Silurian (Doctor Who)

For other uses, see Silurian (disambiguation).

Silurian
Doctor Who race
The 2010 redesign of the Silurians
First appearanceDoctor Who and the Silurians (1970)
Created byMalcolm Hulke
In-universe information
Home worldEarth
Type
Sub-racesSea Devils
Affiliation
  • The Alliance

The Silurians and Sea Devils are two fictional related ancient species created by Malcolm Hulke for the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The Silurians are a race of scientifically advanced reptilian humanoids from the dawn of man which first appeared in Doctor Who in Hulke's 1970 serial Doctor Who and the Silurians. The two species will foreground the plot of the upcoming Doctor Who spin-off series The War Between the Land and the Sea (est. 2025) by Russell T Davies.[1]

The ancient amphibious Sea Devils, who are cousins to the Silurians, were subsequently introduced in a sequel to Doctor Who and the Silurians tiled simply The Sea Devils (1972). Both species then reappeared in the 1984 serial Warriors of the Deep, which was the final appearance of both races prior to the show's cancellation in 1989. Following the show's revival in 2005, heavily redesigned Silurans were reintroduced to the series in 2010, and have recurred frequently since then. The Sea Devils were reintroduced in 2022, with their designs mostly unchanged.

Working under producer Terrance Dicks, Hulke came up with the idea of the Silurians to accommodate the show's need for more imaginative science fiction storylines during a period when its title character, the Doctor, was confined to present-day Earth. This was necessitated by BBC budget cuts and the growing expense of producing expansive futuristic and alien sets after the show began airing in colour.

Within the series, the name "Silurian" is considered an example of a misnomer; the Silurians were named as such for their supposed origins in Earth's "Silurian" period 24.6 million years ago.[note 1] The creatures have also been referred to by other names, which have been said to be more scientific, including "Eocenes" and "Earth Reptiles".[note 2] The term "Sea Devil", similarly, appears to be a pejorative term for aquatic Earth Reptiles, albeit widely used.[note 3] In 2018, the notion of a pre-human intelligent reptilian or amphibious species was explored the real-life scientists Adam Frank and Gavin Schmidt, who dubbed the concept the "Silurian hypothesis".[11]

  1. ^ "Russell Tovey and Gugu Mbatha-Raw lead cast of Doctor Who spin-off series for the BBC and Disney+". BBC. 26 July 2024. Archived from the original on 26 July 2024. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
  2. ^ Hulke, Malcolm (writer); Combe, Timothy (director) (14 February 1970). "Episode 3". Doctor Who and the Silurians. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC1.
  3. ^ Hulke, Malcolm (writer); Combe, Timothy (director) (21 February 1970). "Episode 4". Doctor Who and the Silurians. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC1.
  4. ^ a b c Hulke, Malcolm (writer); Briant, Michael (director) (4 March 1972). "Episode Two". The Sea Devils. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC1.
  5. ^ a b Chibnall, Chris (writer); Way, Ashley (director) (22 May 2010). "The Hungry Earth". Doctor Who. Series 5. Episode 8. BBC. BBC One.
  6. ^ Chibnall, Chris (writer); Way, Ashley (director) (29 May 2010). "Cold Blood". Doctor Who. Series 5. Episode 9. BBC. BBC One.
  7. ^ Moffat, Steven (writer); Hoar, Peter (director) (4 June 2011). "A Good Man Goes to War". Doctor Who. Series 6. Episode 7. BBC. BBC One.
  8. ^ Chibnall, Chris (writer); Metzstein, Saul (director) (8 September 2012). "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship". Doctor Who. Series 7. Episode 2. BBC. BBC One.
  9. ^ a b Byrne, Johnny (writer); Roberts, Pennant (director) (5–13 January 1984). Warriors of the Deep. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC1.
  10. ^ Hulke, Malcolm (2011) [1974]. Doctor Who and the Cave Monsters. Doctor Who novelisations. BBC Books. p. 99. ISBN 978-1-849-90194-9.
  11. ^ Schmidt, Gavin A.; Frank, Adam (2019). "The Silurian Hypothesis: Would it be possible to detect an industrial civilization in the geological record?". International Journal of Astrobiology. 18 (2): 142–150. arXiv:1804.03748. Bibcode:2019IJAsB..18..142S. doi:10.1017/S1473550418000095. S2CID 55018003.


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