The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon: Invasion Of The Dinosaurs
Invasion: Part One (12/01/14)
Candidate for BEST EPISODE EVER! Really atmospheric from the start with the TARDIS arriving in a deserted London - the opening shots of Westminster Bridge, Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square etc. all desolate and empty were amazing, as were the shots of abandoned cars and smashed up houses.
Some great sound design with just lots of bird call underscoring every scene for the first half. Very shocking bit where the Doctor and Sarah Jane found the bloody corpse of a looter who'd just threatened them and driven his car into one of the unnamed 'monsters' who've invaded. Turns out they're Dinosaurs (by the look of it) - first a Pterosaur attacked the Doctor and Sarah in a garage leading to an escape in a stolen jeep, then UNIT soldiers were machine gunning and grenading a Tyrannosaurus Rex (to no avail) whilst the Doctor and Sarah were being caught by the army elsewhere.
Meanwhile, the Brigadier is trying to keep control of everything and work out where the Dinosaurs are coming from, which isn't easy when the government are only interested in controlling the looters - all very well for them relocated up in Harrogate! Fortunately, the Doctor and Sarah had mug shots taken of them and Benton got hold of them. Seems like it must be quite a while later as they know who Sarah Jane Smith is - no doubt Professor Rubeish told them everything when he was transported back to the research centre. Now the Doctor and Sarah are being taken to a detention centre by jeep, but here comes a T-Rex!
That's the one disappointment following such an incredible, atmospheric start - the Dinosaurs are a bit, er... rubbery. It's a great concept; Dinosaurs marauding a deserted, modern-day London, but the Pterosaur's wings weren't so much flapping as stationary while it bounced about on a bit of elastic (the puppetry of it smashing the jeep's window was more successful, if a little reminiscent of Emu!) and the slow-moving, podgy T-Rex is a bit lacklustre. Maybe the bullets weren't affecting it because they were just sinking into its body fat! Never mind. Still a great idea and really well dramatised. Except for the puppets.
Invasion Of The Dinosaurs: Part Two (19/01/14)
OH MY GOD! Mike Yates is a traitor!!! This story's definitely developing the format. He seems to be working with a couple of scientists in Central London doing Time Experiments for something called Operation Golden Age, somehow trying to replace society as it presently is! Actually, he had some good lines early in the episode talking to Sarah about having to take time off after the business with the Giant Maggots, when he got brainwashed by BOSS, and how nice London is without traffic and people. I have to say he has a point, but these days it's not so unusual to see a fox in Piccadilly - I only recently saw one strolling through Soho at noon on a Tuesday!
The Doctor and Sarah are helping UNIT again having been saved from being sent to the Detention Centre after encountering a man from the Twelfth Century. The Doctor's already had a run in with General Finch, the regular army commander (I think), who doesn't believe the Doctor's explanation for the Dinosaurs being 'Time Eddies' - someone bringing them briefly forward from the past. Speaking of which, the actual Time Eddy effect isn't that bad. Aside from the T-Rex (another of which turned up to threaten the Doctor for the cliffhanger) the other Dinosaurs aren't so bad. Today we saw a Stegosaurus (a bit chunky and static) and an Apatosaurus (better, smoother, with a pretty good puppeteer manoeuvring its neck).
The Doctor's plan is to capture a Dinosaur and investigate the Time something-or-other (dilation? I forget) surrounding it to establish what's going on. He built a stun gun for the purpose, but the mean, older scientist of Operation Golden Age has given Mike a thing that attaches to and deactivates it. Obviously, Mike stuck it on the gun and the Apatosaurus disappeared to be replaced by a T-Rex.
Really liking the idea that Mike's working with the bad guys - I think it's the strongest piece of character development ever given to a companion! Definitely the most interesting! A really interesting story so far, even with the T-Rex.
Invasion Of The Dinosaurs: Part Three (26/01/14)
Bloody Hell! Another plot twist! Loads of stuff happened this week; Mike rescued the Doctor by taking of the deactivator and shooting the T-Rex, then they took the unconscious T-Rex to a hangar for observation and chained it up. Mike went apeshit as Whitaker and Butler, the two Operation Golden Age scientists, who in turn told him to sabotage the Doctor's Temporal Displacement monitor so he wouldn't have any data to go on once the T-Rex warped back to its own time; Sarah wanted photos, as she's a journalist, but the Brigadier said no. Nevertheless, General Finch decided to help her out and got her a pass. Also, Sarah had been busy investigating and got Whitaker's name in connection with Time Experiments and found out he disappeared 6 months ago after failing to get government funding. However, MP Charles Grover, who's in charge of the Central Zone while the rest of the Government's in Harrogate, says Whitaker's ideas were rubbish.
Sarah returned to the hangar to take photos but woke the T-Rex which started demolishing the hangar and concussed Sarah. Luckily, she was rescued by the Doctor. However, they figured out UNIT must have a traitor when Benton returned with the Dinosaur's chains, which had been cut through, and the Doctor's sabotaged equipment. Sarah raised the question about how they were powering the Time Experiments (a nuclear generator would be needed), but the Brigadier had already investigated those avenues and come up with nothing.
However, Sarah remembered something and, ordered to get some rest, went off to Charles Grover's office to look at the government records. Turns out a nuclear bunker was built right beneath his building and, quelle surprise, he's working with Operation Golden Age. Down they go to the bunker where Sarah's locked up in a room with blue, pulsing lights - and wakes up on a spaceship THREE MONTHS LATER!!! Didn't expect that one!
The T-Rex puppet was better in the close-ups of its head this week, but the fully body version was still a bit naff. However, that hardly matters because Malcolm Hulke keeps delivering curve-balls that completely take you by surprise. Brilliant!
Invasion Of The Dinosaurs: Part Four (02/02/14)
Once again, a great episode! The Doctor has a new 'car' which is a silver hovercraft with weird, curvy wings at the back which he used to drive round a deserted London. Funny how, when London gets evacuated, the Doctor ends up in the London Underground - this time Moorgate, following Butler to the underground bunker. Led round in a circle to the exit again, he fetched the Brigadier but by then Butler and Whitaker had replaced the lift-disguised-as-a-cupboard with a real cupboard.
Going to Charles Grover MP, the Doctor's tale of bunker exploration was discounted with the production of a file claiming the plans to build it had been scrapped. Obviously suspicious of Grover, the Doctor returned to UNIT HQ where he received a phone call from Whitaker claiming he'd been forced to carry out the experiments by Grover but escaped to the Doctor's warehouse/hangar and could the Doctor fetch him? This was a clear plot by Grover, Finch, Whitaker, Butler and Mike Yates to discredit the Doctor, and upon arrival the Doctor found a weird machine, an unconvincing Stegosaurus and, moments later, Finch, the Brig and some soldiers claiming the Doctor was responsible. Why he didn't tell anyone, figure out it was a trap, or even ask Benton to verify what he was doing (as Benton patched the call through to him) is anyone's guess!
Meanwhile, Sarah found herself on a colony ship heading for a 'New Earth' 3 months in the future with a former politician, a writer and an Athlete all turned Hippie and transporting 1,000 people on five spaceships. However, she's not a Hippie, and therefore a disruptive element who needs re-educating. However, she's noticed she still has a fresh scar on her forehead so clearly hasn't been asleep on a spaceship for 3 months, and may well be just stuck in the bunker with a load of deluded Hippies, a la 'The Enemy Of The World'!
Slightly padded, this week, and I don't get why the Brigadier wasn't more proactive or at least investigated the Doctor's claims more thoroughly after over four years working together, but nevertheless this is one of the best Pertwee stories so far.
Invasion Of The Dinosaurs: Part Five (09/02/14)
It has to be said, Sergeant Benton is brilliant! Having returned to UNIT HQ, Finch took the Brigadier off to report the Doctor's capture to the Government. The Doctor tried to appeal to Yates but was ignored, and Yates ordered Benton to lock the Doctor in a cell then walked out. So Benton sent the remaining guards to prepare a cell and while they were gone, told the Doctor to do his 'Venusian Ooja Thing' and leg it. The Doctor told Benton Yates was the traitor before leaving, and, once found, Benton was interrogated by Finch who said he'd be Court Marshalled, then went to organise the search. However, the Brigadier finally sided with the Doctor and went off with Benton to find him first.
Lots of chase sequences with jeeps, abandoned warehouses and commons ensued, all rather splendidly shot in the drizzle.
Meanwhile, Sarah conned Mark (he of the tight Denim jeans) into letting her out of the re-education room and, eventually, convinced him they weren't on a spaceship by fiddling with the fake controls then walking out the 'airlock'. Returning to UNIT HQ, she found Bit-Part-Soldier who told her the Doctor was behind the Dinosaur appearances and everyone was out looking for him. Everyone except General Finch who turned up and asked Sarah to prove her story by showing him the lift in Grover's office. Which she did. At which point he pulled a gun on her. Taking her down to the bunker, Finch was instructed by Grover to evacuate all the troops from Central London while Whitaker was to bring about the final wave of Dinosaurs before bringing pre-Humanity Earth forward in time to everywhere but the bunker, wiping the rest of the planet clean. It's a great idea, and the people involved have my sympathy. This is turning out to be one of the most thoughtful, interesting stories the series has produced - a sort of alternative Green Death! Pity about the Dinosaurs.
Invasion Of The Dinosaurs: Part Six (16/02/14)
What a great story! The Brigadier and Benton found the Doctor and they went back to UNIT HQ where Mike Yates was waiting. Mike held them at gunpoint and explained to the Doctor the good side of Grover's plan, but the Doctor pointed out that the erasure of millions of generations of people was wrong. Then Bit-Part-Soldier brought in the tea, distracting Mike and allowing Benton to overpower him.
Meanwhile, Butler locked Sarah in a room but she escaped through the air vent and went back to the 'spaceship' to find they'd been reviving the colonists. She and Mark tried to explain what was going on, but Ruth and Adam (the 'Elders') locked them up, then Adam contacted Grover 'on the other spaceship' and requested he came over. Grover got dressed up in a spacesuit and went to set the colonists' minds at rest, then went to speak to the imprisoned Sarah and Mark, admitting what he was doing and telling them he hoped they'd settle down once the plan was complete. Then he left, but Adam had overheard Grover and freed Sarah and Mark, letting her show everyone the fake airlock and allowing everyone to confront Grover.
Meanwhile, the Doctor and Brigadier blew up the fake cupboard in the Underground station and accessed the bunker using a rope. The Brigadier contacted Benton to get him to send reinforcements but Finch had him at gunpoint. Nevertheless, Benton double-bluffed him and overpowered him. The colonists arrived in the control bunker just before the Doctor, the the Brigadier and his soldiers, but Whitaker pulled the switch to start the Time Machine.
Everyone was frozen except the Doctor, who was able to switch it off and reverse the polarity, so when Grover went for it a second time he, Whitaker and the control unit were transported back in time.
In the coda, Finch was to be Court Marshalled, and Yates was given sick leave and the opportunity to retire. A great story with some great set pieces for the regulars and an important message about what we're doing to the planet, and how not to go about changing things. Again, it's a shame about the monsters; seeing a T-Rex rubberly nuzzling an Apatosaurus' neck within the firts five minutes wasn't the ravaging the script called for, but never mind - the story was far superior and clever for effects to affect my enjoyment!
Candidate for BEST EPISODE EVER! Really atmospheric from the start with the TARDIS arriving in a deserted London - the opening shots of Westminster Bridge, Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square etc. all desolate and empty were amazing, as were the shots of abandoned cars and smashed up houses.
Some great sound design with just lots of bird call underscoring every scene for the first half. Very shocking bit where the Doctor and Sarah Jane found the bloody corpse of a looter who'd just threatened them and driven his car into one of the unnamed 'monsters' who've invaded. Turns out they're Dinosaurs (by the look of it) - first a Pterosaur attacked the Doctor and Sarah in a garage leading to an escape in a stolen jeep, then UNIT soldiers were machine gunning and grenading a Tyrannosaurus Rex (to no avail) whilst the Doctor and Sarah were being caught by the army elsewhere.
Meanwhile, the Brigadier is trying to keep control of everything and work out where the Dinosaurs are coming from, which isn't easy when the government are only interested in controlling the looters - all very well for them relocated up in Harrogate! Fortunately, the Doctor and Sarah had mug shots taken of them and Benton got hold of them. Seems like it must be quite a while later as they know who Sarah Jane Smith is - no doubt Professor Rubeish told them everything when he was transported back to the research centre. Now the Doctor and Sarah are being taken to a detention centre by jeep, but here comes a T-Rex!
That's the one disappointment following such an incredible, atmospheric start - the Dinosaurs are a bit, er... rubbery. It's a great concept; Dinosaurs marauding a deserted, modern-day London, but the Pterosaur's wings weren't so much flapping as stationary while it bounced about on a bit of elastic (the puppetry of it smashing the jeep's window was more successful, if a little reminiscent of Emu!) and the slow-moving, podgy T-Rex is a bit lacklustre. Maybe the bullets weren't affecting it because they were just sinking into its body fat! Never mind. Still a great idea and really well dramatised. Except for the puppets.
Invasion Of The Dinosaurs: Part Two (19/01/14)
OH MY GOD! Mike Yates is a traitor!!! This story's definitely developing the format. He seems to be working with a couple of scientists in Central London doing Time Experiments for something called Operation Golden Age, somehow trying to replace society as it presently is! Actually, he had some good lines early in the episode talking to Sarah about having to take time off after the business with the Giant Maggots, when he got brainwashed by BOSS, and how nice London is without traffic and people. I have to say he has a point, but these days it's not so unusual to see a fox in Piccadilly - I only recently saw one strolling through Soho at noon on a Tuesday!
The Doctor and Sarah are helping UNIT again having been saved from being sent to the Detention Centre after encountering a man from the Twelfth Century. The Doctor's already had a run in with General Finch, the regular army commander (I think), who doesn't believe the Doctor's explanation for the Dinosaurs being 'Time Eddies' - someone bringing them briefly forward from the past. Speaking of which, the actual Time Eddy effect isn't that bad. Aside from the T-Rex (another of which turned up to threaten the Doctor for the cliffhanger) the other Dinosaurs aren't so bad. Today we saw a Stegosaurus (a bit chunky and static) and an Apatosaurus (better, smoother, with a pretty good puppeteer manoeuvring its neck).
The Doctor's plan is to capture a Dinosaur and investigate the Time something-or-other (dilation? I forget) surrounding it to establish what's going on. He built a stun gun for the purpose, but the mean, older scientist of Operation Golden Age has given Mike a thing that attaches to and deactivates it. Obviously, Mike stuck it on the gun and the Apatosaurus disappeared to be replaced by a T-Rex.
Really liking the idea that Mike's working with the bad guys - I think it's the strongest piece of character development ever given to a companion! Definitely the most interesting! A really interesting story so far, even with the T-Rex.
Invasion Of The Dinosaurs: Part Three (26/01/14)
Bloody Hell! Another plot twist! Loads of stuff happened this week; Mike rescued the Doctor by taking of the deactivator and shooting the T-Rex, then they took the unconscious T-Rex to a hangar for observation and chained it up. Mike went apeshit as Whitaker and Butler, the two Operation Golden Age scientists, who in turn told him to sabotage the Doctor's Temporal Displacement monitor so he wouldn't have any data to go on once the T-Rex warped back to its own time; Sarah wanted photos, as she's a journalist, but the Brigadier said no. Nevertheless, General Finch decided to help her out and got her a pass. Also, Sarah had been busy investigating and got Whitaker's name in connection with Time Experiments and found out he disappeared 6 months ago after failing to get government funding. However, MP Charles Grover, who's in charge of the Central Zone while the rest of the Government's in Harrogate, says Whitaker's ideas were rubbish.
Sarah returned to the hangar to take photos but woke the T-Rex which started demolishing the hangar and concussed Sarah. Luckily, she was rescued by the Doctor. However, they figured out UNIT must have a traitor when Benton returned with the Dinosaur's chains, which had been cut through, and the Doctor's sabotaged equipment. Sarah raised the question about how they were powering the Time Experiments (a nuclear generator would be needed), but the Brigadier had already investigated those avenues and come up with nothing.
However, Sarah remembered something and, ordered to get some rest, went off to Charles Grover's office to look at the government records. Turns out a nuclear bunker was built right beneath his building and, quelle surprise, he's working with Operation Golden Age. Down they go to the bunker where Sarah's locked up in a room with blue, pulsing lights - and wakes up on a spaceship THREE MONTHS LATER!!! Didn't expect that one!
The T-Rex puppet was better in the close-ups of its head this week, but the fully body version was still a bit naff. However, that hardly matters because Malcolm Hulke keeps delivering curve-balls that completely take you by surprise. Brilliant!
Invasion Of The Dinosaurs: Part Four (02/02/14)
Once again, a great episode! The Doctor has a new 'car' which is a silver hovercraft with weird, curvy wings at the back which he used to drive round a deserted London. Funny how, when London gets evacuated, the Doctor ends up in the London Underground - this time Moorgate, following Butler to the underground bunker. Led round in a circle to the exit again, he fetched the Brigadier but by then Butler and Whitaker had replaced the lift-disguised-as-a-cupboard with a real cupboard.
Going to Charles Grover MP, the Doctor's tale of bunker exploration was discounted with the production of a file claiming the plans to build it had been scrapped. Obviously suspicious of Grover, the Doctor returned to UNIT HQ where he received a phone call from Whitaker claiming he'd been forced to carry out the experiments by Grover but escaped to the Doctor's warehouse/hangar and could the Doctor fetch him? This was a clear plot by Grover, Finch, Whitaker, Butler and Mike Yates to discredit the Doctor, and upon arrival the Doctor found a weird machine, an unconvincing Stegosaurus and, moments later, Finch, the Brig and some soldiers claiming the Doctor was responsible. Why he didn't tell anyone, figure out it was a trap, or even ask Benton to verify what he was doing (as Benton patched the call through to him) is anyone's guess!
Meanwhile, Sarah found herself on a colony ship heading for a 'New Earth' 3 months in the future with a former politician, a writer and an Athlete all turned Hippie and transporting 1,000 people on five spaceships. However, she's not a Hippie, and therefore a disruptive element who needs re-educating. However, she's noticed she still has a fresh scar on her forehead so clearly hasn't been asleep on a spaceship for 3 months, and may well be just stuck in the bunker with a load of deluded Hippies, a la 'The Enemy Of The World'!
Slightly padded, this week, and I don't get why the Brigadier wasn't more proactive or at least investigated the Doctor's claims more thoroughly after over four years working together, but nevertheless this is one of the best Pertwee stories so far.
Invasion Of The Dinosaurs: Part Five (09/02/14)
It has to be said, Sergeant Benton is brilliant! Having returned to UNIT HQ, Finch took the Brigadier off to report the Doctor's capture to the Government. The Doctor tried to appeal to Yates but was ignored, and Yates ordered Benton to lock the Doctor in a cell then walked out. So Benton sent the remaining guards to prepare a cell and while they were gone, told the Doctor to do his 'Venusian Ooja Thing' and leg it. The Doctor told Benton Yates was the traitor before leaving, and, once found, Benton was interrogated by Finch who said he'd be Court Marshalled, then went to organise the search. However, the Brigadier finally sided with the Doctor and went off with Benton to find him first.
Lots of chase sequences with jeeps, abandoned warehouses and commons ensued, all rather splendidly shot in the drizzle.
Meanwhile, Sarah conned Mark (he of the tight Denim jeans) into letting her out of the re-education room and, eventually, convinced him they weren't on a spaceship by fiddling with the fake controls then walking out the 'airlock'. Returning to UNIT HQ, she found Bit-Part-Soldier who told her the Doctor was behind the Dinosaur appearances and everyone was out looking for him. Everyone except General Finch who turned up and asked Sarah to prove her story by showing him the lift in Grover's office. Which she did. At which point he pulled a gun on her. Taking her down to the bunker, Finch was instructed by Grover to evacuate all the troops from Central London while Whitaker was to bring about the final wave of Dinosaurs before bringing pre-Humanity Earth forward in time to everywhere but the bunker, wiping the rest of the planet clean. It's a great idea, and the people involved have my sympathy. This is turning out to be one of the most thoughtful, interesting stories the series has produced - a sort of alternative Green Death! Pity about the Dinosaurs.
Invasion Of The Dinosaurs: Part Six (16/02/14)
What a great story! The Brigadier and Benton found the Doctor and they went back to UNIT HQ where Mike Yates was waiting. Mike held them at gunpoint and explained to the Doctor the good side of Grover's plan, but the Doctor pointed out that the erasure of millions of generations of people was wrong. Then Bit-Part-Soldier brought in the tea, distracting Mike and allowing Benton to overpower him.
Meanwhile, Butler locked Sarah in a room but she escaped through the air vent and went back to the 'spaceship' to find they'd been reviving the colonists. She and Mark tried to explain what was going on, but Ruth and Adam (the 'Elders') locked them up, then Adam contacted Grover 'on the other spaceship' and requested he came over. Grover got dressed up in a spacesuit and went to set the colonists' minds at rest, then went to speak to the imprisoned Sarah and Mark, admitting what he was doing and telling them he hoped they'd settle down once the plan was complete. Then he left, but Adam had overheard Grover and freed Sarah and Mark, letting her show everyone the fake airlock and allowing everyone to confront Grover.
Meanwhile, the Doctor and Brigadier blew up the fake cupboard in the Underground station and accessed the bunker using a rope. The Brigadier contacted Benton to get him to send reinforcements but Finch had him at gunpoint. Nevertheless, Benton double-bluffed him and overpowered him. The colonists arrived in the control bunker just before the Doctor, the the Brigadier and his soldiers, but Whitaker pulled the switch to start the Time Machine.
Everyone was frozen except the Doctor, who was able to switch it off and reverse the polarity, so when Grover went for it a second time he, Whitaker and the control unit were transported back in time.
In the coda, Finch was to be Court Marshalled, and Yates was given sick leave and the opportunity to retire. A great story with some great set pieces for the regulars and an important message about what we're doing to the planet, and how not to go about changing things. Again, it's a shame about the monsters; seeing a T-Rex rubberly nuzzling an Apatosaurus' neck within the firts five minutes wasn't the ravaging the script called for, but never mind - the story was far superior and clever for effects to affect my enjoyment!
I'm not as enamoured of this as you are. Yes, it's another thoughtful script from Malcolm Hulke and does feature good characterisation, generally good performances and some nice direction. But THOSE DINOSAURS. Honestly, if any story was crying out for new special effects when released on DVD it was this one; sadly it never got them. There's only so far you can suspend your disbelief, and this story overreaches itself. Plus the rest of it isn't quite brilliant enough in my view to make up for it. Still, it's better overall than the reputation of the dinosaurs alone would suggest.
ReplyDeleteAs for your idea that this story must be a good deal of time later because of UNIT knowing about Sarah, I assume you mean from their point of view. And yeah, I assume quite a bit of time must have elapsed as well. I wonder how they wrapped up their investigation from The Time Warrior and explained Sarah's absence to anyone who might have been asking? :D
Yes, I did mean that some time had passed for the Brigadier etc - I imagine that it's been several weeks or longer since the Doctor and Sarah disappeared as the evacuation of London has happened already and that's not an easy thing to do, even in the 70s! For the Doctor and Sarah, it's clearly only moments since they said goodbye to Hal the Archer.
DeleteThe story didn't get new special effects on its DVD release because it wasn't possible. I remember it being stated in the media at the time that current technology was incapable of replacing the rubber Dinosaurs due to the way in which the models and the overlaying visual effects were originally combined when the story was made. Therefore, scenes like where they have Pertwee superimposed over a model shot of a Dinosaur on an industrial estate, overlayed with the 'Time Eddy' effect, could not be replaced, restructured or altered. And to be honest, I wouldn't really want them to be. Despite what you say, I don't think that the Dinosaurs other than the Tyrannosaurus Rex look that bad. Shots of a Pterodactyl sunning itself 65,000,000 years ago and a Triceratops on an Underground platform look pretty good. But I guess it's all relative. I have more of an issue with the frankly awful costumes created for some of the aliens in the next couple of stories, but that's yet to come (and I don't even know if I bother mentioning how bad they are!).