Visit the official Doctor Who website

Visit the official Doctor Who website
Look to the future

Asylum seekers...

Asylum seekers...
Refuge of the Daleks

Doctor Who picture resource

Doctor Who picture resource
Roam the space lanes!

Explore the Doctor Who classic series website

Explore the Doctor Who classic series website
Step back in time

Infiltrate The Hub of Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood

Infiltrate The Hub of Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood
Armed and extremely dangerous

Investigate The Sarah Jane Adventures

Investigate The Sarah Jane Adventures
Fearless in the face of adversity

Call on Dani’s House

Call on Dani’s House
Harmer’s a charmer

Intercept the UFO fabsite

Intercept the UFO fabsite
Defending the Earth against alien invaders!

Uncover the secrets of the Dollhouse

Uncover the secrets of the Dollhouse
Programmable agent Echo exposed!

Hell’s belles

Hell’s belles
Naughty but nice

Love Exposure

Love Exposure
Flash photography!

Primeval portal

Primeval portal
Dressed to kill or damsels in distress?

Charmed, to be sure!

Charmed, to be sure!
The witches of San Francisco

Take on t.A.T.u.

Take on t.A.T.u.
All the way from Moscow

Proceed to the Luther website

Proceed to the Luther website
John and Jenny discuss their next move

DCI Banks is on the case

DCI Banks is on the case
You can bet on it!

On The Grid with Spooks

On The Grid with Spooks
Secret agents of Section D

Bridge to Hustle

Bridge to Hustle
Shady characters

Life on Ashes To Ashes

Life on Ashes To Ashes
Coppers with a chequered past

Claire’s no Exile

Claire’s no Exile
Goose steps

Vexed is back on the beat!

Vexed is back on the beat!
Mismatched DI Armstrong and bright fast-tracker Georgina Dixon

Medium, both super and natural

Medium, both super and natural
Open the door to your dreams

Who’s that girl? (350-picture Slideshow)

Thursday 17 April 2008

Warden’s Watch: The Invasion (or… Lifting the Lid on the Cybermen!)


With the news that a pair of Cybermen have been photographed stomping round a cemetery in Newport, filming for this year’s “Doctor Who” Christmas Special, it seemed an appropriate moment to look at the story I consider to be their finest hour! That “The Invasion” is also Wendy Padbury’s best “Doctor Who” serial is a happy coincidence, as well as the fact that this eight-part epic just happens to be my second favourite “Doctor Who” story. When I was consciously choosing an order of preference, perhaps some twenty odd years ago now, it was a toss up between this Cyber-adventure and the previously discussed, ecologically minded, “Fury from the Deep” as to which should claim pole position in my affections, and the tale of the demented seaweed won out in the final analysis! Incidentally, it’s about time the producers of the new version of “Doctor Who” resorted to using one of the programme’s giants as villains in their seasonal offering. The creative choices taken, thus far, to fill the Christmas episodes have been quite odd, to say the least. The Doctor hardly appeared in the first, we were treated to a screaming bride in the second and the third relied on the notoriety of an unsinkable ship that sank! Personally speaking, I’ve always wanted to spend my Christmas with a Dalek!! I know… there’s no accounting for taste! Anyway, onto the main thrust of what I hope will be a very buoyant discourse…

“The Invasion” was directed by Douglas Camfield, the most-assured figure to work in this capacity on “Doctor Who” at any time in the programme’s history, and therein lies the strength of this serial. The Cybermen look very good on screen, due partly to the superb new costumes designed for them by Bobi Bartlett but perhaps more particularly to Douglas Camfield’s excellent direction. The helmets, for example, were now a lot bulkier in appearance with the addition of what can perhaps best be described as “tyres”, preventing the notorious handlebars from attaching directly to each side of each creature’s face. The teardrop effect, on the underside of each eye, was retained in the revamp but dropped from the lower lip, which became wider and narrower. It hadn’t been long since the monsters, originally from Mondas with Telos as their adopted home planet, were last dispatched by the present TARDIS incumbents, with only two five-part serials separating the earlier “The Wheel in Space” from the creature’s surprise reappearance halfway through this escapade. The first repeat of a complete adventure in the programme’s history, “The Evil of the Daleks”, undoubtedly helped put some distance between the two Cyber-serials. One of the really good things about “The Invasion” is the Cybermen’s seeming indestructibility. Attacking them with all manner of military hardware does nothing to stop their inevitable nihilistic onslaught…

Like the second William Hartnell Dalek serial, “The Dalek Invasion of Earth”, “The Invasion” benefits enormously from the use of location filming around familiar London landmarks. Whereas, in the earlier story, we were treated to Daleks patrolling the likes of Westminster and Trafalgar Square, in this Cybermen outing the aliens appear through street manholes from out of the sewers, at the end of the sixth episode, to march triumphantly down the steps behind St. Paul’s Cathedral. It is, indeed, an imposing sight. Also something of an arresting display, and without skirting around the issue, Wendy Padbury’s and Sally Faulkner’s knickers are frequently revealed! Douglas would insist on filming things using low camera angles!! The director had the reputation for organising his shoots with military precision!!! He’s also responsible for my favourite episode of “The Sweeney”, “Thou Shalt Not Kill”, which prominently featured another lovely of the day, Harriet Philpin, better known to “Doctor Who” fans as Bettan in the second half of “Genesis of the Daleks”. As for the Cybermen themselves, and despite not having much dialogue in “The Invasion”, they would never again be this good. After their fifth and final black and white story, writers seemed to forget that the creatures are supposed to be emotionless, when terms like “Revenge” and “Excellent” started creeping into future scripts! They seem harder to write for than Daleks, with only “The Tomb of the Cybermen” being truly comparable in quality to the pièce de résistance that is “The Invasion”.

5 comments:

Steve said...

I agree - the whole idea of Cyberman only works if their dialogue and interactions are minimalist in nature. I don't think I ever say the Cybermen in the earlier versions of DW (I only ever saw a few Tom Baker episodes) but I always knew who they were thanks to a freebie from Weetabix - little stand up cards with various characters from the show on them.

TimeWarden said...

I hope you held onto the figures, Steve, as they're probably worth a few bob! I sold a few bits and pieces back in the '80s, in a specialist shop in London, and they fetched £50 then, so they'd no doubt be worth even more today!!

Steve said...

Alas, I didn't particularly look after them and they went the way of the dodo sometime in the early eighties... bang goes another opportunity to appear on Cash In The Attic!

Old Cheeser said...

Nice review Tim. I don't think I mentioned it before but I purchased the DVD of "The Invasion" a short while ago at a bargain price! My first Patrick Troughton story on DVD...I've watched all of it now and really enjoyed it. An obvious thing to say is, on watching it, realising just how much the production standards of Dr Who have changed since then!

For me there are a lot of positive elements in the story. First off, Kevin Stoney's portrayal of Tobias Vaughan - an excellent villain, even if he does "turn" a bit too quickly toward the end. He's cold, calculating and has some good dialogue.

Nicholas Courtney is great as the Brigadier and its interesting to see UNIT in its early days.

I actually really liked the character of Sergeant "Jimmy" Walters (played by James Thornhill - good looking fella too!) and it's a shame he wasn't retained for future UNIT outings. Instead they kept on John Levine's Benton. No bad thing but I thought Walters had potential.

Pat Troughton is on form too - such a pity many of his stories don't exist in the archives in complete form any more.

And of course there's the Cybermen - I agree with you Tim, this is definitely one of their best stories. ("Revenge of the Cybermen" for instance, which I think is the story that Steve is referring to, was pretty dire). The Cybermen's redesign in this story is excellent - I love their faces/helmets and suits (I never really cared for the "cloth kit" versions in their debut story) and the scenes in which they emerge from the sewers, walk down the steps of St Pauls etc are of course iconic. The only thing I didn't care of much was the Cybermen's voices - rather incomprehensible and so wise to keep their dialogue to a minimum.

All in all though, classic Who!

Oh and I hope the forthcoming Cyber-Xmas Special does them justice. Is erm, RTD writing again??!

TimeWarden said...

Yeah, there are lots of things I should've kept from childhood, Steve. I had a black and gold Dalek badge from Woollies which may not be worth much but I wish I still had it! I'm sure there must be Lego collectables, too, but the important thing is to retain the packaging otherwise the object's value decreases.

Thank you for the compliment, Simon, and your much-appreciated detailed response. I'm glad you enjoyed "The Invasion" and, if you're looking for another Pat Troughton story, I'd recommend "The Tomb of the Cybermen".

Kevin Stoney is, indeed, very good in both "The Invasion" and "The Daleks' Master Plan" which was also directed by Douglas Camfield. Douglas seemed to get all the epic stories to direct back in the '60s, and rightly so! Sadly, Kevin passed away earlier in the year although he was once amused that The Times published his obituary whilst he was still in the land of the living!!

Funnily enough, I watched John Levene earlier in the week, as an Interceptor Pilot, in a rerun episode of "UFO" on ITV4!

Agreed on the missing episodes. I would give a helluva lot to see "Fury from the Deep" again, not to mention "The Power of the Daleks" and "The Evil of the Daleks". Then there's "The Web of Fear", again directed by Douglas Camfield!

Regarding the Cybermen of "The Invasion", I loved their indestructibility. You shot one, it made no difference and just kept on coming! By the time of "Attack of the Cybermen", a small firearm is enough to dispose of the enemy!!

Not sure who's written this year's Xmas Special, yet, but I can tell you they're filming night scenes for it at Gloucester Cathedral this week... It's front page news in the local rag! It's where some of the school scenes were filmed in the "Harry Potter" movies and just three miles from where I live, so I'll be able to pop down and tell Catherine Tate just how much of a fan I am!! Seriously though, I hope it's good too. I'll certainly be pleased to see the Cybermen back on television, after two seasons' absence, considering how often the Daleks have been wheeled out!