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'Doctor Who' Series 12 Episode 4 references Silurians but messes up their origin by calling them aliens

The Silurians were featured on the show between 1970 and 1984 and reintroduced in the modern era in Series 5 Episode 8 where the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) points out that Silurians are not aliens

This article contains spoilers for 'Doctor Who' Series 12 Episode 4 'Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror'.

In this week's 'Doctor Who', the Thirteenth Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) and her companions, Graham O'Brien (Bradley Walsh), Yasmin Khan (Mandip Gill), and Ryan Sinclair (Tosin Cole), meet the brilliant inventor Nikola Tesla (played by Goran Višnjić) and his rival Thomas Edison (Robert Glenister). They don't get much time to chat with the historical figures though because Tesla is, unfortunately, being hunted by a race of alien scorpions with a penchant for repurposing old 'Who' props and costumes. 

To be clear, the Skithra (the aforementioned scorpions, who look suspiciously similar to the Empress of the Racnoss from the 2006 Christmas special 'The Runaway Bride') steal weapons and tech from other races. One of the first of these stolen weapons we encounter is a Silurian gun but unfortunately, the doctor makes a slight factual error with the weapon.

The doctor calls the Silurian blaster an "alien gun", which isn't exactly right. While the Silurians are an advanced species, one thing they're not is aliens. The Silurians are a species of lizard people who evolved on Earth during the time of the dinosaurs, specifically in the Silurian period (hence the name).

They were featured on the show with this origin in Classic 'Who' between 1970 and 1984 and reintroduced in the modern era back in Series 5 Episode 8 'The Hungry Earth' where the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) specifically points out that the Silurians are not aliens and probably have more of a claim to Earth than us, humans.

All things considered, the doctor probably just didn't want to give Tesla a history lesson in a high-pressure situation but it's still an error on her part. Good thing they were fighting scorpion people and not the Silurians themselves or this would have been a different story.

'Doctor Who' Series 12 Episode 5 'Fugitive of the Judoon' will air on BBC America on January 26.