fan of the classic series. This story is very much like Classic Who in pacing and style. The story elements are lifted almost wholesale from the Pertwee era. The story itself, with the Doctor desperately trying to negotiate a peaceful settlement between humans and Silurians, is essentially a faster-paced remake of Dr. Who & the Silurians. The other major plot element, of the drill going deep beneath the surface, is a clear callback to Inferno. For that matter, the "future Amy and Rory" bit was probably cribbed from a bit with the future Doctor and Jo in Day of the Daleks. This is not a criticism, as I rather enjoy having a new series story evoke the classic series so authentically.
The Hungry Earth is nowhere near as good as the original Silurian story. Then again, that story is one of my all-time favorites of either series - probably of any series - so matching it is hardly a fair gauge by which to measure success. This is entertaining throughout, with a highly suspenseful and atmospheric first episode. In what's probably a nod to the original Silurian story, the Silurians themselves are held back until around the 30 minute mark, which helps to build up the threat and mystery surrounding them.
As is typical of multi-parters, the second half is not as good as the first. It remains highly watchable, with the story shifting gears from "action" to "talk" and back again effectively. The set design of the Silurian lair is wonderful, and Ashley Way directs with a lot of visual style.
But it falls prey to taking a complex situation and making it ridiculously simplistic. The Silurian power struggle between the militant young soldier, the wise old leader, and the gentle scientist (who performs vivisection on fully awake specimens, though the second episode would like us to forget that as quickly as possible, thank you), is a little too on-the-nose. Why not mix it up and have the soldier be the one who wants peace, while the scientist wants to subjugate the "ape-creatures" in order to study them? Why not let the leader be on the fence between peace and war, rather than being a clear peacemaker from his very first entrance? The DVD extras have the production team talking about making the Silurians into more distinctive characters than in the 1970's serial. As far as I could see, the major Silurian characters here all fit neatly into their little boxes, with each of them filling the exact role in the plot that you'd predict!
Then there's the truly absurd "peace summit," as the Doctor, Rory, and a couple of human scientists are apparently able to negotiate with the Silurians on behalf of the entire planet. Again, the Pertwee serial acknowledged the existence of complexities. It was clear that, if negotiations were agreed to, they would still have to happen with world leaders at a later date. Here, apparently any random person can cede a large chunk of land on behalf of the entire planet as long as the Doctor says it's OK. Because we all know that nothing can go wrong when outside forces grant land to a group without input from those who already lay claim to that land.
This does reinforce my fears that the new series' faster pace has come at the cost of making the show overly simplistic. If even a two-parter can't be bothered to treat a difficult and delicate situation with genuine complexity, then what hope for the single-part pieces that make up the bulk of the show?
It's still not a bad 2-parter. Even the second episode is highly watchable, and the ending is a knockout. But this could have been outstanding, if only just this once the new series had been willing to sacrifice pace to complexity, instead of the other way around.
Rating: 6/10.
Previous Story: Amy's Choice
Next Story: Vincent and the Doctor
Search Amazon.com for Doctor Who
Review Index
No comments:
Post a Comment