'The Base might have been in space.' Even in the later adaptations, Terrance Dicks is still coming up with good opening lines.
The narrator suggests that the bright lighting in the Base might be a psychological counter to the darkness outside.
Vorshak is embarrassed by his own 'recruiting-poster' good looks.
Proton missiles don't leave a residue of radiation - like the neutron bomb supposedly wouldn't - and so this cold war is theoretically winnable. They are also referred to as photon missiles, I assume this is a misprint.
Another good Turlough description: there's something shifty and off-key about him, 'he might have been the school bully - or the school sneak.'
Nilson recruited Solow after her husband died. 'He had persuaded her that the East Bloc philosophy...was the answer to all life's problems'. Nilson is if anything more fanatical than his masters - 'like many political converts', observes the narrator.
The TARDIS is back to being invulnerable again - but, thinks the Doctor, there have been weaknesses recently. He also thinks that in any case he can't just sit there attracting the hostile attention of the whole planet. Good to see this plot point being addressed.
The Doctor tells Tegan that hexachromite is lethal to marine life. Reptiles aren't specifically mentioned in this context until much later, when he formulates his desperate plan.
When the Doctor says 'So sorry,' after knocking out the guard, his regret is genuine.
Icthar is originally from the Wenley Moor shelter - he discovered the battle cruiser underneath the polar ice cap. It's a cylindrical ship by the way - the one on screen is more of a wedge shape.
The guard knocked out by the Doctor has been eating garlic. Hence the Doctor's 'What have you been eating?' question.
The Doctor knows there's very little chance of making peace between the Silurians and the humans.
Nilson and Solow plan to use the escape pod to reach an East Bloc cruiser.
Turlough is surprised by his own bravery in getting Tegan and the Doctor rescued from the airlock.
The UV convertor comes from the Solarium - a description of this area (used for giving the crew therapeutic exposure to artificial sunlight) follows, with rather the same overtones as Malcolm Hulke's description of the 'sunshine treat' in Doomsday Weapon.
The burning airlock door reminds Turlough of burnt toast, and makes him nostalgic for teas at his public school - muffins cooked in one's study by a 'terrified fag'... I must say Brendon School seemed like a slightly more forward-looking place than that, insofar as that is possible for a public school.
The guard who picks up the program disc after Solow's death says '43Y?' because that is the code stamped on it - the highest security classification on the Base.
When the Doctor surrenders his gun to Nilson, the narrator remarks that 'he'd never liked carrying weapons anyway.'
The Doctor is explicitly stated to recognise Ichthar as not only the third member of the Triad, but as the third Silurian from the original story. The correspondences between the unnamed Silurians in that story, and Okdel, K'to and Morka from The Cave Monsters cannot be resolved satisfactorily but the strongest case, in my opinion, is for saying that Ichthar should really be called K'to.
'Fortunately Bulic had a good knowledge of the Base ventilation system,' observes the narrator when he and Tegan are in the shafts. He then tidily explains that the computer bay is empty when Tegan and Bulic emerge from the ventilation system, Katrina's body having been taken away.
It's made clear that Bulic survives at the end, and the Doctor reflects that there will be other survivors here and there on the base. 'Bulic would have to take charge, explain what had happened to the astonished rescuers from the surface.' Rather him than me...
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