Bring the Silurians Back

Ah, the Gorn!! I love him. I like what they did to him in the remastered original series....gave him eyelids to blink with!!

It's funny: when they did ST: TNG, Rodenberry mandated that the aliens couldn't be "monsters," which meant they all had basically altered human features...and yet, look back at something like the Gorn, which was supposed to be an intelligent species, yet looked as monstrous as the Mugato and other primitive, non-intelligent creatures from the show. Seems to me that for all the hoopla about his "vision" and "series bibles" and whatnot, Rodenberry spent a lot of time making crap up as he went along. LOL

What were we talking about again?

(For some reason, when I saw that picture of the mysterious DW reptile-people, I didn't think of the Gorn at all.)

mysterylad wrote:

It's funny: when they did ST: TNG, Rodenberry mandated that the aliens couldn't be "monsters," which meant they all had basically altered human features...and yet, look back at something like the Gorn, which was supposed to be an intelligent species, yet looked as monstrous as the Mugato and other primitive, non-intelligent creatures from the show. Seems to me that for all the hoopla about his "vision" and "series bibles" and whatnot, Rodenberry spent a lot of time making crap up as he went along. LOL

What were we talking about again?

(For some reason, when I saw that picture of the mysterious DW reptile-people, I didn't think of the Gorn at all.)

Actually, think the point of the Gorn was that it was a monstrous looking creature, and that it was intelligent. Kirk realized this at the end, overcoming his primitive instinct of fear of reptiles.

Also, with the original series Roddenberry wasn't in control. CBS often made him change things, like having Kirk say the people of Earth worship a nice God (or something like that). Roddenberry's idea was that we will have completely evolved out of a need for religion.
And speaking of his evolutionary views, that's why he wanted the aliens to be similar to humans. He was of the opinion (there's a name for it, but I'm drawing a blank) that bipedal/humanoid was the ultimate physical form of life, and the only further evolving that could happen was to shed corporeal form altogether.
Guy was a fruitcake, in my opinion.

Spoiler Alert!!!!







Today it has been finally revealed that indeed they will come back in a two parter.

We do have spoiler tags.

Spoiler:

Man, I'm gonna go listen to the isolated DVD score the awesome Silurian kazoo music right now to celebrate!

News Item

Spoiler:

I just want a classic action figure in wave 3!!!

I can't believe those are Silurians. They took a truly unique looking monster and turned into a generic nothing. Bravo to the design team for the hard work they put in to realize the new design. I'd expect better from a 6 year old. Is this what we have to look forward to for the next few years?

rdks wrote:

I can't believe those are Silurians. They took a truly unique looking monster and turned into a generic nothing. Bravo to the design team for the hard work they put in to realize the new design. I'd expect better from a 6 year old. Is this what we have to look forward to for the next few years?

Bear in mind that we know NOTHING about the story. Even if those are Silurians, we've only seen a couple, and we've seen them with no context whatsoever. It may turn out that the new look makes sense within the context of the story and turns out to be really cool. We've also seen differing designs, so who knows how many iterations we'll see in the same story: perhaps the Silurians have altered their own evolutionary path for some reason, and now there are multiple subspecies.

They did it to all the other villians!

mysterylad wrote:

We've also seen differing designs

The one standing behind the female in the trailer? Apparently that one was wearing a helmet.

Hmm. It doesn't look like a helmet to me, but in any case, at least wait until the episode airs to dislike it.

mumbo- sorry about the no spoiler tags- I'm sort of naughty and just tell...sorry...I'm too cheeky.
You know from the trailer the sil. are kindof of ho hum but really they can be puppets made out of cray paper...it is the story that has to be good. I was always much more fonder of the sea devils design than the silurians...the silurians were too man in rubber suit for me...but the story....liz shaw, pertwee, the brig...betrayal and pathos...a great episode despite the rubber suits. You did indeed feel sorry for them... a great story matters so much more than a great visual.

Well, if you think of the Silurians and Sea Devils as the same race, then we already have different sub-species around. And there could have been some cross breading between them. (as in Scales of Injustice)

Oh nah ronpur- I know they are different... the sea devils just were to me a better design. One of my favorite images was of them bobbing up and down coming out of the sea. One of the best images of Who ever. I heard that those poor fellas in the suits had one heck of a time trying not to drown. The Silurians were a more intelligent monster...the Sea Devils were kind of thugs. Storywise, I am torn between which one I like more...Sea Devils or the Silurians...I mean...I do not want to choose...I love both stories quite a bit!

I never really got the rubber suit vibe from the 1970 Silurians. I was probably 12 the first time I saw that one - syndicated in B&W to the American PBS stations carrying the Pertwee episodes in their original 25ish-minute format - and they scared the bejeezus out of me. I still jump a bit at that cliffhanger where they storm into the lab and start melting the Doctor's brain in his head. Even with all the build-up that telegraphs that moment from miles away, it's still scary stuff. All that juddery motion and the furtive stances and so on... I've never really bought into the idea that one couldn't take the Silurians seriously. To mere, they always were - and still are - so alien. The guys inside the suits did an amazing job of giving them body language that was simply Not Human. By comparison, Warriors of the Deep was a huge letdown for both strains of the species, and that's even before we get into drop-kicking the Myrka and the other follies of that story.

Warriors was the first time I saw either race, so when I saw the original shows, I was shocked by how good the Silurians and Sea Devils were portrayed!. They are, by far, my favorite Who monsters after the Cyberman. But I love them because their story is so tragic. They are an intelligent Earth species, who do have as much right to live here as humans do. I agree with the Doctor, the only hope is to co-exsist on Earth. I think their is a novel or two that says they eventually make piece with Humanity and that Earth Reptiles is the name they go by. I think it would be awesome to have had them show up in future stories as allies of humanity. Can you imagine how cool it been to have the Doctor drop into a car with a Silurian driving in Gridlock? Much better than bringing back the Macra for the episode.

Found a picture!!
SPOILER TAG!

Spoiler:

That image has been floating around for months; I don't think you need to use a spoiler tag on it anymore.

I am wondering if these are hybrids? Also, all season long, we have been seeing one thing in the trailer and another in the actual episode (new vs old daleks, what is an angel and what isn't). I am betting we haven't seen the true Silurians yet. Nor the true Cybermen, for that matter.

the episodes were okay I guess. did not like how they killed off rorey in the end