h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Doctor Who Enemies: Homo Reptilia - A87827737
Author: Bluebottle - U43530

Okay – we've had Easter, but no new Doctor Who.
So I've been re-watching old episodes and think it is time to update a few of our Doctor Who entries. I could have completely re-written the article on Silurians and Sea Devils to include this information, but I think it stands well as it is, and prefer to argue that the Homo reptilia are, in fact, a completely different (though related) species.

Goldfish are related to s, but if you wanted to write about goldfish you wouldn't combine that entry into an existing one about s.
Similary, the human race is related to gorillas, but we have many articles about people and we've not combined them into one all-encompassing article about gorillas and people.
So here's an article about a fictional race that is related to another fictional race, but I would argue is different enough to justify having their own dedicated entry.

<BB<

Hi <BB<

No arguments from me! I'd vote for lots more Doctor Who entries!

Thanks for writing this up

A couple of points, if I may:

>>If, say, placed in the back of a jiffy van or other refrigerated mobile confectionary vehicle they become docile and easily captured.<< I am not sure how you could "place" one in a van (or other cold place) and then capture them, "place" indicates you are in control already - perhaps: If, say, they inadvertently went into the back of a jiffy van or other refrigerated mobile confectionary vehicle they become docile and [are] easily captured.



>>Madame Vastra, who confirms that she came from 65 million years ago, has a golden the opportunity.<< remove "the"



Your footnote 1: Played by David Bradley, who played William Hartnell in An Adventure in Space and Time. Perhaps bracket ('the First Doctor') after Hartnell as I doubt many young Whovians haven't a clue who he is.



Arthur Conan Doyle = Sir Arthur Conan Doyle



Your h2g2 link to Jack the Ripper isn't working as it has a whitespace before the A



Typos:

are related to two of the Doctors already established enemies, known as the Silurians and Sea Devils. = the Doctor's



Header: Silurian Spin Off Show Scuppered = Silurian Spin-off Show Scuppered

and thanks <BB< I enjoyed reading this

GB

Good news – you may well get your wish regarding the lots more Doctor Who entries – and sooner than you'd expect

I've amended this according to all your suggestions too.

<BB<

You list these as a separate species, but weren't they presented on the TV program as "Silurians", as if they were the same species?

So, your argument is that the creatures referred to as Silurians in NooWho are not actually Silurians?

Is this your take, an accepted bit of fan wisdom, or are there other sources for for it?

As you say in the entry the Homo Reptila are referred to as Silurians, so is there a compelling reason to think that they are not, obvious physical differences aside?

I'm not moaning (though re-reading this post it looks to me like I am), I just want to work out why the distinction is being made, because I don't see it.


Geggs

Although essentially my take, aside from the differences in appearance (which on its own counts for little, see Cybermen) and the difference of 250million years, there is evidence in the programme that shows that they are a related species.
When I get home I can quote what the Doctor says in the greenhouse in 'Cold War'. Essentially he says that he has seen a different, though related, species before. He also confirms that he has not seen this particular race when he closely studies Alaya's face for the first time before announcing 'you are beautiful'. This shows that they are a third branch of the family tree.

True, in 'Dinosaurs on a Spaceship' they are called 'Silurian'. Yet they always call humans 'apes'. What one group of people always calls another doesn't count for much. I could call dolphins fish, but that wouldn't make them so. What would count is what they called themselves. Sadly they've been a bit vague on this front, with Madam Vastra usually describing herself in words along the lines of 'I'm a prehistoric reptile from the dawn of time', never 'I'm a Silurian' or 'I'm a member of a species called Homo reptilia'.

When I've got my Doctor Who boxset in front of me, I'll add the quote the Doctor says when he first encounters them.

<BB<

Tweaked.

<BB<

I'm happy with this update if everyone else is?

GB

This one isn't an Update – the original series Silurian content is separate, so don't overwrite it!

<BB<

That'll teach me to read something in one window and post in another

This looks good to me

A few queries I had on readthrough:

In the header 'The Snowmen' (2012), should it be Snowman? And related to that, in the Difference section at the top, "the snow seen in 'The Snowman'" - perhaps needs saying "seen in the episode 'The Snowman'" (as I was confused about why Vastra was interested in the cartoon film )

In the Novelisation Inspiration section, "The novelisation for The Sea Devils, " - I'm confused about the relevance of The Sea Devils to the Homo reptilia there...

I don't understand 'The Crimson Horror' (2013) - the red leech was the greatest plague, so did the Homo reptilia need the Doctor to sort it out, otherwise it would have killed them as well as the humans?

What's a minisode?

I think the n is not needed in "This was the third story featuring Homo reptilian" and I think it should be lower case r on Reptilia in the Story Guide section, is that right?

Thanks SashaQ for your thorough read-through.

In the header 'The Snowmen' (2012), should it be Snowman?
I've corrected 'The Snowman' to 'The Snowmen' (it isn't the Raymond Briggs animated short film, excellent though that is).

I've reworded the Novelisation Inspiration section (but resisted the temptation to write that 'The Sea Devils' is the most important Doctor Who story of all time ever, being not only the only one to have been filmed on any part of the Isle of Wight, it filmed the beach sections in my home town of Sandown). I've also reworded 'The Crimson Horror' – is this clearer?

What's a minisode?
I've added an explanation

I think the n is not needed in "This was the third story featuring Homo reptilian"
I've just noticed that if I type 'reptilia', Word automatically corrects it to reptilian.

(Don't worry Geggs, if Madame Vastra ever says something along the lines of, 'Jenny, my dear, did you know that many of my relatives have big, frilly ears, three eyes and lips shaped like a babel fish's?' making it explicit that the Homo reptilia are supposed to be exactly the same species as the Silurians, rather than a related one, I'll rename this to something like 'Silurians: Part II'. For the moment I believe there is enough evidence to assume that they are different species.)

<BB<

I think I might be overanalysing the episodes but I still don't quite get what's going on, sorry...

What's the novel called that introduces Homo reptilia?

I presume The Sea Devils novel inspired an episode about Homo reptilia rather than one about the Sea Devils themselves... Which TV series is set in a Victorian Sea Fort?

The Crimson Horror still sounds reasonable to me - if Vastra didn't ask for help, then humanity would be all-but wiped out, but so would the Homo reptilia, so they wouldn't necessarily find it easy to take over the planet then...

I've reworded the novelisation section. The novelisations are adaptations of Doctor Who television stories – back in the days before videos you could only see a programme when it was broadcast; if you wanted to experience that story again, the only thing you could do was buy a novelisation of that television story to read in your own time.

'The Sea Devils' is set in a Victoria Sea Fort – No Man's Land in the Solent to be precise. Sadly the novelisation changed it to an oil rig. There are millions of things set in oil rigs, including Doctor Who adventures 'Terror of the Zygons', 'Fury from the Deep', the worst Bond film of all ('Diamonds are Forever' – don't get me started) etc etc, but there has only ever been one thing set on No Man's Land Fort, and Malcolm Hulke goes and changes it to an oil rig for the novelisation (Admittedly Malcolm Hulke had hoped that 'The Sea Devils' would be filmed at one of the Maunsell Sea Forts (where 'Fury from the Deep' had been filmed), which were Second World War anti-aircraft fortifications and look vaguely like an oil rig.

I've also reworded the Crimson Horror bit to make it clear that the Homo reptilia are below ground and protected – once the last leech died, they could have had the whole planet pretty much to themselves.

<BB<

Excellent changes; I understand those points now

Not to get you started, but I know what you mean about Diamonds are Forever - I can't remember the plot of the film, as I only know it was so unlike the original Ian Fleming novel, but I can definitely remember reading the book...

>> back in the days before videos

This is why most of the Doctor Who episodes are somewhat hazy in my memory. I saw all the episodes from Bill Hartnell's regeneration up to about half way through Tom Baker's reign, but only once each when they were originally broadcast. I haven't seen them since, except for "Inferno", which my daughter bought on DVD.

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Geggs

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