Wednesday, 14 October 2015

The Android Invasion



That round blue light on top of the TARDIS in the title sequence still bugs me.

Ian K@3rd_Doctor Was just thinking that yesterday.

Terry Nation! Bet the Daleks are in this.
Mark@OdysseusMW only watched this once previously when got the box set. Had high hopes for it...

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly Yep. This is what passes for "dud" in the Hinchcliffe era. If it was in S22 it'd be a classic.


It does have one quite significant fatal flaw, to be fair, which is difficult to, er, overlook! ;-P

Nick Mellish@nickmellish The novelisation is a revelation. It follows Nation's scripts and ignores the revisions done by Baker etc.



Great opening, as a twitchy soldier tramples single-mindedly through the woods...

Tom's been on the Tesco burgers - feeling a little horse...

Sarah hates ginger pop. That seems like a fact that's not worth remembering.
M@nterik@Manterik she also hates brandy.

Thank God, those guys in spacesuits shoot about as straight as a UNIT extra.

Sarah pulls off a better fall than in the Five Doctors...
Mark@OdysseusMW barely! They don't sell it being perilous very well either!
MAW Holmes@MAW_H I'm slightly inclined to agree...

The slo-mo fall of the Android is great stuff. 

Found a dead body? Nick his wallet and look for the nearest pub. Typical Tom.

"My memory's getting terrible; 300 years ago I'd've recognised this like a shot!"
Lisa P & Andrew T@lisacartman That capsule looks like a dinosaur's nose for some reason...

MAW Holmes@MAW_H That dinosaur nose something...


Silent English villages are always creepy, plays right into Nation's hands for a classic TN episode 1.

Sarah's been here before; it's the village of Devesham, home to the Space Defence Station. Oh, yeah, that.
MAW Holmes@MAW_H So... are we all thinking old Tarrant crossed out the names "Steed" & "Tara" from his first draft & put in "Dr" & "Sarah"?

Let's try the pub!
MAW Holmes@MAW_H Now it can only be a Tom story... (the absent Brig really missed out here). 
MAW Holmes@MAW_H Freshly minted cash and ginger pop... My kind of place!
"And we've been walking around in the middle of it like a couple of 'narnas!"
Here come the locals. 

We've all been in pubs like this, probably.
Max Faulkner's looking well there. Y'know, considering he just jumped off a cliff.
He'll have a tough time getting a round in since Tom nicked his wallet.

The Doctor gives Sarah the TARDIS key so she can get back there if anything goes wrong while he checks out the Space Defence Station.

Max doesn't like having his pint interrupted.

This is a local pub, for local androids.

Sarah is quizzed about her I.D. when she tries to get served.
MAW Holmes@MAW_H "it's not, for me, it's for my pal over there..."
"I'm sure you shouldn't be drinking so soon after breaking your neck."

Sarah sneaks off, and discovers that the white suited guardians are androids! Fancy!
The Doctor makes it to the space centre...

...and gets a frosty reception...

...while Sarah finds a pod near the TARDIS.

The location filming in this episode is brilliant stuff.
When she leaves the key in the door, the TARDIS takes off without her and she thinks the Doctor's done a runner!

Look! A pirate! Oh no, it's just Milton Johns. In denim flares.
Lethbridge Stewart is in Geneva. Colonel Faraday's in charge. Boooo!
Mark@OdysseusMW real shame The Brig wasn't in this one, would've improved it.

Actually I'm glad the Brig isn't in this: he'd have been made to bumble around stupidly like Faraday.
Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakin considering Benton and Harry's "departures" he may have suffered a lacklustre one as well!
MAW Holmes@MAW_H ...or the entire cast would have got totally Adric-ed.
Mark@OdysseusMW nah, the Brig would've survived!

He's soon recaptured. "Is that finger loaded?"

The Doctor's locked up but Sarah's soon on the case to release him.

Rhino-looking peeping Tom peeping at Tom! End of Part 1!


Styggron's telly reception is a bit crappy. He wants to go digital.

He gets all his news from Crayford TV, as it's the only channel he can get on this thing.
Sarah tells the Doctor that Guy Crayford is dead...

...or at least he's supposed to be.

Even Benton's gone evil.

Booo!
Styggron wants to know more about the Doctor and exerts control over Crayford...

...which also distracts "Benton", allowing the Doctor & Sarah to give him the slip.

The Doctor & Sarah make a run for it. "We've got to warn London!"

Sarah twists her ankle...

...so the Doctor puts her up a tree...

...then goes for a swim.
As you do.
Doctor Who Trivia@dw_trivia That scene made Baker very ill. He swallowed too much bad water (I know, surprised us too) and had to be taken to hospital.

Hence the sore throat in the earlier location scenes that were filmed afterwards! :-)
MAW Holmes@MAW_H Timey-wimey throaty-woaty.

Doctor Who Trivia@dw_trivia Yes! He had to have his stomach pumped. Rock and roll lifestyle, eh? ;)

MAW Holmes@MAW_H Ah... the irony... All those years drinking with Jeffrey down Soho...

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly Did Baker ever do a production of Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell? He'd have nailed it.

The Doctor tries to phone home but the phone box has been vandalized. Typical.

"Commence the analysis of the brain!"
Mark@OdysseusMW not the mind probe!

Tom's back in the pub. That didn't take long.
He's on the ginger ale again.

The Doctor fails to impress the landlord with his mastery of the arrows.
No Daleks, but their voice is there - Chedaki is played by Roy Skelton AKA Zippy!
Mark@OdysseusMW all I can imagine is Zippy in Doctor Who now!

MAW Holmes@MAW_H "When Bungle went bad" and other secrets exposed, only in your super, soaraway Stun...

Careful, you'll unleash the WAR BUNGLE!
MAW Holmes@MAW_H "I didn't feel that I could call myself Bungle any more..."
Crikey, it's @Samanthacarey84's birthday every day of the year! This'll get expensive.

It's for yoo-Who!

"I escaped..." That's not suspicious at all...

"Always told Alexander Graham Bell that wires were unreliable. He wants to get on Android."
Styggron needs another go on Crayford's brain.
The Doctor finds Sarah hiding amongst the precious things of the local shop.

Hang about, Sarah said she didn't like Ginger Pop!
To think, if she'd never mentioned it before, we'd never have known the significance. Makes you think...
Styggron demonstrates he can waste his own androids! Er, well done, I guess?
The Doctor's sussed this isn't really Earth.
MAW Holmes@MAW_H "Gravity!" "I know!"

The Doctor knew she was an Android all along!

End of part 2!

After such an iconic cliffhanger, we have a pretty weak resolution, as the Doctor simply walks away.

The real Sarah pretends to be unconscious...

...as Styggron is ready to pull another tried and tested stunt from the big Nation bag of tricks - a virus!
The Doctor heads for a 3rd round at the pub...
The Kraals begin to evacuate the fake village...

...and the Doctor is captured by Styggron.

The shot of the Doctor tied to the monument is pretty "iconic" isn't it? 

BBC publicity - things become "iconic" by passing the test of time, not by you announcing them as such.

The Doctor is rescued by Sarah - the real Sarah this time!
The Doctor & Sarah make it to the safety of the Kraal shelter as they wipe out the fake village with a bomb.
Out of the frying pan, into the fire, though, as they're in the clutches of Crayford and android Harry straight away.

"The Kraals are going to live in the Northern Hemisphere and we can live in peace in the South." Talk about London-centric.
His shuttle damaged and adrift, Crayford was rescued by the Kraals & reconstructed. Except that one eye, of course.
MAW Holmes@MAW_H "Hmm... I wonder what happened to that" pondered the Doctor, idly sucking on a gobstopper
Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly I bet before he left Earth, Crayford gave his bank details to a Nigerian Prince.
Android Harry spikes the drinks.
 
The Doctor's escape plan involves using the water as a conductor so almost by pure luck Sarah doesn't drink it.




Sarah randomly carries a box of matches? Is she always having a crafty fag on the TARDIS off screen?

Styggron subjects the Doctor to his best laid plans...



...but he's soon rescued by Sarah.



"Once upon a time, there were three sisters, and they lived at the bottom of a treacle well."

"Their names were Olga, Masha, and Elena. Are you listening, Tilly?"

Sarah and the Doctor make a mad dash for a rocket taking the Kraal's invasion spearhead to Earth.

Sarah realises the gravity of the situation! End of part 3!


With the gravity normalised, they can enjoy the ride home. 

But they have company...

Back on Earth, the Space Defence Centre are amazed to find Crayford re-establishing contact.

Proper Harry & proper Benton chat with rubbish Brig replacement.
Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly Oh, rubbish Brig. D'ya think Courtney saw the script and made his excuses?

The space centre tracks some "meteorites" as they slow down and enter Earth's atmosphere.
Ringing no bells with the script editor.
MAW Holmes@MAW_H "Er, Terry... did you ever get around to writing part four...?" Asked Barry, pointlessly. "Bob? Have you got anything written that I could use...?"

While the Doctor touches down safely...

...rubbish Brig skypes Crayford.
Aha! The TARDIS! They must be back on Earth.

Uh oh, fake doctor! Run, Sarah!

The real Doctor makes it to the space centre.

At least Benton's pleased to see him.

"Hello? Is it me you're looking for...?"
The Doctor designs an android detector on the fly. "Ere, geez, lash us up one of these, yeah?"

MAW Holmes@MAW_H "I think I knocked up something similar on Spiridon..."
The Doctor's android detector soon pays for itself.

"For a moment I thought I was seeing double!" Tom's been in the pub again. 
Mark@OdysseusMW love the dive out through the window!

Sarah & the Doctor are on the run again. Good times.

Dopey Android Benton is duped into shooting a double!

Crayford never once thought to actually check under his own eyepatch!

You so Cray Cray, Crayford!
Doctor Who Trivia@dw_trivia If he never changes the eye patch, we'd hate to see the state of his undies.
MAW Holmes@MAW_H "You know, it simply never crossed my mind, not ever... Not even at bathtime..."

With the Androids in the control room frozen, the Doctor has the upper hand.

Sarah rescues Harry & Colonel Duffer, but Styggron's on the case.

Styggron guns down a vengeful (and eye-full) Crayford...

...but succumbs to his own virus after a thump from the Doctor.

Just when Sarah thinks he's popped his clogs (again)...

...it turns out the Doctor was just playing with himself.

All's well that ends well.
Doctor Who Trivia@dw_trivia Except for the bits that were missing. You know, the bits that made some sort of sense of part 4.
MAW Holmes@MAW_H Phew! "Where to next, Sarah?" "Karn sounds kind of nice..."
Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly Every time I watch this one, the sheer crapness of Colonel Harrumph gets more pronounced.

MAW Holmes@MAW_H "Mother...!" Well, I reckon that's the most I've ever enjoyed TAI... Thanks for all the chortles! :-)

You're very welcome! :-) Always fun to be had in spite of (or sometimes because of) a story's naffness! :-D

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly  I can't help liking this one. Good moody first ep, nice location filming and all the bad stuff is laughably fun.

Yes, it's still enjoyable enough.

Doctor Who Trivia@dw_trivia  It is, if you watch with one eye! For defence, android Sarah was brilliant when I was a kid.

Sue Smith@suzysue4 My very first memory of Doctor Who (& possibly ever), aged 3!


Davad@davadsteel Always seemed to me that the Real Benton is dead the last time we see him..

Crikey, never thought of that!

Davad@davadsteel It's the emphasis the duplicate gives on his line about them being taken away. And then Benton lying still.

Thankfully the Brig tells us in Mawdryn Undead that he's alive and well and selling cars!


TTFN! K.
Coming Soon... The Tenth Planet

No comments:

Post a Comment