Doctor Who: Invasion: Part 1 starts as the TARDIS materialises in central London as the Doctor (Jon Pertwee) tries to return journalist Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) home, however they quickly realise that London appears to be completely deserted apart from some isolated looters whom they are mistaken for & arrested by the army as as it becomes apparent that central London is under marshal law & has been evacuated because lots of prehistoric dinosaurs have suddenly appeared & are rampaging throughout the capital. The Doctor feels he can help & sets about contacting the leader of UNIT Brig. Col. Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney) to find out precisely what's going on & what he can do...
This Doctor Who adventure was episode 5 from season 11 that aired here in the UK during the early part of 1974, directed by Paddy Russell I really liked this opening episode. There is one thing that is slightly confusing me though, why is this Part simply titled 'Invasion' while Parts 2 - 6 are titled 'Invasion of the Dinosaurs', answers on a postcard please... The script by Malcolm Hulke has that element that wants to keep you watching, the mystery aspect of the story is well handled & just about enough is given away to keep you interested but not enough to give the whole thing away & make it too predictable. There's some nice humour here as well, in particular a cute little scene when the Doctor & Sarah are being photographed by the army & the Doctor comes out with plenty of sarcastic comments & gestures. I'm pretty excited about seeing the rest of this particular story if the rest are as fun & entertaining as this opening part.
Obviously having a tiny budget technically Invasion varies, it's surprisingly well filmed with the opening shots of a deserted London including the Houses of Parliment being very effective & are quite reminiscent of those seen in 28 Days Later... (2002) although this was made almost 30 years prior. Where Invasion predictably isn't so successful is it's poor dinosaur effects, Jurassic Park (1992) this ain't! There's a Pterodactyl that doesn't seem to need to flap it's wings to fly, it sort of glides through the air! The basic model is OK I suppose. Then there's the T-Rex, the least said about it the better but it's still quite fun to see it smash through the front of a house & while it won't impress anyone used to multi-million CGI I thought he was quite fun to watch. Another oddity with Invasion is that this first episode apparently only exists in black and white now & I thought it was quite atmospheric in monochrome but that's just my opinion, Parts 2 -6 do exist in colour.
Invasion, later episodes to become Invasion of the Dinosaurs, is a good start to what will hopefully be a cracking story despite the obvious deficiencies in the special effects department but that's often a big part of what makes Doctor Who so much fun & so entertaining.
This Doctor Who adventure was episode 5 from season 11 that aired here in the UK during the early part of 1974, directed by Paddy Russell I really liked this opening episode. There is one thing that is slightly confusing me though, why is this Part simply titled 'Invasion' while Parts 2 - 6 are titled 'Invasion of the Dinosaurs', answers on a postcard please... The script by Malcolm Hulke has that element that wants to keep you watching, the mystery aspect of the story is well handled & just about enough is given away to keep you interested but not enough to give the whole thing away & make it too predictable. There's some nice humour here as well, in particular a cute little scene when the Doctor & Sarah are being photographed by the army & the Doctor comes out with plenty of sarcastic comments & gestures. I'm pretty excited about seeing the rest of this particular story if the rest are as fun & entertaining as this opening part.
Obviously having a tiny budget technically Invasion varies, it's surprisingly well filmed with the opening shots of a deserted London including the Houses of Parliment being very effective & are quite reminiscent of those seen in 28 Days Later... (2002) although this was made almost 30 years prior. Where Invasion predictably isn't so successful is it's poor dinosaur effects, Jurassic Park (1992) this ain't! There's a Pterodactyl that doesn't seem to need to flap it's wings to fly, it sort of glides through the air! The basic model is OK I suppose. Then there's the T-Rex, the least said about it the better but it's still quite fun to see it smash through the front of a house & while it won't impress anyone used to multi-million CGI I thought he was quite fun to watch. Another oddity with Invasion is that this first episode apparently only exists in black and white now & I thought it was quite atmospheric in monochrome but that's just my opinion, Parts 2 -6 do exist in colour.
Invasion, later episodes to become Invasion of the Dinosaurs, is a good start to what will hopefully be a cracking story despite the obvious deficiencies in the special effects department but that's often a big part of what makes Doctor Who so much fun & so entertaining.