History Recap / DoctorWhoS31E08TheHungryEarth

The episode starts with Mo, the aforementioned drill worker, spending some quality reading time with his dyslexic son Elliot, before being reminded by wife Ambrose that his shift at the local major mining project starts soon. Having witnessed this fairly tender family life scene, it makes us feel all the more for the poor sap when something starts going wrong with the drill during 'off-hours' when he's the only one on duty, since it's his misfortune [[RedShirt to have to fill the quotient]] of someone getting killed horribly in order to demonstrate how serious the situation really is.

Rory puts Amy's engagement ring in the TARDIS for safekeeping. He stashes the ring away before setting out after them, but gets somewhat waylaid by Elliot and Ambrose. Judging from the police box, they assume that he's a plain-clothes police officer come to investigate the disappearance of people buried in the graveyard, coffins and all. And since on the surface the graves to all knowledge and appearances haven't been touched, it's as if the ground has all but swallowed them up.

* HotMom: Ambrose.

* YouKeepUsingThatWord: "Dissection" (cutting into a dead creature to examine it) when the proper word is "vivisection" (when the creature is alive).

The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive. (They were aiming for Rio, but the TARDIS disagreed.) The Doctor, never to be dissuaded from something of interest, tunes out Amy's complaints as he examines the strange feel of the ground beneath him and patches of blue grass all over the place. And there are people in the distance waving at them. According to the Doctor, who's the only one to have binoculars on him, it's a ten years older Rory and Amy, come to visit the place out of a sense of nostalgia. The Doctor explains that it would be a bad idea to meet up with them, and instead goes to have a look at the big mining thing.

Rory puts Amy's engagement ring in the TARDIS for safekeeping. He stashes the ring away before setting out after them, but gets somewhat waylaid by Elliot and Ambrose. Judging from the Police Box, they assume that he's a plainclothes police officer come to investigate the disappearance of people buried in the graveyard, coffins and all. And since on the surface the graves to all knowledge and appearances haven't been touched, it's as if the ground has all but swallowed them up.

Amy and the Doctor sonic-and-enter the premises of the drilling project, and come across Dr. Nasreen Chaudhry and Tony Mack, the two people directing this project. They're trying to work out what's wrong with the drill, where Mo went to, and where that big hole in the floor came from. The Doctor's most worried by the last, especially since it's started to steam. And of course he's ''right'', as the ground situated under the room begins to tremble and more holes appear in the floor in quick succession. Nasreen and the Doctor make it to safety, but Tony gets stuck; Amy dashes to help him instead of making her own escape, and ''she'' starts getting pulled down into the earth for her trouble. She just gets pulled out of his grasp and under the earth.

The Doctor quickly mobilizes the ragtag family into a makeshift army. The reptilians put a pitch-dark barrier dome around the area and kidnap Ambrose's son, but not before he manages to draw a very accurate map of the area and tremendously helps the Doctor. The Doctor realises that he should have watched the boy more carefully and vows to rescue him.

Amy is revealed to be in the Silurians' underground science lab, soon to be dissected while still completely conscious, as frantically warned by Mo, who hasn't completely healed from his ordeal. Also, it's not just one little tribe, as the captured Silurian DamselInDistress says. It's an entire civilization.

* CampbellCountry: Cwmtaff, Wales, a dreary hamlet apparently on loan from ''Series/{{Torchwood}}''. Complete with hills, mists, and an old church.

** What do you want to bet the engagement ring's gonna be significant by the end of the series? It is. Sort of. Twice.

** When she enters the TARDIS, rather than the customary "It's bigger on the inside!", Nasreen describes it as "Fantastic!"

** And as in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E4Inferno Inferno]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS2E8TheImpossiblePlanet The Impossible Planet]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS2E9TheSatanPit The Satan Pit]], [[DugTooDeep everything begins to go wrong when scientists want to drill very far down]], be it to the center of a planet or simply through the crust.

** The Doctor vetoes Amy's idea to go and meet their future selves - [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS1E8FathersDay bad things might happen]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS20E3MawdrynUndead if two different versions of a person meet.]]

* LampshadeHanging: They're deep under the earth, it ''should'' be very, very hot. Nasreen asks why it's not. The Doctor says "I don't know" and they both shrug it off.

* NeverTheSelvesShallMeet: The Doctor insists that Amy and Rory do not try to interact with their future selves on the hill. And definitely a case now with the possible future Amy and Rory waving at the viewer timeline version of the trio.

** Though if she'd worn a miniskirt, it likely would have passed without comment, as it did in every previous episode to date (even when she was pregnant!).

* BigNo: The Doctor does several after [[spoiler: Amy gets pulled into the earth]].

** What do you want to bet the engagement ring's gonna be significant by the end of the series? [[spoiler:It is. Sort of. Twice.]]

* HilariousInHindsight: "Rio doesn't have a big mining thing" - said the Doctor. No, but it does have a huge offshore oil drilling thing...
** And after the events of [[spoiler:''Angels in Manhattan'', it's also got a potential Angel.]]

* MadDoctor: [[spoiler:The Silurian at the end]] was certainly a visual example of this trope, [[spoiler:but [[SubvertedTrope he turns out to be]] a MadDoctor [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold With A Heart Of Gold]].]]

* NeverTheSelvesShallMeet: The Doctor insists that Amy and Rory do not try to interact with their future selves on the hill. [[spoiler: And definitely a case now with the possible future Amy and Rory waving at the viewer timeline version of the trio.]]

* [[NoOSHACompliance No MSHA Compliance]]: Most basic mining safety rules include going to check out stuff in groups of two.
* OhCrap: The Doctor pulls a nice one at the cliffhanger, when he discovers [[spoiler: there's a wee bit more than just a dozen Silurians camped under the Earth]].
-->'''Doctor''': ...ah. [[spoiler: Maybe ''more'' than a dozen]].
* PlayingWithSyringes: [[spoiler: The Silurian doctor as he approaches Amy.]]

* StrappedToAnOperatingTable: [[spoiler: Amy and the drill worker.]]

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: The Silurians' motivation is reminiscent of Zionism, and conflicts between native peoples and immigrants in countries such as America and Australia.
-->'''Alaya:''' We lived here long before the apes!
-->'''The Doctor:''' Doesn't give you automatic rights to it now, I'm afraid.

* GoshDangItToHeck: "You better get me the hell outof here, or so help me I'm gonna kick your ''backside!''"

* ChristmasCake[=/=]GrandmaWhatMassiveHotnessYouHave (where do you classify a woman between forty and fifty?): Nasreen. Also NerdsAreSexy.

* ChekhovsBoomerang: One is thrown at the beginning of the episode with Amy and Rory standing on the hill, waving at their future selves. [[ItGotWorse It got worse.]]

The Doctor quickly mobilizes the ragtag family into a makeshift army. The reptilians put a pitch-dark barrier dome around the area and kidnap Ambrose's son, but not before he manages to draw a very accurate map of the area and tremendously helps the Doctor. The Doctor realises that he should have watched the boy more carefully and vows to rescue him.

It's 2020, near a small Welsh hamlet. The most ambitious drilling project in history has reached deeper beneath the Earth's crust than man has ever gone beforebut now the ground itself is fighting back. The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive and find themselves plunged into a battle against a deadly danger from a bygone age. (Also, they were aiming for Rio, but the TARDIS disagreed.)

Amy plays the DamselInDistress this time around, as Rory and the Doctor try to figure out what the hell is going on here. Graves eating dead people? Welsh drill workers mysteriously disappearing? And their dyslexic children? Turns out that innocent drill project to find mineral ores was actually one of the dumbest ideas ever. And now ancient lizard people who have been asleep since about thirty million years ago think humanity has declared war.

The episode starts with Mo, the aforementioned drill worker, spending some quality reading time with his son Elliot, before being reminded by wife Ambrose that his shift at the local major mining project starts soon, so on your bike! Having witnessed this fairly tender family life scene, it makes us feel all the more for the poor sap when something starts going wrong with the drill during 'off-hours' when he's the only one on duty, since it's his misfortune [[RedShirt to have to fill the quotient of someone getting killed horribly in order to demonstrate how serious the situation really is.]] [[hottip:* : ''Or is it???'']] And this is before the credits have even started; that's pretty serious.

And... Behold! ''Rio!!!'' Wait, no, it's a distinctly un-sunshine carnival vibey graveyard. The Doctor, never to be dissuaded from something of interest, tunes out Amy's complaints as he examines the strange feel of the ground beneath him and patches of blue grass all over the place. Wait, why are those people way over there waving at us? According to the Doctor, who's the only one to have binoculars on him, it's a ten year older Rory and Amy, come to visit the place out of a sense of nostalgia. Hey, let's go meet th- No. No, no, let's not. Pay no attention to the people on the hill, let's go look at that big mining thing over there!

Not before Rory puts Amy's engagement ring in the TARDIS for safekeeping, he won't! He stashes the ring away before setting out after them, but gets somewhat waylaid by Elliot and Ambrose, who, judging from the outside of his 'portable crime lab', assume that he's a plain clothes police officer come to investigate the disappearance of people buried in the graveyard, coffins and all. And since on the surface the graves to all knowledge and appearances haven't been touched, it's as if the ground has all but swallowed them up.

Our two other principals sonic and enter the premises of the drilling project, and come across Dr Nasreen Chaudhry and Tony Mack, the two people directing this project, who are trying to work out what's wrong with the drill, where Mo went to, and where that big hole in the floor came from. The Doctor's most worried by the last, especially since it's started to steam. And of course he's ''right'', as the ground situated under the room begins to tremble and more holes appear in the floor in quick succession. [[BobTheBuilder Can we run now? Yes, we can!]] Nasreen and the Doctor make it to safety, but Tony gets stuck; Amy dashes to help him instead of making her own escape, and ''she'' starts getting pulled down into the earth for her trouble.

But the Doctor's got her! Shut down the drill! He's still got her! The drill is shutting down very slowly. He's still got her! Shut down already, drill, won't you! Tell Rory- [[IfIDoNotReturn tell him yourself!]] I'll never let go! And to be fair he doesn't - she just gets pulled out of his grasp and under the earth, causing all claustrophobics to give a sympathetic shudder.

Well. ''That'' could have gone better.

The Doctor and Nasreen decide to head underground to bargain with the Silurians ([[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E2DoctorWhoAndTheSilurians remember]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E1WarriorsOfTheDeep them]]?), one of whom is under the watchful eye of Rory, crazed mother Ambrose and Tony, her father; they have taken at least three people hostage so far and stung the aforementioned granddad with something nasty. And green.

Amy is revealed to be in the Silurians' underground science lab, soon to be dissected while still completely conscious, as frantically warned by Mo, who hasn't completely healed from his ordeal. Just to crank up the epicness of the threat they face, a final revelation is thrust upon us:

It's not just one little tribe, as the captured Silurian DamselInDistress says. It's really an entire civilization.

[[OhCrap Oh, snap.]]

It's 2020 and the most ambitious drilling project in history has reached deeper beneath the Earth's crust than man has ever gone before near a small Welsh hamlet – but now the ground itself is fighting back. The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive and find themselves plunged into a battle against a deadly danger from a bygone age.

* BigDamnKiss: Henry, afraid they're about to die, kisses Nasreen.

Amy is revealed to be in the Silurians' underground science lab, soon to be the next victim of some serious {{Body Horror}} and {{High Octane Nightmare Fuel}}. Basically, she's about to be dissected while still being completely conscious, as frantically warned by Mo, who hasn't completely healed from his ordeal. Just to crank up the epicness of the threat they face, a final revelation is thrust upon us:

* ChekhovsGun: What do you want to bet the engagement ring's gonna be significant by the end of the series?
** [[spoiler:It is. Sort of.]]
*** [[spoiler:Twice.]]
** Also, Ambrose's pile of weapons and the Meals On Wheels van.
* ChristmasCake or GrandmaWhatMassiveHotnessYouHave (where do you classify a woman between forty and fifty?): Nasreen. Also NerdsAreSexy.

-->"Oi! Don't diss the Sonic!"

* GenreBlind: While preparing for the Silurians' imminent arrival, the Doctor waves off the dyslexic kid when he mentions he left his headphones at home - letting him run off on his own while quite-possibly hostile [[strike:aliens]] ''natives'' are about to emerge. The Doctor's OhCrap face when he realises he was the last one to see the kid shows that he's aware of it.

* HotScientist: Nasreen Chaudhry, in a distinguished, ChristmasCake kid of way.

* LastOfHisKind: The female Silurian warrior [[BlatantLies claims to be the last of her species.]] The Doctor replies that he ''is'' the last of his species, he knows "how that sits in the heart", and that faking it is an insult.

* MadDoctor: [[spoiler: the Silurian at the end]] was certainly a visual example of this trope, and seeing as how he just [[spoiler: vivisected]] someone, he probably is.
** [[spoiler: [[SubvertedTrope Actually,]] he turns out to be a [[MadDoctor Mad Doctor]] [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold With A Heart Of Gold]].]]

* ShoutOut: Come on, I must not have been the only one to think that the [[NightVisionGoggles Night Vision Shades]] were extremely reminiscent of {{They Live}}.

** The inversion comes in the Silurans. They're more than happy to kill stinking apes. And vivisect them. [[NightmareFuel While they're awake]].

** The inversion comes in the Silurans. They're more than happy to kill stinking apes. And vivisect them. [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel While they're awake]].

-->'''The Doctor:''' Oh look, a big mining thing. Oh, I love a big mining thing. See, way better than Rio. Rio doesn't have a big mining thing.

Tropes:

And...Behold! ''Rio!!!'' Wait, no, it's a distinctly un-sunshine carnival vibey graveyard. The Doctor, never to be dissuaded from something of interest, tunes out Amy's complaints as he examines the strange feel of the ground beneath him and patches of blue grass all over the place. Wait, why are those people way over there waving at us? According to the Doctor, who's the only one to have binoculars on him, it's a ten year older Rory and Amy, come to visit the place out of a sense of nostalgia. Hey, let's go meet th- No. No, no, let's not. Pay no attention to the people on the hill, let's go look at that big mining thing over there!

Not before Rory puts Amy's engagement ring in the Tardis for safekeeping, he won't! He stashes the ring away before setting out after them, but gets somewhat waylaid by Elliot and Ambrose, who, judging from the outside of his 'portable crime lab', assume that he's a plain clothes police officer come to investigate the disappearance of people buried in the graveyard, coffins and all. And since on the surface the graves to all knowledge and appearances haven't been touched, it's as if the ground has all but swallowed them up.

The second two-part story of the the Eleventh Doctor's first series. Written by ChrisChibnall, head writer of ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'''s first and second series and the ''Doctor Who'' series 3 episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS3E742 42]]".

The second two-part story of the the Eleventh Doctor's first series. Written by ChrisChibnall, head writer of ''{{Torchwood}}'''s first and second seasons and the ''Doctor Who'' series 3 episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS3E742 42]]".

* CampbellCountry: Cwmtaff, Wales, a dreary hamlet apparently on loan from ''{{Torchwood}}''. Complete with hills, mists, and an old church.

* [=~Chekhov's Boomerang~=]: One is thrown at the beginning of the episode with Amy and Rory standing on the hill, waving at their future selves. [[ItGotWorse It got worse.]]
* [=~Chekhov's Gun~=]: What do you want to bet the engagement ring's gonna be significant by the end of the series?

* [=~What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?~=]: The Silurians' motivation is reminiscent of Zionism, and conflicts between native peoples and immigrants in countries such as America and Australia.