OK well its once again time for another review and this one will be on a Doctor Who story from the original series (cos the original series was always the best imho!) and the story will be from the Tom Baker era: The Android Invasion. Now this story has never really been considered a classic or one of the best stories but how does it stack up after 42 years??? Well, let's find out....
Oh and as usual here is that same old warning....
PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!
STORY
Right, so the story begins with the Doctor and Sarah-Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) arriving in the TARDIS in what appears to be modern day Earth in the English countryside and they soon encounter a group of men in white suits and helmets, who shoot at them with their index fingers. As the Doctor and Sarah manage to evade the men they see what appears to be a UNIT soldier (Max Faulkner) fall to his death over a cliff. The Doctor searches the soldier's body and finds a wallet that is filled with mint condition coins all dated the same year and he also stumbles along a casket shaped pod nearby, which the Doctor seems to recognise.
The Doctor and Sarah after once again evading the men in white suits, arrive at a village, which Sarah recognises as being Devesham, which is located near a space defense station and Sarah once covered a news story there a couple of years ago. The Doctor and Sarah then enter a deserted pub and on checking the register find the same mint condition coins all dated the same year. Then a truck arrives in the village that is filled with people in a trance like state, which has been driven by the white suit men and they enter the pub with the dead soldier from earlier. In the pub they take their places and stand still in a catatonic state and when the clock chimes, they suddenly come to life and act normally.
The Doctor then tells Sarah to stay at the pub while he sneaks out to go to the space station and contact UNIT (United Nations Intelligence Task Force) and Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart. Meanwhile Sarah at the pub, questions the dead soldier, who acts strangely and tells her to go and she leaves the pub, however outside she notices one of the men in the white suit has a robotic face underneath their mask. Sarah then heads back to the TARDIS and places the key in the lock but it then suddenly dematerialises, leaving Sarah standed who then notices the pub from earlier open, which is occupied by a man who attacks her but she manages to escape.
The Doctor meanwhile soon meets the senior defence astronaut, Guy Crayford (Milton Johns) and the Doctor introduces himself as UNIT's scientific advisor but as he tries to escape but he is placed in detention. Sarah however soon manages to sneak in and frees the Doctor from his cell but as she does so an alien figure spies on them from a distance, a Kraal named Styggron (Martin Friend).
Not long after the Doctor and Sarah escape they are pursued by Crayford's men but they manage to evade them however Sarah sprains her ankle, which leaves the Doctor having to place Sarah in a tree to hide her but she is soon captured by Crayford's men but Styggron insists to leave the Doctor alone as he has plans for him. Sarah meanwhile is taken to an alien looking room where she is scanned by an android version of Harry Sullivan (Ian Marter) who also was accompanied by an android Sergeant Benton (John Levine).
Meanwhile however Styggron speaks to another Kraal named Chedaki (Roy Skelton) and together they talk about their plans to conquer the Earth and other worlds. And its from here the Doctor must try and find a way to stop Styggron from carrying out his plans for invasion.....
THOUGHTS
After so many high quality stories in the early years of the Tom Baker era, "The Android Invasion" is a bit of a letdown in comparison but regardless of that its still quite an entertaining story that has got a reasonable amount going for it. However as this was the last UNIT story of the original series until "Battlefield" in the Sylvester McCoy era, it is disappointing that the UNIT days did not end on a higher note. Also what's more disappointing is the exclusion of Nicholas Courtney here from the story as Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart, one of the key stalwarts of the UNIT era but Courtney himself was unavailable to play the role.
The story however is fairly unique as one of the very few that Terry Nation wrote for the show that didn't feature the Daleks as the only other story that Nation did that didn't feature the Doctor's deadliest foes was "The Keys of Marinus" back in the Hartnell era. So for that alone the story does offer something up a little different, particularly from Nation with whom we associated the Daleks so much but he requested himself that he be able to write a non-dalek story.
PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)
As for the performances, well they are mostly pretty good here from both the regular cast and also the supporting cast.
Starting off with Tom Baker, who is great again as the fourth doctor and he has now grown very comfortably into the role. His second season however in the role saw Tom play the part with rather inconsistent changes in the Doctor's personality because in stories such as "Pyramids of Mars" and "The Seeds of Doom" the Doctor is pretty serious but here he remains quite light-hearted and jokey with everyone.
But regardless of how Tom approached the role, he is great here once again and he has some good scenes that include the one where the Doctor (SPOILER!!) realises he is talking to an android version of Sarah. And the Doctor says to Sarah "This isn't Earth. This isn't real wood. It's some kind of
artificial material like plastic. These are not real trees. And you're not the
real Sarah". And on this revelation, the android Sarah takes out a pistol and says "Step back, Doctor" and the Doctor says "
I knew at once. You see, the real Sarah wasn't wearing
her scarf" and he produces Sarah's scarf and then he sharply swats his hat against the android Sarah's hand, knocking the gun out of it". The Doctor then grabs the fake Sarah and asks "What have you done with Sarah? Where is the real Sarah?!". And the fake Sarah tries to run off but she falls and her face masks comes off revealing her android circuitry and two robot eyeballs.
Then there is the scene where the Doctor is strapped down in Styggron's disorientation centre being subjected to an intense mind analysis machine, which Styggron has left on until it will kill the Doctor but Sarah arrives to rescue him and turns off the machine. And the Doctor afterwards in a daze says to 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 then says "I'm Sarah!" and the Doctor says "What?" and Sarah says "Sarah!" and the Doctor comes round a bit and says "I feel disorientated!" and Sarah says "This is is the disorientation centre" and the Doctor says "That makes sense!".
And lastly there is the scene when the Doctor makes it back to Earth and to the real space centre where he is soon confronted by the android version of himself. And the android Doctor says to the real Doc "We didn't want any shooting until our takeover was complete" and the real Doctor says "Hello, Doctor, we've been waiting for you!" and the android Doctor says "Stand back, Doctor!" and the real Doctor then says "You know, the
resemblance is astonishing. For a moment, I thought I was seeing double" and he slams the door and the crashes out the window!
Elisabeth Sladen also does very well in the story as Sarah-Jane Smith, one of the show's most popular companions (and with her longer hair she looks pretty nice in this story!) and she is given plenty to do in the story given she plays dual roles as Sarah and her android replica.
And Liz's good scenes include the one in the first episode where Sarah encounters the android villagers in the local pub and she sees the soldier who died at the beginning of the story. And after Sarah is told to go by the soldier she says "Look, if there's some sort of trouble, perhaps I could
help. I see. Well, I intend to find out, anyway I'm sure you shouldn't be drinking so soon after
breaking your neck!" and she walks out.
Then there is the scene where the Doctor and Sarah stay out of sight in the space defence centre and they talk about Guy Crayford. And Sarah says to the Doctor "But that's impossible. Guy Crayford was killed. That was the first test of the XK-5 space freighter.
Crayford was out in space, deep space, and then they lost him. The ship just
vanished. They thought he'd hit an asteroid". Then we hear some soldiers footsteps pass by and then Sarah continues "Guy Crayford is dead, Doctor".
Another good scene is when the fake Sarah meets with the Doctor in an old shop in the village and the Doctor is somewhat suspicious of her but plays along. And Sarah tells the Doctor of her capture by Crayford's men "I climbed out of the tree and those soldiers were waiting
for me. I was knocked out. When I came round, I was in some kind of operating
theatre. Doctor, I was so frightened!". And the Doctor says "Yes, I'm sure you were. Here, have some ginger pop" and he takes out his bottle of ginger beer and Sarah takes it from him and takes a sip and she says "That was delicious" and the Doctor knows there and then its not the real Sarah as she said at the start of the story she "can't stand the stuff!".
WARNING: This last paragraph pertains to SPOILERS that conclude the story!!
And last of all I will combine two scenes in one paragraph, first off is the scene where Sarah finds the real Harry Sullivan all tied up along with the real Colonel Faraday (Patrick Newell). And Harry asks Sarah "What's going on?" and Sarah says "Its a long story. For a start, you've got a very nasty twin!" and Harry looks at her disbelievingly and says "Twin???!". And finally there is the penultimate scene of the story (SPOILER!!!!!) where the Doctor defeats Styggron with the help of his reprogrammed android double. And the Doctor says to Sarah "Don't waste any tears on him, Sarah, he's only an android" and Sarah surprised says "An android??" and the Doctor says "Yes, my replica. I reprogrammed it to confuse Styggron" and Sarah sighs with relief and says "Please, don't ever do anything like that again!".
As for the supporting cast Milton Johns does not too badly in his role as Guy Crayford, the astronaut who was presumed dead after a space flight but was in fact abducted by the Kraals and manipulated by Styggron.
And I will for time only really mention one scene from Johns, which has a laughable moment in it referring to Crayford's eye-patch, which he wears over his right eye for most of the story. And in the scene Sarah asks Crayford why he betrayed Earth and Crayford says to her "Well, didn't Earth betray me?! I was written off, wasn't
I?! Left to die in space! It was the Kraals who saved me. I mean, I was dying,
wasn't I? I was being torn apart by gyro failure. And they reconstructed me,
Miss Smith, in every detail. Except the one eye that for some reason couldn't
be found! Oh no, I owe them everything!".
Martin Friend on the other hand is the weak link in the cast here as his performance is a bit hammed up here as he uses his theatrical voice to decent effect but he is ultimately let down by a poorly written character in Styggron, the ruthless alien Kraal that intends to invade Earth via the use of his androids.
Martin still has one or two good moments however such as the scene where Styggron has the Doctor strapped in the disorientation centre as he prepares to torture him to death with his mind analysis machine. And Styggron says to the Doctor "In eight minutes, Doctor, the Analyser will have
completed its recording. Unfortunately, I shall not be here to turn it off.
Your brain tissue will expand under the stimulation until eventually, your
skull bursts. I imagine it will be a most disagreeable death!". And the Doctor struggles and says "We shall see!" and Styggron says "Defiant to the end, Doctor. But you will soon be
screaming for mercy and there will be no one here!" and he leaves.
WARNING: Again references here to the end of the story so SPOILER ALERT!!
And lastly there is the scene near the end where Styggron, having arrived on Earth, finds Sarah at the space centre and he says to her "The enterprising Earth girl! No! Don't move. The sensors
indicated an intruder. I hardly expected to find it was you. I know the Doctor managed to escape, but you
must indeed have a charmed life!". And then they are interrupted by an angry Crayford (who at this stage no longer wears his eyepatch) who says "Styggron, you have betrayed me!" and Styggron turns to him and says "Betrayed you? I used you, Crayford, as I use the
androids, but you are no longer of any value!".
As for the other cast members, Ian Marter makes his final appearance as Harry Sullivan and unfortunately he is somewhat underused in the story and appears mainly as his android version rather than the human version of Harry. Ian still does well with what little he is given here in the story but its a disappointment that he wasn't given more to work with. Ian later sadly died of a heart attack due to complications brought on by his condition of diebetes in 1986.
John Levine is also underused here in his final story as Sergeant Benton, the UNIT soldier, who is also captured and had a facsimilie made of himself by Styggron.
John's most notable scene ironically occurs when he plays the human Benton in the scene at the space centre when he makes a call to arrange a date. And he says on the phone "Yes, yes. Make it eight o'clock outside the Chinese
takeaway. And don't be late!" and he puts the phone down and one of the station employees, Grierson (Dave Carter) smiles and says "You've got her well trained!" and Benton says "Yes, well, to be honest with you, it's my kid sister! I'm
taking her to a dance at the Palais tonight".
Max Faulkner who was one of the main stuntmen for the show back in the 70s makes a rare acting role performance here as the UNIT soldier, Corporal Adams. And Faulkner actually starts off the story himself very well with a jarring scene of Adams android version going a bit beserk as it wanders through the countryside and then falls over a cliff to its death.
Peter Welch also does pretty well in his role as the android barkeeper, Morgan, who serves the Doctor at one point in the pub. And to mention one of his scenes, Welch has a good one where Morgan serves the Doctor, who asks him "Do you get much custom down here" and Morgan flatly replies "Nothing for them in Devesham. Nothing for strangers here". And the Doctor says "Yes, too quiet for them, I suppose" and Morgan says "Except for darts club night, of course". Yep that'll get them going there! ;-)
Roy Skelton also makes a rare physical performance in the show as one of the Kraals, Marshal Chedaki and he actually does pretty well with the part and he uses his voice to good effect, although if you close your eyes you can surely detect a flavour of Zippy from Rainbow in there!
And last of all Patrick Newell is one of the weaker cast members as he plays Colonel Faraday, the replacement character for the Brigadier and he is given a very stereotypical British military figure to play. However Newell does get a priceless line when the Doctor meets with Faraday near the end of the story and he tells Faraday of the androids and Faraday says "I'll not have my command infiltrated by aliens!". And the Doctor tells Faraday "They've made replicas of you and Harry, Colonel" and Faraday surprised says "Of me?" and the Doctor says "Yes" and Faraday says "Confounded cheek! How dare they!".
DIRECTOR AND MUSIC
As for the direction, Barry Letts takes the director helm this time and it would also be his final contribution to the show and for the most part he does a good job here although the pacing does lag in the middle of the story. Regardless of this though, Letts does do a pretty good job overall and he impressively opens the story with the image of the crazed soldier walking through the woods that helps grab the audience's attention straight away. Letts has directed better stories of course but this sure isn't one to be ashamed to go out on.
Music wise we get another fine score from the show's regular composer, Dudley Simpson, who provides another pleasant score that has a good mix of intrigue, suspense and fun and he was the show's regular composer for good reason given that he always churned out good quality stuff and this score is no exception.
FLAWS (Warning: this section may also contain spoilers!)
As for flaws....yes OK, The Android Invasion is not perfect.
And to kick off one of the problems for me is that the plot doesn't really make a whole lot of sense with the Kraals deciding to build an exact replica of the space defence station on their own planet, which seems a pretty complex and elaborate way to try and devise their plan. They obviously had the means to do it all in the first place but it seems just a bit daft and unnecessary for them to go to all that bother when they could probably work out their calculations, build their android army and then invade Earth without all the hassle of building a replica of the Devesham village!
Another problem is also to do with the Kraals themselves as they are pretty dull villains and remain one of the least most memorable in the show's history. And all the Kraals mostly do is batter back exposition with one another, which actually get's boring pretty quickly and its a pity that Nation didn't write a better alien menace than this one. And there is not much doubt that the scenes with Styggron and Chedaki really do drag the pace of the story down and the story after the strong first two episodes does hit a bad lull in the third episode before it picks up again in the fourth episode.
Then there is the issue with Crayford and his eye-patch and how he believed he lost one of his eyes yet all he needed to do is just remove the eye patch at any time and see if it was actually there or not!!! I mean for God's sake, surely the guy would have felt his eyeball moving around underneath the bloody patch! But I guess it was part of Styggron's brainwashing of Crayford that he had been conditioned to believe that he had lost the eye anyway. However it still doesn't get away from the fact that its pretty stupid that Crayford at no point would consider take off the eyepatch at any time even just a peek to see what was under there!
Then there is the laughable scene near the start of the story where Sarah takes a nasty fall down what is supposed to be a steep cliff edge, which she clings onto for dear life but its actual just a small slope with incline! And its moments like that make you laugh at just how daft the original series could be back then and how they tried to spin moments of suspense out of something that is blatantly silly.
And lastly there is the cliffhanger of episode three where the Doctor and Sarah sneak onboard Crayford's shuttle just before it prepares for take-off and the Doctor warns Sarah that they must find protection of some kind or else the G-Force of the blast off will crush them. But the two of them fail to secure themselves in one of the travel pods that the androids use with the Doctor collapsing before he could get in one and Sarah lying face up in one of the opened pods as she gasps for breath on take-off. Now in reality surely they would have been killed by the G-Force on take-off anyway just as the Doctor said but at the start of episode four, they are both fine! It really negates the purpose of the cliffhanger in the first place!
Anyway that's it for the flaws.
SUM UP
So to sum up, The Android Invasion is an enjoyable story from the Tom Baker era but its certainly not one of the strongest as it does have its problems with its somewhat weak plot, mediocre villains and the lacklustre use of Harry and Sergeant Benton let it down somewhat. However it still does have some entertaining moments and Tom Baker and Lis Sladen once again do shine together as they both play off each other nicely. It also features a good score by Dudley Simpson and Barry Letts provides a very decent and credible last contribution to the show as its director.
So while its not perfect and has its flaws, The Android Invasion is still worth a look and for me it was always a better story than the overrated "Planet of Evil" that featured in the same season, which I would place as the weakest story in the season and this one as the second. And if you are a fan of the Tom Baker era of the show its worth taking a second look at this one.
Right, so that's it for now and I will return again soon with another post of some sort.
Till then its bye fer now.
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