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Post by GC on Mar 1, 2022 5:18:58 GMT
Invasion of the Dinosaurs - Season 11 – Story 71
"The monsters are a side issue, Brigadier, a device to clear central London. No… some vast scheme is under way, I'm sure of it" - the Doctor
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Post by Cyggy on Mar 4, 2022 22:42:37 GMT
Please rate and discuss this story here.....
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Post by GC on Mar 4, 2022 23:15:01 GMT
Most of the dinosaur effects aren't great (though I thought a couple were passable - well, as my nan would say, a blind man would be glad to see it!) and Sarah in the 'spaceship' stuff sort of drags on a bit, but other than that a fairly good story and another I have a big soft spot for.
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Post by GC on Mar 4, 2022 23:28:40 GMT
Some Radio Times listings and stuff for the story can be found here.
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Post by Servo on Mar 5, 2022 8:22:08 GMT
I have mixed feelings about this one.
I saw the first episode on transmission in the UK (and only the fourth episode of Doctor Who I ever saw in colour, after the last three episodes of The Time Warrior).
I then waited over 10 years to see the rest of the story. By that stage I’d become familiar with the story through the Target book (and it’s legendary cover).
Sadly the rest of the story didn’t leave up to what I’d pictured in my mind from the book.
The Dinosaurs are awful (bordering on Land of the Lost awful), the Whomobile is just plain stupid (what was wrong with Bessie?) and there’s way too much running around.
One positive aspect is seeing Sarah being a journalist, but those Starliner celebrities are as just plain thick.
Overall a disappointment.
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Post by Cyggy on Mar 5, 2022 20:34:07 GMT
I completely missed this on broadcast somehow, but loved the novelisation.
Eventually saw it on VHS and liked the sub-plot of Sarah on the spaceship - although I guess it is really David Whittaker just recycling his group of humans being duped underground plot from "Enemy of the World".
The Mike Yates reveal was a nice plot twist too.
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Post by GC on Mar 5, 2022 23:07:14 GMT
How cool would this have been:
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Post by rapscallion on Mar 11, 2022 21:43:15 GMT
Loving these bits of artwork you've found! 😎
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Post by rapscallion on Mar 11, 2022 22:04:27 GMT
Invasion Of The Dinosaurs is among my favourite Pertwee stories, and it's probably my favourite of Season 11, I'd say.
Love the first episode with the deserted London, and I've got zero problem with watching it in black and white. I think it suits the mood.
I think it trots along quite nicely, but yep, maybe it could benefit with losing an episode. I think 5 would have been a decent length for this because it does have several plot strands to it. Pity really, cos if they'd shaved an episode off of this back at the drawing board, 2 off of Monster Of Peladon and 1 off of Planet Of The Spiders we could've had another 4 parter and frankly, a tighter season.
And the dinosaurs aren't great. But I manage to forgive it for that and enjoy the story for what it is - a great script. Love the Captain Yates twist, and Peter Miles and Martin Jarvis are great. Which reminds me, Martin Jarvis's audiobook reading is one of the classics of the range!
Would I want to see the dinosaurs CGI'd for a Season 11 boxset release? I'm going to say yes, without a doubt. If it's possible, and done well, it could be the making of this story instead of it being derided for its weakest aspect.
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Post by GC on Mar 14, 2022 19:30:27 GMT
Love this!
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Post by johnnybear on Mar 30, 2022 16:58:13 GMT
I remember missing most of the first episode as we were at a friend's house and my friend's Father wanted something else on instead despite our pleading! Got to see the final moments and being underwhelmed at the sight of the dinky Dinosaur crashing through the wall which was ridiculous! How could that happen bricks are still hard enough to break skin and bone no matter how big you are! JB
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Post by johnnybear on Mar 30, 2022 16:59:28 GMT
Oh yes and Primeval ripped off this story and went five long years with it! JB
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Post by GC on Apr 30, 2022 22:49:03 GMT
Doctor Who: Invasion - 'Ready for the Detention Centre?' - Colourised
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Post by Cyggy on Jul 11, 2022 10:06:30 GMT
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Post by Future-Diver on Feb 21, 2023 18:02:07 GMT
"Don't you think that people have a right to choose what kind of life they want?"
The poorly re-coloured quality of the first episode makes it look more grim and downbeat than usual, and the bits with the Doctor and Sarah wandering through a silent, deserted London resemble a gloomy '70s crime drama or a low-budget horror film. Following the scene where the looter is attacked in his car (we only see the aftermath - a broken, bleeding body hanging out of the wrecked vehicle) Sarah's reaction to the grisly spectacle is to look away in horror, but the way it's filmed reminds me of something you might see in a '70s Public Information Film about, say, careless driving.
Later on, the pterodactyl attack in the warehouse is quite thrilling- it has a kind of Video Nasty look to it and I remember loving this scene as a nipper (sadly, no 'KKLAK!'). I really like Sarah in Season 11 (bob hair cut and all) - she may not be as cute as Jo Grant, but she's certainly more believable and less girly. Nice to see John Bennet here as General Finch (a few years earlier, Bennet had appeared alongside Pertwee in the 'The House That Dripped Blood'). The whole episode maintains a great sense of mystery and foreboding and feels like the show is growing up - until the rubber T Rex turns up, that is. The secret plan to turn back time and return the Earth to a golden age, before human folk messed it up is an interesting one and Captain Yates' betrayal is really quite shocking, but I'm glad they continued his story in The Planet of The Spiders. So yes, I'm really quite fond of 'Invasion Of The Dinosaurs'.
8/10
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