strange_complex | New Who 5.8: The Hungry Earth

Well, so far this seems to be set up to play out along very similar lines to Three's The Silurians. It's foregrounding all the same issues around who is an 'alien' and who is indigenous; who has the greater claim over the Earth; and whether the behaviour of the humans is actually going to drive the Silurians into hostility. Fantastic, because the ethical dilemmas at the heart of the original story really are its strength. And it's great to see how well aware of its heritage the script is, even addressing the classic question of whether these beings should really be called Silurians or, as the Doctor says, Eocenes or simply Homo Reptilia. The costume department clearly know their heritage, too, and have carefully worked a Sea Devil-style string vest into the Silurian warrior's costume.

Meanwhile, Amy and Rory's relationship issues are still being worked through. We get a guarantee that they will still be together in 2020, and though the Blinovitch Limitation Effect isn't mentioned directly (any more than in Father's Day), there's enough there for a Classic fan to know darned well that that's why the Doctor won't let them go and meet their future selves. Interesting, though, that Rory doesn't actually want Amy to wear their engagement ring - so maybe he is now also complicit in her desire to temporarily postpone their wedding day while they run around with the Doctor? That's kind of cool for him if so - it means he doesn't need to worry any more, as he knows he will be able to have a settled life with Amy in the end. And meanwhile, he can share in the fun that she is having before that happens.

The handling of under-privileged social groups seems good so far. Meera Syal as Nasreen Chaudhry is fantastic so far. She's entirely ready to listen to the Doctor when he tells her to stop the drilling in order to save Amy, absolutely fascinated by what the TARDIS can do, and I note from Wikipedia too that her character is a doctor (though I hadn't caught that in the script), making her the second Asian female with a doctorate so far this season. Then we have Elliot, the precocious Welsh kid who listens to Sherlock Holmes audio-books because he has dyslexia. No problem, says the Doctor - he's rubbish at making meringues, if it comes to that. The emphasis is all on the positive things which Elliot can do - working out that monsters are taking people from below, and drawing a really brilliant map of the village. Great work.

Rory spends much of this episode getting to be the main companion, since Amy has been captured, and he handles it pretty well - expressing his anger about what has happened to Amy, but also asking the right questions, helping the Doctor to capture a Silurian and helping to ensure that Tony and Ambrose abide by the Doctor's instructions not to harm the Silurian hostage while he and Nasreen are away. For now, anyway - I don't think there's any doubt that Tony will be driven mad by the injury he's already sustained, and will push the Silurians into hostility by attacking the hostage next week. That said, when Amy discovers that they have already 'dissected' the captive Mo and are about to do the same to her, it means that the Silurians have already started doing to their human hostages the same things that Tony was thinking of doing to the Silurian hostage on the surface. The Eleventh Doctor's attempts to negotiate are clearly going to be just as successful as the Third's. Will Matt Smith carry off the Doctor's disappointment in humanity as well as Jon Pertwee did? I think he will.

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