DISCOVER--the twenty-four best episodes of The Invaders
Overshadowed by the Star Trek phenomenon, and overpowered by sheer force of numbers from the Irwin Allen studios, Quinn Martin's The Invaders, an aberration from a prolific cop show factory with the emphasis on real people with real lives rather than planetary exploration by heroic scientists, is frequently overlooked or forgotten.
The bastard offspring of the classic sci-fi feature films of the 1950s (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Invaders from Mars, This Island Earth, and I Married a Monster From Outer Space were all influential) and the magnificent The Outer Limits, this stylish exercise in rampant fear and paranoia is based on one wonderful, magnificent conceit--what if one of those flying saucer nuts was actually telling the truth?? He DID see a UFO, and the aliens ARE out to get him.
This is the dilemma of David Vincent, portrayed with weary desperation and resolve by Roy Thinnes, who must both run from the cold, ruthless, emotion-free invaders, and convince a naturally doubtful world that they are infiltrating us in human form... difficult when they place secrecy and anonymity above everything, and dissolve into nothing when they destruct.
There are 24 of the 43 episodes of the series here to get you started in the best possible way. Contrary to the DVD image provided, the vast majority are from the first season; sadly, the series did lose its drive and direction as it went on, due to the limitations of the format. A huge mistake was the introduction of a support group for Vincent called the Believers; another was the Quinn Martin studio's policy of re-using recurring guest players but casting them in different roles far too soon, and frequently. Also, Dominic Frontier's superb distinctive and menacing music was used less in the second season, to the series' clear detriment. However, most of the first season and a handful of the second are magnificent.
The bastard offspring of the classic sci-fi feature films of the 1950s (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Invaders from Mars, This Island Earth, and I Married a Monster From Outer Space were all influential) and the magnificent The Outer Limits, this stylish exercise in rampant fear and paranoia is based on one wonderful, magnificent conceit--what if one of those flying saucer nuts was actually telling the truth?? He DID see a UFO, and the aliens ARE out to get him.
This is the dilemma of David Vincent, portrayed with weary desperation and resolve by Roy Thinnes, who must both run from the cold, ruthless, emotion-free invaders, and convince a naturally doubtful world that they are infiltrating us in human form... difficult when they place secrecy and anonymity above everything, and dissolve into nothing when they destruct.
There are 24 of the 43 episodes of the series here to get you started in the best possible way. Contrary to the DVD image provided, the vast majority are from the first season; sadly, the series did lose its drive and direction as it went on, due to the limitations of the format. A huge mistake was the introduction of a support group for Vincent called the Believers; another was the Quinn Martin studio's policy of re-using recurring guest players but casting them in different roles far too soon, and frequently. Also, Dominic Frontier's superb distinctive and menacing music was used less in the second season, to the series' clear detriment. However, most of the first season and a handful of the second are magnificent.
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- DirectorJoseph SargentStarsRoy ThinnesDiane BakerJ.D. CannonAn architect's close encounter with a spaceship leads him to investigate a small town's hydroelectric plant.
with Diane Baker, James Daly, J.D. Cannon, Meg Wylie - DirectorJoseph SargentStarsRoy ThinnesRoddy McDowallLaurence NaismithDavid Vincent meets with an eminent astrophysicist who has proof that aliens are invading the planet.with Roddy McDowall, Laurence Naismith, Harold Gould, Dabbs Greer
- DirectorPaul WendkosStarsRoy ThinnesEdward AndrewsLin McCarthyIn a border town, David Vincent meets a stripper who claims to have seen something strange in the desert.with Suzanne Pleshette, Edward Andrews
- DirectorPaul WendkosStarsRoy ThinnesPeter Mark RichmanDiana Van der VlisDavid Vincent meets with the president of an electronics company, a man who believes aliens have kidnapped various heads of their fields and are planning to kidnap him as well.with Arthur Hill, Peter Mark Richman, Diana Van der Vlis
- DirectorRichard BenedictStarsRoy ThinnesJohn LarchCarol Eve RossenDavid Vincent discovers the aliens have taken over a sea lab for sinister purposes.with Frank Overton, John Larch, William Sargent
- DirectorPaul WendkosStarsRoy ThinnesJack LordAlfred RyderDavid Vincent, using an assumed name, gets a job as a chauffeur in order to infiltrate a manufacturing plant and find proof of alien activity.with Jack Lord, Alfred Ryder, Diana Hyland
- DirectorPaul WendkosStarsRoy ThinnesKathleen WiddoesRobert EmhardtDavid Vincent visits a small Kansas town that is resentful of strangers and uncovers an alien plot to control locusts and other insects.with Katherine Widdoes, James T. Callahan, Robert Emhardt, Jeanette Nolan
- DirectorPaul WendkosStarsRoy ThinnesWilliam WindomAndrew DugganThe aliens plan to explode an anti-matter bomb in Utah during a nuclear test.with Andrew Duggan, William Windom, Wesley Addy
- DirectorSutton RoleyStarsRoy ThinnesWilliam SmithersPatricia SmithThe aliens take David Vincent up into their spaceship and then attempt to prove they have nothing but peaceful intentions by showing him what they've done to a desert valley. But all is not what it seems.with Michael Rennie, William Smithers, Patricia Smith, Katherine Justice, Paul Carr
- DirectorJoseph SargentStarsRoy ThinnesJack WardenSusan OliverA school in New Mexico is really a front for an alien indoctrination center. The head of the school offers a pilot a lot of money to smuggle in its otherworldly students.with Jack Warden, Susan Oliver, David Sheiner, Murray Matheson
- DirectorPaul WendkosStarsRoy ThinnesJoseph CampanellaBarBara LunaA mysterious hurricane strikes, sparing only a small Florida town. That draws David's attention, and he soon discovers a nest of aliens there, determined to use the weather against humanity. Their boat creates and controls the storm, but what controls the boat? David must find that control center before the aliens use their storm to wreck the entire eastern seaboard. He's hampered by an injury, and a clever alien who turns his benefactor Father Corelli against him.with Joseph Campanella, Barbara Luna
- DirectorRobert ButlerStarsRoy ThinnesRobert Walker Jr.Lynn LoringNick Baxter's an invader, and his touch proves lethal: he's developed an illness which promises a slow death for him, but a very rapid death by freezing for any organism he touches. David tracks him down, but others of his kind are also interested in finding him. Baxter wants to reach a ship so he can get medical help, but he's convinced those hunting him want him dead. David's success may depend on convincing someone who's turned his back on humanity, to find in himself the desire to help others.with Robert Walker Jnr., Lynn Loring, R.G. Armstrong
- DirectorPaul WendkosStarsRoy ThinnesPeter GravesJoanne LinvilleDavid is drawn into the space program by a series of coincidences that convince him of alien involvement. But why do the aliens want to put one of their own on a manned mission? Surely they can get to space whenever they need to. The answer may lie in the meaning of some photographs taken by an unmanned probe. Photographs that reveal some disturbingly regular objects on the moon's surface.with Peter Graves, Joanne Linville, John Ericson, Strother Martin
- DirectorJoseph SargentStarsRoy ThinnesLinden ChilesJulie SommarsNewly married Bill and his new bride lose control of the car. They run a truck off the road, and its driver staggers from the vehicle, falls, glows red and vanishes! Then the young couple suffocates. It's all part of a scheme run by the alien Taugus, and it draws in David's brother Bob, Bob's wife Grace, and crusading newsman Theodore Booth. David's finally managed to convince his brother and someone able to get the word out that he may be telling the truth about the aliens - but is it just in time to see the entire human population choking for air on their own planet?with Burgess Meredith, Ed Asner, Linden Chiles, Julie Sommars
- DirectorRichard BenedictStarsRoy ThinnesRalph BellamyMarlyn MasonPressed for cash, Morgan Tate leased a large portion of his plant to Lewis Dunn a year earlier. Now, Tate has discovered that Dunn is not what he appears to be, and that the plant is now a front for a communications center. Tate has managed to seize and hide a file named "Command Roster One" and the aliens are desperate to recover it. They bring in Tate's estranged daughter Carol to pressure the man, but with David Vincent's help, Tate may manage to save his daughter and recover the hidden file. If he can, it would be a terrible setback for the invaders.with Ralph Bellamy, Marlyn Mason, Murray Hamilton, Larry Ward
- DirectorDon MedfordStarsRoy ThinnesAntoinette BowerJason EversMajor Dan Keller works as a computer programmer for NORAD. The aliens need a window to bring in a great many saucers, so they can establish a base. They place one of their own as Dan Keller's new wife Laurie. She hypnotises Dan into replacing a crucial programming tape with one the aliens have prepared - one which will instruct NORAD's systems to ignore certain images.with Antoinette Bower, Jason Evers
- DirectorJesse HibbsStarsRoy ThinnesAnne FrancisCharles DrakeJohn Carter has summoned the local sheriff to a site where he claims saucers have landed, not once but several times. Each time, the saucers are gone when the sheriff finally arrives. Now David Vincent has come, lured by Carter's claim that he can predict the time of the next landing. When Carter's prediction proves true, he and David Vincent manage to commandeer the saucer - at last, proof of the invasion! But one alien escapes to warn his people. And further complications arise from a couple fleeing the country, whose plane the saucer inadvertently downed.with Anne Francis, Charles Drake
- DirectorJesse HibbsStarsRoy ThinnesNan MartinHarry TownesA series of mischances leads an alien to kill a human doctor, and get arrested in the small town of Carterville, Wyoming. His alien friends bungle his rescue, and the entire town sees him go up in red flames! Now, the entire town understands that aliens have come to Earth. And the aliens are desperate to keep that knowledge from spreading - so desperate that when David Vincent finds out what they plan to do, he desperately tries to strike a deal with them to stop it. If he fails, the town of Carterville may find itself under water - a lot of water.with Nan Martin, Harry Townes, Ron Hayes, Joe Maross
- DirectorRobert ButlerStarsRoy ThinnesBarbara BarrieRichard AndersonAn alien saucer crashes in the Utah foothills. Reports of its fiery demise draw David Vincent, even after flyovers by Air Force jets failed to locate the site of the mysterious fireball. Vincent soon discovers Gale Frazer, who has helped the craft's only survivor, Blake. Frazer, sick of war after serving in Vietnam, believes Blake's people are peaceful. David must gain her trust and convince her that Blake's mission is not peaceful. That is complicated by the arrival of Sawyer and Lavin, who have come to collect the box Blake's craft brought to Earth.with Barbara Barrie, Richard Anderson, Paul Mantee
- DirectorRobert ButlerStarsRoy ThinnesDon GordonRussell JohnsonDavid's friend Charlie Gilman stands accused of murdering Fred Wilk, and district attorney Slater's determined to convict. But David knows Wilk's was an invader - and if necessary, he'll use that to help his defence. David sets a man to research Slater's background, and the man turns up evidence that part of the background was faked - and Slater's an invader as well.with Don Gordon, Russell Johnson, Harold Gould, Lynda Day George
- DirectorWilliam HaleStarsRoy ThinnesGene HackmanMark MillerTom Jessup's an invader, who's transporting a briefcase containing something vital: spores. These organisms will grow into aliens able to withstand Earth's atmosphere. As Jessup desperately tries to find the briefcase, the spores inside of it continue to develop.with Gene Hackman, John Randolph, Wayne Rogers
- DirectorGeorge McCowanStarsRoy ThinnesAndrew PrineDawn WellsDavid sneaks aboard a saucer, and is knocked unconscious by the force of takeoff. When he awakens, he finds he's not alone; there's a professor and several students, and they're heading towards the invaders medical base. Vincent steals an important piece of machinery, and goes on the run....With Andrew Prine, Dawn Wells, Tim McIntire, William Sargent, Whit Bissell
- DirectorRobert DouglasStarsRoy ThinnesPat HingleZina BethuneBrother Avery has seen the light of a heavenly host. They are coming, and they will bring peace. At the end of each of his services, the red glow that surrounds him reveals the divinity that inspires him! But David Vincent knows that this glow actually signifies that Avery is an alien who needs to regenerate. David's trouble is figuring out how to prove it when Avery is surrounded at all times by fanatics - not all of whom are human. The key may lie in Now magazine writer Bill Shay, if David can trust him with the truth.with Pat Hingle, Zina Bethune, Roger Perry
- DirectorRobert DayStarsRoy ThinnesBarbara HersheyEdward AsnerNear a Catholic shrine in New Mexico, a teenage girl sees an alien die and disintegrate after he's bitten by a snake. Before he dies, he hands her a crystal, which she assumes both the alien and the crystal are signs from her god. Knowing the crystal's actually a part of an alien apparatus, David tries to buy it from her, but she's unwilling, and her father wants more money. David tries to explain that the aliens will kill to get it back.with Barbara Hershey, Ed Asner
Jon is not on Facebook, but can reply to comments here, at the base of this list.
"Thanks Jeff. I think my three favourites are Genesis, Nightmare, and The Innocent (this week!). Wonderful, wonderful series"
"Yes, also Laurence Naismith and Roddy McDowell in "the Experiment" and Jack Lord in "Vikor"!
Obsessed with the popular culture of the 1960s and surrounding decades, Jon Abbott has been writing about film and TV for over thirty years in around two dozen different publications, trade, populist, and specialist. He is the author of several books, including
Irwin Allen Television Productions 1964-1970,
Stephen J. Cannell Television Productions: A History of All Series and Pilots,
The Elvis Films,
Cool TV of the 1960s: Three Shows That Changed the World,
and Strange New World: Sex Films of the 1970s.
See his Amazon author's page, and his other lists on the IMDB, all under the pre-fix DISCOVER.