“You mustn't say such things!”
- Ruth
6 episodes featuring Jon Pertwee as the Doctor, Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah and Nicholas Courtney as the Brigadier
written by Malcolm Hulke
directed by Paddy Russell
- Ruth
6 episodes featuring Jon Pertwee as the Doctor, Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah and Nicholas Courtney as the Brigadier
written by Malcolm Hulke
directed by Paddy Russell
Story Review
Invasion Of The Dinosaurs has a special place in Doctor Who history, its special effects are legendarily for being worst in the canon. To quote Edmund Blackadder: “as you can imagine, that's up against some pretty stiff competition.” In fairness the dinosaurs are utterly rubbish, that's not debatable so I won't even try. The absolute worst comes in the final episode as a T-Rex and a Brontosaurus come to blows. Well, I say blows, what I mean is that since the sock puppets can't walk and they can't bite they end up nuzzling each others' necks in lieu of combat, it's almost bizarrely romantic: a Tyrannosaurus and a herbivore, that's love across the barricades for you.
The story opens with a montage of deserted London streets and landmarks, silent until the TARDIS wheezes and groans into existence. Invaded by (you'll never guess) dinosaurs, London has been evacuated by the super star tag team of UNIT and the regular army who are having all sorts of fun shooting looters and less fun shooting impervious dinosaurs. UNIT are led as ever by the trusty Brigadier and the regulars are commanded by General Finch, who could not be more sinister if he tried. They're basically treating the symptoms of the problem rather than the cause with the Brig assuring his untrustworthy superior that once the scientific advisor turns up they'll be able to get to the bottom of things.
Said scientific advisor has by this time been attacked by a pterosaur, stolen a car, been arrested as a looter and sentenced to a detention camp under martial law. Throughout it all Pertwee is utterly charming, butting heads with by-the-book military men and bonding with a captured looter. Beside him through all this is Sarah Jane Smith in a position I'm not used to seeing her, you see, no one really trusts her. The Doctor likes and respects her but she's not as deep in his confidence as Jo was, not this early in her time on the show. The Brigadier doesn't know her, only tolerates her because the Doctor insists on her as his assistant, brushing off her request to photograph the dinosaurs. I'm so used to Lis Sladen as an established, venerable part of the universe, here she's new and no one knows her. Still, she gets the best storyline in the serial, being kidnapped by the baddies and waking up on a spaceship populated by left-wing extremists intent on reaching a new world and guiding its inhabitants into a Golden Age, avoiding the mistakes this world has made. It's so imperialist it isn't true.
There's something genuinely chilling when these lefties react to Sarah questioning their morals with forced re-education and the threat of death. They lock her in the Reminder Room where she's bombarded with filmic evidence of how shit mankind is. Lis Sladen may never have liked the journalist angle she was handed but it gives Sarah the deductive skills to explore this spaceship and uncover exactly what's going on. It's actually the better part of the story, not let down by dodgy rubber dinosaurs and actually bringing her closer to the heart of the mystery than the Doctor will get for an episode or so.
The other thing about this story is that it is really the last UNIT story. After this Mike Yates becomes a civilian, then disappears, then we lose the Brig until UNIT is represented purely by Harry and Benton (in the other half of this box set, actually) before they all fade away. This story is a hell of a valedictory lap for the UNIT family. The Brig is as stoic and deadpan funny as ever, Nick Courtney giving it his all, quietly loyal to his men and the Doctor to the bitter end. Ian Levene's Sergeant Benton gets few better moments than when apologising to a traitorous senior officer as he clobbers the man. Finally, of course, there's Richard Franklin as Captain Yates, whose idealism proves his downfall in an utterly unprecedented bit of character development for the show. This was the beginning of the end for UNIT but it couldn't have had a better story to go out on.
Pity there were a few others to go, really.
Moments of Charm
Part Two shows the truth in the age old adage that you can choose your friends but not your family, even the UNIT family. The Doctor, having finally managed to get rid of Sarah and Mike Yates so he can work in peace almost jumps towards the door in a rush to lock it. The door locked, silence achieved, the Brig comes in through the other door and Pertwee literally growls and reaches to tear his hair out. Not often you see the Doctor get utterly peeved.
There's also the moment when the Doctor is preparing to karate chop the first soldier through the door and has to turn the chop into a friendly wave when he realises it's the Brigadier. Utterly charming.
DVD Presentation
For the first time since 1974 the first episode of this story is available in colour... sort... of... For some reason no one can explain the colour restoration process that worked so magnificently on Planet Of The Daleks didn't work anywhere near as well on this one: colours fade in and out, Sarah Jane's hair has a green tinge, everything looks bleached. As a consequence you have the option to watch the episode in colour or in black and white but as much as I complain about the finished product it is better in colour, limited as it might be.
The big feature on the second disc is People, Power And Puppetry which largely shies away from the obvious angle of rubbishing the effects and concentrates on the ideas of the story. Terrance Dicks is on hand to remember the politics of Malcolm Hulke and how they influenced the environmental themes of his work. I never knew Hulke was a communist and that his own problems with the British Communist Party influenced his creation of the New Earth loonies. Actor Peter Miles has some good points to make about fascism and how otherwise reasonable people becoming collaborators in evil regimes. It makes a compelling case for this story's brilliance and it is certainly one of Hulke's better scripts.
There's a deleted scenes package, mainly tiny chops and changes but a mute Part One scene shows a slightly different view to the opening sequence that would have had a lone looter being seen to die rather than the “deserted streets” montage of the finished product. The Now And Then series takes us through the locations used in the opening montage in and other places. It has to be said that the London landmarks haven't changed that much because they've been there since the Victorian era at the very earliest.
Doctor Who Stories: Elisabeth Sladen Part 1 gives us the lady herself looking back on her time in the show. There are some funny chapter titles like “The Feminist Ukelele” where she discusses the audience identification nature of the companion role. It's a long interview, moving from story to story at a fast pace, a big compilation of reminiscences. There's even a natty animated intro that references the stuffed owl. This set covers her season with Jon Pertwee, some stories are funny and some are sad but the humour with which she delivers them reminds you of what a talent the world of acting lost that day in 2011.
Tobey Hadoke moderates commentaries featuring Richard Franklin (Mike Yates), Peter Miles (Professor Whitaker) Terence Wilton (semi-reasonable New Earth colonist Mark), Richard Morris (production designer), Terrance Dicks (script editor) and Paddy Russell (director) in varying combinations. Paddy Russell's commentary on Parts One, Four and Five are really extended interviews less concerned than usual with what's happening on screen. Still, it's a wonderfully focussed interview and there's more to keep your interest on screen than a talking head. Recorded the day after Nick Courtney's funeral the other commentary track dwells greatly on memories of the man, heartfelt tributes all.
Invasion Of The Dinosaurs has a special place in Doctor Who history, its special effects are legendarily for being worst in the canon. To quote Edmund Blackadder: “as you can imagine, that's up against some pretty stiff competition.” In fairness the dinosaurs are utterly rubbish, that's not debatable so I won't even try. The absolute worst comes in the final episode as a T-Rex and a Brontosaurus come to blows. Well, I say blows, what I mean is that since the sock puppets can't walk and they can't bite they end up nuzzling each others' necks in lieu of combat, it's almost bizarrely romantic: a Tyrannosaurus and a herbivore, that's love across the barricades for you.
The story opens with a montage of deserted London streets and landmarks, silent until the TARDIS wheezes and groans into existence. Invaded by (you'll never guess) dinosaurs, London has been evacuated by the super star tag team of UNIT and the regular army who are having all sorts of fun shooting looters and less fun shooting impervious dinosaurs. UNIT are led as ever by the trusty Brigadier and the regulars are commanded by General Finch, who could not be more sinister if he tried. They're basically treating the symptoms of the problem rather than the cause with the Brig assuring his untrustworthy superior that once the scientific advisor turns up they'll be able to get to the bottom of things.
Said scientific advisor has by this time been attacked by a pterosaur, stolen a car, been arrested as a looter and sentenced to a detention camp under martial law. Throughout it all Pertwee is utterly charming, butting heads with by-the-book military men and bonding with a captured looter. Beside him through all this is Sarah Jane Smith in a position I'm not used to seeing her, you see, no one really trusts her. The Doctor likes and respects her but she's not as deep in his confidence as Jo was, not this early in her time on the show. The Brigadier doesn't know her, only tolerates her because the Doctor insists on her as his assistant, brushing off her request to photograph the dinosaurs. I'm so used to Lis Sladen as an established, venerable part of the universe, here she's new and no one knows her. Still, she gets the best storyline in the serial, being kidnapped by the baddies and waking up on a spaceship populated by left-wing extremists intent on reaching a new world and guiding its inhabitants into a Golden Age, avoiding the mistakes this world has made. It's so imperialist it isn't true.
There's something genuinely chilling when these lefties react to Sarah questioning their morals with forced re-education and the threat of death. They lock her in the Reminder Room where she's bombarded with filmic evidence of how shit mankind is. Lis Sladen may never have liked the journalist angle she was handed but it gives Sarah the deductive skills to explore this spaceship and uncover exactly what's going on. It's actually the better part of the story, not let down by dodgy rubber dinosaurs and actually bringing her closer to the heart of the mystery than the Doctor will get for an episode or so.
The other thing about this story is that it is really the last UNIT story. After this Mike Yates becomes a civilian, then disappears, then we lose the Brig until UNIT is represented purely by Harry and Benton (in the other half of this box set, actually) before they all fade away. This story is a hell of a valedictory lap for the UNIT family. The Brig is as stoic and deadpan funny as ever, Nick Courtney giving it his all, quietly loyal to his men and the Doctor to the bitter end. Ian Levene's Sergeant Benton gets few better moments than when apologising to a traitorous senior officer as he clobbers the man. Finally, of course, there's Richard Franklin as Captain Yates, whose idealism proves his downfall in an utterly unprecedented bit of character development for the show. This was the beginning of the end for UNIT but it couldn't have had a better story to go out on.
Pity there were a few others to go, really.
Moments of Charm
Part Two shows the truth in the age old adage that you can choose your friends but not your family, even the UNIT family. The Doctor, having finally managed to get rid of Sarah and Mike Yates so he can work in peace almost jumps towards the door in a rush to lock it. The door locked, silence achieved, the Brig comes in through the other door and Pertwee literally growls and reaches to tear his hair out. Not often you see the Doctor get utterly peeved.
There's also the moment when the Doctor is preparing to karate chop the first soldier through the door and has to turn the chop into a friendly wave when he realises it's the Brigadier. Utterly charming.
DVD Presentation
For the first time since 1974 the first episode of this story is available in colour... sort... of... For some reason no one can explain the colour restoration process that worked so magnificently on Planet Of The Daleks didn't work anywhere near as well on this one: colours fade in and out, Sarah Jane's hair has a green tinge, everything looks bleached. As a consequence you have the option to watch the episode in colour or in black and white but as much as I complain about the finished product it is better in colour, limited as it might be.
The big feature on the second disc is People, Power And Puppetry which largely shies away from the obvious angle of rubbishing the effects and concentrates on the ideas of the story. Terrance Dicks is on hand to remember the politics of Malcolm Hulke and how they influenced the environmental themes of his work. I never knew Hulke was a communist and that his own problems with the British Communist Party influenced his creation of the New Earth loonies. Actor Peter Miles has some good points to make about fascism and how otherwise reasonable people becoming collaborators in evil regimes. It makes a compelling case for this story's brilliance and it is certainly one of Hulke's better scripts.
There's a deleted scenes package, mainly tiny chops and changes but a mute Part One scene shows a slightly different view to the opening sequence that would have had a lone looter being seen to die rather than the “deserted streets” montage of the finished product. The Now And Then series takes us through the locations used in the opening montage in and other places. It has to be said that the London landmarks haven't changed that much because they've been there since the Victorian era at the very earliest.
Doctor Who Stories: Elisabeth Sladen Part 1 gives us the lady herself looking back on her time in the show. There are some funny chapter titles like “The Feminist Ukelele” where she discusses the audience identification nature of the companion role. It's a long interview, moving from story to story at a fast pace, a big compilation of reminiscences. There's even a natty animated intro that references the stuffed owl. This set covers her season with Jon Pertwee, some stories are funny and some are sad but the humour with which she delivers them reminds you of what a talent the world of acting lost that day in 2011.
Tobey Hadoke moderates commentaries featuring Richard Franklin (Mike Yates), Peter Miles (Professor Whitaker) Terence Wilton (semi-reasonable New Earth colonist Mark), Richard Morris (production designer), Terrance Dicks (script editor) and Paddy Russell (director) in varying combinations. Paddy Russell's commentary on Parts One, Four and Five are really extended interviews less concerned than usual with what's happening on screen. Still, it's a wonderfully focussed interview and there's more to keep your interest on screen than a talking head. Recorded the day after Nick Courtney's funeral the other commentary track dwells greatly on memories of the man, heartfelt tributes all.
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