At the end of part one of "The Android Invasion", I had to go back to check if Terry Nation had also written "Invasion of the Dinosaurs." It was Malcolm Hulke who wrote the earlier story, but the similarities were striking.
Both stories share an opening premise: the Doctor and Sarah arrive somewhere in England and find every street and building totally abandoned. They encounter a handful of strangely acting characters, and for the most part are totally baffled by what's going on.
Nation raised the bar, adding a mysterious UNIT soldier who can cheat death, some creepy haz-matted creatures who look like a cross between the Autons and the Ambassadors of Death, and some trucked-in village folk who act like zombies. This was certainly one of the weirdest opening episodes we've seen for some time.
Sarah -
I have to admit that, going into this story, I wasn't sure that I remembered much about it. As soon as I saw the empty Devesham village square, it all came back to me. I find Invasion of the Body Snatchers/pod people-type stories to be SO creepy.
Harry -
There's your Hinchcliffe Horror Homage.
Sarah -
Can't have a Season Thirteen story without one! This story has freaked me out every time I've watched it. It's probably the weakest story of this season, but I still find it terribly disturbing.
Harry -
No kidding. One by one we see Crayford, Benton, Harry and Sarah Jane - or at least their android copies - turn on the Doctor. Sarah's face falling off to reveal an android beneath is one of the all-time creep-me-out cliffhangers.
Sarah -
There's really no competition for the lasting image in this story for me. I have to commend the actors for really making us believe they are androids. There's just the most subtle shift in their faces that completely sells it.
Harry -
At the opposite end of the acting spectrum, I loved watching Who regular Milton Johns as the gleefully brainwashed Crayford. He recited the Kralls' invasion plan with the unbridled enthusiasm of someone with no grasp on reality. He couldn't even bother to check if his left eye was really damaged.
Speaking of being creeped out, there is something inherently creepy about village pubs. Not just in Doctor Who. There's a story by horror writer Peter Straub where an American writer enters a village pub for a meal and the whole experience turns into a nightmare of alienation. There's also a scene in The Wicker Man where Edward Woodward's character is made to feel extremely unwelcome by the local folk at the local pub. Maybe that's it - being a stranger in a place where people gather - that causes so much anxiety. Even our gregarious Doctor gets the cold shoulder (and colder gaze) at the Fleur de Lis.
Sarah -
I was going to protest your characterization of the village pub, until I remembered the creepy pubs in The World's End. I think you're on to something there and may have just ruined village pubs for me from here on out.
Harry -
A nice counterpoint to all these cold and, er, mechanical characters are the squabbling Kralls. At first they don't look like much, in their drab robes and with their ugly, frowny faces. But the Kralls like to shout, especially at each other! Styggron and Chedaki really steal the show and their back and forth was amusingly watchable.
Sarah -
I'm not sure "Old Married Couple" was the effect that the production team was going for, but the Kralls were definitely amusing -- if not terribly intimidating. Those rhinoesque masks weren't quite what you'd picture for such a technologically advanced species.
Wait now! How have we gotten this far without welcoming Uncle Barry back to Doctor Who? His steady hand at the helm is undoubtedly what makes "The Android Invasion" work as well as it does.
While I'm feeling a bit warm and nostalgic, I'll also mention that this is the final story for Benton and Harry. I've made no secret of my love of Benton and will certainly miss our steady hero as this marathon progresses. It was nice to see them one more time.
Harry -
I don't know if they knew this was their swansong, but watching it so many years later, I wonder why they weren't given a proper goodbye and sendoff - this was the second opportunity to do so this season.
Sarah -
We've certainly been leading up to a separation from UNIT, but I guess it made at the time to keep the door open to further adventures. Colonel Faraday, meanwhile, was an obvious fill-in for the likely unavailable Nick Courtney, but he makes an excellent android -- and I was relieved that the Brig was spared that indignity!
Harry -
It was a bit ironic that in a story about dopplegangers, Nick Courtney the actor was replaced by someone else.
Sarah -
Ha! It is!
In the end, I can't help but think that in any other season, this would be a solid episode. But, surrounded by so many significantly stronger stories, it can't help but seem a bit diminished.
Harry -
I'd forgotten most of this story, and there were a few other things that stood out on watching it again. I don't know if it was because of Barry Letts or not (it wasn't really his thing), but we viewers got a quickie science lesson when the Doctor reminded Sarah that water is an excellent conductor. It was almost whimsical, that moment. Lo and behold, she quickly rigged up a trap that destroyed one of the androids, using water and electricity to blow it up.
Sarah -
There is nothing Sarah cannot do!
Harry -
And I don't want it to seem like I paused the story several times and stared madly at the screen, but was Sarah wearing some kind of proto-Crocs? Her footwear looked very Croc-like. Maybe they aren't such a new craze.
Sarah -
This is why we're such good friends! I did the exact same thing. What the heck was she wearing?
Harry -
Mad props to Sarah again in this story. She saved the Doctor's life multiple times. He's getting to be very reliant on her timely interventions.
Sarah -
I'm afraid it's starting to wear on her a bit. She has been asking to go home after nearly every adventure.
Harry -
She was ready to take a cab home after this one!
As noted above, "The Android Invasion" is a Terry Nation story, and it had that familiar Nationesque episodic structure about it. Parts one and two were mostly in the phony Devesham village setting; we then moved to the Krall base for part three, and back to Earth for part four. It's all very orderly. The absence of the Brig was very notable, and again the lack of a proper UNIT sendoff ended this one on a weak note. I agree, this was a decent story and rolled along nicely, but it's probably the weakest one among the other classics this season.
Sarah -
Ready to move along to yet another highlight of the season?
Harry -
Let's see how well the Doctor really is at piloting the TARDIS. He seemed quite confident at the end here.
Sarah -
Best Line: "Is that finger loaded?"
Favorite Moment: Sarah chiding the Doctor for standing around while he's tied to the monument (and bomb) in the middle of the village.
Lasting Imagine: Android Sarah, after her face has fallen off.
6/10
Harry -
Best Line: "Let's try the pub."
Favourite Moment: Crayford's gleefully brainwashed recitation of the Kralls' invasion plan.
Lasting Image: definitely Android Sarah. Beyond creepy!
7/10
Our marathon continues with Story #84: The Brain of Morbius...
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