The Invasion recap (episodes 1 and 2)
As you know, originally I had planned to take notes while watching The Invasion for the first time in order to post a comprehensive review later. However, this has turned from a review to a recap, and since it's huge I think it's better if I fragment this and deal with a couple of episodes a time - and since it appears that it might take a while for me to finish this (let's not forget it's an eight-episode serial), this change will allow you to read the beginning of this earlier than with my previous plan.
Here's the first instalment of my Invasion recap, then:
Episode 1
This is one of the episodes that were recreated through animation and homemade audio recordings of the soundtrack. As I had never seen Scream of the Shalka, I have to confess I felt a bit apprehensive about this at first, as I expected the animation to be cheap and shoddy-looking, but it looks stunning. The art for both characters and sets are beautiful, and the TARDIS in particular looks so sleek and gorgeous.
ETA: Here's a screencap of the Trio at the beginning of the episode, for those of you who haven't seen this DVD yet:
The story kicks off well, with the TARDIS materializing herself by the dark side of the moon (and am I the only person who began humming Pink Floyd the moment the Doctor mentioned it?) and immediately being attacked by a missile. A hasty escape leads to the gang arriving on 20th century Earth (next to a cow that brings yet more Pink Floyd flashbacks to my mind) and deciding to head to London and search for Professor Travers (whom the old school fans might remember from The Abominable Snowmen and The Web of Fear) so that he might help them fix the TARDIS - which, in the meantime, has become invisible. They get a ride from a rude (and possibly ginger, though with this being in black and white it's hard to tell) and mysterious lorry driver, who is being chased by other mysterious men and ends up forcing them to hide in the woods. While they wait for the men to drive by, Rude & Possibly Ginger (let's call him RPG until we learn his proper name) explains that they're in a place ruled by International Electromatics, who rule the compound they're in in a Big Brother sort of way. Now, RPG seems to be part of a resistance group, though he doesn't really elaborate on that and, as a driver, he has clearance to enter and leave. As soon as the mysterious men drive by, he returns to his lorry, with the Trio hiding inside, and they head to the guard post, managing to leave without trouble. As soon as they're outside, RPG kicks them out and tells them to get lost just before the mysterious men reach the lorry. They try to arrest RPG, but as he refuses they shoot him dead. Oh well, I guess we won't be learning his name after all.
The Trio get a lift from an anonymous and not at all rude driver, and arrive in London without any more complications. Of course, when they find Professor Travers' place they discover that a pretty girl named Isobel Watkins is living there now. Professor Travers went to America with his daughter and let the house to Isobel's uncle (a nice addition to the plot to allow for their characters to be replaced by Isobel and Professor Watkins, since Jack Watling and Tina Packer were not available for this serial), who disappeared about a week ago. Isobel doesn't seem very worried about her uncle vanishing like that, and is more interested in taking photographs of Zoe (by the way, it's funny to see Jamie posing for the pictures and looking very disappointed when Isobel tells him "not you" - great job with the animation there). Oh, and Professor Watkins seems to be working for International Electromatics. Hmm...
I'd like to add that I quite like Isobel. She's annoying at times, but her tendency to talk at the speed of light and not really care about important issues works very well and makes her a very different character from what Ann Travers was in The Web of Fear. Also, this moment makes me giggle:
Jamie: Do you not write anything down on paper at all?
Isobel: Well, I'd only lose it if I did. Writing on a wall is much safer. You can't lose a wall, can you?
Jamie: Hm, no.
Heh.
Anyway, the girls stay behind, as they want to continue the photoshoot, and the boys head to International Electromatics. The building, again, is impressively done. It looks like they photoshopped a picture of the original building, though I'll have to see the featurette on the making of the animated episodes to confirm this. Still, it works brilliantly and gets my total approval.
Inside the building, Jamie and the Doctor learn that the place seems to be occupied only by computers. It's interesting to see the Doctor complaining about "stupid machines" as opposed to human manpower, by the way. A flashback to past adventures, perhaps? WOTAN is coming to my mind, anyway. Oh, and they were followed by two men, who are waiting on the outside for them to come out. Their voices sound familiar, though the animation doesn't help me recognize them. Maybe it's just my imagination, though. Let's wait and see.
On a different part of the building, a white-haired man with an air of Bond villain tells his henchman to deal with our heroes. And so, the moment they step out of the lift, they're attacked by a gas. Outside, the two mysterious men decide Jamie and the Doctor have been inside for way too long and contact HQ. Hmm, I wonder if...
Anyway, the Bond Villain's henchman, Packer, grabs Jamie our heroes and seems ready to hit them, but his boss stops him and asks for them to be sent to his office. Oh, and the Bond Villain is actually called Tobias Vaughn, so let's go with that. He treats them with extreme civility, which is surprising considering the gas attack just a few minutes before, and informs them that Professor Watkins is very busy with an experiment and refuses to see anyone. During this conversation, Jamie accidentally mentions the TARDIS' electronic circuits (by the way, the Doctor kicking Jamie? So perfectly 2/J), sparkling Vaughn's attention. He convinces the Doctor to hand him the circuits in order to see if his men will be able to fix them (of course, his expression clearly indicates that he's more interested in studying them) and gives Jamie a disposable transistor radio as compensation for Packer's behaviour.
Now what bugs me is that they don't seem to be interested in arranging a way for the Doctor to be contacted when the circuits are fixed. I know that Vaughn is clearly not interested in returning them, but he at least could mention it just to maintain his pleasant and helpful façade. And the Doctor not mentioning it either is even stranger. Ah well, plot holes. It's good to see that the Doctor is aware that there's something fishy about Vaughn, though, as he tries to explain to Jamie that the fellow doesn't seem to blink as often as the average human. Anyway, they're outside, and they're out of trouble. Of course, without the circuits, they're also stranded on that time and place right now.
Back to Vaughn's office. He activates a switch, and a hidden compartment is revealed behind one of the walls. Inside, a strange and beautiful piece of machinery is pulsating...
And that's it for episode 1. As I mentioned above, this was simply superb, and I'm glad the powers that be managed to replace the missing episodes this way. Now let's hope they'll do the same with other serials, and... Ooh, I just saw a familiar name on the credits. So that's why those mysterious men outside the building looked familiar. I knew it! No, I'm not going to reveal it right now. Go check the episode, or at least keep on reading.
Episode 2
And we're back to flesh-and-blood territory, as this episode luckily survived the damned BBC purge. Jamie! Oh, your animated self was so cute, but I'm glad to see your real face again.
We kick off, as usual, with the last scene from the previous episode. It's fascinating to see the original after seeing it animated, by the way. It gives the scene a new perspective.
Jamie and the Doctor are outside, and are closely followed by the two mysterious men. And now that we can see their real faces, we see that the one whose voice sounded so familiar to my ears is Benton. Yay Benton! Our heroes realize that they're being followed, and decide to run for it.
Back at Casa de Watkins, Zoe is still posing for Isobel. Our girl is beginning to worry, but Isobel being Isobel, she just says they're alright. Of course, Zoe replies with a "you wouldn't say that if you knew them." Very true, girlfriend. During the past couple of hours they've been gassed and had a chat with a Bond Villain Wannabe, and now they're running away from a creepy car. Well, old school fans already know that the folks inside are the good guys (did I mention "Yay Benton"?) but there's no way for them to know this yet. And things seem to look bleak when a second car shows up and our two boys find themselves cornered. Admitting defeat, the Doctor sits down on the sidewalk and starts playing cards. Hee. So adorably Two.
In the meantime, Vaughn shows the circuit to one of his researchers and gives him one hour to study them. In my opinion, that's like asking someone to read all seven Harry Potter books in five minutes.
As Zoe is still worried, Isobel suggests they go after them. As a precaution, she leaves them a note... yes, you guessed it, written on a wall. Well, they don't show or mention it, but after what we've learned about her it's the only logical conclusion, isn't it?
The boys, by the way, are taken to an airplane. Inside, we see lots of people dressed up in military gear with the word UNIT. And the Brig! He tells us that it's been two years since the events from The Web of Fear, though for the Team TARDIS it was obviously just a couple of weeks. He also explains about UNIT, which was formed after the Yeti attack, and that Benton and the other guy were watching the International Electromatics building, as strange things seem to be happening there. They sent our boys' pictures to the UNITplane and the Brig recognized them, which is why they were sent there.
Speaking of the International Electromatics building, the girls have just arrived there. They activate the computer receptionist that annoyed the Doctor so much in the previous episode, and Zoe's brain being like a computer she tries to make inquiries to it in its own terms. Upstairs, Vaughn makes his own enquiries, as the machine we saw in the cliff-hanger states that they're known and are hostile; it also says that plans for invasion are nearly complete, and that nothing must be allowed to interrupt them. As he finishes the conversation, Vaughn realizes that the girls are downstairs. Zoe's attempt to talk computer failed, and now she seems to be channelling the Doctor by calling it a "stupid, primitive machine." Frustrated, Zoe decides to talk to it in ALGOL, and causes for it to explode. This amuses Vaughn immensely, and he orders Packer to bring the girls to him.
Back to UNITplane. The Brig is showing the Doctor pictures of people who entered the International Electromatics building and either came back behaving very oddly, or not at all. Jamie recognizes the picture of Rude & Possibly Ginger, and the Brig tells them he's a UNIT agent. He also says that they're interested in Vaughn, but that at the moment his hands are tied - so, if the Doctor wants to investigate, he'll be on his own. However, if he needs to contact them, he can do so with a small transceiver the Brig offers him.
They return to Casa de Watkins and find the place deserted. Jamie turns on his radio, and the Doctor notices something funny: a small circuit that has no reason whatsoever to be there. However, Jamie reacts badly to having his new toy taken away from him and stops the Doctor from investigating this, and so instead they go to the wall in search of Isobel's note. Alarmed to see the girls went to International Electromatics, they decide to go after them.
At IE, Vaughn is interrogating Zoe and Isobel. He decides to use them in order to persuade Professor Watkins to continue working, as he doesn't seem to be cooperating. Outside, the Doctor uses the transceiver to ask the Brig if their agents have seen the girls enter the building. As the reports confirm this, the Doctor announces that they're going to enter the building in search of them - which they do through a passage that leads to the back of the place.
Vaughn's office. The researcher tells him that the circuits don't seem to make any sense, which makes Vaughn even more intrigued. He contacts his allies through the strange machine, asking for more information on the Doctor, but they refuse to explain, enraging him. He tells them to remind their leader that he is in charge of the operations on Earth, and thus he is the one who should decide whether the Doctor should be destroyed or not. The leader quickly agrees, and they tell Vaughn that the Doctor has a machine, but they have no detailed information about it. Albeit vague, this explanation seems to satisfy him.
In the building's warehouse, Jamie and the Doctor are surprised to see a man carrying an extremely heavy crate as if it was nothing. You can almost see the Doctor's spidey senses tingling. Unfortunately for them, they're detected, and Vaughn orders Packer to flush them out using the girls as bait. It works, all thanks to Jamie's impulsiveness whenever ladies in distress are involved, and so the episode ends with our two heroes surrounded by Vaughn's cronies, while Packer exclaims, "Like rats in a trap!"
Again, an exciting episode. I feel like slapping Jamie for going all "it's my toy kthxby!" over his radio (and saying Vaughn is not a bad guy because he gave it to him) as I have the feeling it's going to be A Very Important Thing Indeed further on. I can't wait to see what's coming next.
* episodes 1 and 2
* episodes 3 and 4
* episodes 5 and 6
* episodes 7 and 8
Here's the first instalment of my Invasion recap, then:
Episode 1
This is one of the episodes that were recreated through animation and homemade audio recordings of the soundtrack. As I had never seen Scream of the Shalka, I have to confess I felt a bit apprehensive about this at first, as I expected the animation to be cheap and shoddy-looking, but it looks stunning. The art for both characters and sets are beautiful, and the TARDIS in particular looks so sleek and gorgeous.
ETA: Here's a screencap of the Trio at the beginning of the episode, for those of you who haven't seen this DVD yet:
The story kicks off well, with the TARDIS materializing herself by the dark side of the moon (and am I the only person who began humming Pink Floyd the moment the Doctor mentioned it?) and immediately being attacked by a missile. A hasty escape leads to the gang arriving on 20th century Earth (next to a cow that brings yet more Pink Floyd flashbacks to my mind) and deciding to head to London and search for Professor Travers (whom the old school fans might remember from The Abominable Snowmen and The Web of Fear) so that he might help them fix the TARDIS - which, in the meantime, has become invisible. They get a ride from a rude (and possibly ginger, though with this being in black and white it's hard to tell) and mysterious lorry driver, who is being chased by other mysterious men and ends up forcing them to hide in the woods. While they wait for the men to drive by, Rude & Possibly Ginger (let's call him RPG until we learn his proper name) explains that they're in a place ruled by International Electromatics, who rule the compound they're in in a Big Brother sort of way. Now, RPG seems to be part of a resistance group, though he doesn't really elaborate on that and, as a driver, he has clearance to enter and leave. As soon as the mysterious men drive by, he returns to his lorry, with the Trio hiding inside, and they head to the guard post, managing to leave without trouble. As soon as they're outside, RPG kicks them out and tells them to get lost just before the mysterious men reach the lorry. They try to arrest RPG, but as he refuses they shoot him dead. Oh well, I guess we won't be learning his name after all.
The Trio get a lift from an anonymous and not at all rude driver, and arrive in London without any more complications. Of course, when they find Professor Travers' place they discover that a pretty girl named Isobel Watkins is living there now. Professor Travers went to America with his daughter and let the house to Isobel's uncle (a nice addition to the plot to allow for their characters to be replaced by Isobel and Professor Watkins, since Jack Watling and Tina Packer were not available for this serial), who disappeared about a week ago. Isobel doesn't seem very worried about her uncle vanishing like that, and is more interested in taking photographs of Zoe (by the way, it's funny to see Jamie posing for the pictures and looking very disappointed when Isobel tells him "not you" - great job with the animation there). Oh, and Professor Watkins seems to be working for International Electromatics. Hmm...
I'd like to add that I quite like Isobel. She's annoying at times, but her tendency to talk at the speed of light and not really care about important issues works very well and makes her a very different character from what Ann Travers was in The Web of Fear. Also, this moment makes me giggle:
Jamie: Do you not write anything down on paper at all?
Isobel: Well, I'd only lose it if I did. Writing on a wall is much safer. You can't lose a wall, can you?
Jamie: Hm, no.
Heh.
Anyway, the girls stay behind, as they want to continue the photoshoot, and the boys head to International Electromatics. The building, again, is impressively done. It looks like they photoshopped a picture of the original building, though I'll have to see the featurette on the making of the animated episodes to confirm this. Still, it works brilliantly and gets my total approval.
Inside the building, Jamie and the Doctor learn that the place seems to be occupied only by computers. It's interesting to see the Doctor complaining about "stupid machines" as opposed to human manpower, by the way. A flashback to past adventures, perhaps? WOTAN is coming to my mind, anyway. Oh, and they were followed by two men, who are waiting on the outside for them to come out. Their voices sound familiar, though the animation doesn't help me recognize them. Maybe it's just my imagination, though. Let's wait and see.
On a different part of the building, a white-haired man with an air of Bond villain tells his henchman to deal with our heroes. And so, the moment they step out of the lift, they're attacked by a gas. Outside, the two mysterious men decide Jamie and the Doctor have been inside for way too long and contact HQ. Hmm, I wonder if...
Anyway, the Bond Villain's henchman, Packer, grabs Jamie our heroes and seems ready to hit them, but his boss stops him and asks for them to be sent to his office. Oh, and the Bond Villain is actually called Tobias Vaughn, so let's go with that. He treats them with extreme civility, which is surprising considering the gas attack just a few minutes before, and informs them that Professor Watkins is very busy with an experiment and refuses to see anyone. During this conversation, Jamie accidentally mentions the TARDIS' electronic circuits (by the way, the Doctor kicking Jamie? So perfectly 2/J), sparkling Vaughn's attention. He convinces the Doctor to hand him the circuits in order to see if his men will be able to fix them (of course, his expression clearly indicates that he's more interested in studying them) and gives Jamie a disposable transistor radio as compensation for Packer's behaviour.
Now what bugs me is that they don't seem to be interested in arranging a way for the Doctor to be contacted when the circuits are fixed. I know that Vaughn is clearly not interested in returning them, but he at least could mention it just to maintain his pleasant and helpful façade. And the Doctor not mentioning it either is even stranger. Ah well, plot holes. It's good to see that the Doctor is aware that there's something fishy about Vaughn, though, as he tries to explain to Jamie that the fellow doesn't seem to blink as often as the average human. Anyway, they're outside, and they're out of trouble. Of course, without the circuits, they're also stranded on that time and place right now.
Back to Vaughn's office. He activates a switch, and a hidden compartment is revealed behind one of the walls. Inside, a strange and beautiful piece of machinery is pulsating...
And that's it for episode 1. As I mentioned above, this was simply superb, and I'm glad the powers that be managed to replace the missing episodes this way. Now let's hope they'll do the same with other serials, and... Ooh, I just saw a familiar name on the credits. So that's why those mysterious men outside the building looked familiar. I knew it! No, I'm not going to reveal it right now. Go check the episode, or at least keep on reading.
Episode 2
And we're back to flesh-and-blood territory, as this episode luckily survived the damned BBC purge. Jamie! Oh, your animated self was so cute, but I'm glad to see your real face again.
We kick off, as usual, with the last scene from the previous episode. It's fascinating to see the original after seeing it animated, by the way. It gives the scene a new perspective.
Jamie and the Doctor are outside, and are closely followed by the two mysterious men. And now that we can see their real faces, we see that the one whose voice sounded so familiar to my ears is Benton. Yay Benton! Our heroes realize that they're being followed, and decide to run for it.
Back at Casa de Watkins, Zoe is still posing for Isobel. Our girl is beginning to worry, but Isobel being Isobel, she just says they're alright. Of course, Zoe replies with a "you wouldn't say that if you knew them." Very true, girlfriend. During the past couple of hours they've been gassed and had a chat with a Bond Villain Wannabe, and now they're running away from a creepy car. Well, old school fans already know that the folks inside are the good guys (did I mention "Yay Benton"?) but there's no way for them to know this yet. And things seem to look bleak when a second car shows up and our two boys find themselves cornered. Admitting defeat, the Doctor sits down on the sidewalk and starts playing cards. Hee. So adorably Two.
In the meantime, Vaughn shows the circuit to one of his researchers and gives him one hour to study them. In my opinion, that's like asking someone to read all seven Harry Potter books in five minutes.
As Zoe is still worried, Isobel suggests they go after them. As a precaution, she leaves them a note... yes, you guessed it, written on a wall. Well, they don't show or mention it, but after what we've learned about her it's the only logical conclusion, isn't it?
The boys, by the way, are taken to an airplane. Inside, we see lots of people dressed up in military gear with the word UNIT. And the Brig! He tells us that it's been two years since the events from The Web of Fear, though for the Team TARDIS it was obviously just a couple of weeks. He also explains about UNIT, which was formed after the Yeti attack, and that Benton and the other guy were watching the International Electromatics building, as strange things seem to be happening there. They sent our boys' pictures to the UNITplane and the Brig recognized them, which is why they were sent there.
Speaking of the International Electromatics building, the girls have just arrived there. They activate the computer receptionist that annoyed the Doctor so much in the previous episode, and Zoe's brain being like a computer she tries to make inquiries to it in its own terms. Upstairs, Vaughn makes his own enquiries, as the machine we saw in the cliff-hanger states that they're known and are hostile; it also says that plans for invasion are nearly complete, and that nothing must be allowed to interrupt them. As he finishes the conversation, Vaughn realizes that the girls are downstairs. Zoe's attempt to talk computer failed, and now she seems to be channelling the Doctor by calling it a "stupid, primitive machine." Frustrated, Zoe decides to talk to it in ALGOL, and causes for it to explode. This amuses Vaughn immensely, and he orders Packer to bring the girls to him.
Back to UNITplane. The Brig is showing the Doctor pictures of people who entered the International Electromatics building and either came back behaving very oddly, or not at all. Jamie recognizes the picture of Rude & Possibly Ginger, and the Brig tells them he's a UNIT agent. He also says that they're interested in Vaughn, but that at the moment his hands are tied - so, if the Doctor wants to investigate, he'll be on his own. However, if he needs to contact them, he can do so with a small transceiver the Brig offers him.
They return to Casa de Watkins and find the place deserted. Jamie turns on his radio, and the Doctor notices something funny: a small circuit that has no reason whatsoever to be there. However, Jamie reacts badly to having his new toy taken away from him and stops the Doctor from investigating this, and so instead they go to the wall in search of Isobel's note. Alarmed to see the girls went to International Electromatics, they decide to go after them.
At IE, Vaughn is interrogating Zoe and Isobel. He decides to use them in order to persuade Professor Watkins to continue working, as he doesn't seem to be cooperating. Outside, the Doctor uses the transceiver to ask the Brig if their agents have seen the girls enter the building. As the reports confirm this, the Doctor announces that they're going to enter the building in search of them - which they do through a passage that leads to the back of the place.
Vaughn's office. The researcher tells him that the circuits don't seem to make any sense, which makes Vaughn even more intrigued. He contacts his allies through the strange machine, asking for more information on the Doctor, but they refuse to explain, enraging him. He tells them to remind their leader that he is in charge of the operations on Earth, and thus he is the one who should decide whether the Doctor should be destroyed or not. The leader quickly agrees, and they tell Vaughn that the Doctor has a machine, but they have no detailed information about it. Albeit vague, this explanation seems to satisfy him.
In the building's warehouse, Jamie and the Doctor are surprised to see a man carrying an extremely heavy crate as if it was nothing. You can almost see the Doctor's spidey senses tingling. Unfortunately for them, they're detected, and Vaughn orders Packer to flush them out using the girls as bait. It works, all thanks to Jamie's impulsiveness whenever ladies in distress are involved, and so the episode ends with our two heroes surrounded by Vaughn's cronies, while Packer exclaims, "Like rats in a trap!"
Again, an exciting episode. I feel like slapping Jamie for going all "it's my toy kthxby!" over his radio (and saying Vaughn is not a bad guy because he gave it to him) as I have the feeling it's going to be A Very Important Thing Indeed further on. I can't wait to see what's coming next.
* episodes 1 and 2
* episodes 3 and 4
* episodes 5 and 6
* episodes 7 and 8