Doctor Who (TV Series) The Android Invasion: Part One (1975) User Reviews

"Is that finger loaded?" Good first episode.

[poolandrews · 7/10 · 16 July 2007]

Doctor Who: The Android Invasion: Part 1 starts as the Doctor (Tom Baker) & his companion Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) arrive on what appears to be Earth during the 1980's, however strange things begin to happen. They witness a soldier from UNIT throw himself of a cliff to his death & are shot at by people in white suits & white helmets with black vizor's. Then they come across a small village recognised by Sarah Jane as Devesham, at first it seems deserted then the locals are brought in on the back of a truck driven by the white suited dudes & at first seem hypnotised & only start to behave like normal people when the pub clock strikes 12. The Doctor is puzzled by what he is seeing & decides to visit the nearby Space Defense Station to discover the truth behind the bizarre events...

Episode 13 from season 13 this Doctor Who adventure was originally aired here in the UK during November 1975 & was Tom Baker's fourth story during his second season as the Doctor, directed by Barry Letts I actually rather enjoyed this opening episode although I'm reliably informed as a story it falls apart before it's concluding Part 4. Originally called The Enemy Within this four part story was written by Terry Nation & has started out rather well, I must admit I like a good mystery & The Android Invasion: Part 1 has all been about set-up without giving too much away. In fact at this point we know very little but certainly piques ones interest to see Part 2 & there's a definite intrigue to see where it's going, at only 25 minutes it's well worth a watch, that fantastic Tom Baker humour is here ('is that finger loaded?' is a great line) & I'm looking forward to Part 2 even though it's supposed to fall apart a bit.

During filming Tom Baker was submerged in water (not during this episode) & swallowed too much water which is why his voice sounds funny during the shot on location scenes. The real life village of East Hagbourne served as the filming location for Devesham in this story. There's been no aliens or big special effects so far so as far as that aspect of the episode goes it's wiped it's face clean. There's some silliness though, how does Sarah miraculously arrive at the Space Defense Station at exactly the same time & in exactly the right location as the Doctor is being taken prisoner, how can the Doctor escape from someone holding a gun at him by overturning a desk into him? Why doesn't the guy just fire! It would also appear fully trained soldiers can't aim straight & shoot a person just 10 feet away with a machine gun.

The Android Invasion: Part 1 is a great opening episode to this story & I'm intrigued to see where it's going but it's reputation suggests that it falls apart, I don't know because Part 1 is all I've seen so far but I'm going to find out...

What No Daleks !

[Theo Robertson · 7/10 · 30 March 2011]

Slight Spoilers To All Four Episodes

I first saw this in 1975 and had expected the Daleks to turn up at the of episode one only to be disappointed when they didn't . I don't think it was until the end of episode three that I realised this was a Dalek free story . You can hopefully see my way of thinking because it was written by Terry Nation who had written several Dalek stories in the past and I was under the impression being the fourth story of a season with the fourth Doctor this would mean a Dalek story as had happened the previous year and both Planet Of The Daleks and Death To The Daleks were the third stories in a season with the third Doctor . Being Dalek free this meant my enjoyment of the story was spoiled somewhat on its initial broadcast

Unfortunately The Android Invasion is written like a mystery so once the plot turns are revealed it doesn't really stand up to repeated viewings which is something of a shame . Certainly it's impressive at setting up an air of mystery where the Tardis lands at a modern day English village whose inhabitants are acting strangely , where UNIT soldiers are trying to kill the Doctor and where white suited " mechanics " stalk the countryside . Like so much of the classic show it contains memorable imagery and one line of the Doctor's " Is that finger loaded " will stick out in your mind even though you have long forgotten the more intricate parts of the storytelling . Personally I couldn't help wonder why Moshe Dayan wanted to kill the Doctor !

It is sadly the end of the UNIT era where Harry Sullivan and Benton make their last appearances in the show and they're given absolutely nothing to do . Certainly the respective actors Ian Marter and John Levene were unhappy about it and you can see their point ending their roles tied up on a space capsule floor . Perhaps even more regrettable that it's obvious Nicholas Courtney couldn't schedule an appearance as the Brigadier so he has a replacement in the shape of Colonel Faraday who is absolutely superfluous to the story

This is the type of adventure that won't appeal to die hard fans who have already seen the story but for casual viewers who might remember the classic series with any type of affection it's certainly worth watching

Solid yet familiar story straight from the pile of unproduced Pertwee scripts

[hodgesdanny · 7/10 · 4 May 2020]

Baker and Sladen get a great deal of terrific moments and there are compelling ideas here, but it feels like an unproduced Pertwee story with some very familiar ideas (fits nicely on the long list of stories that reveal the untrusting technophobia of the time). It's quite a bit like Don Siegel's Invasion of the Body Snatchers transposed to a small English village in places.

Possibly my favourite single classic who episode

[Sleepin_Dragon · 10/10 · 8 August 2015]

Series 13, possibly the golden era of classic Doctor Who, talk about classics, Zygons, Pyramids, Morbius etc, my standout serial though is definitely Android Invasion. Episode 1 is fantastic, intriguing, fast paced, atmospheric. A Terry Nation script, no Daleks, but plenty of intrigue, the pods, the guards, the soldier going over the top, there is so much going on here to keep you interested. Tom and Liz are at the height of their brilliance, every scene between them looks so easy and natural. The Devesham setting, which is really East Hagbourne in Oxfordshire, is well worth a visit, a stunning place, it really helps add atmosphere, as does the creepy music. I'm stunned how many people pick on Android Invasion, but I would like to point out in terms of viewing figures Android Invasion beat the lot in this season, episode 3 got over 12 million, it really is that good. One of the best scenes has to be in the pub, where the Doctor and Sarah are investigating, the locals turn up and behave very oddly. A brilliant serial opener. 10/10

Disappointment in Devesham - after a great start.

[A_Kind_Of_CineMagic · 10/10 · 25 November 2014]

Review of all 4 episodes:

This is a very solid serial overall but in the otherwise incredible Season 13 this story ends up being the one 'disappointment'. That does not start out to be the case though as Part 1 is really intriguing and well executed with so much interest, difference and promise. It is reminiscent of a John Wyndham story with a village where strange things are going on and people act in extremely odd ways with obvious sinister interference from a mystery force. That leads on to a very good second episode and a reasonable but slightly disappointing third episode then it all rather falls apart in the 4th episode which causes the plot to make no sense.

The Doctor and Sarah arrive in the village of Devesham after a run in with some threatening figures in helmets and boiler suits. At this point it seems like a Terror of the Autons follow up. They find the village deserted but then residents return acting very strangely as if in a trance before all suddenly acting more normally at precisely the same time. It has a wonderful eerie quality, intelligent dialogue and fascinating ideas. It feels like a Midwich Cuckoos/Stepford Wives type story and I love it. It turns out to be an invasion plan by alien race the Kraals using androids and a deadly virus.

The eeriness and mystery of the first episode draws you in and there is good fun and entertainment in the second episode. There is great interplay between The Doctor and Sarah with some funny scenes and some very good dialogue. The atmosphere created in the first episode is diminished gradually once the Kraals turn up and the mystery begins to be lifted but the second episode is still strong. The Kraals are actually a decent enemy at first, mixing military menace with science. They do not look impressive at all but I do not judge just by effects/makeup and the threat they pose seems good at first. Part 2 also has a really fun and striking cliffhanger that adds further quality. There are not many faults in these first two episodes and it looks like almost maintaining the standard of season 13 which had been incredible up to this point.

The third episode starts to show some cracks in the story writing, however, as the plot-holes begin to become apparent. You begin to realise the plans of the Kraals make no sense as they destroy their carefully created fake village, fail miserably to deal with the Doctor and reveal a plan to use a virus to attack mankind rather than androids. At this stage things are still seeming possible to be salvaged but then there is the rather dodgy rocket journey which I felt was the start of things going rapidly downhill. The plot does not make sense in Part 4 and we learn Crayford supposedly never realised he had an eye under his eye patch. The dialogue and story in Part 4 just goes wrong. Also, as Nicholas Courtney was unavailable the Brigadier had to be replaced in the story by a Colonel who is unconvincing and a very poor substitute for the wonderful 'Brig'. We do get the final appearances for Benton and Harry Sullivan in Doctor Who which is notable but all the more sad as their final episode is pretty disappointing with them as mere spare parts.

This adventure sadly ultimately makes little sense when you reach the conclusion but Tom Baker and Lis Sladen are fantastic throughout and the first episode is great. There is plenty of quality up til the latter parts of the story so overall it is an enjoyable, interesting serial but with 2 episodes which are a let down compared to the superb standard of Season 13.

My ratings: Part 1 - 10/10, Part 2 - 9/10, Part 3 - 7/10, Part 4 - 5.5/10. Overall - 7.88/10.

Androids with ping pong eyeballs in fun, cheesy Dr Who adventure

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 20 September 2012]

Review of the Complete Story:

A middle-of-the-road adventure for Tom Baker and Elizabeth Sladen, this episode representing the typical quality level of a mid 70's Doctor Who complete with all the flaws and highlights that we best remember it for. The Terry Nation story is fairly tight and, whilst hardly original in light of SPEARHEAD FROM SPACE and TERROR OF THE AUTONS, it makes for generally watchable viewing with only a few slow spots occurring towards the end of the production.

The story is action-packed and fairly packed with amusing incident, including the BBC stuntman going through his paces and some admirably bad special effects work. The story goes that the Doctor and Sarah Jane land in an idealistic English village, hoping to have returned to Earth in their own time. It has to be said that the backdrop for this story is a truly splendid old-fashioned village, filmed god knows where and in the kind of place that only usually exists in a picture postcard.

Sinister things begin to crop up almost immediately, including a soldier jumping off the edge of a cliff (the first use of the said stuntman). The main threat appears to be some masked guards in radioactive suits, who have the ability to shoot bullets from their forefingers. Cue some dodgy low-budget shoot-outs and bullets that can never ever hit the Doctor or Sarah no matter how slowly they run.

After holing up in the village for a while, it becomes apparent that the local space station has something to do with the mystery, and the Doctor meets Guy Crayford, an astronaut who has recently returned to Earth. It turns out that he has brought with him some questionable alien companions, namely the Kraals who intend to destroy mankind with a deadly virus (you know the routine). For some reason they've built a typical alien village on an alien planet and packed it with androids, planning to replace many of the Earth's population in an invasion bid. It is up to the Doctor to halt the baddies in their tracks and save Earth… Okay, so the originality is at a nul here, with bits and pieces of older episodes popping up and a distinct lack of surprise. Still, you can't help being entertained by the splendid cliffhangers, the insignificant but puzzling clues that the writer throws up (the freshly-minted coins, for example) and the odd scenarios. Of course, both the Doctor and Sarah end up getting android versions of themselves made, leading to much confusion and mistaken identity.

The stunts are low-budget but entertaining, including a couple of poor fight sequences (including one where a man literally flies through the air on a wire) and some poor chap jumping through a window. The sets are generally cheap but serviceable, aside from the disappointing Kraal set which is just an ultra-cheap schlocky set redressed from numerous previous adventures. The Kraals themselves are chaps in rubber masks which don't particularly move convincingly, although they do make up for this in appearance, being splendidly ugly creatures.

Acting wise, the episode boasts some sterling work from Elizabeth Sladen, who, despite the dumb character traits, creates both a fragile and strong personality for Sarah Jane. Tom Baker is in his element and really seems to be enjoying himself in the area, so is impossible to dislike. The bad guy, Guy Crayford, unfortunately seems to be a bit wishy-washy and doesn't have that much of a strong character. His final revelations therefore lack the impact that Nation obviously wished for.

Still, in spite of all the problems – usually caused by the less-than-significant budget and the constraints caused by it – this remains a fairly enjoyable adventure which only had me yawning once or twice. Be sure to check out the crappy 70's robotics, which have dated really badly (although I did get a kick out of those ping pong android eyeballs!).

Breezes by at a Good Pace

[JamesHitchcock · 12 November 2015]

The Doctor and Sarah find themselves (apparently) back on Earth, in the village of Devesham, not far from a UNIT base. This serial, in fact, marked the last occasion on which UNIT was to feature during Tom Baker's tenure as the Doctor and the last appearance of Sergeant Benton. Ian Marter made a one-off guest appearance as Harry Sullivan, who had been one of the Doctor's companions during the previous season. Nicholas Courtney, however, was unavailable to play Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, so another senior UNIT officer, Colonel Faraday, was created to replace him.

But, of course, the Doctor and Sarah are not on Earth. They have ended up on an alien planet whose inhabitants, the Kraals, have created a replica of Devesham so that they can rehearse their plan to invade Earth. The Kraals' powers to create replicas do not just extend to buildings. They have also perfected the technology to create androids which are exact duplicates of humans, and it is these androids, cunningly disguised as real earthlings, which are to spearhead their planned invasion.

This plot line was not very original even by the standards of "Doctor Who", a series which always had a tendency towards self-cannibalisation. About the only original feature is that the above fiendish plot is being put into effect not by the Daleks, the Cybermen or any of the Doctor's other established enemies but by the Kraals, a race of beings so repulsive that they could even lose an interplanetary beauty contest against the Sontarans. (As the average Sontaran has a face like a mouldy potato that takes some doing). This was to be the Kraals' first and last appearance in the series, and I cannot say that they were ever greatly missed.

For all its lack of originality, "The Android Invasion" does have some enjoyable features. It manages to generate considerable tension though the use of the android device. The Kraals have the ability to create exact replicas, in voice as well as in appearance, of real individuals, and have even managed to duplicate the Doctor, Sarah and members of the UNIT team, which means that we are never sure whom we can trust. One critic wrote that the serial "may not be the deepest or for that matter the most original of stories told in the series but it's a fun tale that breezes by at a good pace". That would be my view as well.

Something in the Air...

[Xstal · 5/10 · 30 June 2022]

You'll never be welcome around here, as the villagers return and appear, strange things are going on, there's something very wrong, when was that money minted, what exactly is the year?