Thursday, 4 June 2020

Who Reviews The Invisible Enemy by Matt Rabjohns



Everyone has a Doctor Who guilty pleasure story, a story that maybe hasn't been well received by many other reviewers over the years. And for me one of my very favourite of such stories is definitely The Invisible Enemy. ​
First let me get over the bad points of the story first. There's a very suspect scene of Professor Marius injecting the Doctor with the miniature forms of the Doctor and Leela and it’s as clear as day that there is nothing in the syringe at all. Not a very clever scene showing someone being injected with nothing but air. Considering kids may copy what they see on screen as they often do! Yes, the Doctor may be a time lord but I'm sure even he would not like to have an embolism or something brought on by air in his alien blood! ​
The second niggle is that for part three we are informed that the clone lives for no more than ten or so minutes yet the clones of the Doctor and Leela manage to survive for the entire episode! Maybe ten minutes are a lot longer measurement of time in the far future or something?! But this for me is where the flaws with the story end and otherwise the story is extremely good and interesting and has a mad and brilliant looking villain. (Also, there are a few awfully concealed breaks in the wall that are most blatantly displayed just before they are called to fall and smash to the floor which does look a little silly. But I myself was never ever bothered by these flimsier effects. I concentrate more on the story). ​
John Leeson makes his awesome debut as K9 too. K9 of course would go on to become one of the shows very most loved characters, especially by younger members of the viewing audience and I must say i think he was the perfect choice to voice the metal pooch. Though he doesn't sound a bit clunky in some scenes as his motors did have the tendency to interfere with the camera signals but its brilliant that the director overcame this obstacle so we could enjoy the debut of one of the coolest pooches in this universe. ​
And not only does John voice K9 but he also voices the malevolent swarm. An intelligent and driven alien virus with a mean attitude. Some people may poke serious fun at the somewhat prawn look of the Virus when it is increased to life size by Professor Marius, but I think it looks an awesomely designed malignancy indeed. I find it amusing that the Virus needs human assistance to move once it is full sized. I also love the way the Doctor insults the creature when he says That Pathetic Crustacean. The effects of the viral take over look memorable and very coolly done too. I think it’s a great scripting point that Leela is immune to the effects of the virus and thus is partly the answer as to how to defeat it. ​
Michael Sheard makes one of his brilliant performances, this time as Supervisor Lowe. He's introduced as a caring and concerned man who is then lost to the machinations of the Virus. Michael always was a superb actor and gave his all to every role he had on the show, and the Invisible Enemy is no exception. ​
Scenes of the Virus's eggs spawning and beginning to reproduce on the asteroid Titan Base too are extremely well shot. The pulsating eggs look alive and wobble superbly as if the young are struggling to break through. And also, the model work on this story is truly second to none. There are many fantastic space ship model shots and these effects are superbly achieved and gives the story more of a realistic feel of being in deep space than many other stories set in space would deliver. ​
Tom Baker is on brilliant form in this story. Tom is an actor who is always very unnerving when portraying the Doctor possessed and in trouble. The glare he gives people when he is overtaken suitably gave me the chills when I was young and first saw this brilliant story. If ever there was an incarnation of the Doctor you could easily imagine being forced over to the dark side, then it has to be Tom. Superb acting throughout this story that bolsters it no end. Yet another reiteration of just how perfectly cast he was as the fourth incarnation of the Time Lord. ​
Louise Jameson is very strong as warrior of the Sevateem Leela too. Great to see a female character given guts and determination and therefore she is a serious force to be reckoned with. It’s a shame for me that Louise Jameson didn't stay in the role a little longer than she did. She became the noble savage and made her one of the very best characters in the whole era of the show. Lots of people declare her predecessor Elisabeth Sladen as one of the best ever friends of the Doctor, but I think Leela too is on that same level and it’s great to see her learn and develop as a character over her nine screen adventures. If only it could have been 18 adventures instead. Louise is a stunning and extremely capable actress indeed. ​
Frederick Jaeger too has a very interesting fake German accent that somehow just makes Professor Marius very amusing to watch. I like this performance of his just as much as his earlier appearances in the series too. I love his perfectly scripted goodbye to K9. "I only hope he's TARDIS trained!" is a wonderful way to end the story as he sniffs back tears and K9 is free to join the Doctor and Leela on their travels. ​
The Invisible Enemy never seems to be particularly fondly remembered and I for one yet again raise the cry of not knowing quite why. Bob Baker and Dave Martin's script is witty and fast paced, injected with enough strong incident and sublime model work to make it stick in the mind. The Nucleus of the Swarm deserved to be come back to the show too I feel. (It has now returned in the Big Finish audio drama Revenge of the Swarm which Id also greatly recommend as a superb listen and follow on!) ​
The Invisible Enemy is nothing more than solid and beefy and highly entertaining sci fi. The constant inventiveness of the show helped insure for me that Doctor Who remains the best sci fi series to ever be shown on British TV, and I would definitely announce that this story is a very worthy and memorable addition to the canon and does not deserve to be as forgotten and overlooked as it often seems to be.

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