I have mixed feelings about Invasion of the Dinosaurs. Written by Malcolm Hulke, this story comes in the final season for Jon Pertwee as the Doctor at a time when the quality of stories is far below what viewers had come to expect. The story sees the Doctor and Sarah Jane arrive on Earth finding the streets to be deserted. They are soon arrested accused of armed robbery. When they are cleared they find that Dinosaurs are appearing and disappearing which forces UNIT to evacuate London.
The main failing of this story are the dinosaurs. They’re just crap. Even a primary school kid could have done a better job and given that the story has Dinosaurs in the title then it’s a pretty big problem. Every time I was starting to get into the story the dinosaurs would appear and all that would go out of the window. The creation of the Dinosaurs was done by a freelancer who convinced Barry Letts that he could do it. Boy way he wrong. The first cliffhanger which exists only in black and white in part one looked ok but just looks awful when part two begins. That said there was one brief moment of when the Pterodactyl attacks the Doctor and Sarah Jane in the garage. That was good though it might have been down to the black and white quality.
When you take the Dinosaurs out of the review then this story is a corker. Which isn’t surprising considering that Hulke has written some cracking stories over the years. The idea that a group of scientists and military people are trying to create a new world with no pollution is quite a noble one but alas with most plans in Doctor Who, the way they went about it was totally the wrong way. You kind of sympathise with the characters even though one of the main scientist will be Nyder in a few years. The think that really throws a spanner in the works is the involvement of Captain Mike Yates. He had been a solid reliable figures throughout Pertwee’s time on the show and to put him in a position where he puts the Doctor’s life in peril is quite a shocking thing. Especially as we know that they are friends but Yates does have some morals and won’t allow the Doctor to be killed.
Parts of this story became a case of ‘who can you trust?’. With The Doctor and Sarah Jane being constantly thwarted in their attempts to understand what’s going on and even the Brigadier hits a brick wall on more than one occasion. The story soon sees the Sir Charles Grover capture Sarah Jane. After a hypnotic session, Sarah Jane wakes up on what appears a spaceship with crew who believe that they are travelling to a new world which is devoid of pollution. Essentially they are being conned and they spend all this time in the mock-up of a spaceship whilst the Professor Whittaker (Peter Miles) and Butler (Martin Jarvis) work on getting London evacuated.
Jon Pertwee does a good job. I think his best times were behind him and the departure of Katy Manning and the death of Roger Delgado have clearly had an effect on him. However he is professional and is still quintessentially the Doctor. Elisabeth Sladen is very strange in this story compared to her Tom Baker stories. She is still in her journalist phase and so she is in that suit which is more suiting the character, it’s just a shame that she didn’t stay like this throughout her time. The other characters are also very good. Peter Miles and Martin Jarvis are a sort of bickering couple and even though I have seen them in previous things and Miles goes to play Nyder I still believe in the characters. I also thought Carmen Silvera (previously in The Celestial Toymaker) was a wonderful bit of casting. Her role of Ruth went from believing absolutely in the setting she was in before changing once she found out the truth. However it was Richard Franklin that I found the best of the guest stars. Being on both sides of the fence meant that we got to see a different side to a UNIT officer. He had to basically lie to the Doctor’s face which must have been difficult.
If you take the Dinosaurs out of this story then it’s a bloody good adventure. Even at six parts it doesn’t seem to drag and that’s unusual for a six parter. However if you put the dinosaurs back then the story does lose a bit of sparkle. Invasion of the Dinosaurs should only be watched when you turn the TV to black and white then you will get a better response.
The main failing of this story are the dinosaurs. They’re just crap. Even a primary school kid could have done a better job and given that the story has Dinosaurs in the title then it’s a pretty big problem. Every time I was starting to get into the story the dinosaurs would appear and all that would go out of the window. The creation of the Dinosaurs was done by a freelancer who convinced Barry Letts that he could do it. Boy way he wrong. The first cliffhanger which exists only in black and white in part one looked ok but just looks awful when part two begins. That said there was one brief moment of when the Pterodactyl attacks the Doctor and Sarah Jane in the garage. That was good though it might have been down to the black and white quality.
When you take the Dinosaurs out of the review then this story is a corker. Which isn’t surprising considering that Hulke has written some cracking stories over the years. The idea that a group of scientists and military people are trying to create a new world with no pollution is quite a noble one but alas with most plans in Doctor Who, the way they went about it was totally the wrong way. You kind of sympathise with the characters even though one of the main scientist will be Nyder in a few years. The think that really throws a spanner in the works is the involvement of Captain Mike Yates. He had been a solid reliable figures throughout Pertwee’s time on the show and to put him in a position where he puts the Doctor’s life in peril is quite a shocking thing. Especially as we know that they are friends but Yates does have some morals and won’t allow the Doctor to be killed.
Parts of this story became a case of ‘who can you trust?’. With The Doctor and Sarah Jane being constantly thwarted in their attempts to understand what’s going on and even the Brigadier hits a brick wall on more than one occasion. The story soon sees the Sir Charles Grover capture Sarah Jane. After a hypnotic session, Sarah Jane wakes up on what appears a spaceship with crew who believe that they are travelling to a new world which is devoid of pollution. Essentially they are being conned and they spend all this time in the mock-up of a spaceship whilst the Professor Whittaker (Peter Miles) and Butler (Martin Jarvis) work on getting London evacuated.
Jon Pertwee does a good job. I think his best times were behind him and the departure of Katy Manning and the death of Roger Delgado have clearly had an effect on him. However he is professional and is still quintessentially the Doctor. Elisabeth Sladen is very strange in this story compared to her Tom Baker stories. She is still in her journalist phase and so she is in that suit which is more suiting the character, it’s just a shame that she didn’t stay like this throughout her time. The other characters are also very good. Peter Miles and Martin Jarvis are a sort of bickering couple and even though I have seen them in previous things and Miles goes to play Nyder I still believe in the characters. I also thought Carmen Silvera (previously in The Celestial Toymaker) was a wonderful bit of casting. Her role of Ruth went from believing absolutely in the setting she was in before changing once she found out the truth. However it was Richard Franklin that I found the best of the guest stars. Being on both sides of the fence meant that we got to see a different side to a UNIT officer. He had to basically lie to the Doctor’s face which must have been difficult.
If you take the Dinosaurs out of this story then it’s a bloody good adventure. Even at six parts it doesn’t seem to drag and that’s unusual for a six parter. However if you put the dinosaurs back then the story does lose a bit of sparkle. Invasion of the Dinosaurs should only be watched when you turn the TV to black and white then you will get a better response.
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