Re-running through corridors: June 2016

4 episodes
Aired between 23rd February 1974 and 16th March 1974

Written by Terry Nation
Produced by Barry Letts
Directed by Michael Briant

Synopsis

On a distant, rocky planet, a man in a blue space-age uniform flees from some unseen enemy, only to be shot by an arrow and die.

Elsewhere in time and space, the Doctor is making good on his proposal to take Sarah Jane to the planet of Florana.

Unfortunately though, the TARDIS begins to loose power and sets down shortly before everything switches off. The Doctor tries to set up the backup generators, and the emergency energy supplies, but they all blink out, dead.

The only source of light they have is a single oil lamp.

The Doctor cranks the door open manually and goes outside to look around. They find they are on a barren, rocky planet, but see some kind of weather worn humanoid statues that pique the Doctor's curiosity. He goes for a look around whilst Sarah, whose dressed in a bikini ready for her holiday on Florana, goes back into the TARDIS to put something a bit warmer on.

As the Doctor explores, he is followed by strange stone-like creatures. The humanoid creatures attack him, overpowerin him and taking him prisoner. Sarah Jane comes back and looks for the Doctor but finds only the abandoned oil lamp with blood smeared on it. She sees one of the stone creatures and races back to the TARDIS, only to find that she's trapped herself inside the console room with one! She smacks it on the back of the head with the door crank, then opens the door again and flees into the night, terrified.

Dawn arrives and the Doctor manages to find an opportunity to beat up his captors. He frees himself and runs off into the wastes.

Fleeing for her life, it's not long before Sarah comes across a great city with a pulsating beacon on top of it.

She naturally investigates the city and is captured by the stone creatures. They take her back to their base and prepare to sacrifice her.

Out in the wastes, the Doctor is being pursued by the stone creatures. He goes into the mountainous terrain and discovers a booby trap that releases a rockfall. Suddenly, he's attacked by a man in a blue space-age uniform before one of his colleagues commands him to stop.

It turns out the men are Space-marines. Their names are Galloway and Peter Hamilton. They take the Doctor back to their camp and explain that they are a small group. There's also a Captain Richard Railton and a civilian Geologist called Jill Tarrant.

They explain that the stone-like creatures are called Exxilons and they're a primitive but religious race. They're cowardly in the day and can be easy enough to deal with unless you go near their city which they consider a cardinal sin and sacrifice all who trespass there. Having said that, their commanding officer has been badly wounded by a surprise night assault by Exxilons. Understandably the Doctor is anxious that Sarah Jane might have gone to the city and wants to find her.

The marines move on to explain that the planet somehow drains power of any ship passing nearby. They tell the Doctor they came here because they need a mineral called Parrinium that could cure humanity of a great plague that's sweeping it's colonies. Parinium is common on this planet - Exxilon.

As they speak, another ship arrives. The Marines believe it to be a rescue ship but when it lands, Daleks emerge from it and start yelling "Total Extermination!"

Thankfully, the mysterious energy drain has affected the Dalek guns and they don't work. The Daleks are also after the Parrinium as their own kind is also being affected by the plague.

The Doctor takes leave of his senses and suggests a mutual partnership with the Daleks, just until they can find a way to restore power. The Daleks go away to confer, loudly noting their plan that there's far more Daleks on the ship that the group know about, and their intent to kill the space-marines as soon as they have power, so they can steal the Parrinium and hold the human colonies to ransom for their much needed cure.

As the Daleks confer, the Doctor at least has the decency to warn the marines that the Daleks are probably going to try and kill them as soon as they have power. Galloway knows the Daleks, having fought against them in some kind of Dalek war, so he's more than prepared for their treachery.

The Daleks return and agree to the truce. The marines reluctantly take the Daleks back toward their camp, leaving an untold number of them hiding inside their ship.

On the way back, they are attacked by the Exxilons, who kill Captain Railton and blow up a Dalek. The Exxilons take the group prisoner and lead them to their caves, where the Doctor sees Sarah Jane about to be sacrificed.

He rushes the altar and saves her, but is ultimately defeated. The ritual stops and the Exxilons decide to make new preparations to sacrifice the Doctor instead for assaulting the high priest. Everyone is put in prison until the ritual is ready to begin again.

Back at the Dalek ship, the hidden Daleks quickly manufacture some projectile guns.

After testing them out on miniature little TARDIS' and gunning down a couple of Exxilons lurking near their ship, they're ready to take over once more. They track the Daleks currently held prisoner and storm the caves, killing many and subjugating the high priest of the Exxilons. The Doctor and Sarah Jane are able to escape in the confusion and have little alternative but to flee down the sacrificial tunnel where they were to be taken.

The Daleks quickly enslave the Exxilons and force them to dig for Parrinium. They also make it clear to the Marines that the deal is off. Galloway is forced to broker a new deal with them though to keep the Exxilons working in return for a share of the Parrinium. The Daleks agree but also state that they should kill the Doctor if they ever see him again along with an apparent renegade faction of the Exxilons. Jill and Peter protest at this but Galloway insists that it's the only way. He's officially in charge now since the commander died of his wounds. What Jill and Peter don't know, however, is that the commanders last word condemned Galloway and told him he was unfit to lead.

In the tunnel, the Doctor and Sarah hear strange roars echoing around them. Sarah concludes that there's something in here meant to finish them off. They uneasily continue deeper into the tunnel and the Doctor fills Sarah in on who the Daleks are. She asks how come they can move if they're in machine shells. He explains that their movement is now governed by psychokinetic energy so it can't be affected by power drain. They come to a junction and the Doctor tells Sarah to wait whilst he explores one of the tunnels leading off.

As he leaves her, she is watched by a small Exxilon that startles her.

Down the corridor, the Doctor eventually comes face to face with the monster responsible for the roaring, it's a giant snake-like machine that rears up in front of him.

Back at the junction, the Exxilon tells her he is a friend. His name is Bellal.

He and his friend Gotal say they don't believe in sacrifice like the others - they are a more intelligent species. They help Sarah hide from a pair of Daleks that wander the tunnels looking for them. One of the Daleks goes down the tunnel that the Doctor did and comes across the snake-like creature which attacks it.

Bellal and company hide again when they hear something coming back up the tunnel. It turns out it's the Doctor who's taken one of the Daleks machine guns. He concludes that the snake is some kind of underground defence system for the city - a sort of "root". They are forced to flee when the remaining Dalek comes back.

On the surface, Galloway is ordered by the Daleks to force the Exillons to work, mining for the Parrinium.

Bellal explains that his people were once very technologically advanced and space faring. They built the city and made it sentient. Unfortunately, the city drove the Exillons out, The race slowly degenerated into a primitive society and worshiped that which preyed on them. Only a small number wished to destroy it.

Back on the surface, one of the city roots turns up in a lake and destroys one of the Exxilons and a Dalek, forcing them to move location to mine for the Parrinium.

From their conversations with Bellal, the Doctor recognises some of the inscriptions as being the same as on temples in Peru, indicating that the Exxilons were ancient astronauts.

Now the Daleks have sorted the mines, they decide to turn their attention to restoring power. They force Galloway and Hamilton to gather explosives from the Dalek ship with the intent to scale the city walls and place explosives on the beacon.

The Doctor, Sarah and Bellal reach the city. The Doctor hails it as one of the seven hundred wonders of the universe. He stops Sarah and tells her to prepare the Marine's ship for take off as soon as the power is restored. She protests, but he makes it clear that the Parrinium is vital to millions. In addition, he says that if he fails to return, she should go with the Marines. She agrees and watches them leave.

The Doctor and Bellal get to the city and begin inspecting the inscriptions just as the Daleks turn up.

The Doctor discovers a secret entrance by tracing a non-recurring symbol and they both flee inside the city. This is the first of many logic tests that are required of any would-be visitors.

The next room they find themselves in has a maze on the wall,

The Doctor traces his finger over the path of the maze to get to the next room, just as the Daleks figure their way in through the first door.

The maze door leads to a blank corridor with a cheque pattern square on the floor halfway along. The Doctor and Bellal walk up to it, and the Doctor stops him, warning the Exxilon not to move.

The pattern is electrocuted and the Doctor figures his way across with the help of a coin, his Sonic Screwdriver and a bit of Venusian Hopscotch!

When the Daleks get to the hopscotch area, the first one rolls straight over it, getting shocked by 7,000 volts and having it's non-conductive shielding burnt out.

The second dalek blows holes in the floor with it's machine gun and rolls harmlessly over. They watch as the floor repairs itself afterwards.

Meanwhile, Sarah Jane heads to the Dalek camp and finds Jill Tarrant. She convinces her to risk capture by helping her switch the Daleks boxed up Parrinium for sand and rocks.

The Doctor and Bellal move on until they get to another room. This room is totally empty and the pair are stymied until a pulsating light fills the room and Bellal is possessed. The Doctor manages to talk Bellal out of killing him and knocks the Dalek gun out of his hand, defeating the mental conditioning.

A door appears and they are allowed to progress, leaving the room as the Daleks enter it.

Galloway and Hamilton arrive outside the city, and their Dalek captor forces them to climb up the pyramid to the beacon, warning them that they're in range of it's gun all the way.

Back inside the city, the Doctor and Bellal edge closer to the "brain" of the city. As they close in, the city assaults them with sound and light, hurting their brain and sending them on a very bad trip. Through strength of will alone, the pair overcome the test and another door appears, allowing them access to the brain. When they enter, they see a single chair against a bank of computers. An old Exxilon sat on the seat disintegrates to dust as they enter. The Doctor begins re-wiring the circuits of the brain, but as Bellal warned, the city begins to produce anti-bodies, spectral beings that are slowly brought into life.

The Doctor works fast and tells Bellal to warn him once they're completely formed.

Galloway and Hamilton get to the top of the beacon and set the charges. Galloway risks keeping one of the bombs himself.

Back at the Dalek camp, the guard realises that Jill Tarrant has escaped and commits suicide because of its failure, thus leaving the rest of the Exxilons unguarded.

Back in the brain room, Bellal is too busy questioning the Doctor to be watching the anti-bodies. They fully form and grab hold of the Doctor and Bellal. They are about to kill them when the Daleks turn up. The anti-bodies attack the Daleks instead, giving the Doctor and Bellal enough time to finish re-wiring the circuits and fleeing the city. The Doctor's handiwork has forced the city to begin self-destructing.

The Doctor and Bellal escape and find Sarah and Jill. They see that Hamilton and Galloway have been forced to load the Parrinium onto the Dalek saucer, seeing as all the Exxilons have fled. As they watch the scene, the Daleks find and capture them.

The bomb detonates and destroys the beacon, restoring power, allowing the Daleks to take off again. They sadistically allow the Doctor and the humans to remain on the planet, stating that they will hold the human worlds to ransom from the Parrinium and launch a plague missile onto the planet, making it impossible for humans to come to Exxilon to gather more of the mineral.

As the Daleks leave, Sarah announces that they've switched the Parrinium supply,

The Daleks fly into the air, not realising that Galloway has stowed away.

He detonates the remaining bomb and destroys the Dalek saucer before they can launch their missile.

Before they get the last of the Parrinium to the marine's ship, the Doctor, Sarah and the marines watch the city dissolve. The Doctor sighs and says there's only six hundred and ninety nine wonders of the universe left now.

Trivia

This story was put in place because Terrence Dicks and Barry Letts, as you know, were busy with Moonbase 3. They needed someone who was a veteran who didn't need their hand holding - so let's call Terry Nation.

This is the first script to be script edited by newly appointed editor, Robert Holmes

Thankfully, he forced some changes to Terry Nation's tried and tested formula. This story was originally set in a jungle (again) where I'm guessing that the plants would somehow be closer to animals. Holmes made Nation change it

Some sources say that the Director Michael Briant asked for the Daleks to be painted in the 60's colour scheme; some others say that they went back to the original props because the props used in Planet of the Daleks were inferior. I tend to believe the former, because the original props had blue domes.

having said that, this might prove the other theory. Around the time of this story, two "grey" Daleks went missing. Here's the story. This is what happened about it. The culprit was never found.

Because of timing reasons, the original cliffhanger for episode 3 was cut off and hence we get a puzzling one with the Doctor stopping Bellal next to the hopscotch square

If you've watched Frontier in Space, you can see that Daleks and quarry's dont mix. Michael Briant knew this, so he arranged to move the Daleks using rails that camera's move on to help them get around their shots.

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but Barry Letts and Terrence Dicks were moving on, Katy Manning had left, Roger Delgado was dead, and the UNIT crew were in the show less and less. It was around the time they were filming this story that Jon Pertwee decided to leave along with the old guard. Work got underway to find a replacement.

What worked

The moody lighting in episode one evoked a very sinister atmosphere

The mystery of the TARDIS losing power also does very well

The Exxilon costumes are some of the better ones, being up there with the Draconians

The CSO with the city looked good too, on the scene where Sarah Jane finds the beacon

It's nice to see Daleks having to use their initiative

The city melting was quite good

What didn't work

The space marines don't exactly look like Hicks or Hudson

The Daleks plan is pulled together by the Daleks shouting, then they turn around and tell the Doctor who's stood next to them and he somehow doesn't know exactly what they're up to

The city roots were clearly pulled by wires (and full of water when they come out of lakes)

The terrible cliff-hanger on part 3

The Dalek killing itself out of shame

How daft are those who couldn't trace the maze lines and died in that room?

I should say something about the pantomime style music too, but words escape me

Overall Feelings

Death to the Daleks starts off well. We have a mystery of the power drain on the TARDIS, the dark, eerie atmosphere of an alien planet and nothing but an oil lamp to help us. Sarah's presence and the moody music could trick us into believing this is the Brain of Morbius if we're not careful. There's even a strange cult wanting sacrifices and something that causes spaceships to "crash". Yet, this is far less remembered and loved than that show.

I think the reason why this falls short of the mark is because Terry Nation is trying to get away with his old tricks. He's used to churning out the same story that's gotten tired with very little repercussion. To be fair to him though, Terrence Dicks didn't have time to guide him in how the show had evolved, and Robert Holmes was still finding his own feet. it's amazing that he changed even these bits at the start. Needless to say, classic Who shines through this show, from the way Sarah Jane is dummed down to being a "what's that Doctor?" kind of assistant, who dutifully does as she's told; to the scene where the Daleks threaten to use a plague missile to nobody's surprise.

This story has a decent gem of an idea at it's core, but the execution is somewhat lacking. Thankfully, Nation will be forced to change his game significantly by the next time we see him.

Rating

6 out of 10

Rewatchability Factor

3 out of 10

Watch this if you liked...

The Daleks

The Krotons

Colony in Space

The Brain of Morbius

Destiny of the Daleks

The Five Doctors

Consulting the Matrix

Do you think that Bellal the Exxilon should have been a TARDIS companion?

Sunday, 12 June 2016

Invasion of the Dinosaurs

Six episodes
Aired between 12th January 1974 and 16th February 1974

Written by Malcolm Hulke
Produced by Barry Letts
Directed by Paddy Russell

Synopsis

Coming back from their jaunt to medieval England, the Doctor and Sarah Jane find themselves in the midst of a deserted London. After waiting for a bus that never comes and nearly getting run over by a car that doesn't stop when they hail it, the pair decide to investigate further.

It turns out that the driver is a looter, and he's armed. He threatens the Doctor and Sarah, thinking they're trying to stop him. The pair allow him to leave and watch as he takes a load of jewels from a shop and speeds off again in his car. his escape is short lived however, as he crashes his car further down the road. All the Doctor and Sarah hear is a loud roar. when they investigate, it's gone.

Not long after, they come across another bunch of looters, stealing furs. The Doctor makes quick work of the looters, but he's less prepared for an angry pterodactyl swooping down at him!

They escape and take the looters van and try to find unit HQ, but are actually stopped by army soldiers on the way and when the soldiers find the furs in the back, arrest the Doctor and Sarah for looting!

The pair of them are taken to a nearby base where they are processed as criminals and told to wait for an officer in charge for sentencing.

Elsewhere, the Brigadier is fretting at a large number of incidents indicated by pins on a map. It becomes clear that UNIT are handling some kind of big emergency where the whole of London has had to be evacuated. He's worries that the Doctor's still missing until he see's his and Sarah's mugshot from the recent batch of looters!

Not getting sense from anyone in a uniform and being sentenced to a few years for looting, the Doctor decides to team up with one of the rogues to escape. They fake a fight and the Doctor knocks their guard unconscious with some Venusian Akido, and resorts to doing the same to the thief when he tries to double cross them. The Doctor and Sarah escape custody and try to get away in an army Landrover, but discover that it's the car they're being transported in anyway. Needless to say, they're captured again.

The Army blokes pop the Doctor and Sarah in the back of the car and dive off to take them to a detention centre. Luckily for them, they're stopped on their way by a Tyrannosaurus Rex smashing its way through London! The soldiers fight bravely but find that bullets do nothing to the monster, only grenades drive the beast off.

Whilst the soldiers are distracted, the Doctor and Sarah run off into a nearby garage. There they find an angry peasant from King John's era. He demands to be returned to his own time and attacks them, thinking they're responsible.

Without warning, time starts moving backwards near the peasant and he disappears. From these bizarre encounters, the Doctor figures out that there's a series of time eddies affecting the area, bringing things from the past to the present.

Now the peasant has been dealt with, the Doctor and Sarah hear the soldiers approaching and prepare to fight, but are relieved to see it's the Brigadier. He takes the Doctor and Sarah back to UNIT HQ (temporarily stationed in an evacuated school) and fills them in on the situation. Dozens of Dinosaurs have begun appearing and disappearing around London. The whole city has been evacuated but they haven't a clue how they're going to deal with the problem.

On top of that, the Brigadier isn't the top man in this situation, he's following the orders of General Finch - a regular army General, and Sir Charles Grover, a Government Minister of Ecology. Finch and the Doctor soon get off on the wrong foot and antagonise each other, leaving the Brigadier to make peace between them both.

Sarah in the meantime gets to talk to Captain Yates, who's only just come back off sick leave after being brainwashed by the BOSS (see The Green Death).

It's not long before the group are called to another Dinosaur sighting. This time it's a Stegosaurus.

The Doctor assures everyone that it's harmless and he wants it taken alive. The Stegosaurus disappears again, leaving the Doctor in no doubt that this is happening deliberately - someone is bringing them here.

Sure enough, we see two scientists in a secret location, operating machinery that brings Dinosaurs through time. Unexpectedly, Captain Yates arrives at the secret location - he's in on the act! Yates tells the scientists that the Doctor has arrived and he could be a great asset to the cause of achieving "Operation Golden Age". Yates tells them that the Doctor intends to capture one of the creatures with a stun gun so he can get readings on the time eddy when it disappears again, thus tracing the signal back to the lair. Whittaker (one of the scientists) gives Yates a small electronic chip and tells him to sabotage the Doctor's stun gun.

Yates returns to UNIT HQ and not long afterwards, a Brontosaurus is sighted. The Doctor takes his newly crafted stun gun with him. Yates goes along for the ride, and whilst the Doctor is assessing the situation, he manages to slip the electronic device on the gun. The Doctor tries to use the gun but it doesn't work.

The Brontosaurus fades away back in time, but another dinosaur appears nearby - this time it's a fearsome T-Rex!

The Doctor is surely a goner, but Captain Yates dives in and grabs the stun gun. He slips the sabotaging chip off the gun and manages to stun the T-Rex. With the monster unconscious, the soldiers are able to tie it up and take it to a designated warehouse where the Doctor's monitoring equipment has been set up.

Yates goes back to the secret lab and is angry with Whitaker. He says that he never wanted the Doctor harmed and he won't allow him to be. Whitaker understands but stresses the need to throw the Doctor off the scent by continuing to sabotage his equipment.

Meanwhile, the Doctor, the Brigadier and Sarah discuss what's happening, and Sarah remembers a story she covered as a reporter about a barmy scientist named Whitaker who was looking into time travel. They resolve to investigate that lead further after dealing with the T-Rex.

The Doctor goes off to make preparations to monitor the time eddy, whilst Sarah gets her camera to take some pictures of the Dinosaur, intending to sell the story when everything's been resolved. No one notices General Finch in the meantime weakening the chains holding down the beast.

Sarah returns and takes some photos.

The flash of the Camera awakens the T-Rex and it tries to attack her. She manages to get into a smaller room but finds that the door to the outside has been locked - she's trapped. The T-Rex begins smashing into the room with its tail, sending debris falling from the ceiling that strikes Sarah and knocks her unconscious. Luckily, the Doctor finds the door locked and manages to get it open, rescuing Sarah. The creature disappears not long after.

After Sarah has recovered, the Doctor checks the equipment and finds that it's been sabotaged so no useful readings are gained. It's clear to him now that there's a traitor in the base. Sarah asks that if the time eddy needs the power of a small nuclear generator to work, why don't they just look for that? The Brigadier says he's checked all records and didn't find it.

Sarah won't give up the idea though and comes to the conclusion that it must be a generator stored somewhere top secret. She decides the person who would know is Sir Charles Grover, so she goes to see him.

Sir Charles is very helpful, especially as the rest of the Government has run off to Harrogate, leaving him in charge of the situation.

Sarah asks about the possibility of secret bunkers with independent generators dreamed up as part of the cold war. Sir Charles confirms that there was plans but insists that none were actually built, just planned. To ease her mind however, he agrees to take her to look at top secret documents in the office filing cabinets. Sure enough, they find evidence that a secret bunker was built, under the very building that she's now in. She turns to leave but find that the filing room is actually a secret lift to the bunker and Sir Charles is also part of "Operation Golden Age".

Sir Charles and the scientists lock Sarah in a room with strange flashing lights that take her into a deep sleep. When she awakens, she discovers that she's on a spaceship on her way to a new planet!

Sarah soon finds that there are multiple ships containing colonies of people traveling to a "new Earth". Most are in suspended animation but a few have already been awoken to help prepare the final phase of flight.

The people on board are clearly part of a cult and include even sporting personalities and minor celebrities. They say that they intend to live on New Earth in a more primitive way, remaining close to nature and being considerate to their environment. Sarah begins to cause a disruption in the people on board and argues with them about whether or not she volunteered for this new life on a new planet.

Elsewhere, the Doctor and the Brigadier get challenged by General Finch who is unhappy about the loss of the T-Rex. The Brigadier assures Finch that they're doing what they can and both he and the doctor leave the room, Whilst they're gone, Captain Yates accuses General Finch of loosening the chains and locking the door to the warehouse, thereby confirming that Finch is also part of Operation Golden Age.

Meanwhile, the Doctor gets the Brigadier's men to bring him his new car (called the Whomobile off-screen). He gets in the Whomobile and goes out searching for the local time eddy's using a less powerful version of the apparatus that was sabotaged.

The signal leads him to Moorgate station where he finds one of the scientists entering a secret lift in a janitors closet.

When the Doctor figures out the lever and follows after him, the scientist warns Whitaker. Together they manage to trap the Doctor by sealing off the corridors and herd him back to the lift. once there, they use their machine to summon another Pterodactyl that terrorises him and forces him to leg it back out of the station.

Sarah meanwhile continues to argue with the colonists and ends up being locked in a re-education room that plays videos of civil unrest and pollution on Planet Earth, citing them as reasons why the colonists left. Outside some of the colonists begin to suggest that she might be better off dead, lest she corrupt the others and spoil the colonization plans.

Back on Earth, the Doctor brings the Brigadier back to the station to show him the evidence of the secret bunker. He's stupefied to find all trace of the lift gone, it's just a janitors closet.

Their next stop is to see Sir Charles, who confirms that Sarah also spoke to him about a secret bunker, but says the place was planned but not built. He claims that he sent her back to UNIT HQ afterwards in his own car. The Doctor asks to speak to the driver. When the driver turns up, it's revealed that he's the second scientist. The Doctor however doesn't recognise him (because it was dark in the station and he was hiding when the scientist used the lift). The driver / scientist confirms Grover's story that Sarah went back to UNIT HQ.

Back on the colony ship, Sarah continues to argue with one of the colonists (the athlete called Mark) about how they got there and why. He tries to convince her she's wrong but she's adamant she's right. He leaves her some food and locks her in the re-education chamber again.

In the Secret Bunker, General Finch and Captain Yates rendezvous with Whitaker and the other scientist. They discuss their plans for Operation Golden Age and reveal that they intended to use the dinosaurs to drive everyone out of the city. Ultimately, they intend to use the machine to create a sort of city wide time bubble that will keep everyone in it fine and safe, whilst the rest of the world will roll back to prehistoric times, thereby destroying the rest of mankind. Captain Yates is uncomfortable with the plan, but acknowledges that it's for the greater good to save the planet from human greed and pollution. They all agree that the Doctor is a thorn in their side and intend to frame him, placing the blame on him and throwing the scent off of themselves until the Operation is complete.

Back at UNIT HQ, the Doctor has figured out that the Dinosaurs are there to drive people away, and he's worked out that Grover is part of it. He gets a call from Whitaker who claims that Grover forced him to build the machine. He says he escaped custody and wants to talk to the Doctor alone. He asks the Doctor to meet him at the warehouse.

When the Doctor gets to the warehouse, Whitaker uses the machine to summon a Stegosaurus just as the Brigadier and General Finch enter the place. Finch accuses the Doctor of being the one summoning the monsters. He orders the Brigadier to place him under arrest. The Brigadier naturally objects but is forced to give the order. As Finch leaves, the Brigadier goes with him, protesting.

The Doctor pleads with Captain Yates to listen to him, but Yates stands by the order and instructs Sgt. Benton to keep him prisoner. This alerts the Doctor to the fact that Yates is the saboteur. Once they've all gone, Benton stands by the Doctor and lets him use his Venusian Akido to knock him out and escape.

Over on the colony ship, Sarah tricks Mark into entering the re-education chamber. She locks him inside and begins sneaking around the ship. She soon discovers that none of the instruments work and it's not even a real spaceship! She frees Mark and demonstrates her theory to him by walking out of the airlock without a spacesuit. The others turn up as she closes the door, but Mark keeps her secret.

General Finch is not happy that the Doctor has escaped and orders Benton to be put under arrest and await a court marshal. He takes Yates with him and marches off. The Brigadier, now alone with Benton, orders Benton to get the men ready and prepares to go and find the Doctor.

The Doctor meanwhile is forced to evade UNIT patrols looking for him and soon gets tangled up in a chase with UNIT troops with helicopter support.

Sarah meanwhile makes it out of the spaceship and finds that it's part of the underground bunker. She sneaks her way back to the lift that takes her to the filing cabinet room and manages to escape back to UNIT HQ.

The Doctor is forced to hide in some woods where the helicopter can't spot him and he abandons the UNIT car.

When some soldiers leave their car and search the woods for him, he doubles back and uses their radio and a rubbish cockney accent to tell the helicopter that "the Doctor has been captured". The helicopter crew buys it and returns to base, leaving him free to escape in the UNIT landrover. The soldiers race back to the Doctor's transport but find that he's disabled it.

Back at UNIT HQ, Sarah turns up and finds that the UNIT crew are all out and about. Sarah writes a note for the Doctor explaining everything just as General Finch turns up. She tells him what she's found and he goes with her back to the ministry to see the lift in the filing room. Needless to say, Finch pulls a gun on her and takes her prisoner, leading her back to Whitaker and Grover who are in the bunker.

Grover orders the final phase to begin by telling Whitaker to send another wave of dinosaurs into London to drive out anyone left whilst General Finch orders all Army and UNIT personnel back outside London, Whitaker does as he's told and as the Doctor is making his way back to UNIT HQ, he once again comes across the mighty T-Rex and a Brontosaurus. Thankfully, the Dinosaurs attack each other, allowing him to escape.

This escape is short lived however as General Finch catches up with him at the same time as the Brigadier and Sgt Benton. They pull guns on each other and the Brigadier insists on taking the Doctor into custody himself. Finch says it's mutiny, but allows the Brigadier to hold the Doctor prisoner.

They get the Doctor back to UNIT HQ and start to radio Geneva, but Captain Yates appears and holds them all at gunpoint.

Thanks to a momentary distraction, Sgt Benton seizes the opportunity to overpower Yates and take him prisoner.

Back in the secret bunker, Sarah is locked in a store cupboard and immediately begins looking for a way out, finding a conveniently large air vent.

On the colony ship, the colonists are waking up their colleagues. They discover that Sarah has gone but she manages to slip back into the ship, noticed only by Mark. She tells him where she's been and vows to tell the others. Sarah does try to tell them that they've all been duped. She explains that Grover plans to drive everyone out of London, turn the world back to prehistoric times and then allow the colonists to leave the ship, believing they've landed on a new planet so it's more morally acceptable as they would never agree to wipe out everyone on Earth to fulfill the plans. When she does, the others don't believe her and Ruth, her most vocal opposition orders her to be dragged back to the re-education room.

Once she's gone, the colony leader uses the console to contact another colony ship and asks to speak to Charles Grover.

The scientists who have been liaising with the colonists insist that Sir Charles will have to visit them and reassure them. He does visit them and he gets Mark and Sarah in a room alone. He tries to convince them that the plan is for the best. He admits to everything but he doesn't know that the colony leader is listening through the door and hears it all.

The Doctor and Brigadier meanwhile return to the station to find the secret lift. They plant explosives and use flares to ward off a giant Triceratops whilst they prepare for detonation.

They blow a hole in the janitors closet and find the lift shaft. The Doctor goes down alone whilst the Brigadier goes for reinforcements. He radios Sgt Benton to get the reinforcements but it turns out that General Finch has him at gun point. Benton begs Finch to let him get the reinforcements but Finch refuses, resulting in Benton attacking him.

Back on the colony ship, the leader frees Sarah and Mark and takes them to the flight deck. They convince the others to watch Sarah as she opens the air lock and proves that the ship isn't real.

Grover and Whitaker prepare to use the machine but the colonists march out of the ship and confront them with the terrible truth of wiping out the population of the world. Grover tries to reason with them when the Doctor and the Brigadier get there.

Whitaker activates the device and everyone freezes, but the Doctor is able to move very slowly. He reaches out, shuts off the device and reverses the polarity. Grover dives for the controls and Whitaker goes to stop him, warning him of the dangers. But it's too late. Grover and Whitaker disappear into the prehistoric past along with all the dinosaurs.

Back at UNIT HQ everyone is happy. Sarah works out that the Doctor could move whilst everyone else couldn't because he's a Time Lord. Benton asks what's going to happen to Captain Yates. The Brigadier explains that he's been granted extended sick leave and a chance to resign quietly whilst the rest are going to jail or court marshaled.

The Doctor reflects with Sarah and emphasizes that he has sympathy with why Grover did what he did, he just feels they took it too far. He says they deserve a holiday and promises to take Sarah to the planet Florana. Sarah refuses, but can't help smile and get a cheeky glint in her eye.

Trivia

This story was called Time Scoop in the draft version. It's a concept that will be returned to in The Five Doctors.

The producers tried to keep the story secret by calling the first episode "Invasion" but this was somewhat undermined by the fact that the dinosaurs had been shown in an earlier copy of Radio Times

Part One only exists in black an white but the DVD has used colour restoration on it so it can finally be watched in full colour once again (albeit the quality isn't great. They clearly didn't have the time, money or inclination to clean up the picture).

This is the first appearance of the Whomobile. It's actually a car that Jon Pertwee had custom built and wanted to use in everyday life. He said he'd paid so much for it and it was so space age that Barry Letts agreed to use it on the show. It's a good thing too because stories are abound that the thing was so out there and unusual that it caused people to crash because they were too busy looking at it drive past! Rumours say that he was asked not to drive it in public for this reason.

This is the start of the end for the current production team. They were getting more and more on track with Moonbase, so started looking for replacements. Terrence Dicks handed over the reins unofficially to Robert Holmes who began shadowing Terrence script editing from this episode until the end of the season.

The Target novelisation had a Pterodactyl on the front cover yelling "K-Klack!" The publishing company hated it, but the artist refused to re-draw it and the fans love it!

What worked

The Stegosaurus and Brontosaurus look okay

The scope and complexity of the plot

The comedy highlights of the Doctor getting arrested

The comedy highlights of Sgt Benton apologising whilst he's assaulting General Finch

The unintentional comedy highlights of the T-Rex standing up and of course, the Pterodactyl assaults

The whomobile fits right into the world of Jon Pertwee's Doctor just as much as Bessie

What didn't work

Where to begin...

The Pterodactyl on a string

The ginormous Triceratops

The god-awful animated T-Rex

The rubbish CSO work with the soldiers firing on the T-Rex and pointing their guns in the wrong place (with just sound effects to make it look like they're firing)

Why are the bullets having no effect?

Surely the colonists will have tried to use the console buttons before Sarah found out they didn't work

Overall Feelings

The Invasion of the Dinosaurs is one story that's a conundrum to the world. It's equally a story where critics will point at it to show just how crap and awful the design and production of the show ever was; but at the same time, it's a show that the die-hard fans will point to and declare "yes! A thousand times yes!" In their own ways, both are right.

I'll start with the bad things first. You can't get away from it. The Dinosaurs are pretty bad. Well, the ones made to stand still are actually passable, but the T-Rex is just terrible. It isn't the first attempt Doctor Who has made at large monsters and it won't be the last but these Dinosaurs are possibly the worst. Pterodactyl's swung on string whilst a man yells from the side of the set...come on, we can do better than that! And it's not just the monsters. The sets are a bit wobbly too. Thankfully, the acting isn't too bad,

Now, if you take the story on face value, then sure, it's not great, but if you do that, you miss so much. This is a complex moral tale where the Dinosaurs are incidental and that's what makes it great.

The Doctor is more Third Doctor-ish than we've seen him since the Sea Devils - merrily quipping his way through scenes, getting frustrated with members of authority, driving fantastical cars and "Hai"ing his way through entire episodes! The Brigadier is more skeptical and full of banter than he has been for a while, Sarah Jane is pro-active and fiesty as we love her to be. The gangs all here and they're doing it right.

The plot is beyond belief, but filled with enough twists to make it uncertain what's going to happen next; This, coupled with scenes to let the viewer in on a bit more of the plot than our protagonists allows us to wonder just how the heroes are going to save the day.

A very clever and very entertaining watch all in all, if a little bit implausible.

Rating

9 out of 10

Rewatchability Factor

8 out of 10

Once you know the plot, you can pretty much skip episode 1 without missing anything

Watch this if you liked...

The Enemy of the World

Doctor Who and the Silurians

The Green Death

Ark in Space

Terror of the Zygons

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship! (Doctor Who, Series 7)

Deep Breath (Doctor Who, Series 8)

Consulting the Matrix

What do you think is the worst attempt at a monster in Doctor Who?