The Invasion is my favourite Cybermen story ever. Episodes one and four are missing presumed wiped and normally this would prevent 2Entertain from releasing it on DVD but what they decided to do was to animate these two episodes and release the whole thing on DVD. The animation is very good and works quite well alongside the audio recording. Credit should go to Cosgrove Hall for making it work. Now if only they would do it on The Daleks Master Plan then life would be fine and dandy. The story is eight episode long (only The War Games is longer) and sometimes there is a tendency for stories longer than four episodes to drag but thankfully this serial doesn’t suffer from that.
This serial sees the return of Nicholas Courtney and the introduction of UNIT which was set up after the events of The Web of Fear the previous year. Though their introduction was more sinister than expected. We first meet Benton and another person who are following the Doctor and Jamie and these spend most of episode one following them until they take them to the Brigadier in episode two. The music does a great job of making Benton seem sinister. For those who watch his scenes with the third Doctor will know that this is the only time he is like this.
The story is set sometime in the future (1972 is the best guess) where the Doctor tries to locate Professor Travers (from The Web of Fear) but is soon distracted by International Electromatics who is led by Tobias Vaughn and working with the Cybermen are planning an invasion. It’s not the most original plot idea but in a way its not the plot that makes this story what it is but the characters and the directing. There are some memorable scenes such as the Cybermen walking through the sewers and perhaps the most iconic of images is of the Cybermen walking along the streets of London and walking in front of St Paul’s Cathedral.
Quite oddly the Cybermen don’t appear until the end of Episode four, we get to meet the Cyber-director but he’s not called that. The first half of this story is to allow Tobias Vaughn to be his best. When the Cybermen do appear they are effectively servants to Vaughn who in his many rows with the Cyber-director who insists that they follow his plans but as things like this always turn out. He realises that he hasn’t been in control of the Cybermen but the other way around. This sudden realisation leads to a fun and action pack last episode. Vaughn gives his life so that the signal can be turned off and it sort of redeems the character. The Cybermen have a different look again, I personally prefer the very first design because it’s the closest that suits the creation. However this version of the Cybermen is the one that is used for the rest of the classic run.
Kevin Stoney is fantastic as Tobias Vaughn. In fact there is no word that could truly describe what I think of Stoney’s portrayal of the role. He is very smooth and calm for large sections of this serial except for when he’s shouting at Packer and arguing with the Cyber-director. Peter Halliday is also fantastic as Packer. He is the muscles behind Vaughn but is talked down to by Vaughn and is badly treated. He is pretty useless and is one of those sort of people who are all talk.
The regular cast are on good form as usual with Patrick Troughton leading the performances as he has to pit his wits against Tobias Vaughn. There are several scenes where they are together and its fun to see it every time. The ‘regular goes on holiday’ syndrome occurs not once but twice with Wendy Padbury absent in episode four and Frazer Hines amazingly absent from the final episode. Seriously, if he was going to have a holiday then couldn’t it be earlier in the serial? However despite the odd choice of when to allow the actors to have their holidays the actors themselves are very good as they are joined by Louise Faulkner as Isobel. There is a fun moment when Isobel is told that she cant be the one to take pictures of the Cybermen because she’s a woman and her shocked reply is to simply call the Brigadier ‘a man’. Then Jamie agrees and Zoe and Isobel decide that they are going to try anyway and use emotional blackmail to convince Jamie to join them. This leads to a very good cliffhanger where they are down in the sewers and they have Cybermen coming either side of them. Wendy Padbury really shines in the last two episodes where she uses her brains and helps destroy all the Cyber-ships that are orbiting the moon. Everyone dismisses her but she is quick to show them that it can be achieved with just one rocket. Frazer Hines is ok but doesn’t really do anything special compared to Troughton or Padbury. That said he does have some comedic moments with Troughton and is involved in a good cliffhanger where he is sharing a pod with a Cybermen about to wake up from a deep sleep.
I love The Invasion and every time I watch it I am still engrossed in its story, the characters and the feel of the whole thing. A congratulations should go to everyone involved and it’s the highlight of Patrick Troughton’s final season as the Doctor and as I mentioned earlier, the best Cyberman story ever.
This serial sees the return of Nicholas Courtney and the introduction of UNIT which was set up after the events of The Web of Fear the previous year. Though their introduction was more sinister than expected. We first meet Benton and another person who are following the Doctor and Jamie and these spend most of episode one following them until they take them to the Brigadier in episode two. The music does a great job of making Benton seem sinister. For those who watch his scenes with the third Doctor will know that this is the only time he is like this.
The story is set sometime in the future (1972 is the best guess) where the Doctor tries to locate Professor Travers (from The Web of Fear) but is soon distracted by International Electromatics who is led by Tobias Vaughn and working with the Cybermen are planning an invasion. It’s not the most original plot idea but in a way its not the plot that makes this story what it is but the characters and the directing. There are some memorable scenes such as the Cybermen walking through the sewers and perhaps the most iconic of images is of the Cybermen walking along the streets of London and walking in front of St Paul’s Cathedral.
Quite oddly the Cybermen don’t appear until the end of Episode four, we get to meet the Cyber-director but he’s not called that. The first half of this story is to allow Tobias Vaughn to be his best. When the Cybermen do appear they are effectively servants to Vaughn who in his many rows with the Cyber-director who insists that they follow his plans but as things like this always turn out. He realises that he hasn’t been in control of the Cybermen but the other way around. This sudden realisation leads to a fun and action pack last episode. Vaughn gives his life so that the signal can be turned off and it sort of redeems the character. The Cybermen have a different look again, I personally prefer the very first design because it’s the closest that suits the creation. However this version of the Cybermen is the one that is used for the rest of the classic run.
Kevin Stoney is fantastic as Tobias Vaughn. In fact there is no word that could truly describe what I think of Stoney’s portrayal of the role. He is very smooth and calm for large sections of this serial except for when he’s shouting at Packer and arguing with the Cyber-director. Peter Halliday is also fantastic as Packer. He is the muscles behind Vaughn but is talked down to by Vaughn and is badly treated. He is pretty useless and is one of those sort of people who are all talk.
The regular cast are on good form as usual with Patrick Troughton leading the performances as he has to pit his wits against Tobias Vaughn. There are several scenes where they are together and its fun to see it every time. The ‘regular goes on holiday’ syndrome occurs not once but twice with Wendy Padbury absent in episode four and Frazer Hines amazingly absent from the final episode. Seriously, if he was going to have a holiday then couldn’t it be earlier in the serial? However despite the odd choice of when to allow the actors to have their holidays the actors themselves are very good as they are joined by Louise Faulkner as Isobel. There is a fun moment when Isobel is told that she cant be the one to take pictures of the Cybermen because she’s a woman and her shocked reply is to simply call the Brigadier ‘a man’. Then Jamie agrees and Zoe and Isobel decide that they are going to try anyway and use emotional blackmail to convince Jamie to join them. This leads to a very good cliffhanger where they are down in the sewers and they have Cybermen coming either side of them. Wendy Padbury really shines in the last two episodes where she uses her brains and helps destroy all the Cyber-ships that are orbiting the moon. Everyone dismisses her but she is quick to show them that it can be achieved with just one rocket. Frazer Hines is ok but doesn’t really do anything special compared to Troughton or Padbury. That said he does have some comedic moments with Troughton and is involved in a good cliffhanger where he is sharing a pod with a Cybermen about to wake up from a deep sleep.
I love The Invasion and every time I watch it I am still engrossed in its story, the characters and the feel of the whole thing. A congratulations should go to everyone involved and it’s the highlight of Patrick Troughton’s final season as the Doctor and as I mentioned earlier, the best Cyberman story ever.
No comments:
Post a Comment