Review: Doctor Who Classic: The Invasion

1969. The Invasion is a powerful story, and it's also a long one - it's eight episodes and 200 minutes leave plenty of time for the slow-burning thriller to mature. While one would think that this length could bore viewers, Invasion manages to keep one's attention for all three and a half hours....
     Tobias Vaughn is the head of International Electromatics, which controls all of the world's electronic goods. He and his secret police control areas of housing and have sites all over the world. When The Doctor arrives, with Jamie and Zoe in tow, they seek out their old friend Proffessor Travers, to help them fix some of the TARDIS' circuits. Instead, his collague Professor Watkins has moved in in Travers' absense - but now even he has gone missing. As The Doctor and Jamie explore IE and their plot to control the world, they also meet UNIT, led by the Doctor's friend The Brigadier (who would later star in episodes with UNIT until the show's final series in 1989). By the half-way point in the story, it is revealed that Vaughn's allies are a very early form of the Cybermen.
     The most interesting thing in this episode is definitely Tobias Vaughn. Kevin Stoney does a wonderful job in creating Vaugn's silent megalomania, and his overall sense of authority from the word go. The tone of the story is also quite dark, despite there not being many particularly dark things in it.

     Like The Moonbase, two episodes of The Invasion are missing - Episodes 1 and 4. However, an extra slice of budget for animator group Cosgrove Hall (who had created non-canon Scream of the Shalka and later went on to broadcast the canon Infinity Quest) meant that they, using photographs and sound recordings, were able to recreate the lost episodes. And they fit rather well; in some places I think they work rather better than the filmed episodes, with much more of a dark tone and feel.
     So, to sum up, The Invasion is a triumph. Well written, well directed by Douglas Camfield, and it's a tense, slow-burning sci-fi thriller that is well-worth the time and money spent on it.

Thanks.