Customer Reviews

The Invaders - The Second Season

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The Invaders - Season Two

Roy Thinnes stars in the second and final season of the excellent science fiction drama series developed by Larry Cohen called The Invaders. For those of you not familiar with this franchise, the premise deals with one man's discovery of and subsequent battle with malevolent aliens who appear human on the surface. The show combines elements of Quinn Martin's chase series The Fugitive with concepts developed in prior films like I Married A Monster From Outer Space and Invasion Of The Body Snatchers.

There are 26 episodes on 7 DVDs to be released in region 1 January 27, 2009. Extras at this writing most likely will include individual show introductions recorded this year by Roy Thinnes in New York City. Roy is a New Yorker now and working on matters to do with his artwork.

Some major character actors appear in the second season of the series, including Gene Hackman as an alien "seed salesman"; Fritz Weaver as an Iron Curtain ambassador; Carol Lynley as a collaborator with the aliens; R.G. Armstrong makes his second appearance this time as a cop; Diana Muldaur as a "good" alien; Michael Rennie makes another appearance as an alien posing as a Scandinavian ambassador; Ed Asner appears once again, this time playing a corrupt father; Richard Anderson of Perry Mason and Six Million Dollar Man fame stars as an alien who learns about human emotions and pain; and Suzanne Pleshette of The Birds and Bob Newhart fame reprises her role (of a sort) as an "emotional" alien. Many other key actors of that classic era of television make appearances, including Ed Begley, Wayne Rogers (who later found fame in M*A*S*H) and Laurence Naismith to name a few.

The show is known for having prioritized drama over special effects, with adult, plausible scripts. As with most, if not all Quinn Martin productions, the show took itself very seriously, with little humor and much melodrama. The music, primarily fueled by Dominic Frontiere's enigmatic theme, often propelled the show. The special effects were sparse, but intelligently done. The most famous visual elements were the alien immolation death scenes and the somewhat rare but trademark classic flying saucer appearances.

Season 2 is also notable for more adult themes, specifically some politics ("Summit Meeting" Part 1 and 2) and revealing banter in a court case ("The Trial"). Some scenes might be considered humorous by today's audiences. An example would be a scene in "The Pit" where a group of aliens bang their famous unbendable fourth fingers on the glass of a phone booth. Nevertheless, the show is solid drama with an interesting mix of science fiction elements.

Here are the episodes you will see in this set, in order of broadcast, which will be the same order observed in the set:

Season 2, Episode 1: Condition: Red
Original Air Date--5 September 1967
Season 2, Episode 2: The Saucer
Original Air Date--12 September 1967
Season 2, Episode 3: The Watchers
Original Air Date--19 September 1967
Season 2, Episode 4: Valley of the Shadow
Original Air Date--26 September 1967
Season 2, Episode 5: The Enemy
Original Air Date--3 October 1967
Season 2, Episode 6: The Trial
Original Air Date--10 October 1967
Season 2, Episode 7: The Spores
Original Air Date--17 October 1967
Season 2, Episode 8: Dark Outpost
Original Air Date--24 October 1967
Season 2, Episode 9: Summit Meeting: Part I
Original Air Date--31 October 1967
Season 2, Episode 10: Summit Meeting: Part II
Original Air Date--7 November 1967
Season 2, Episode 11: The Prophet
Original Air Date--14 November 1967
Season 2, Episode 12: Labyrinth
Original Air Date--21 November 1967
Season 2, Episode 13: The Captive
Original Air Date--28 November 1967
Season 2, Episode 14: The Believers
Original Air Date--5 December 1967
Season 2, Episode 15: The Ransom
Original Air Date--12 December 1967
Season 2, Episode 16: Task Force
Original Air Date--26 December 1967
Season 2, Episode 17: The Possessed
Original Air Date--2 January 1968
Season 2, Episode 18: Counter-Attack
Original Air Date--9 January 1968
Season 2, Episode 19: The Pit
Original Air Date--16 January 1968
Season 2, Episode 20: The Organization
Original Air Date--30 January 1968
Season 2, Episode 21: The Peacemaker
Original Air Date--6 February 1968
Season 2, Episode 22: The Vise
Original Air Date--20 February 1968
Season 2, Episode 23: The Miracle
Original Air Date--27 February 1968
Season 2, Episode 24: The Life Seekers
Original Air Date--12 March 1968
Season 2, Episode 25: The Pursued
Original Air Date--12 March 1968
Season 2, Episode 26: Inquisition
Original Air Date--26 March 1968

The price for this set is VERY reasonable compared to most other classic series being released. In fact, the price in Amazon's current pre-order (as of this writing) is $2 less than Season 1's 5 disc set.

The colors are rich and somewhat "technicolor" in appearance. While the mastering is from electronic sources as opposed to the original 35mm film elements, the episodes are clean intact as originally broadcast, averaging 51 minutes each, unlike many hour-long series of today, which range from about 42 to 44 minutes on average.

All in all, an excellent investment for a great show that met a premature end in 1968.

Another favorite from way back when. I'm not sure what ingredients were used to make those classic sci-fi's, but this one had them all - suspense, innocence, 60's directing, and a low voice narrator. So, round up the family and get ready for part two.

I always enjoyed this show even as a boy but now, in retrospect, I can see why The Invaders was cancelled after only its second season.

For some reason, the writers decided to change the show's overall, and critical, premise - that of a man alone, persecuted, laughed at battling not only alien invaders but sceptics and disbelievers who would rather see him thrown into an insane asylum - to a new season where this same man, David Vincent, not only has a circle of co-believers around him but allies willing to collaborate in the battle. Some of these allies are even people like Edgar Scoville, who is wealthy and well placed with many connections in both military and industrial circles and who uses these connections (without much difficulty) to assist David Vincent in the struggle.

Unfortunately, this change undermines the whole spirit of the show, for the desperation the main character had to get people to believe him is pretty much negated. Just why the writers chose to do this I have no idea. In addition, there are several episodes where Vincent and his allies actually collaborate with the aliens to achieve mutual ends. One episode even has the aliens bringing a dead Vincent back to life after he is accidentally electrocuted. Credibility is definitely stretched to the limit here.

Probably the worst episode is one featuring black aliens along with a black investigator David has managed to convert. Inspite of some measure of obstructionism by his socially conscious black wife - who suspects reverse racism on her husband's part - this investigator remains undaunted as his suspicions about a well respected and famous black scientist continue to grow. To his credit, he has discovered one important and distinguishing feature of this interesting new type of alien that he quickly shares with David Vincent. He has realized that these black aliens are easily discerned from human blacks because, of all things, the palms of their hands are black too! It almost borders on the hilarious, not to mention the stilted, unconvincing performance of the socially conscious wife and several of the black extras which can only leave viewers shaking their heads. An obvious attempt to make the show 'socially relevant' stumbles badly.

There are also a number of actors who return to the series after appearances in the first season however none of them, if they weren't first killed off, reprise their original roles. I consider this a mistake because opportunities to present viewers with some measure of continuity are needlessly thrown away. The example of the alien 'leader' played by Alfred Ryder sums it up best. In the first season he was the sinister Mr. Nexus who ruthlessly kills the human collaborator he suspects has turned against him. In the second season he still plays a leader but is portrayed as a completely different, yet virtually identical, character and an opportunity to develop an on-going nemesis for David Vincent is, accordingly, lost. Perhaps the writers later realized their mistake for Mr. Ryder was brought back to portray this same, new character in a subsequent episode.

Nevertheless, there are still an overabundance of good moments throughout the second season, especially the first episode where the aliens have managed to infiltrate NORAD through the wife of an air force major. It makes for some really gripping moments.

All in all, I would still recommend this collection for interested viewers and I certainly don't regret purchasing it.

You are about to witness the second and final season (1967-1968) of Quinn Martin's sci-fi series "The Invaders", produced by Alan Armer and whose new associate producer named David W. Rintells revises the series' original concept by introducing a team of experts called "The Believers", led by financier/industrialist Edgar Scoville (played by Kent Smith) who support the struggle of architect David Vincent (played by Roy Thinnes).

A new team of composers popsup under the direction of jazzman Duane Tatro who writes six scores. A fine writer named Laurence Heath (former "Mission: Impossible" writer and story consultant) puts to pen four scripts: the mind control intrigue "Condition: Red" (guest starring Jason Evers, Antoinette Bower and Mort Mills), the Soviet-oriented plot "The Captive" (guest starring Fritz Weaver and Dana Wynter), "Counterattack" (guest starring Anna Capri and Lin McCarthy) and perhaps' the season most challenging story "The Life Seekers" (guest starring Barry Morse and Diana Muldaur) in which David Vincent meets a couple of pacifist invaders willing to reform the politics of their society.

Find a selection of shocking episodes dealing with mental cruel acts as "Valley of the Shadow" (an entire town is reprogrammed to forget the presence of the invaders, guest starring Nan Martin, Harry Townes and Joe Maross), "Dark Outpost" (in which four students are brainwashed to see one of them executed in different ways, guest starring William Sargent, Andrew Prine and Whit Bissell), "The Possessed" (in wich an alien conditions the brain of a scientist to kill at will as a Pavlov's dog, guest starring Michael Tolan, Michael Constantine and William Smithers), "The Pit" (in which the invaders fashion a dream machine to turn scientists into madmen inside a Research Center, guest starring Charles Aidman, Joanne Linville and Donald Harron) and "The Pursued" (the unofficial sequel to "The Mutation" in which a female invader is the victim of a failed experiment and cannot control her wild impulses, guest starring Suzanne Pleshette, Dana Elcar and Will Geer). Two episodes try to depict the true form of the invaders: "The Spores" (guest starring Gene Hackman) which makes a veiled reference to alien seed pods from Don Siegel's "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and "The Enemy" (guest starring Richard Anderson).

The Invaders would definitely be at or near the top of the list of television shows that ended way before their time. That list has many science fiction series on it (the original Star Trek being one among many), but this series stands out because of its great production values (for the time), great performances, and the air of paranoia that shows like this must have to be believable.

Roy Thinnes played David Vincent, an otherwise ordinary fellow, an architect by profession, who happens to make the horrible discovery that we have been invaded by beings from another planet who have taken the appearance of being human, and whose intentions are to take over the planet. This sets in motion Vincent's initially lonely quest to root out and thwart the invaders' plans for world domination. In the second season, Vincent discovered that he was not alone, and that there was an underground network of human rebels that he joined in the fight against the aliens.

This was a wonderful show, and now it will be seen and loved by a much wider audience.

It's the second season of the show and those poor aliens still have to deal with their inability to shoot the broadside of a barn with human guns, that little problem with the finger, those fashion-challenged ugly teal-blue jumpsuits, and the relentless pursuit by that architect with obvious deep pockets, David Vincent (Roy Thinnes). This DVD compilation of the ABC series' 1967-68 season sports some nifty intros from Thinnes, along with stunning color and sound, and an easily navigable menu, with or without introductory comments on each episode.

In the second season, Vincent is joined by an evergrowing number of "believers," people that learn of the alien invasion and join him on his quest. But those are not the only changes in the story lines: the aliens themselves expand their own human images; this season, as opposed to the predominately white males of season one, there are black aliens, more females, and even a couple of kids sporting those tell-tale extended "pinkies."

The stories reflect the Cold War atmosphere of the time of the show's production, along with commentary on race relations, the "make peace, not war" outcries of the youth, and the changing politics of America. Though most sci-fi of the period was aimed at a younger audience, "The Invaders" didn't dumb down its stories, even tackling pre-marital sexual relations in one episode.

Best episodes: "Valley of the Shadow," "The Enemy," "The Trial," "The Spores," "The Prophet," "Labyrinth," "The Captive," "The Ransom," "The Possessed," "The Pit," "The Organization", "The Miracle," "The Pursued," and the final one of the series, "Inquisition." The only complaint about the latter is that it has a bad audio transfer, resulting in a slight "wavy" sound.

Unlike other sci-fi shows of the decade that were dependent on elaborate sets, "The Invaders" added a touch of "realism" through its use of location shots, ranging from countrysides to shipyards to amusement parks and others.

But, a true plus is the use of a stellar cast of guest stars, which could be divided into several categories.

There are the episodic television actors and "return players" (those that made more than one appearance on the show): Michael Tolan, Fritz Weaver, Nancy Kovack, Andrew Prine, Pat Hingle, Ford Rainey, Don Gordon, Susan Oliver, Booth Coleman, Linden Chiles, Laurence Naismith, Katherine Justice, Harold Gould, Ed Begley, William Windom, James Callahan, John Zaremba, Susan Oliver, R.G. Armstrong, Joanne Linville, Barbara Barrie, Ian Wolfe, Janet McLachlan, Ross Elliott ( in two episodes,with and without a toupee), Ken Lynch, Roy Poole, Chris Robinson, Phyllis Thaxter, Larry Gates, Frank Marth, Charles Aidman, Lin McCarthy, Joel Fluellen, Ron Hayes, Simon Scott, in addition to James Daly (father of Tyne and Tim) and J.D. Cannon who were both featured in the '67 pilot. Veteran Kent Smith has a recurring role as millionaire and fellow alien hunter Edgar Scoville. Alfred Ryder, himself a first-year guest star, has two turns as the alien "leader." Gene Lyons, John Milford, and Robert O'Brien, each, appear in two episodes in this compilation.

Then, there are the "up-and-comers," those whose star would shine brighter in future film and television roles: Gene Hackman, Sally Kellerman, Dabney Coleman, Wayne Rogers, Richard Anderson, Lynda Day, Karen Black, William Smithers, Ed Asner, Ted Knight, Michael Constantine, Diana Hyland, Suzanne Pleshette, Barry Atwater, James B. Sikking, Louis Gossett, Jr., Barbara Hershey, Diana Muldaur, Will Geer, and Barry Williams, a few years shy of his debut as one of "The Brady Bunch."

Then, there are the "inspired casting," which includes Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter, who themselves had battled aliens in the classic 50's "Invasion of the Body Snathers; Michael Rennie of "The Day the Earth Stood Still" fame; Whit Bissel, who made Michael Landon a "teenage werewolf; Roscoe Lee Browne and Raymond St. Jacques in a landmark episode; and Dawn Wells and Russell Johnson, who managed to leave "Gilligan's Island" to find their way in an "Invaders'" tale.

Finally, there are the actors that are probably known more for their voices than their faces: cartoon voiceover actor John Stephenson ("Mr. Slate" on "The Flintstone" for one); Ben Wright, heard in numerous films and television shows; Barney Phillips, another famous voice; and young Christopher Shea, who provided the voice of "Linus" for many of the early Charlie Brown specials.

Like the first in the series, this DVD also features an interview with Thinnes. This time, however, the actor provides a fascinating look at the making of the series, as well as other aspects of acting and celebrity.

God I love this show its about time I was too small to remember all of them and very rarely aired in syndication every episode is a real treat.GREAT COLOR AND SOUND LOOKS LIKE IT WAS MADE YESTERDAY!GOD BLESS YA ROY THINNES!

When you heard that announcement if you were a kid in the mid-60's you knew you were in for an entertaining hour of television.

The second and final season of "The Invaders" features 26 episodes from the season presented in a very nice transfer from the original 35mm prints. Although there are speckles and occasional bits of dirt/debris, the show looks extremely good with a sharp looking transfer with vibrant color.

The second season arrives with introductions from actor Roy Thinnes who played architect David Vincent who accidently witnesses the landing of aliens from another planet with an agenda to terra form our planet into one for them. We also get an audio commentary from writer Alan Armer on "The Peacemaker", a second round of interviews with Thinnes.

As with all Quinn Martin ("The Fugitives", "The Streets of San Francisco" among other shows)productions "The Invaders" has top notch production values, a strong group of guest stars including Fritz Weaver. The series had a paranoid vibe missing from many other shows of the era that set it apart and clearly was an inspiration for "The X-Files".

The second season changes the plot a bit with Vincent able to bring on board a millionaire and others to his cause. He's no longer alone which actually increases his chances of success.

I don't know any sci fi fans who dislike this series, if they have seen it. It's just a great series and the dvd set looks pretty good too. The stories are great and the acting is great with many top guest stars of the day. And when the effects are good enough that even though they were created in 1968-69 they are quite effective even for modern audiences. OF course it helps that the storylines usually are about David Vincent trying to stop the aliens who look like us till they die from some plot.And he doesn't always come away as a clear winner at all. The aliens are winning actually in spite of him and sadly they ended this series and left us in limbo.

I was 10 years old when The Invaders was on TV. I wasn't really allowed to watch it - too dark, too violent, too serious for an impressionable young mind. But all the kids in school talked about it - the cool way the aliens died, the crooked little fingers, etc. So of course I had to sneak a peek a the show to see what all the fuss was about. And it was great, of course.

The Invaders never went into syndication, so that unlike a lot of the shows produced in the 60's, it was never re-run, never ended up on the "UHF" channels as a regular program. It remained this elusive, almost magical childhood memory of this really cool show that almost nobody I know today has ever heard of.

This DVD set of the second season, and the first season set, finally let me see the show in it's entirety. My fears about buying these sets were, "Will the show still hold up today compared to the impression it left on my 10 year old brain? Will this ruin a childhood memory?" Luckily, the answer to those questions are "Yes - it holds up really well", and "No, the childhood memory is not ruined."

Watching the entire series was a delight. Yes, the effects are hokey - even for it's day. Yes, sometimes the serious suffers from a loopy lack of logic (but not often). Watching the shows back to back will reveal the same props - paintings, lamps, radios, etc, used over and over again in the same sets, rearranged to look like different locations - the budget for the show must have been razor thin. But out of all it's impediments, a great, entertaining show emerges. It has a crazy, grim atmosphere of paranoia, and a deadly earnest seriousness and a complete lack of tongue-in-cheek "camp" that makes it rise above it's low-budget roots and makes it rock-solid entertainment.

One of the things that makes the series great for me was the guest stars - Susanne Pleshette, Ed Asner, Ed Begley, Gene Hackman, Dabney Coleman, Anne Francis, etc. Even Canadian comedian Don Harron (Charlie Farquharson) was on an episode as an alien. And the cars that David Vincent drove were always cool - mostly a parade of Mustangs and Chargers.

Roy Thinnes brought a rugged seriousness to this series. He's been criticized for being unemotional and humorless on this show, but given the character's circumstances, anything else would have read as "camp" or false. I have a lot of respect for Roy as an actor, and this series represents a lot of solid, hard work that he rightly remains proud of. The DVD has Roy, now in his 70s, introduce each episode, plus he has a bit of an interview on the last disc of each season set. These interviews are terrific, especially the one on the second season set. My only regret is that they could have been longer. Roy brings a great deal of personal warmth to these interviews, and when he gets on a topic that he really likes, his face lights up and you can still see the young man he was on the series shine through.

If you are new to this series, I'd have to say, take caution and "sample" the show first before laying out cash for the set - you'll have to see if it is to your liking. But if you are, like me, an older customer and have fond memories of the show, you can buy this set without fear that it's going to ruin your memories of the show. It really was as great as you remember.