Doctor Who Series 12: Ten Huge Questions After Nikola Tesla’s Night Of Terror
5. Why Did The Doctor Call The Silurian Gun Alien?
The Skithra are scavengers and everything they possess has come from another species, including the Silurian blaster. The Doctor immediately identifies the weapon as Silurian, but points out that it is of alien origin. The Silurians, however, are a terrestrial species, forced into hibernation beneath the surface of the planet long billions of years ago. Some fans are a little irked by what they see as a clear continuity error.
Chris Chibnall knows the Silurians better than most, after all, he was the writer who brought them back to the series (The Hungry Earth). It is inconceivable that he would have missed such a mistake. The Doctor could not have been using the word for Tesla’s benefit, either. We have seen that he believed that humans were living on other planets, not aliens, and indeed his response to the Doctor is incredulous - “You believe it is alien?”
Alien is used here as a handy shortcut for different, saving a load of unnecessary exposition about the Earth’s history, as well as the awkwardness of having to address Tesla’s humanism. It is an important issue, but one that couldn’t be fairly covered in a 50 minute episode.