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Legendary radio, televsion and big screen entertainer Jon Pertwee crashes into action in the final full-length Doctor Who VHS release from the BBC.

Doctor Who - Invasion Of The Dinosaurs

Britain’s favourite time traveller - The Doctor – played here by the third incumbent in the role, Jon Pertwee is out to save the world one final time in this, the last release of a full-length Doctor Who story from the BBC – and it’s a monster of a serial to end on!

The Doctor and new companion Sarah Jane Smith – appearing in the series for only the second time - step into this massive (perhaps over?) ambitious plot centred around a conspiracy to create a new world order, by wiping out the lion’s share of human history.

Arriving back on contemporary Earth the Doctor and Sarah discover an apparently deserted London, under strict martial law. Chancing across an army patrol, the pair are mistaken for looters, arrested and sent to be detained "for the duration of the emergency", after a speedy drumhead trail. As their journey into captivity looks set to begin (and as the first episode rolls towards its traditional cliff-hanger ending), their transport comes under attack from a tyrannosaurus rex. Dinosaurs, it seems have taken over central London!

Black & White

This first episode only survives as a black and white print – the colour print of it being a victim of 60s and 70s purges of old programmes that the BBC then considered unlikely for rebroadcast. It seems the wonder is that this serial exists at all, given the sheer volume of early episodes of Doctor Who, Steptoe & Son and Dad’s Army – to name just a few - which were junked at that time.

The rest of the six part story switches to colour – but it is the first monochrome episode which is probably the best. Going under the title simply of Invasion – an effort to maintain the mystery of just who (or what!) has taken over while the Doctor and Sarah have been away it comes across as spooky and film-like. The deserted streets recall in the mind a number of different sources – combined with the black and white location filming they reference the start of John Wyndham’s novel Day of The Triffids, Terry Nation’s Survivors, The Morning After episode of 60’s adventure series The Avengers and Doctor Who’s own 1964 serial The Dalek Invasion of Earth, each of which set their tales against a total breakdown of established order – and an evacuated/abandoned world.

In fact the series trades quite successfully on its own mythology – leaving the viewer – at least before the appearance of the first dinosaur – wondering just which of the Doctor’s former foes might have taken over. It’s just a shame that this effect is rather spoilt by the early appearance of a very rubbery dinosaur, resembling the ‘Chewitts’ T-Rex, on a rather slow rampage. Perhaps ultimately the remaining episodes would have faired better if this had been an actual takeover by a returning, more easily realised monster race. Ice Warriors at Holborn tube? Ice Warriors in Barclay Square? It could have worked. But then, it had been done before – and if you want a dinosaurs in London story, somewhere along the line, the beasts themselves have to put in an appearance.

Conspiracy

In the end the thing which lets the whole serial down when viewed today - despite some first class performances and a wonderfully layered conspiracy plot involving collusion by the military, scientists and ministers as well as some shocking revelations about one of the series then regulars - is the dinosaur models themselves. The slightly unfair reputation this serial has for being less than Pertwee's best is purely down to a handful of model shots. The slow moving creatures that appear more comical than threatening are jarringly ‘matted’ into a mixture of unmatched model shots and live film, tending to make it hard to suspend ones disbelief.

For the time some of these shots are actually pretty good – particularly shots of the dinosaurs that are meant to represent slow moving vegetarians. The Triceratops in the tube station, the Brontosaurus and Stegosaurus in the streets all look excellent – even the famously poor Tyrannosaurus in close-up is fine. However, the insistence on using one particular, virtually static model of the T-Rex for no less than four separate cliff-hangers is clearly a mistake.

Apparently it will be nigh on impossible to adjust these sequences for any future DVD release (as has been done with a couple of the other releases of remastered ‘Who stories - replacing a dodgy Dalek flying saucer here, or a clumsy space station there with slick, but seamless new effects. This is due to the overlapping on-screen elements involved, but to my mind, there might still be a job for any future restorers – the obvious lack of ‘blanks’ on location. Those playing UNIT soldiers fighting to contain the Dino menace find themselves having to ‘act’ the recoil of their weapons fire, mixed to a sound effect. It looks silly – and obviously fake. Perhaps the addition of a few muzzle flashes might be an easier fix than replacing the titular monsters, which would improve the look of these scenes immensely.

If you can look past that however (and you should, some of the monster shots aside, this really is first-class stuff) the rest of the cast – Elizabeth Sladen in particular – turn in excellent performances from a derivative, but thrilling Malcolm Hulke script. Who can resist the sight of Jon Pertwee racing about the deserted London streets in his futuristic ‘Whomobile’, or lashing together a quick ‘Heath Robinson’ stun gun to try and capture a dinosaur single handed.

Plot

Deducing that a deliberate plot is afoot to bring about the evacuation of London – but to what end? The timelord and his companions find themselves up against an unfolding conspiracy that seems to cut to the very core of the establishment, in a climate of treachery that wouldn’t be out of place in TV dramas such as Nigel Kneale's Quatermass serials, Doomwatch or even The Avengers.

All this is wrapped up in a groovy colour cover (fittingly reminiscent of the poster art for 2002’s Dragons-take-over-Britain feature film Reign Of Fire) and features a great 40th Anniversary of Doctor Who trailer at the start of the tape. This adventure will leave even the most casual viewer recalling moments from the shows’ past they’d forgotten about and serve to introduce new viewers well to the simple pleasures of teatime sci-fi from yesteryear.

With a bonkers plot to roll back time and repopulate the Earth in a simpler age, a mysterious conspiracy, UNIT, some crazy dino’ action (including a battle between two dinosaurs that a wiser production team may just have decided was beyond their resources) and a marvellous performance from Pertwee – despite the rubber monsters this six episode package is a delight from start to end.

Doctor Who - Invasion Of The Dinosaurs is available now on VHS only, from BBC Worldwide.

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