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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