The Silurian Candidate (audio story)

Though the Seventh Doctor had previously faced the Silurians, most notably in the novel Blood Heat, this marked the first such encounter to actually be performed by Sylvester McCoy.

Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]

The year is 2085, and planet Earth remains on the edge of a nuclear precipice. At any moment, either of two vast rival power blocs, to the West and the East, might unleash a torrent of missiles, bringing about the terrible certainty of Mutual Assured Destruction.

But there is another way – or so Professor Ruth Drexler believes. Hence her secret mission deep in Eastern bloc territory, to uncover a hidden city, never before glimpsed by human eyes: the Parliament of the Silurians, the lizard people who ruled the Earth before humankind.

There, she’ll encounter a time-travelling Doctor, who knows the Silurians well. A Doctor on a secret mission of his own.

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

Part one[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor, apparently needing to take care of something, lands the TARDIS in China in 2085. Ace follows him out while Mel stays inside - at least, until she hears a plane coming in to land outside and leaves the TARDIS herself. Ace and the Doctor, meanwhile, come across some ruins that the Doctor claims are believed to be that of a temple. Apparently, one of the ruined buildings is a lift, which the Doctor reactivates with his sonic screwdriver before the two of them clamber into it.

Mel makes her way through the forest, trying to find the Doctor and Ace, but is grabbed by a robot bodyguard called Karla 2, who takes her to see two people called Drexler and Gorrister, who are on some kind of mission. Not long later they come to the same set of ruins that the Doctor and Ace already entered. Drexler orders Karlas 2 and 3 to begin drilling into the ground, but Mel points out the lift behind them.

After a while, the Doctor and Ace step out of the lift into an enormous underground city - but they don’t have time to admire it, as they hear the lift returning to the surface. They wait for the lift to descend again and, sure enough, out step Mel, Drexler, Gorrister and the Karlas. The Doctor announces that he knows exactly where they are, and leads them all in the direction of the Parliament of the Silurians - but on arriving at the Parliament building, they are shocked to find a dinosaur rearing up behind them.

Part two[[edit] | [edit source]]

Despite the Doctor’s pleas, the Karlas shoot the dinosaur dead, but Gorrister is badly hurt. Drexler and Karla 3 leave, and the Doctor and Ace follow them, leaving Mel and Karla 2 with Gorrister, who dies shortly after. Command of the mission thus moves to Karla 2, who declares Mel an enemy of the mission and that she must be killed.

The Doctor explains that the dinosaur was a watchdog, engineered by a scientist who the Doctor met on the Galapagos Islands, and that she woke up when the Karlas triggered an alarm system. He also tells Ace about the Silurians and their society - and that he has apparently come to hand the planet back to them. They meet up with Drexler, who says that she was sent the plans of the Silurian city by a member of the government, and the Doctor makes it clear that he knows that the plans were recovered after the Sea Base 4 incident - he was there, after all. Drexler is after Silurian research on hibernation, and she plans to send it to both Bloc leaders simultaneously so that they can cooperate for the sake of humanity’s future. They soon come to the central chamber, which houses the Parliament. Drexler and Karla 3 try to enter the chamber, but as soon as they do so, an extremely painful stream of mantric energy begins emanating from a panel that the Doctor is forced to smash with his umbrella. The Doctor says he will use the pieces to construct particle suppressors to protect them from mantric energy and tells Ace to go after Drexler and Karla 3. Drexler tells Ace that she is in the Silurian city illegally, as it is deep in Eastern Bloc territory, and that she was taken here by Gorrister, who owed her a favour.

The Doctor hears Mel calling for help and uses his sonic screwdriver to get the gun off Karla 3’s wrist, before giving it to Drexler, who shoots and destroys Karla 2. The Doctor gives the gun to Mel and they return to the central chamber. They look in the hibernation cells but find them empty - the Doctor says that the records show the cells as having been opened four years ago. They return to the lifts but are confronted by what look like cavemen - they are only able to get into the lifts and escape because the cavemen are more interested in Karla 3 than them. Mel notes that they were being controlled by someone, presumably the remaining Silurians. After they reach the surface and get into the helicopter, Mel goes to Drexler’s cabin and gets to work on decrypting some of Drexler’s documents, but instead is shown footage of a Silurian declaring that they mean to accelerate the leadup to nuclear war…

Part three[[edit] | [edit source]]

Just as the Doctor fixes up Karla 1, Mel runs out and shows them the footage. They are unable to work out who the human on the table is but before they can discuss it further, a proximity alarm sounds and the helicopter is hit by a Silurian weapon.

The Doctor, Ace and Drexler end up on a beach on the island, stuck together by safety foam. Just then, two Karlas arrive and begin shooting at them, but thankfully they just shoot the foam off them. Drexler tells the Doctor and Ace about Western Bloc chairman Bart Falco, who used to be the Bloc’s premier arms manager. Karla 1 arrives while they are being marched through the island and destroys the other Karlas, and the Doctor tells her to take them to Falco. They arrive at his office shortly after but he is utterly unconvinced by their explanation of events. The Doctor asks him to order his Karlas to search for Mel but he refuses. Falco’s aide informs him that Director Shen’s craft is touching down and Falco asks them for the wristpad that Drexler’s evidence is stored on. Unfortunately, Mel had it.

Mel wakes up in a laboratory, face to face with a Silurian who calls himself Chordok. He contacts Spenodus, another member of the Triad, who tells him to use the instruments on her, but Mel manages to persuade him to stop. He tells her about some of the things the Doctor has done to their species, but he also expresses his reservations with what Spenodus wants him to do. However, this leads him to conclude that he must do whatever it takes to uncover the truth, including torturing Mel. Out of options, Mel pulls her gun on him and accidentally shoots him. She runs out of the lab and ends up in a cave system, but hears a pair of Silurians coming her way.

Falco meets with Shen at the landing pad and orders some Karlas to keep the Doctor, Ace and Drexler in the library. The Doctor tells them about his plan to give the Earth back to the Silurians, which he is able to do as he is now Earth’s legal owner.

Mel finds a door set into the wall and bangs on it. Falco is on the other side, and he lets her in. However, Spenodus and Avoxx, the other member of the Triad, arrive and Falco reveals that he is the Silurian Candidate and is being controlled by them. Mel has attacked Chordok and for that, Spenodus says, she must be killed.

Part four[[edit] | [edit source]]

Mel again pulls out her gun but Falco quickly takes it off her. He tries to shoot her but realises that the power cells are drained. Avoxx says that she does not think Mel should be killed because Chordok’s death was an accident, but also says that Mel will be dead soon anyway as Falco has enough mantric energy to function as a living bomb. The Silurians are planning to use Falco to assassinate Shen and trigger nuclear war. Mel grabs the gun back and throws it at Spenodus, allowing her to get away.

The Doctor uses the components he took from the Silurian central chamber to engineer a device that scrambles the Karlas’ circuits. Ace tricks the Doctor into letting her lock him in the library while she and Drexler run away to confront Falco and Shen. The Doctor, meanwhile, hears Mel from behind the wall and opens the secret door, before he rushes off to find the Silurians, declaring that he will surrender to them.

Falco meets with Shen and the two of them prepare for the broadcast. Ace and Drexler find themselves just outside the meeting room, but see Shen’s robot bodyguards protecting it. Karla 1 inadvertently alerts them to their position and she and Drexler are grabbed by the robots, with Falco’s aide emerging and pointing a gun at Ace, though Karla 1 soon shoots his wrist and Ace takes the gun for herself. At gunpoint, she forces him to let her through the door and demands to know which of them is the Silurian agent, so Falco reveals himself and tells them about how he is going to detonate during the broadcast. Shen demands that Ace shoot Falco, but just then the cameras turn on.

The Doctor and Mel find the Silurians and he shows them the mantric energy emitter he used on the Karlas. He tells them that he is planning to alter it and use it to suppress the spread of mantric energy, thus preventing Falco from exploding. The Doctor gives them his offer: in the future, humanity will leave Earth due to solar flares, but will eventually return once the planet starts to heal itself. Thus, the Silurians awakening from hibernation at the same rate as the humans return would ensure a truly level playing field. Avoxx is intrigued by the idea but Spenodus demands that she detonate Falco, having worked out that the Doctor’s device was a ruse. Avoxx refuses to activate the detonator and kills Spenodus to prevent him from doing it himself.

On air, Falco claims that Ace and Mel are Eastern Bloc agents and Ace finally snaps and shoots the cameras. He begins banging his head against a wall to try and detonate himself, but cannot - the Silurians did not activate the bomb in the end. The Doctor, Mel and Avoxx enter the chamber and Falco passes out while Shen commands her robots to release Drexler and Karla 1. The Doctor, Mel and Ace return to the Silurian city and put Avoxx and the recovered Chordok into hibernation until 16087 before leaving in the TARDIS.

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor comments that the Karlas are very "Fritz Lang," referring to the movie Metropolis.
After being knocked out, the Doctor dreams of a man with ringlets telling him "Come in, No. 7. Your time is up."
Platinum Karlas have whisper settings and are expensive.
Drexler first met Gorrister in 2081.
By 2085, there are no more presidents and no more paper money.
Shen is the Director of the Eastern Bloc.

Silurians[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Parliament of the Silurians existed in the Silurian capital city.
Silurian building ceilings are tall to accommodate dinosaurs.
No member of the Triad can order another member.
Falco believes there are billions of Silurians in hibernation.
Mel believes the Silurians could use solar radiation to revive their entire species.

Technology[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor constructs a particle suppressor.
The Silurians make use of mantric energy to power their hibernation cells and other technology.
Drexler uses a grave robber program.

Gallery[[edit] | [edit source]]

Original cover art
Illustrated review by Jamie Lenman in DWM 518

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

The title of this story is a reference to the 1959 novel The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon.
This story was recorded on 2 and 3 May 2017 at the Moat Studios.
Ruth almost says "Doctor Who?" before being interrupted.
As one of the Karlas goes offline, she states that any complaints can be directed to Doctor Clayton Forrester, referring to the character of either the 1953 film The War of the Worlds or the television series Mystery Science Theater 3000.
This story dates Doctor Who and the Silurians as occurring before 1985.
The cover of this story is the last to use the Seventh Doctor sidebar.
This story was reviewed in DWM 518 alongside Time in Office and The Night Witches, and received an illustration from Jamie Lenman.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

The TARDIS was originally on its way to a party on Maruthea. (COMIC: Party Animals)
Ace mentions that since the Doctor left Mel, he has spent a lot of time dealing with unfinished business relating to old enemies and secret Gallifreyian weapons he left behind on Earth, including the Daleks, (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) the Cybermen (TV: Silver Nemesis) and Fenric, (TV: The Curse of Fenric)
When Ace comments that the Doctor keeps a lot of secrets, Mel notes that the only time she ever saw the Doctor keep a secret was when they arrived in Pompeii, and she acknowledges that his reasons for doing so were good. (AUDIO: The Fires of Vulcan)
Mel complains that the TARDIS's telepathic circuits make her studying Spanish language tapes effectively impossible by instantly translating sides of the translation to English. (TV: The Fires of Pompeii)
The Doctor tells Ace about when he dispersed the Key to Time throughout the universe to prevent the Black Guardian from obtaining it, apparently believing that he had been telling her the rest of the story rather than just thinking it to himself. (TV: The Armageddon Factor)
The Silurians know of the Doctor's ability to change his appearance. (TV: Doctor Who and the Silurians, Warriors of the Deep)
Ace again exclaims "Ace!" (TV: Dragonfire)
The Doctor tells Ace that, when working with artificial brains, arrow A goes to the front. (TV: Destiny of the Daleks)
The Doctor refers to the Silurian's genetic manipulation and meeting them in 1835. (AUDIO: Bloodtide)
Hexachromite gas is the deadliest poison known to Silurians. (TV: Warriors of the Deep)
The Doctor plans to give Earth to the Silurians, similarly to when he signed the planet over to the Scourge, (AUDIO: The Shadow of the Scourge) but as he reminds her of their encounter with the Galparians, (AUDIO: Dead to the World) his claim of ownership is valid and has been rendered in puterspace. (PROSE: Love and War)
The Doctor tells the Silurians of the solar flares that will strike Earth in a few centuries (AUDIO: The Tears of Isis) and sets their hibernation clock to awaken them in 16087. (TV: The Ark in Space)
The Silurians and humans are both aware of the events of Sea Base 4. (TV: Warriors of the Deep)
Ace doesn't seem to recall the Silurians as she met them before. (PROSE: Blood Heat)
The Doctor can be heard reciting a rhyme about Abslom Daak. (COMIC: Abslom Daak... Dalek Killer)

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

Official The Silurian Candidate page at bigfinish.com