We’re taking down London!
Arriving in London, the Doctor (Patrick Troughton), Jamie (Frazer Hines), and Zoe (Wendy Padbury) join a young photographer named Isobel Watkins (Sally Faulkner) in a search for her missing scientist uncle Professor Watkins (Edward Burnham). Their search leads them to a company called International Electromatics run by Tobias Vaughn (Kevin Stoney). Vaughn has secret plans for the world and allies in the evil Cybermen. With a full invasion plotted to the last detail, only the Doctor, his allies, and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney) can stop the attack!
Doctor Who: The Invasion aired during the sixth season of the long running BBC series. The serial aired in eight episodes from November 2, 1968 to December 21, 1968. Parts one and four of the serial are missing and the story became the first story to recreate the missing sequences with animation. Following Doctor Who: The Mind Robber, the serial is collected as part of The Patrick Troughton Years as Story #46. The DVD version of this serial is currently out of print.
Way more exciting than the real recording probably…
The Cybermen are one of Doctor Who’s better enemies and this entry in the Doctor Who saga is a fun Cyberman story. Running eight episodes, the story is rather long, but it does move at a nice pace due to a rather drastic switch halfway through the story.
The first half of the story mostly involves Vaughn and his secretive master plot. This is almost a stand-alone story and the reveal that he’s plotting a Cyberman invasion could be another serial. Unfortunately, this is the sequence missing the original footage. The fact that they have the Doctor Who audio for the missing story and stills from the story help. I’m a big believer that these should be recreated since there are some very important missing stories that viewers would love to see…plus, sometimes the animation sequences are probably better than the original like the helicopter escape from IE.
I always thought that it was alligators in the sewers…turns out it was Cybermen
The Cybermen portion of the story is good though the bombing sequence of the last serial is a bit long. Much like the Daleks in Doctor Who: Dalek Invasion of Earth (Story #10), it is fun to see the Cybermen coming out of the London sewers and walking around downtown London. The Cybermen still are quite goofy looking (they are better than their first appearance though I did like their creepy mouths) and it is hard to take the lumbering characters as much of a threat.
I rather liked Sally Faulkner in this serial. It is an odd performance in that it really feels like she’s being set up as another companion for the Doctor. I also kind of liked the tag team nature of Sally, Zoe, and Jamie for sequences like their trip into the sewer. In addition to the fun Sally, the episode features the second appearance of Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart who last appeared in Doctor Who: The Web of Fear.
Despite its length, Doctor Who: The Invasion is a pretty enjoyable Doctor Who adventure. I generally don’t like the longer serials, but a decent plot and pacing helps keep this story going. Now, I just wish they would “rediscover” more Doctor Who…especially Troughton’s crippled run. Doctor Who: The Invasion is followed by Doctor Who: The Krotons.
Preceded By:
