The Silurian Candidate

 WARNING: Review contains politics

The Silurian Candidate by Matthew J Elliott

I before this review had glanced at two other reviews on separate sites which gave the Silurian Candidate respective scores of 1 and 10. Personally, I take a much more median approach. The Silurian Candidate is an interesting one, because in terms of plot, it's not really good at all, but in terms of character, I think it utilizes Seven, Ace and Mel like no other story with them does. The trio work so damn well that even in some of their worse stories I can't help but adore them. Perhaps the Silurian Candidate is a character piece. On the other hand, most of the time is spent on the runaround rather than the character - although Part One does it's best to start us off strongly at the least. Outside this, it does quite little to dispel anything from the classic Silurian formula, although it had a chance to on multiple occasions. The initial hook of the story makes you believe that the Doctor and co will be siding with the Silurians for the runtime, which is fascinating because it never actually happens. The ultimate solution of the story to have it be "oh yeah the Silurians can have the planet when the humans leave in like 4000 years," is honestly trash. If the story takes place this far into the future, you may as well have the societies join now for a much more thematically resonant ending. The story peaks very strongly in part one, which is almost flawless in it's character usage of McCoy, Ace and Mel. Whereas previous serials with the trio have attempted to replicate an energy of season 24 (but Ace is there), this story instead inserts Mel into a Hex style story where the Doctor is all the more manipulative and Ace is all the more defined, and as a result, creates a strange brew that works to the story's benefit. The story dies in part three and half of four especially, which is egregious, and I would be giving this story something like a nine if it weren't for the most idiotic attempt of a Trump parody I've ever heard. HOLY SHIT IT IS SO BAD It constantly goes on with the same tired jokes about the individual - yes, his toupee is fake, but why is this Trump ripoff's toupee fake?? Why are you even joking about toupee's and orange skin when the part of Trump that deserves to be in a story like this is his ego and how much of an awful person he is? What tries to be a seething inditement of a horrible man ends up going "haha toupee," which kind of loses the point of it. The character - if he can be called as such - is such a hindrance to the plot (yes, it is obvious he is being mind controlled by the Silurians, fuck off) that the entire story would be improved by his absence. If a normal politician was meeting this other politician at a summit and one of them was a Silurian, there would be a lot more tension to that without the really dumb parody. It's just so tonedeaf as to come up with a plot that it almost ruins the whole story. 

That being said, then there's how well I felt McCoy, Langford and Aldred were served by this material. At one point in Part Four, Mel states that "the last person that she posed a threat to was the 1980 reigning roller disco derby champion," and lines like this make me adore her character so much. Mel is perfect. Praise be Mel. Ace gets to actually feel familiar with Mel, have some chemistry with her - (prior stories usually had them split up, and one or the other would be with the Doctor) and they feel like they have a personal connection that really works. The foreboding in Part One where Ace and Mel discuss like they feel something is up with the Doctor is incredible. And McCoy nails this balance between the jovial and the serious like he hasn't in ages. Just listen to some of this dialogue he has - "Into each life, some rain must fall....why do you think I carry an Umbrella?" it's filled with whimsy and at the same time it's ever so sullen. It's perfect. At the same time he goes utterly batshit with the rest of the story in the latter parts, claiming the earth to be his own in a scene that really jumped the shark for me. I do not know what to say about any of this anymore. I'm not even sure what to think. If you can't tell my opinion on the Silurian Candidate yet, the plot in parts three and four is very shit, and everything else about the piece is very good - I am unsure how to rate such a beast of a story, but I think I'll go with a 6/10 - that being said, I had a lot more fun and a lot more pain with this one than stories I've given higher and lower scores. Sometimes things just have a tendency to even out... I highly recommend picking up the Silurian Candidate if you haven't - whether you love it or hate it, I'm certain you'll have quite an opinion on it, and stories like that tend to be worth your time.