Silurian | |
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Doctor Who race | |
First appearance | Doctor Who and the Silurians (1970) |
Created by | Malcolm Hulke |
In-universe information | |
Home world | Earth |
Type |
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Sub-races | Sea Devils |
Affiliation |
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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 titled 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 419 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 by the real-life scientists Adam Frank and Gavin Schmidt, who dubbed the concept the "Silurian hypothesis".[11]
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