This is the 2nd two-parter of the Matt Smith era of the new Doctor and just like the Angels episode it delivers! This set of episodes is all about the Silurians (see below) and also serves to advance the overall season arc further forward although only incrementally.
The Tardis materializes 10 years in Amy and Rory’s future and The Doctor and team are in the small Welsh village of Cwmtaff. Here a team is conducting the most ambitious drilling project in history and have managed to break through the crust 21 km’s below the Earth! But … while they have been drilling downwards – something else has been drilling up and some mysterious disappearances have started to plague the small town.
Rory gets separated from the others and when he is able to join them in the town, he is mistaken for a police investigator. Informed by the locals that bodies are being taken from the graves – without any sign of the graves being disturbed above ground – Rory starts to investigate!
While Rory is investigating the graves, The Doctor and Amy break into the mine and speak to the Scientists there. An earthquake strike pulls Amy into the ground before The Doctor is able to persuade the scientists to turn their drill off. Searching for the cause of the earthquake and whatever it is that has sucked Amy into the ground, The Doctor reviews the sensors and determines that several entities are heading for the surface from deep beneath the ground. Herding all the remaining townsfolk into the church for safety, the attackers seal off the area with a dome-like forcefield and gradually blacken the sky to provide them with the cover of darkness.
In the chaos that ensues Elliot (the child of one of the previous abductees) is captured by the attackers and Tony (one of the scientists) is infected by them also. However, The Doctor and Rory are able to capture one of them and The Doctor quickly recognizes them as being part of the Silurian race (see below). The Doctor tries to negotiate peacefully with the Silurian but she is adamant that they will wipe humanity from the surface of their planet. Dismissing the threat as ludicrous, The Doctor states that a small tribe of dozens of Silurians will be unable to withstand the billions of humans and it is a futile struggle!
As his prisoner will not negotiate, The Doctor determines that he needs to travel below to speak to someone else and departs on the Tardis with Dr. Chaudry (the other scientist) … here, we are witness to the discovery of not a small tribe of Silurians but a massive city/civilization … definitely enough reptiloids to cause massive death and destruction as even with limited resources their technology is so much in advance of ours.
… on to Part 2
Doctor Who Villians – Silurians
OK, in case you haven’t seen the original Doctor Who series and do not know who the Silurians here, here is a brief summary of them for you.
Generally a peaceful race, the Silurians were Earth’s first sentient species and their time on Earth was a celebrated one with an extremely highly developed and technological society. Near the height of their civilization their scientists determined that a rogue planetoid was to crash into the Earth and with this in mind, the bulk of the civilization was placed into hibernation to ensure that the species survived. However, the hibernation technology was faulty, and never woke them. They were not aware that the dangerous planetoid that they believed would devastate their world was instead captured by the planet and became the Earth’s moon.
Over the courses of the many Doctor’s life’s and adventures, the Silurians have appeared in multiple episodes. Their initial purpose seems to be to wipe humanity of the face of the Earth and return as the rightful rulers of the planet; however in more recent episodes The Doctor seems to be making progress in uniting the two species Humans & Silurians into a new and more powerful force in the universe.