Customer Reviews

Doctor Who: The Invasion (Story 46)

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It was a shock to see an incomplete story... made complete via animation?!

The highlight of this story is the background history and what transpired to make this 'missing' story into a released DVD set.

The sixth season of the show (1968-1969) had a lot of scripts falling through. As a result, commissioned stories had to be stretched out longer. "The Invasion" is one such story. The good news is, the gravitas of the character and performance of the actor (Kevin Stoney) playing Tobias Vaughn helps elevate this story and keeps it moving. The story is essentially him vs the Doctor, with Tobias attempting to use the Cybermen to his benefit while the Doctor enlists the help of a newly formed secret paramilitary organization that battles alien invaders; UNIT (United Nations Intelligence Taskforce).

I would say episodes 6 and 7 do drag on a bit, but there are plenty of set pieces that re-awaken you at the right times.

As usual, sound and video for a program made in this time are sensational. And the extras and commentaries made by still-living cast and crew alone pay for this story; and then we get the story itself...

Here's the rundown: In the 1970s, the BBC junked many programs from its archives. The Patrick Troughton era of "Doctor Who" was badly hit. As a result, most of his stories have been destroyed.

Fortunately, over the years, episodes are found in warehouses, returned to the BBC by countries who bought licenses to air the old episodes during the 1960s and never junked the films themselves, or returned by collectors - who are far more philanthropic than many we'd otherwise give the title to.

Additionally, during the 1960s, home video recorders didn't exist. (Another 12 years would pass before the technology became feasible... or popular.) So people recorded them onto audio tape, often by dangling a microphone in front of the TV set.

As part of the restoration process (and having seen many VHS copies, some work had to be done), the end result of episodes 2, 3, and 5-8 are marvelous. And this is the first professionally released version of the story where all the Cybermens' dialogue can be heard distinctly, with full clarity. The previous releases I've seen just didn't have the cleanup applied and the difference is PHENOMENAL.

But the icing is on the cake: Episodes 1 and 4 have been re-created via cleaning and amalgamating numerous audio tape sources, with animation applied. And the animation is spectacular. It doesn't steal any opportunities to go "over the top", there is a genuine sense of the animators trying to be true to the original footage as possible (though some embellishments are inevitable; the master tapes and films nonexisting). It's very clever, grabs your attention, doesn't seem at all shoehorned in, and the audio quality is spectacular. The extras go into the history of program junking, how audiotracks were recovered, and a well made piece on how they were cleaned - I don't want to spoil it here, but as with the main story, there is not one piece of extra that does NOT entertain or edify!

HIGHLY recommended.

I had the good fortune this week to view the newly released DVD set from BBC of the great Doctor Who adventure, The Invasion, with the two "missing" episodes animated by Cosgrove Hall - amd I'm delighted to report, it is fantastic! As many Who fans will have seen the (rather poor quality) VHS of some years ago for this riveting story, I'll turn right to the restored Episodes 1 and 4. How good a job did the animators at Cosgrove Hall do? A very good job indeed. Turning to the animated versions of the characters themselves, the portrayal of Zoe is amazingly faithful to Wendy Padbury's original, with all of her subtle facial expressions and visual personality intact. And what a fine actress she is! The Jamie recreation, while certainly recognizable, is not quite as successful - he must have a more difficult face to render. As for the great Patrick Troughton himself, well, for the most part the animated version is a near-perfect recreation of my favorite of all the Doctors (or perhaps it's a tie with Tom Baker); at some angles, though, particularly when the Doctor is looking upward, the animated character looks a bit like George Washington coping painfully with his wooden dentures. It's true. Minor quibbles aside, though, quite a glorious reconstruction of these missing episodes. Also excellent are the animated alter egos of the supporting characters, including the villain Tobias Vaughn (but for some reason, without his lazy right eye in the animated version, a physical trait that adds to the character's menace). The animated action sequences are always excellent, with a particularly convincing cow in Episode 1, staring in through the TARDIS window. Giving nothing away, the first few moments of Episode 1 involve a missle being fired at the just-reassembled TARDIS (Invasion followed Mind Robber in sequence), and this and the other special effects probably look considerably better, less budget-constrained, than in the lost originals. As for monsters, there aren't any in Episodes 1 and 4, until the last few moments of Episode 4, where they make a most dramatic appearance, not to be missed by any Who fan. What a perfectly wonderful way to recreate this masterpiece. I enjoy the telesnap-based recons a great deal, but clearly animation is the way to go with these missing episodes. A triumph! And if we're very very lucky, this might be the harbinger of things to come from BBC/Cosgrove Hall. The bulk of the Second Doctor's episodes are "missing from the BBC archives," and likely to remain so, barring the opening of some Middle Eastern film library or mad collector's shelves. These include some of the very finest, most well plotted and superbly acted stories in the entire series: Fury from the Deep, Macra Terror, Power of the Daleks, Evil of the Daleks, the two Yeti stories, and much more. Obvious follow up projects would include the Tenth Planet, Ice Warriors, and Moonbase, which are reasonably close to being complete in the archives. Some of these stories, and particularly the monsters and other special effects, may actually benefit from being animated - given the budgetary constraints imposed on Doctor Who in this early time period, the monsters aren't always as convincing as they might be (part of the charm of the series, I recognize).
Reserve your advance copy of this lost masterpiece today! Support this glorious and thoroughly successful breakthrough. And join in the hope that The Invasion will signal a new era for Patrick Troughton, the greatest Doctor of all! (Now how about the First Doctor's Marco Polo, or Dalek Master Plan . . .?)

Season 6.
UPDATE (Nov.5/06):~I watched the restored version of this story yesterday and all I can say is; "Well worth a purchase", the animated episodes add to the story with their moody stylized artwork.
Cartoon, not computer generated.
The likenesses of the characters are spot on.
The vidfired picture quality is much improved over the VHS version.
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This great eight episode story is out now in the UK with the two missing episodes getting a full length animated reconstruction with the original soundtrack spliced in.
The eight episodes are split across two disc's.
It's getting animated by Manchester based Cosgrove Hall.
(They did Dangermouse in the 80's.)
Gets a US release March 6,07.
Perhaps the BBC are going to reconstruct other episodes, If this sells well?
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Okay animated reconstruction may not be as good as having the actual episodes as originally filmed, but it's a heck of a lot better then Nick Courtney taking Three minutes to talk about a twenty five minute episode.
(Like on my VHS release.)
We have to thank 60's Doctor Who fans who audio taped all the stories, that the soundtrack to the missing episodes still exist at all.
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I've always felt Tobias Vaughn to be one of Who's best; "Human" villains.
A particularly good scene that shows Vaughn at his vicious best, is when the captive Professor Watkins says he will kill Vaughn if he gets the chance, so Vaughn gives him a gun and taunts and then wallops Watkins into shooting (Vaughn) in the chest. With no effect on Vaughn as his body has been Cybernized. (If there is such a word?)
This story has that; "classic" scene of the Cybermen coming down the steps near St Pauls Cathedral.
The name Packer (Vaughn's nasty but not too bright security chief) is said many times and in many different inflections by Tobias Vaughn. (Just try and count them.)
Troughton has always been my favourite Doctor, and I can't wait to see this story get the; "Vidfire" treatment. The picture quality on the VHS release was pretty ropey.
The best Doctor & the best enemies, (Tobias Vaughn & 60's Cybermen) the silly but loyal Jamie, and the gorgeous Zoe !!!
A GLORIOUS COMBINATION.
~~~~
DVD Special Features:~
Eight episodes.
Disc 1:~
Ep.1~animated
Ep.2
Ep.3
Ep.4 ~animated
Extras:~
Commentary by:~ cast,production staff,animators.
Love off Air:~ History of fan audio recording.
Doctor Who confidential:~ interviews with the animation team.
Character design:~ featurette.
2 animated trailers.
Disc 2:~
Episodes:~5,6,7,8.
Extras:~
Commentary:~ cast,production staff.
Evolution of The Invasion:~ a 50 minute look at the story.
Photo gallery.
Original links:~ Nicholas Courtneys links to the missing episodes on the original 1993 VHS release.
Originally broadcast BBC 1:~2/11/68-21/12/68

I watched The Invasion straight through on DVD twice complete with animation episodes, then ended up listening to the whole thing on a long car trip on audio, all in the span of one week.

It says massive things when I say that this was eight episodes, and NOT ONCE was I bored.

The producers of the show were planning a new direction for Doctor Who, one that'd take the series completely to Earth, and this makes a fantastic first impression as a sort of "pilot" for this new era. Needing some electronic spare parts for the TARDIS, the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe search for Professor Travers, only to find that they've left their house to a Professor Watkins, who has been missing for several days. Thus starts an adventure of revelation after revelation of what's going on at International Electromatics, a company that has the monopoly on practically everything in the world. Tobias Vaughn is well casted by Kevin Stoney, as Wendy Padbury (Zoe) said on the commentary, the scenes between Vaughn and the Doctor when they're playing mindgames with each other could've been ruined by a lesser actor, but you're practically on the edge of your seat the whole time.

This is the first story to feature the newly formed UNIT, led by Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart, and what a way to introduce it! The return of the Cybermen, but what does Vaughn have planned for them... this sets the bar so high for the stories to come (And indeed for the new Jon Pertwee era just around the corner.)

And it's not just drama either. There are some good scenes with Vaughn's all brawn and no brain sidekick Packer. I love the scene where the Doctor pretends he's going to co-operate, "I can't let you hurt Zoe and Isabel, so when Tobias Vaughn comes- oh there he is now!" and then shoves him and runs off to the lift when Packer turns the other way. Something subtle like that is all you need. Oh, and how could you not love the last bit, where Isabel's snapping pictures while the Brigadier and his men run off to take care of the Cybermen's transmitter, and the Doctor first protests, but then strikes some heroic poses while men run all around them!

Eight episodes, and it doesn't flag. A teriffic achievement all around.

Many years ago my local PBS station showed Dr. Who on a regular basis. Unfortunately, due to licensing agreements and lack of funding, we often received only endless reruns of the Tom Baker series. Finally, several of the Patrick Troughton episodes were aired, and I remember being charmed by his Doctor's vulnerability and humanity.

Due to its incomplete nature, however, I had to wait until BBC Video produced a VHS version of The Invasion, with links to the missing episodes provided by Nicholas Courtney.

Now, the BBC has found a clever solution to the problem of the missing episodes (1 and 4): cartoon images have been added to the soundtrack, which was obtained from off-the-air tapes, made by fans, of the original broadcasts. While the animation is by no means state-of-art, it suits the '60s nature of the program.

Since the storyline includes one of the Doctor's few really iconic antagonists in the Cybermen, it has always been on my list of essential programs. Wendy Padbury and Frazer Hines return as Zoe and Jamie, who provide a nice balance to Troughton's Doctor--it was actually pretty progressive to have the female assistant be the brainy one, while the male was there to ask the Doctor for explanations (and to provide the occasional flash of leg!). And one can't underestimate the importance to later program developments of this first appearance of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and the Unit team.

It would be easy to criticize the melodrama of much of the storyline, and the campy nature of the buffoonish Packer--but that's the fun of Doctor Who, and I for one quite enjoy suspending disbelief for the duration of this very entertaining program.

A slightly mis-matched pair of releases from the Doctor Who vaults comes our way from the BBC. The Invasion, an epic 8 part story from 1968 made in glorious black and white - at the time the second longest story yet made - and a brief two-parter, The Sontaran Experiment, squeezed in from 1975. But there's a lot to enjoy here to celebrate the classic era of the show.

The Invasion stars Patrick Troughton as the second Doctor, featuring in a format that set the stage for his successor Jon Pertwee's tenure in the role. After the success of the Web of Fear a year earlier, when Yeti invaded the London Underground and the Doctor helped the British military contain the threat, the production team set about creating another London/alien invasion story, with the military presence expanded to a fictional international force known as UNIT. They brought back the same character and actor from the Yeti story to lead this force, promoted him to Brigadier and thus launched one of the most popular and enduring characters from the show's history.

This particular story was something of a milestone in Doctor Who history, even though it was born out of a panic to replace some rejected scripts. Not just because it created a new format for the show, but mainly for its impact on the viewing public. When the Cybermen emerged from the London sewers to enslave the human race, marching inexorably down the steps of St. Paul's Cathedral, the impact on the psyche of the British children watching was enormous. I know I was not alone in avoiding all sewer manhole covers for years to come! Alas, episodes 1 & 4 were junked by the BBC in 1971 and the remaining 6 were of poor quality tele-recordings. Inadequate linking material, intended to bridge the gaps, was recorded by Nicholas Courtney - The Brigadier - for the 1993 VHS release, but now the brilliant boys at Cosgrove Hall have replaced the two missing episodes in their entirety with animated recreations of the missing footage. I wasn't sure at first about the concept, but all doubts were dispelled as it is so brilliantly executed. Using the original soundtrack, the animation has been recreated perfectly and fills the void wonderfully.

Apart from the animation and phenomenal restoration work, there are many extra features describing the animation concept, process and restoration, as well as an in depth feature on the making of the programme and the era in general. The care and love that went into making these two episodes is evident. It thus seems almost churlish - and certainly geeky - to make any criticism, but there is one error which is almost unforgivable! The animators have given the Doctor's assistant Zoe the wrong costume in the early part of episode 1! It would have been an easy mistake to make, except that the previous episode (which runs immediately into this story) does exist and photos from episode 1 are abundant. They've drawn her with the costume she adopts about mid-way through the first episode. For all their attention to detail, it seems a very basic error to have made.

The commentary from Frazer Hines (Jamie), Wendy Padbury (Zoe) and Nicholas Courtney for the six live action episodes is very entertaining, as is the one from the animators and restoration team for the two missing episodes. But I wish they'd have included Derrick Sherwin, the script editor, eventual producer, creator of the UNIT format and author of this particular tale. Much as I like hearing the Brigadier, he does get used rather often on the Doctor Who commentaries. A minor quibble.

With all of these extras and goodies, it's a shame to compare the relatively thin co-release, The Sontaran Experiment. A two part adventure from Tom Baker's first season in the role of Doctor number four, this very short story really belongs as a tag-team with the preceding four-part adventure, The Ark in Space. It's really using all the location and outside broadcast allocation that didn't get used in the studio based Ark story. By releasing it alone, I think the BBC are stretching fan's patience just a tiny bit, but they have at least included a very well made documentary on the history and evolution of the Sontarans and there's a great commentary soundtrack too. Seems a bit much to shell out $13 for two episodes, but as a fan, I'm just glad to have them in my library. As the first story ever made to be made entirely on location and entirely on video tape, it's an interesting milestone in the Doctor Who evolution.

A good pair of releases. One probably too long and one probably too short, but together forming another great pair of entries into the Doctor Who DVD collection.

The BBC's ongoing releases of archive Doctor Who continues to excel with this their most ambitious project to date. Originally released on VHS in the early 1990's "The Invasion" is one of many stories from Patrick Troughton's tenure which are incomplete. In this case Episodes 1 and 4 are the unlucky ones which failed to survive the BBC's destructive purge in the 1970's. Undeterred this DVD compensates by producing these missing episodes in animated form, produced by Cosgrove Hall Films. The best part of the animation is the synchronicity of the audio track to the animated images. Sadly the animation itself is not outstanding, especially in respect to facial expression and emotion, but the important thing is that some effort has been made to present these missing episodes. For many this will be the first opportunity to watch this story and I think that most Doctor Who fans will enjoy it immeasurably. It is certainly overlong and I have always felt that any story that exceeds 4 or 5 episodes has a fair amount of padding. There is a lot of repetitive chase scenes and lots of locking up and escapes. But the trump card are the Cybermen themselves, who have a truly chilling and iconic presence in the story. Also impressive is the performance of Kevin Stoney as Tobias Vaughan, a technology obsessed capitalist with dreams of global dominion. Unfortunately for him is ego and arrogance are his undoing. Naturally in a story of many narrative stands, Jamie and Zoe don't have a lot too do, but Patrick Troughton compensates with a typically charming performance. The DVD itself is packed with supplementary materials and most importantly the picture and audio quality is outstanding.

This is a fun story with the ever likable Patrick Troughton facing off against the famous Cybermen. The set is for the most part excellent, with the surprisingly effective animated episodes filling in for those lost during the BBC purges of the 70s, and the restoration work for the surviving episodes is top notch to the point that you could almost convince yourself that you're watching a live broadcast.

However, my enthusiasm is muted by the fact that Episodes 5 - 8 on Disc 2 exhibit noticeable jitter in the vertical detail due to a mastering error when converting the material from PAL to NTSC. Steve Roberts of the Official Restoration Team described the problem as "nasty" and wrote:

"Oh dear, the episodes on disc 2 are a bit of a mess, aren't they?

"The fact that it has gone composite at some point is almost irrelevant - the cross-colour is just about detectable in some shots, but I doubt I would have noticed it during normal playback if I wasn't looking for it. The major problem is the terrible line-twitter on the standards converter, I haven't seen a converter so poor in many a year. The end credits look terrible and there's constant twitter throughout the episodes. I suspect it's also knocking back the resolution of the picture as a whole, as episode eight in particular looked a lot softer than I expected.

"The episodes on disc 1 are fine - looks like a decent Alchemist standards converter has been used. But disc 2 has clearly been done on a much older converter which has either a composite input or output."

[...]

Unfortunately, neither the BBC nor 2|entertain has expressed any interest in addressing this error. The good news is that many people don't notice the problem when watching on a typical NTSC television. The bad news that if you try watching Disc 2 on a high-resolution progressive scan set then you're definitely going to notice.

Bottom line: I would recommend this DVD set with some reservations.

So here we go- Patrick Troughton's Second Doctor, the return of Lethbridge_stewart (now a Brigadier), the debut of UNIT, Cybermen, and Tobias Vaughn a brilliant madman who steals the show.

Great stuff, and there are many others I'm sure who will review the content of the episodes. What I'd like to focus on is the thing that really earns it six out five stars- the animated reconstructions of the two missing episodes.

You see the BBC used to dispose of recorded episodes after their airing in order make room for more (this was the late 60's, okay?) so the only surviving portion of episodes one and four are audio tracks recorded by fans during the tv broadcasts themselves.

Enter Cosgrove Hall,"The Wind in the Willows," people is you're from the UK. After cleaning up and making workable composites from the audio tracks they then animated the missing episodes in a lovely, moody noir that fits beautifully with the original eps. I've also found that the animated restorations are actually more accessible to some modern viewer. They accept an asthetic in animation that looks "cheesy" in live action. And we all know how large a rep our beloved Docotor has for weak and comical special effects.

There are many stories that are missing, almost all of Troughton's era for instance, but have surviving audio. If the BBC is smart they should start Cosgrove Hall to work on animating them and getting them out to us.

This is classic 60s era Who, and if you have any taste for that era it is a must have. It is also one of the most effective and creative approaches to restoration I have ever seen.

********************************
DVD Special Features:~
Eight episodes.
Disc 1:~
Ep.1~animated
Ep.2
Ep.3
Ep.4 ~animated
Extras:~
Commentary by:~ cast,production staff,animators.
Love off Air:~ History of fan audio recording.
Doctor Who confidential:~ interviews with the animation team.
Character design:~ featurette.
2 animated trailers.
Disc 2:~
Episodes:~5,6,7,8.
Extras:~
Commentary:~ cast,production staff.
Evolution of The Invasion:~ a 50 minute look at the story.
Photo gallery.
Original links:~ Nicholas Courtneys links to the missing episodes on the original 1993 VHS release.
Originally broadcast BBC 1:~2/11/68-21/12/68

Perhaps the biggest testament to a story of this length is the ability to sit through it in one viewing. Since The Invasion is eight episodes in length, one must devote nearly fours hours to watch it in one evening. I find it beneficial to view any Doctor Who story over six parts over two evenings. Truth be told, I can't even sit through a two hour movie, period. However, Doctor Who is different, and The Invasion is exceptional! In the end, I had to watch this over two nights, but not because I grew tired of it, but rather I grew tired. I started watching this late in the evening, and it was around midnight when the end credits to episode six rolled. Enthralled with the story as I was, I could have finished it in one sitting. However, the need for sleep and the desire to avoid spending the next day in a zombie-like state prevented me from doing so. Therefore I watched the last two episodes the following evening. However, the point is that I could have finished it in one evening, if I had the time and foresight to start watching it an hour earlier.

The Invasion flourishes under a healthy pace, solid acting from the regulars as well as the guest cast, plenty of action sequences, escapes, recaptures, escapes..., and wonderful location footage. Many critics consider this to be padding to get enough scenes to fill the entire eight episodes. This line of thought is rather unfortunate and simply untrue. Rather, it is the very fabric that makes The Invasion so watchable and highly enjoyable. That and Sally Faulkner (Isobel Watkins), the nicest pair of legs in Doctor Who history! We also have the pilot episode (if we can call it that) to UNIT, setting up the Earth-based stories that would be heavily utilized during the Third Doctor era. The Doctor is heavily aided by the new Brigadier, Lethbridge Stewart, in thwarting off a Cybermen invasion. The scene of the Cybermen advancing from St. Paul's Cathedral ranks as one of the most defining moments in Doctor Who history and left a permanent impression on the minds of youngsters watching in the 60s.

This may be the best of the many Cybermen stories during the 1960s, however, the Cybermen take a back seat to the main villain here, Tobias Vaughn, chillingly portrayed by Kevin Stoney. Arguably, Vaughn represents the greatest villain ever in Doctor Who, certainly of the Second Doctor era. The half cyborg is so consumed by hate that even when confronted with the fact that he has been duped by the Cybermen, he begrudgingly agrees to help the Doctor only because he despises the Cybermen for betraying their uneasy alliance, not for the more valliant motivation of saving his home planet from destruction.

Incidentally, the animation of episodes one and four, wiped by the BBC archives and sadly never re-discovered, is as good as animation can be. Barring re-discovery of further episodes, animation can be utilized to complete stories of which most episodes exist, such as Tenth Planet and Ice Warriors. However, trying to do an entire story in animated form simply can not be considered the same. The Beeb has discovered a very acceptable way of regaining lost episodes. Unfortunately, no alternative currently exists.