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Last week, the Region 4 box set of The Invasion of the Dinosaurs and The Android Invasion was released. Therefore I had to sit down and watch the good story I like so I could work out if it was worth paying for the terrible story I hate in order to get it on shiny DVD. Doctor Who fans may be wondering which is which in this equation, but while I consider The Android Invasion one of the worst serials ever made, I have a huge soft spot for Invasion of the Dinosaurs. It would be a great story if it weren't for, y'know, the actual dinosaurs.
It's not as though there's nothing wrong with it apart from that. By this point in his tenure, Jon Pertwee was looking bored and tired much of the time. There are also a couple of plot holes that could use filling, and the second half is unnecessarily padded with chase scenes and escaping-and-getting-recaptured shenanigans. However, compared to its glaring flaw, these are minor blemishes.
Usually I don't have much truck with people who think the poor special effects ruin classic series Doctor Who. Who cares that the walls sometimes wobble, the Wirrn are made of bubble wrap and the giant rats are fluffy and adorable? Here, however, the dinosaurs are a serious problem. Malcolm Hulke's script is trying to be an exciting conspiracy thriller, but every time the monsters show up the tension dissolves in gales of laughter at the puppets. At one point, we are treated to the sight of a Tyrannosaurus Rex and an Apatosaurus making out while Jon Pertwee frowns at them. (Apparently he doesn't approve of the interspecies love they have found in the middle of a deserted London street, millions of years away from their own time(s).)
The worst part is, the story didn't even need to have dinosaurs in it! Any threat from history would have worked just as well. Professor Whitaker could have summoned a horde of cavemen or a Roman Legion to clear central London - both things the BBC might actually have been able to afford - and the story would have worked just the same. Along with the lava monster in The Caves of Androzani and the space chicken from Vincent and the Doctor, the dinosaurs are a prime examples of how Doctor Who's need to include a 'monster' can trip it up. Why they ever seriously thought they could pull this off is a mystery for the ages.
Yet, for all that, there are a lot of things to like about this story whenever the puppets go away. Instead of facing another group of alien invaders, the Doctor and UNIT are pitted against an opposition who are motivated by a sympathetic desire to rid the world of war and pollution. Mike Yates gets actual character development as he turns traitor to join Operation: Golden Age. (A decision that's understandable when you consider what he went through in The Green Death. Luckily he'llcome to terms with his sexuality have a change of heart about destroying the modern world and help UNIT in his next appearance.) Sarah Jane Smith is radiant in her second story - she spends a lot of time without the Doctor here, and she's smart and resourceful, albeit a bit too willing to trust people who turn out to be traitors. (Well, she hasn't been doing this for very long.) Also, this is my favourite Sergent Benton story. He's loyal, brave, saves the day three times and gets to punch a general! I will never fail to laugh at the way he screws his face up before the Doctor knocks him unconscious.
And despite how it turned out, in a way I'm glad that the program makers attempted something so ridiculous. Doctor Who should always be made by people who have more imagination than either money or common sense.
So it looks like I am going to end up paying for The Android Invasion. Damn.
It's not as though there's nothing wrong with it apart from that. By this point in his tenure, Jon Pertwee was looking bored and tired much of the time. There are also a couple of plot holes that could use filling, and the second half is unnecessarily padded with chase scenes and escaping-and-getting-recaptured shenanigans. However, compared to its glaring flaw, these are minor blemishes.
Usually I don't have much truck with people who think the poor special effects ruin classic series Doctor Who. Who cares that the walls sometimes wobble, the Wirrn are made of bubble wrap and the giant rats are fluffy and adorable? Here, however, the dinosaurs are a serious problem. Malcolm Hulke's script is trying to be an exciting conspiracy thriller, but every time the monsters show up the tension dissolves in gales of laughter at the puppets. At one point, we are treated to the sight of a Tyrannosaurus Rex and an Apatosaurus making out while Jon Pertwee frowns at them. (Apparently he doesn't approve of the interspecies love they have found in the middle of a deserted London street, millions of years away from their own time(s).)
The worst part is, the story didn't even need to have dinosaurs in it! Any threat from history would have worked just as well. Professor Whitaker could have summoned a horde of cavemen or a Roman Legion to clear central London - both things the BBC might actually have been able to afford - and the story would have worked just the same. Along with the lava monster in The Caves of Androzani and the space chicken from Vincent and the Doctor, the dinosaurs are a prime examples of how Doctor Who's need to include a 'monster' can trip it up. Why they ever seriously thought they could pull this off is a mystery for the ages.
Yet, for all that, there are a lot of things to like about this story whenever the puppets go away. Instead of facing another group of alien invaders, the Doctor and UNIT are pitted against an opposition who are motivated by a sympathetic desire to rid the world of war and pollution. Mike Yates gets actual character development as he turns traitor to join Operation: Golden Age. (A decision that's understandable when you consider what he went through in The Green Death. Luckily he'll
And despite how it turned out, in a way I'm glad that the program makers attempted something so ridiculous. Doctor Who should always be made by people who have more imagination than either money or common sense.
So it looks like I am going to end up paying for The Android Invasion. Damn.