The Invasion recap (episodes 7 and 8)
Previously on Doctor Who: The Cybermen have arrived and have released a Cyber-control wave to strike all Earthlings. The only ones who are safe are the people currently inside Professor Travers' home (now inhabited by Professor Watkins and his niece Isobel), though it seems like the inhibitor on the back of the Doctor's neck has fallen off and he is now under Cyber-control.
Episode 7
The Doctor has woken up and is fully recovered, although a bit dizzy. Jimmy is trying to contact UNIT control via radio, and is happy to receive an answer. The Brig informs them than only half of his crew has recovered so far; he'll send Sergeant Walters by jeep to Casa de Watkins to bring the gang back to the base, but since the streets are filled with Cybermen this might be a bit difficult.
In Vaughn's office, the Cybermen are giving him orders to help land the ships. Vaughn tells them that, since he is to rule the Earth, the Cyberman army must stay under his control. The Cybermen get a little shirty, but Vaughn tries to explain that this might be helpful to them as he's familiar with the way the planet works. They keep on complaining, but eventually agree to his demands, and he shuts the communicator down, ending the discussion. He then calls Packer and orders him to go and collect Watkins. Packer asks "What about the UNIT people?" Vaughn smiles. They're all under Cyber-control, so they won't be any problem.
In spite of the Cybermen, Sergeant Walters manages to reach Casa de Watkins. He and Jimmy see Packer and his men arriving, so they decide to make their escape through the back door. However, Packer's men manage to break the glass on the front door before they make their escape and fire several shots, hitting Watkins and Jamie. Oh no! Jimmy, you idiot, why do you always make Jamie the last person to leave? Is it because he's cuter than you and you want to get rid of the competition?
Ahem. Anyway, Jimmy asks the Brig for help. He will send them a chopper, but they have to drive all the way to sector five to reach it. At Vaughn's office, the big man is enraged that the good guys have escaped Cyber-control. Packer is the voice of reason, and tells him what every Bond Villain that ever existed should have been told: "You should've got rid of [the Doctor] when you had the chance." Vaughn responds to this the same way Dr. Evil did when the same reasoning was offered to him: "Shut up, Packer!" I can almost imagine Kevin Stoney mentally adding "you asshole" when he uttered that line, as Vaughn is clearly aware of that but doesn't need to have a henchman with the IQ of an amoeba remind him of it. He then tries to reassure himself that the invasion at least is going according to plan, but Packer again shows that he seems to have more brains that we all thought possible, and asks if Vaughn can really be sure that nothing has been overlooked and that they will really be safe if the Cybermen decide to deceive them. Vaughn replies to this by slamming his fist on the table and shout "JUST OBEY MY ORDERS!" Again the words "YOU ASSHOLE" seems to have been thought but not spoken out loud.
Back at the UNIT airplane, Sergeant Walters announces that there's no radio communications at all, at least from those they could ask for help. Jimmy asks if they could be able to make more of those depolarisers and distribute them, but both the Brig and the Doctor believe that it's too late for that now. The only solution, according to the Doctor, is to stop the Cyber-control transmissions. Of course, this requires for a missile of some sort, since the signal is being transmitted somewhere around the moon. The Brig then remembers that the Russians were planning to send a new ship to the moon very soon, which means they have something ready and at hand. They will need a few hours and some depolarisers. As Jimmy takes care of this, the rest of them must deal with the imminent arrival of the remaining Cybermen at the IE compound. There's a base near Henlow Downs where they can get some anti-missile missiles with which to strike the ship. Zoe then arrives (and much to my amusement, seems to be goosed by the Doctor. Naughty Patrick Troughton!) with good news: Jamie only has a flesh wound, but is annoyed because the doctor won't let him walk on his bad leg; Professor Watkins will also be all right. The Doctor then suggests that Zoe accompanies the Brig to Henlow Downs, as her brain might come in useful, while he'll return to London and talk to Vaughn. Both Zoe and the Brig, understandably, think this last idea is insane, but the Doctor explains that they need information about the invasion; he'll travel through the sewers, as that area will now be the only place without any Cybermen.
At an airstrip, the Doctor and Jimmy leave to proceed with their tasks; the airplane then takes off again towards Henlow Downs. We then move onto the sewers, where the Doctor is preparing his journey to the IE HQ. When he arrives, he contacts Vaughn via video and announces that he's on his way there for a little chat. Packer again suggests they kill him. "You forget, Packer," Vaughn says with a smile. "He's our insurance."
Before entering Vaughn's office, the Doctor contacts UNIT and tells them he'll leave the radio open so that they can hear everything. The Brig then orders Walters to record the whole conversation, and to send anything they can the moment the Doctor cries for help. When we move back to Vaughn's office, the conversation has already begun. The Doctor endures Vaughn's long speech on how he's so much smarter than the Cybermen, and tries to reason with him, but to no avail. The Cybermen that have arrived to Earth are conditioned to obey his commands, Vaughn says. But what about the others still in outer space? "If they're not, I'll destroy them."
Henlow Downs. Everybody in there is under Cyber-control, but soon recover after the Brigadier's men apply the neuristors on them. Back at Vaughn's office, the Bond Villain tries to reverse the questioning and get some information about UNIT, but the Doctor clams up. So, in reply, Vaughn orders his men to start beaming the Cyberman fleet to Earth. It will be too late to stop it now, he reasons. However, since at Henlow Downs Zoe reasons that the radars will only be able to pick the Cyber ships when they're right on top of them, I think that this will actually be helpful after all. We'll see. Oh, and Jimmy has landed in Russia now, but Walters hasn't heard from him after that.
There. The fleet is now visible on the radar, so they get ready to fire. Uh-oh, it seems like there's more ships than missiles. Ah well, reducing their number is better than nothing, I guess. Now, wait, Zoe knows how they can destroy 90% of them with only half a dozen missiles. Since they're coming on a formation pattern, they might be able to set a chain reaction of explosions. The Major in charge of the base thinks this is ridiculous (well, considering that he's a 1960s army man being told off by a tiny teenage girl in a sparkly catsuit, I can see why he's so determined against it) but the Brig orders him to give her 30 seconds to work this out and he finds himself forced to agree. She gives him the computer instructions they need, and he sighs: "I hope you're right." "I am," she replies, rolling her eyes. Oh, Zoe, how much to I love you?
Countdown then begins. Ten, nine, eight...
Success! The Cybermen are not happy, and they blame Vaughn. According to their reasoning, he has betrayed them, so they will now take over the invasion, and deliver a Cyber-Megatron bomb to wipe out all Earth life. "Is this what you wanted?" the Doctor asks Vaughn. "To be the ruler of a dead world?" Vaughn is unable to answer.
Episode 8
Back at the UNIT airplane, we see Benton (who has relieved Sergeant Walters on radio duty) and Isobel listening in on the conversation between Vaughn and the Cybermen. When they hear the Cybermen mention the bomb, Benton immediately contacts the Brig to inform him of this turn of events. In the meantime, the men at Henlow Downs are congratulating Zoe for her idea. The Major asks her how she did it, and she begins to talk a lot of technobabble I'm sure only the Doctor and Professor Watkins would understand. The Major, however, doesn't seem to mind this. "Can't we keep her on, sir?" he asks the Brig. "She's much prettier than a computer!" Hee, looks like Zoe has found herself a bunch of fanboys!
Benton finally manages to contact the Brig and tells him about the bomb. The brig decides to return to the airplane with Zoe and his men, and he warns the Major to keep his eyes open in case some more of the Cybermen decide to show up. Meanwhile the conversation between Vaughn, the Doctor and the Cybermen becomes even more incensed, and in a fit of rage Vaughn decides to use Watkins' machine of the communication device. This results in the explosion of the machinery, but nothing more. The Doctor tries to reason with Vaughn once again, by explaining that "the Cybermen will deliver their bomb on the same radio beam they used for their invasion," and that the only way they can survive is by turning it off. Vaughn, however, is in shock now that the dream of world domination he's been planning for five years has fallen apart in five seconds and doesn't seem to be able to listen. Eventually, he regains some reason (if we can imagine someone like Vaughn ever having it in the first place, that is) and tries to contact Packer so that he can help them. However, the face they see on the video screen is not Packer's but that of a Cyberman - very chilling, and very effective. My immediate thought was that Packer had been fully converted, but then our favourite brainless sadistic bastard enters and tells Vaughn the Cybermen have taken over and are coming after them. Vaughn has drifted back to his desperate trance (I'd like to say his "happy place," but he doesn't seem at all happy) and not even Packer grabbing him and shouting "what have you done?!" seems to be working.
Then, a Cyberman enters. Packer shows us that he is an idiot after all, in spite of his rational comments the previous episode, and tries to shoot at the damn thing, even though he, of all people, should be aware that it won't work. In retaliation, the Cyberman kills him, but before it can move its attention to the other two, the Doctor activates Professor Watkins' machine on him and it collapses. "Vaughn," the Doctor asks, "where is the transmitter for the radio beam?" At the compound. Well, that's logical. But how can they get there, when those things are everywhere? With UNIT, that's how. The Doctor confers with the Brig via radio, and they measure the possibilities. Jimmy has managed to release the Russians from the Cyber-control, but it will take ten hours or more to get a missile as far as the Cyber-craft - which means that getting to the compound and destroying the transmitter is the only option they have... and that Vaughn is the only person able to help them.
Unfortunately, Vaughn is not that easy to reason with. He has no future, since he'll be doomed if they survive. As for saving millions of human beings... Well, this is Vaughn. Those people mean nothing to him besides the power they could provide him, had the invasion worked according to his plans. This is a great moment, and Kevin Stoney is absolutely brilliant. Vaughn is unrepentant and unredeemable. And yet... "I'll help you to destroy them because I hate them. They... destroyed my dream." Well, as long as he helps them, I don't care why he does it, and that's the only reason for him to do that that I can see as being in character. The two of them get to the roof in order to reach the UNIT helicopter sent to pick them up, Vaughn holding the machine like a hen mother, much to the Doctor's consternation.
Meanwhile the Russians are carrying on with their plans. They have fitted a warhead to the rocket, and are ready to go - which means that, if Vaughn and the Doctor are successful, they'll be able to finish the job in less than ten hours. The men at Henlow Downs seem to agree with me on this, though they don't sound very optimistic. Ah well, the rocket is off, so now all the UNIT men have to do now is wait and pray - especially since the Doctor can't wait for reinforcements. He and Vaughn will have to reach the transmitter by themselves. He gives the Brig instructions to reach the transmitter just in case, though it's very likely that the UNIT men will not be unable to get there on time. The girls insist that they accompany the Brig, Isobel adding that it will be her last chance to photograph the Cybermen. The Brig agrees. "At least I'll be able to keep an eye on you this time." Cheeky bugger.
At the compound, Vaughn and the Doctor are trying to reach the old factory, where the transmitter is located. Vaughn wants to use the machine on every Cyberman they encounter, but the Doctor insists they try to be as inconspicuous as possible so that they can reach their destination with as little trouble as they can. Unfortunately, this doesn't last long, as they're soon spotted and are forced to use the machine to defend themselves. Since the screams of the fallen Cyberman are likely to attract the attention of the others, the two of them decide to use the roofs. Meanwhile, the UNIT reinforcements arrive, showing that there was enough time to wait for them after all.
Uh-oh. Cyberman on the rooftop. And falling down the building with a loud clang after the machine worked on him. The problem is, he's not alone, so they have to climb down a ladder to reach the other building. Downstairs, a huge battle between Cybermen and UNIT troops ensue, with casualties on both sides. There's a magnificent shot of a Cybermen being hit by the blast of a bazooka, in which we only see the thing's legs but then see a hand falling to the floor as it gets hit. The Doctor and Vaughn, in the meantime, have reached the building where the transmitter is located. There's no Cybermen around, which the Doctor finds odd - with very good reason. When Vaughn is on tops of the stairs, a group of them reveals itself from behind a door. He tries to use the machine on them, but it doesn't seem to work fast enough when there's more than one; therefore, while the other two collapse one of them manages to kill Vaughn before turning its attention to the Doctor, who runs away from its blasts jumping and screaming like a cartoon character (which, if we consider episodes 1 and 4, makes some sense). Luckily, UNIT comes to the rescue and strike the thing down with the bazooka before turning to destroy the transmitter themselves. The Doctor tries to stand up and follow them, but Isobel decides to take some pictures of him - and this being the Second Doctor, he ends up staying where he is, posing for her.
Later. The Brig is announcing on the radio that the bomb is no longer a problem, and that it's all up to the Russians now. In Henlow Downs, they catch something big entering the Earth's surface, and realize it's got to be the Cyber spaceship. Since it's outside their range, the Major contacts UNIT Control and informs the Brig of this. He and the Doctor both agree that this can mean one of two things: either they are trying to avoid the Russian missile, or they've decided to deliver the bomb by other means. Jimmy tells them that it will take over twelve minutes to redirection the missile - more than enough time for the Cybermen to deliver the bomb and move out to safety. In other words, they're all screwed.
The minutes pass. Everybody is now just staring at the clocks, waiting for the inevitable. The missile manages to reach the ship, but not before the Cybermen drop the bomb. At Henlow Downs, the Major orders for all the missiles to get ready.
Ten... Nine... Eight... Seven...
One by one, the missiles are sent towards the bomb... and are successful. Just a few seconds later, the Russians also hit their target. It's all over.
Now that everything is at peace, Isobel has resumed her original project of photographing Zoe. She's extremely excited, because the photos she took at the IE compound were bought by an agency and she's been hired to travel all over the world, doing what she loves the most. Jimmy enters the room, freshly out of Russia, and announces that the Doctor has finished fixing the circuits (I had the feeling he had pocketed them, some episodes ago, but it's not very clear) and that they're ready to go. What about Jamie, who has disappeared from our sight at the beginning of episode seven? Oh, he's having a checkup at the hospital. Possibly kicking his doctors and cursing at them in Celtic, I suppose.
Later, Jimmy is escorting Team TARDIS to the place where they had left our favourite (now invisible) blue box, with Isobel on tow. There's a succession of handshakes (the Doctor holding out his hands above tiny Zoe to reach Isobel, which I find adorable) and enter the field. To Jimmy and Isobel's confusion, they begin to search for the TARDIS with their arms outstretched. The Doctor finally finds the door and enters, making the TARDIS visible, while Jamie and Zoe look smugly at the other two, as if saying "See what a cool ship we have?"
"A police box? I don't believe it!" Isobel asks, as the trio waves goodbye and the TARDIS vanishes.
The end. Next week: The Krotons. And in the audio comments, Wendy Padbury at this point yells "Oh no! Not the Krotons!"
My two cents:
This is an amazing story. Well-written, exciting from start to finish, and with an excellent cast, particularly Kevin Stoney as Vaughn. Throughout this recap, I've often joked about Vaughn being a Bond Villain, but both the writing and the performing manage to escape the clichés that arouse from such a type of character; Vaughn is a three-dimensional, multi-layered person. I'm especially happy with the fact that, even though in the end he agrees to help the Doctor, he remains true to his cold heart and selfish manner. He's not doing this because he has repented, but because he is driven to it by hatred and revenge. Another great presence in the guest cast is Peter Halliday as Packer (he also provided the voice to several Cybermen, by the way). Packer might be cruel and sadistic, but he's also like a big child, and has some fabulous moments when Vaughn stops him from hurting or killing others - just look at his face!
It's also interesting to notice that, although this is an eight-parter, nothing in The Invasion feels like padding, as it usually happens with longer serials. On the contrary, sometimes it feels like there are things we should have seen but were not given to us. The most blatant example, which I've mentioned when I recapped that episode, was when UNIT rescued Professor Watkins and Vaughn had Gregory killed - we only know how the rescue took place from hearing Gregory talk about it, and there's a huge gap between that scene and his death. I mean, one moment they're in Vaughn's office, and the other they're in the sewers/basement? Producer Chris D'Oyly-John explains in the audio commentaries that those scenes featured in the original script but where not filmed due to time restraints, which is a shame as it gives me the feeling this could have also worked as a nine-parter and would still not feel like it was padded.
It's interesting to note that, although this is regarded as one of the best Cybermen stories ever (the critics' words, not mine - I loved this one, but I haven't seen enough of their stories to have that opinion) they have very little to do here. In fact, they only show up in the flesh (all right, in the metal) for the first time in the last few seconds of episode four, and remain in the background for most of the remaining four episodes. Vaughn is the main villain here, and the Cybermen are just the instrument that allows for him to become a threat to the Doctor and to UNIT.
And now, a few words about the animated reconstruction of episodes 1 and 4. Cosgrove Hall, responsible for the Doctor Who webcast Scream of the Shalka and the classics Danger Mouse and Count Duckula, did a wonderful job here. Granted, they made a very noticeable mistake here, by dressing Zoe with the red dress/white shirt outfit from the very beginning (as this begins at the very point in which The Mind Robber ended, she was supposed to be wearing her famous catsuit until she arrived at the Watkins' home) but that's just a small continuity mistake - and, when compared to the fact that we had almost no footage from those episodes, such a mistake should be ignored in favour of the brilliancy of everything else. As the actors say in the audio commentaries to episode 4, doing the animation in black and white to retain the style of the original was a nice touch, and makes the characters look like they're chiselled, giving them an absolutely beautiful look.
(Oh, and New Who fans? If you check out the wall where Isobel writes her messages, in episode 1, you'll see the words BAD WOLF in there. Nice touch, Cosgrove Hall!)
Overall, a truly wonderful serial, and a great work of reconstruction. Now, what about a petition so that we can convince the BBC to join forces with Cosgrove Hall and restore other lost stories?
* episodes 1 and 2
* episodes 3 and 4
* episodes 5 and 6
* episodes 7 and 8
Episode 7
The Doctor has woken up and is fully recovered, although a bit dizzy. Jimmy is trying to contact UNIT control via radio, and is happy to receive an answer. The Brig informs them than only half of his crew has recovered so far; he'll send Sergeant Walters by jeep to Casa de Watkins to bring the gang back to the base, but since the streets are filled with Cybermen this might be a bit difficult.
In Vaughn's office, the Cybermen are giving him orders to help land the ships. Vaughn tells them that, since he is to rule the Earth, the Cyberman army must stay under his control. The Cybermen get a little shirty, but Vaughn tries to explain that this might be helpful to them as he's familiar with the way the planet works. They keep on complaining, but eventually agree to his demands, and he shuts the communicator down, ending the discussion. He then calls Packer and orders him to go and collect Watkins. Packer asks "What about the UNIT people?" Vaughn smiles. They're all under Cyber-control, so they won't be any problem.
In spite of the Cybermen, Sergeant Walters manages to reach Casa de Watkins. He and Jimmy see Packer and his men arriving, so they decide to make their escape through the back door. However, Packer's men manage to break the glass on the front door before they make their escape and fire several shots, hitting Watkins and Jamie. Oh no! Jimmy, you idiot, why do you always make Jamie the last person to leave? Is it because he's cuter than you and you want to get rid of the competition?
Ahem. Anyway, Jimmy asks the Brig for help. He will send them a chopper, but they have to drive all the way to sector five to reach it. At Vaughn's office, the big man is enraged that the good guys have escaped Cyber-control. Packer is the voice of reason, and tells him what every Bond Villain that ever existed should have been told: "You should've got rid of [the Doctor] when you had the chance." Vaughn responds to this the same way Dr. Evil did when the same reasoning was offered to him: "Shut up, Packer!" I can almost imagine Kevin Stoney mentally adding "you asshole" when he uttered that line, as Vaughn is clearly aware of that but doesn't need to have a henchman with the IQ of an amoeba remind him of it. He then tries to reassure himself that the invasion at least is going according to plan, but Packer again shows that he seems to have more brains that we all thought possible, and asks if Vaughn can really be sure that nothing has been overlooked and that they will really be safe if the Cybermen decide to deceive them. Vaughn replies to this by slamming his fist on the table and shout "JUST OBEY MY ORDERS!" Again the words "YOU ASSHOLE" seems to have been thought but not spoken out loud.
Back at the UNIT airplane, Sergeant Walters announces that there's no radio communications at all, at least from those they could ask for help. Jimmy asks if they could be able to make more of those depolarisers and distribute them, but both the Brig and the Doctor believe that it's too late for that now. The only solution, according to the Doctor, is to stop the Cyber-control transmissions. Of course, this requires for a missile of some sort, since the signal is being transmitted somewhere around the moon. The Brig then remembers that the Russians were planning to send a new ship to the moon very soon, which means they have something ready and at hand. They will need a few hours and some depolarisers. As Jimmy takes care of this, the rest of them must deal with the imminent arrival of the remaining Cybermen at the IE compound. There's a base near Henlow Downs where they can get some anti-missile missiles with which to strike the ship. Zoe then arrives (and much to my amusement, seems to be goosed by the Doctor. Naughty Patrick Troughton!) with good news: Jamie only has a flesh wound, but is annoyed because the doctor won't let him walk on his bad leg; Professor Watkins will also be all right. The Doctor then suggests that Zoe accompanies the Brig to Henlow Downs, as her brain might come in useful, while he'll return to London and talk to Vaughn. Both Zoe and the Brig, understandably, think this last idea is insane, but the Doctor explains that they need information about the invasion; he'll travel through the sewers, as that area will now be the only place without any Cybermen.
At an airstrip, the Doctor and Jimmy leave to proceed with their tasks; the airplane then takes off again towards Henlow Downs. We then move onto the sewers, where the Doctor is preparing his journey to the IE HQ. When he arrives, he contacts Vaughn via video and announces that he's on his way there for a little chat. Packer again suggests they kill him. "You forget, Packer," Vaughn says with a smile. "He's our insurance."
Before entering Vaughn's office, the Doctor contacts UNIT and tells them he'll leave the radio open so that they can hear everything. The Brig then orders Walters to record the whole conversation, and to send anything they can the moment the Doctor cries for help. When we move back to Vaughn's office, the conversation has already begun. The Doctor endures Vaughn's long speech on how he's so much smarter than the Cybermen, and tries to reason with him, but to no avail. The Cybermen that have arrived to Earth are conditioned to obey his commands, Vaughn says. But what about the others still in outer space? "If they're not, I'll destroy them."
Henlow Downs. Everybody in there is under Cyber-control, but soon recover after the Brigadier's men apply the neuristors on them. Back at Vaughn's office, the Bond Villain tries to reverse the questioning and get some information about UNIT, but the Doctor clams up. So, in reply, Vaughn orders his men to start beaming the Cyberman fleet to Earth. It will be too late to stop it now, he reasons. However, since at Henlow Downs Zoe reasons that the radars will only be able to pick the Cyber ships when they're right on top of them, I think that this will actually be helpful after all. We'll see. Oh, and Jimmy has landed in Russia now, but Walters hasn't heard from him after that.
There. The fleet is now visible on the radar, so they get ready to fire. Uh-oh, it seems like there's more ships than missiles. Ah well, reducing their number is better than nothing, I guess. Now, wait, Zoe knows how they can destroy 90% of them with only half a dozen missiles. Since they're coming on a formation pattern, they might be able to set a chain reaction of explosions. The Major in charge of the base thinks this is ridiculous (well, considering that he's a 1960s army man being told off by a tiny teenage girl in a sparkly catsuit, I can see why he's so determined against it) but the Brig orders him to give her 30 seconds to work this out and he finds himself forced to agree. She gives him the computer instructions they need, and he sighs: "I hope you're right." "I am," she replies, rolling her eyes. Oh, Zoe, how much to I love you?
Countdown then begins. Ten, nine, eight...
Success! The Cybermen are not happy, and they blame Vaughn. According to their reasoning, he has betrayed them, so they will now take over the invasion, and deliver a Cyber-Megatron bomb to wipe out all Earth life. "Is this what you wanted?" the Doctor asks Vaughn. "To be the ruler of a dead world?" Vaughn is unable to answer.
Episode 8
Back at the UNIT airplane, we see Benton (who has relieved Sergeant Walters on radio duty) and Isobel listening in on the conversation between Vaughn and the Cybermen. When they hear the Cybermen mention the bomb, Benton immediately contacts the Brig to inform him of this turn of events. In the meantime, the men at Henlow Downs are congratulating Zoe for her idea. The Major asks her how she did it, and she begins to talk a lot of technobabble I'm sure only the Doctor and Professor Watkins would understand. The Major, however, doesn't seem to mind this. "Can't we keep her on, sir?" he asks the Brig. "She's much prettier than a computer!" Hee, looks like Zoe has found herself a bunch of fanboys!
Benton finally manages to contact the Brig and tells him about the bomb. The brig decides to return to the airplane with Zoe and his men, and he warns the Major to keep his eyes open in case some more of the Cybermen decide to show up. Meanwhile the conversation between Vaughn, the Doctor and the Cybermen becomes even more incensed, and in a fit of rage Vaughn decides to use Watkins' machine of the communication device. This results in the explosion of the machinery, but nothing more. The Doctor tries to reason with Vaughn once again, by explaining that "the Cybermen will deliver their bomb on the same radio beam they used for their invasion," and that the only way they can survive is by turning it off. Vaughn, however, is in shock now that the dream of world domination he's been planning for five years has fallen apart in five seconds and doesn't seem to be able to listen. Eventually, he regains some reason (if we can imagine someone like Vaughn ever having it in the first place, that is) and tries to contact Packer so that he can help them. However, the face they see on the video screen is not Packer's but that of a Cyberman - very chilling, and very effective. My immediate thought was that Packer had been fully converted, but then our favourite brainless sadistic bastard enters and tells Vaughn the Cybermen have taken over and are coming after them. Vaughn has drifted back to his desperate trance (I'd like to say his "happy place," but he doesn't seem at all happy) and not even Packer grabbing him and shouting "what have you done?!" seems to be working.
Then, a Cyberman enters. Packer shows us that he is an idiot after all, in spite of his rational comments the previous episode, and tries to shoot at the damn thing, even though he, of all people, should be aware that it won't work. In retaliation, the Cyberman kills him, but before it can move its attention to the other two, the Doctor activates Professor Watkins' machine on him and it collapses. "Vaughn," the Doctor asks, "where is the transmitter for the radio beam?" At the compound. Well, that's logical. But how can they get there, when those things are everywhere? With UNIT, that's how. The Doctor confers with the Brig via radio, and they measure the possibilities. Jimmy has managed to release the Russians from the Cyber-control, but it will take ten hours or more to get a missile as far as the Cyber-craft - which means that getting to the compound and destroying the transmitter is the only option they have... and that Vaughn is the only person able to help them.
Unfortunately, Vaughn is not that easy to reason with. He has no future, since he'll be doomed if they survive. As for saving millions of human beings... Well, this is Vaughn. Those people mean nothing to him besides the power they could provide him, had the invasion worked according to his plans. This is a great moment, and Kevin Stoney is absolutely brilliant. Vaughn is unrepentant and unredeemable. And yet... "I'll help you to destroy them because I hate them. They... destroyed my dream." Well, as long as he helps them, I don't care why he does it, and that's the only reason for him to do that that I can see as being in character. The two of them get to the roof in order to reach the UNIT helicopter sent to pick them up, Vaughn holding the machine like a hen mother, much to the Doctor's consternation.
Meanwhile the Russians are carrying on with their plans. They have fitted a warhead to the rocket, and are ready to go - which means that, if Vaughn and the Doctor are successful, they'll be able to finish the job in less than ten hours. The men at Henlow Downs seem to agree with me on this, though they don't sound very optimistic. Ah well, the rocket is off, so now all the UNIT men have to do now is wait and pray - especially since the Doctor can't wait for reinforcements. He and Vaughn will have to reach the transmitter by themselves. He gives the Brig instructions to reach the transmitter just in case, though it's very likely that the UNIT men will not be unable to get there on time. The girls insist that they accompany the Brig, Isobel adding that it will be her last chance to photograph the Cybermen. The Brig agrees. "At least I'll be able to keep an eye on you this time." Cheeky bugger.
At the compound, Vaughn and the Doctor are trying to reach the old factory, where the transmitter is located. Vaughn wants to use the machine on every Cyberman they encounter, but the Doctor insists they try to be as inconspicuous as possible so that they can reach their destination with as little trouble as they can. Unfortunately, this doesn't last long, as they're soon spotted and are forced to use the machine to defend themselves. Since the screams of the fallen Cyberman are likely to attract the attention of the others, the two of them decide to use the roofs. Meanwhile, the UNIT reinforcements arrive, showing that there was enough time to wait for them after all.
Uh-oh. Cyberman on the rooftop. And falling down the building with a loud clang after the machine worked on him. The problem is, he's not alone, so they have to climb down a ladder to reach the other building. Downstairs, a huge battle between Cybermen and UNIT troops ensue, with casualties on both sides. There's a magnificent shot of a Cybermen being hit by the blast of a bazooka, in which we only see the thing's legs but then see a hand falling to the floor as it gets hit. The Doctor and Vaughn, in the meantime, have reached the building where the transmitter is located. There's no Cybermen around, which the Doctor finds odd - with very good reason. When Vaughn is on tops of the stairs, a group of them reveals itself from behind a door. He tries to use the machine on them, but it doesn't seem to work fast enough when there's more than one; therefore, while the other two collapse one of them manages to kill Vaughn before turning its attention to the Doctor, who runs away from its blasts jumping and screaming like a cartoon character (which, if we consider episodes 1 and 4, makes some sense). Luckily, UNIT comes to the rescue and strike the thing down with the bazooka before turning to destroy the transmitter themselves. The Doctor tries to stand up and follow them, but Isobel decides to take some pictures of him - and this being the Second Doctor, he ends up staying where he is, posing for her.
Later. The Brig is announcing on the radio that the bomb is no longer a problem, and that it's all up to the Russians now. In Henlow Downs, they catch something big entering the Earth's surface, and realize it's got to be the Cyber spaceship. Since it's outside their range, the Major contacts UNIT Control and informs the Brig of this. He and the Doctor both agree that this can mean one of two things: either they are trying to avoid the Russian missile, or they've decided to deliver the bomb by other means. Jimmy tells them that it will take over twelve minutes to redirection the missile - more than enough time for the Cybermen to deliver the bomb and move out to safety. In other words, they're all screwed.
The minutes pass. Everybody is now just staring at the clocks, waiting for the inevitable. The missile manages to reach the ship, but not before the Cybermen drop the bomb. At Henlow Downs, the Major orders for all the missiles to get ready.
Ten... Nine... Eight... Seven...
One by one, the missiles are sent towards the bomb... and are successful. Just a few seconds later, the Russians also hit their target. It's all over.
Now that everything is at peace, Isobel has resumed her original project of photographing Zoe. She's extremely excited, because the photos she took at the IE compound were bought by an agency and she's been hired to travel all over the world, doing what she loves the most. Jimmy enters the room, freshly out of Russia, and announces that the Doctor has finished fixing the circuits (I had the feeling he had pocketed them, some episodes ago, but it's not very clear) and that they're ready to go. What about Jamie, who has disappeared from our sight at the beginning of episode seven? Oh, he's having a checkup at the hospital. Possibly kicking his doctors and cursing at them in Celtic, I suppose.
Later, Jimmy is escorting Team TARDIS to the place where they had left our favourite (now invisible) blue box, with Isobel on tow. There's a succession of handshakes (the Doctor holding out his hands above tiny Zoe to reach Isobel, which I find adorable) and enter the field. To Jimmy and Isobel's confusion, they begin to search for the TARDIS with their arms outstretched. The Doctor finally finds the door and enters, making the TARDIS visible, while Jamie and Zoe look smugly at the other two, as if saying "See what a cool ship we have?"
"A police box? I don't believe it!" Isobel asks, as the trio waves goodbye and the TARDIS vanishes.
The end. Next week: The Krotons. And in the audio comments, Wendy Padbury at this point yells "Oh no! Not the Krotons!"
My two cents:
This is an amazing story. Well-written, exciting from start to finish, and with an excellent cast, particularly Kevin Stoney as Vaughn. Throughout this recap, I've often joked about Vaughn being a Bond Villain, but both the writing and the performing manage to escape the clichés that arouse from such a type of character; Vaughn is a three-dimensional, multi-layered person. I'm especially happy with the fact that, even though in the end he agrees to help the Doctor, he remains true to his cold heart and selfish manner. He's not doing this because he has repented, but because he is driven to it by hatred and revenge. Another great presence in the guest cast is Peter Halliday as Packer (he also provided the voice to several Cybermen, by the way). Packer might be cruel and sadistic, but he's also like a big child, and has some fabulous moments when Vaughn stops him from hurting or killing others - just look at his face!
It's also interesting to notice that, although this is an eight-parter, nothing in The Invasion feels like padding, as it usually happens with longer serials. On the contrary, sometimes it feels like there are things we should have seen but were not given to us. The most blatant example, which I've mentioned when I recapped that episode, was when UNIT rescued Professor Watkins and Vaughn had Gregory killed - we only know how the rescue took place from hearing Gregory talk about it, and there's a huge gap between that scene and his death. I mean, one moment they're in Vaughn's office, and the other they're in the sewers/basement? Producer Chris D'Oyly-John explains in the audio commentaries that those scenes featured in the original script but where not filmed due to time restraints, which is a shame as it gives me the feeling this could have also worked as a nine-parter and would still not feel like it was padded.
It's interesting to note that, although this is regarded as one of the best Cybermen stories ever (the critics' words, not mine - I loved this one, but I haven't seen enough of their stories to have that opinion) they have very little to do here. In fact, they only show up in the flesh (all right, in the metal) for the first time in the last few seconds of episode four, and remain in the background for most of the remaining four episodes. Vaughn is the main villain here, and the Cybermen are just the instrument that allows for him to become a threat to the Doctor and to UNIT.
And now, a few words about the animated reconstruction of episodes 1 and 4. Cosgrove Hall, responsible for the Doctor Who webcast Scream of the Shalka and the classics Danger Mouse and Count Duckula, did a wonderful job here. Granted, they made a very noticeable mistake here, by dressing Zoe with the red dress/white shirt outfit from the very beginning (as this begins at the very point in which The Mind Robber ended, she was supposed to be wearing her famous catsuit until she arrived at the Watkins' home) but that's just a small continuity mistake - and, when compared to the fact that we had almost no footage from those episodes, such a mistake should be ignored in favour of the brilliancy of everything else. As the actors say in the audio commentaries to episode 4, doing the animation in black and white to retain the style of the original was a nice touch, and makes the characters look like they're chiselled, giving them an absolutely beautiful look.
(Oh, and New Who fans? If you check out the wall where Isobel writes her messages, in episode 1, you'll see the words BAD WOLF in there. Nice touch, Cosgrove Hall!)
Overall, a truly wonderful serial, and a great work of reconstruction. Now, what about a petition so that we can convince the BBC to join forces with Cosgrove Hall and restore other lost stories?
* episodes 1 and 2
* episodes 3 and 4
* episodes 5 and 6
* episodes 7 and 8