Doctor Who - The Invasion
Starring: Doctor WhoStudio: BBC Warner
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Original recording remastered, Restored, Widescreen, NTSC
DVD Release: March 6th 2007
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DVD Review
An electronics industrialist plots to conquer the world using the cybernetic devices his company makes. You can insert your own Bill Gates joke here, but in this epic eight-part 1968 Doctor Who adventure, the villain, Tobias Vaughn (Kevin Stoney in a great performance, one eyebrow perpetually cocked as he schemes), has allied himself with the robotic Cybermen and nearly succeeds in global domination. This story was a harbinger of what was to come in the series during the first half of the 1970s--that is, the threat to contemporary (or near-future) Earth, with the Doctor (Patrick Troughton) joining up with the quasi-military U.N.I.T. headed by Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney--who also provides a newly shot introduction to the story and fills in the two missing episodes that were shamelessly destroyed by the BBC when they purged their archives in the early 1970s). Director Douglas Camfield fully exploits the mood-inducing black-and-white imagery, manages to keep the action going (with assistance from real Department of Defence soldiers on loan), and provides some memorable moments, particularly the Cybermen bursting out of the sewers and marching relentlessly through the streets of London at the end of episode 6. The writers wisely give Vaughn most of the exposition with the Doctor and allow the Cybermen to remain nearly indestructible, mostly silent killers. This may not be the greatest of the Cybermen stories in the 1960s, but the metallic monsters make the most of their appearances here, thus cementing their reputation in popularity as second only to the Daleks. --Ryan K. Johnson
User Reviews
A Classic! - Rating: 5/5
I've enjoyed the Invasion for a long time. I first read Ian Marter's nice novelization. Then I bought the VCR tapes in the 90's with Courtney's narration for the missing episodes. Now, at long last, the entire serial is available, gloriously restored by the geniuses at the Restoration Team and with the missing episodes brought back to life with old audio recordings and Cosgrove Hall Animation.
This is one of the best of the Troughton stories. At the time time, the series was in danger of cancellation and this was their effort to reboot to a new format, one that would be finalized with Jon Pertwee. More action-oriented with closer ties to today's Earth. It saw the first appearance of UNIT, the organization that would anchor the series for the next three years.
And it delivers. The Invasion is by turns exciting and suspensful. It's padded a bit in the early episodes but the last two are great. Who can forget the sight of the Cybermen walking down the streets of London? Or feel the tension as Earth tries to retaliate against the Cyber fleet? It's directed by Douglas Camfield, one of the best of the Doctor Who directors. People praise his action scenes, but watch the way he films his actors, letting them work their craft. He works within the limitations of the series, making it stand up well after nearly 40 years. And he was a visual genius.
The cast are fantastic. We see no less than four great Doctor Who companions - the Brigadier, Corporal Benton, Jamie and Zoe. All get a chance to shine. For once, Zoe is brilliant and capable instead of screaming and helpless (and see if you can spot the soldier checking her out in the catsuit at the end of episode 7). We also get the lovely Isobel Watkins, who could have . . . and probably should have . . . joined the TARDIS crew. Some reviewers have complained that the Cybermen aren't seen a lot. That's actually a bonus because it focuses the story on Tobias Vaughn - a splendid villain played wonderfully by Kevin Stoney. It invests more effort in suspense and veiled danger before exploding in the final episodes.
The DVD is great. The audio and video are clean and crisp - better than they would have been in 1968. The commentaries are, for once, quite good. The cast clearly enjoyed working on the series despite the hectic schedule and joke around and swap stories. The extras show how the story was restored. And the animation! I was nervous when I heard that the missing episodes were being restored with Flash animation. But now I can't wait until they get around to the other 106 missing episodes. It's distinctive, entrancing but still consistent with the rest of the serial. I was grinning inanely by the end of it.
You won't regret buying this. The Invasion is an investment of both time and money -- I recommend watching it over two nights. But it's a thrill.
A must have for your Doctor Who collection - Rating: 5/5
I was thrilled when this DVD was released in the U.S. To me it was like watching a brand new Doctor Who story. Even though this went out in VHS in the 1990's, with narration by Nicholas Courtney to make up for the missing episodes, I had never seen this before.
I was transfixed. The animation did not detract much from the feel of the show during the Troughton years. Certainly it would have been nice to have seen the original episodes but Cosgrove-Hall did a respectible job maintaining the whole atmosphere of Doctor Who.
The DVD extras were a fascinating insight into the animation process and how fandom really keeps the show alive (the piece about the fans who taped the old TV shows). Most of the key actors of this particular serial were still alive 40 years later to be able to discuss their fond memories of the story and that always adds a nice effect.
WOOF! Awful story, but great DVD package... - Rating: 3/5
I always wondered why so many writers, producers, and Doctor Who staff hated the Cybermen. Seeing TOMB, and MOONBASE, and the odd surviving episodes of Cyberman stories you would think they are really pretty cool. But, this was the story that really put the nail in their coffin for years to come. They came back for a quick stop with the rather lackluster 'Revenge' 6 years later and then were packed away for a further 7 years for a reason. That reason is painfully obvious in this story, and in most all Cybermen stories.
This season and the next had a serious problem with long stories, and boring stories. 'Invasion' is extremely drawn out, pointless and boring. Much of the logic to scenes or sequences in lost as this story, like so many of the longer stories, becomes a 'Tale of Two Rooms'. You find the same basic malaise in 'Inferno', 'Ambassadors', 'Silurians', 'Seeds of Doom' and 'War Games'. 'Inferno' and 'Invasion' were elevated by the action direction of Douglas Camfield, and thus apt for being early DVD releases.
My big curiosity was wondering why this was billed as a cyberman story at all?? You almost NEVER see cybermen! You see some cyber controller device in a closet. That's not a cyberman. You see lots of people going back and forth through buildings. Those aren't cybermen. And aside from a quick skirmish in the sewers the cybermen never really appear until the last two episodes, and even then they aren't really more then mute robots walking about. If Camfield hadn't taken shots of the Cybermen against St. Paul's Cathedral, this story would have vanished from everyone's minds.
As usual, Troughton and Hines are the saviors of these flagging episodes. And naturally the beauty of Wendy Padbury's tight little butt in a sparkling cat suit doesn't hinder charm. Seeing Courtney as Brig. and Levene as Benton is familiar and warming. Aside from that it's a real bore.
Commentary is wonderful. The two animated episodes are pretty awesome to visually 'restore' the film, but sadly don't give the energy to Troughton's voice performance behind the lack of movement. But, that's the nature of the material and budget. Hopefully they do more animated episodes to complete some of the missing stories.
[...]
"The world is weak, vulnerable, a mess of uncoordinated and impossible ideals." - Rating: 5/5
Or at least that's how Tobias Vaughn, managing director of International Electronics, sees things, and as this storyline's chief villain he'd be more than happy to apply his own administrative experience to granting order, coordination, and uniformity to this sorry mess of a world--all with a little help from his cybernetic, um, allies? masters? pawns?
The "Invasion" is really quite a masterpiece. It's got it all. There's the Doctor, as portrayed by Patrick Troughton, seeming to bumble about absent-mindedly but with a surefire method to his (immensely amusing) goofiness. There's the great chemistry with his companions Jamie and Zoe, the latter of whom especially gets a chance to shine in this storyline--after all, she was shunned and regarded as a freak for her mathematical genius and computational skills when we first met her in "The Wheel in Space," but now those same skills help save the day and win her the flirtatious accolades of the soldier boys of UNIT (and rightfully so, I might add!). Speaking of which, there's the Brigadier and UNIT, who here in their premier of sorts seem more believable as a real military force than in later appearances, with a little help from an actual battalion, no less. There's the Cybermen, ruthless cyborgs who were advising on the futility of resistance and assimilating way before the Borg got into the game--their cold, mechanistic homogeneity the perfect foil for the Doctor's eccentricity and suitably understated but firm belief in the importance of individuality and diversity. And then there's Tobias Vaughn, one of the best, most convincing villains in the show's history, whose ruthless yet disturbingly mirthful cruelty makes the Cybermen almost seem cozy in comparison.
The story is well-written and tight, longer than average (consisting as it does of eight episodes) but seeming to flow right along at a brisk pace; everything seems pretty much integral to the plot, moving it right along to its culmination. The directing is very dynamic and full of arresting visuals, some of which are stunningly iconic images that brand themselves into your mind's eye with a vengeance. A bezerker Cyberman running and flailing madly through the subterranean sewers of London makes for a particularly nightmarish example. And surely the deservedly classic shot of the Cybermen marching forwards with Saint Paul's Cathedral in the background takes the cake. Like the Daleks, the Cybermen just seem that much more sinister when they are placed in a recognizable context and carry out their nefarious designs with London landmarks and pubs in the background. And this works especially well when that landmark is a symbol of a nation's particular cultural history along with its ethical and religious values--the deepest, most profound, and most irreplaceable things we stand to loose if the Cybermen's invasion were to succeed. Not to mention the juxtaposition just looks wickedly cool.
Speaking of visuals, a lot of work has gone into presenting this masterpiece on DVD. Besides the usual fine and professional remastering and such, two of the episodes (one and four) were tragically lost and have been meticulously and creatively reconstructed here by combining animation with the audiotracks as tape-recorded off of TV by early fans and cleaned up remarkably. The animation itself is superb, wonderfully rendered and blending with the other episodes as seamlessly as humanly possible; stylized of course in a pleasingly artistic manner, but designed so as to have the look and feel of the rest of the show. It'd be great to have the originals, of course, but this is definitely second best--in fact, the animated sequences had a certain compelling charm of their own and I found myself wanting to see more.
No matter how you look at it, then, "The Invasion" stands tall as a major high point in the "Doctor Who" saga. Resistance is useless. Get it and enjoy!
The Best DVD ever! - Rating: 5/5
If you are a Who Fan, get this DVD. I've kept my obsession of DW mostly to the Seventies golden age- Late Pertwee early Baker. But this is amazing. The Flash animated recreations are so amazing and fun. The Look is terrific and it breathes a whole new life to classic Who. I wish they would have animated the other episodes too. I would've love to see the Cyberman vs. Unit finale animated. It's like a living comic book!
Please BBC, make more of these -especially the black and white ones.
They should also animate all the audio adventures of Doctor Who as well. Brilliant.
Get this DVD!!!!!
