Doctor Who (TV Series) The Invasion: Episode Four (1968) User Reviews

The other missing part

[MaxBorg89 · 7/10 · 27 December 2007]

When two episodes of The Invasion were lost (as was the case of dozens of stories from the original Doctor Who series) Cosgrove Hall came up with the idea to merge the existing audio (courtesy of fans who had kept recordings of the soundtrack) with brand new animation for the DVD release. Part 1 was watchable, although the old-fashioned technique occasionally slowed things down. Episode 4, the second missing chapter of The Invasion, suffers from the same problem, but remains a piece of enjoyable, if a bit dated, cult television.

Having managed to elude Vaughn's thugs, the Doctor and Jamie overhear a conversation regarding the whereabouts of Zoe and Isobel, and decide to rescue them with the help of UNIT. Meanwhile, Vaughn is desperate to capture the Doctor and know more about him, especially as whatever sinister plan the businessman was working on is about to be set in motion. Apparently, there might be a connection between the often mentioned invasion and a series of recent UFO sightings. Then again, with our favorite Time Lord around, it couldn't be a normal threat, could it?

The plot starts to become more interesting, as the mystery gets closer to a solution and the pace is raised a notch or two. Also better is the animation which, despite a few stiff bits, looks a bit slicker than it did in Ep. 1. One scene in particular benefits from the new format: a helicopter rescue sequence that wouldn't be half as good to look at had it been live-action, considering the budget for the show wasn't that conspicuous in 1968. That section is the real highlight of this chapter, alongside the mandatory cliffhanger ending that suggests The Invasion might finally be getting somewhere.

Some big moments in this episode.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 17 October 2019]

Fortunately the Brigadier had given The Doctor the communication device, it comes in very handy.

As with the first episode, this one is sadly missing, a real shame as this is one of the best episodes of Invasion, it has some key moments, a helicopter escape and of course the big reveal.

It's telling that we are exactly half way through, and only now we've had the big reveal. Up until this point the story has been baffling and intriguing enough to not need the big alien threat. The story changes beyond this point.

If only this one would be found one day, I would love to see how the helicopter rescue scene was realised, it's a big moment, tough to have produced I would have thought.

Very, very good. 9/10

Classic Episode But Was Missing.

[drcnst · 9/10 · 28 October 2022]

This episode did has something at the end, i have first seen it on a rental DVD.

Sadly it was missing from the archive, but it has very good plot! The Final Scene is what everyone is talking about ever since it's first broadcast! This is where the Brigadier gives The Doctor A Communication Device, which i find very great!

It is still the best episode i have ever seen, If it was found it could have been better than expected. It's still telling it like the way i has been, Like a helicopter rescue, Computers And something Lurking at the end

Very good episode from 1968!

I Would give This Episode: 9/10 Very Very Good.

Invasion of an old enemy in a story of the very highest standard .

[A_Kind_Of_CineMagic · 10/10 · 18 September 2014]

Review for all 8 episodes:

This is a truly classic story of the Cybermen invading Earth with the help of megalomaniac businessman Tobias Vaughn played brilliantly by Kevin Stoney. The villainous Vaughn is a superb character, performed to perfection and is actually the main adversary for The Doctor with the Cybermen very much in the background. This is not a bad thing as the Cybermen when they do appear have more impact and do their job as a 'monster' perfectly (especially in iconic scenes rising from the sewers to be seen starting to position themselves at locations such as St. Paul's Cathedral). Menacing, exciting and entertaining. Meanwhile Vaughn does his job perfectly, intellectually and verbally jousting with The Doctor better than any Cyberman really could.

To keep such quality up over 8 episodes is very impressive and it does so with cleverness and style. This is an all time classic, one of the greatest. It is a wonderful blend of great acting by regular cast and guest cast, characterisation, dialogue and direction (by Douglas Camfield). It has a good helping of action, tension, an intelligent script and is top notch storytelling from writers Sherwin and Pedler. Great stuff! All 8 episodes 10/10.

Zoe's back & we finally get to see a Cyberman despite the fact that this no longer exists, yay!

[poolandrews · 6/10 · 16 August 2007]

Doctor Who: The Invasion: Part 4 starts as the Doctor (Patrick Troughton) & Jamie (Frazer Hines) overhear Packer (Peter Halliday) telling his men where to take the captured Zoe (Wendy Padbury) & Isobel (Sally Faulkner) & decide to rescue them. Tobias Vaughn is desperate to find the Doctor & interrogate him but with the help of UNIT & Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart (Nicholas Courtney) both the Doctor & Jamie along with the now rescued Zoe & Isobel mange to escape to safety, the Doctor is worried that Vaughn is up to something & a recent spate of UFO sightings might be connected. The Doctor & Jamie head back to International Electromatics London headquarters & making a terrifying discovery...

Episode 14 from season 6 this Doctor Who adventure originally aired here in the UK during November 1968 & is sadly lost from the BBC archives along with Episode 1 from this story so on the British 2 disc special edition DVD of The Invasion both of the missing episodes are recreated using stylish animation & the original soundtrack recorded off-air by fans at the time it was broadcast back in '68! When you think about it it's amazing that firstly those tape recordings survived & secondly the fact someone decided to put a microphone to a TV speaker & record the soundtrack in the first place! Anyway, the script for this was by Derrick Sherwin based on a story by Kit Pedler & at last we have some Cyberman action although before you get excited one is seen at the very end for about 10 seconds as the cliffhanger ending. After being completely absent from Episode 3 the cute (even when animated) Zoe is back & the story hopefully has finally started to pick the pace up a bit. In fact during the DVD commentary to Episode 4 Frazer Hines specifically mentions that there hasn't been any Cybermen in the story so far which is very noticeable it has to be said. Things are starting to get interesting as the seeds are set for Vaughn to double cross the Cybermen, the Doctor discovers the truth & it seems 'the invasion' is only 24 hours away...

As with Episode 1 the monochrome animation here is superb & I think it's looks better than the live action episodes that surround them & I don't care who that upsets. There's a daring helicopter rescue in Episode 4 which looks pretty good here but I can't imagine how it would have been filmed or what it would have ended up looking like on the tiny BBC budget the show had, I suppose we'll never know since the footage no longer exists. It's a shame that neither of the animated episodes feature any Cybermen apart from the 10 second cliffhanger ending to this episode as I think they would have been brilliant & the test animation featured on the DVD as an extra is a short scene of the Cybermen outside St. Paul's cathedral in the rain which looks so stylish & simply stunning. After Zoe revealed her knickers in Episode 2 the animators decided to even things up a bit here & show Isobel's knickers as she climbs the rope ladder to the helicopter & her short skirt gets blown in the wind...

The Invasion: Episode 4 is the last missing part to The Invasion & the animation is simply fantastic but the story has dragged so far & one 10 second scene of a Cyberman does a good Doctor Who story not make...