Doctor Who - The Invasion (2 Disc Set) [DVD] [1968]

Although I have not seen many of Patrick Troughton's appearances as Doctor Who, I have always had a soft-spot for his portrayal of the character. I was not disappointed on viewing this story. Seeing this for the first time, I was surprised at how accomplished the whole thing was. The cast from this period fit together perfectly, we see the Brigadier firmly established with UNIT in place, and Troughton's performance has so much character it is impossible not to love him in this role. (This makes it all the more regrettable that so many of Troughton's episodes are missing from the vaults). The story itself is typical Who, and sets the template for much of what was to follow in the Pertwee era. The fact that it is in black-and-white somehow makes it creepier, and the scenes of the Cybermen invading London are one of the most iconic of the series. And what a Brilliant idea it was to recreate the 2 missing episodes by animating the original soundtrack !!This enables many of us to see what would otherwise have remained another of the lost stories. I enjoyed this DVD immensely, and it is presented in the usual high-quality we have come to expect from these BBC releases.Good commentaries too, from Fraser Hines, Wendy Padbury and Nicholas Courtney, who all express delight at seeing themselves in animated form for the first time!. Watch this and remember that this comes from a much different TV era from today...which makes it all the more remarkable in it's scope and ambition. An essential purchase for any classic Who fan, and worth buying for anyone with a passing interest in the show, or in TV sci-fi generally..

This is my favourite Cyberman story ever and as a result of that I was really looking forward to seeing the animated episodes. How did they do? Well as a fan of archive television I have always got a thrill in watching material that had been lost and then recovered and yet here is something that is technically still missing and yet at the same time isn't.

This is not missing material returned but missing material reconstructed, there have been many attempts over the years to showcase missing Doctor Who material on video but this by far the best, we actually have moving footage to focus our attention on rather than looking at static images or a Doctor Who actor filling in the blanks.

I almost got the feeling of watching two missing episodes and I'm quite sure that was the whole point.

The only downside of the animated episodes is that the six surviving episodes of The Invasion will probably be overlooked in viewers reviews and suchlike, which is a pity as it is, as stated above not only the best Cyberman story but also the best Troughton.

The story acts as a template for the direction that the series took during the Pertwee era, in essence a pilot episode. It was one of the few to be set in the modern day at the time of transmission (1968) and feels very fresh and different from the majority of the sixties episodes, all the regulars are on brilliant form and even though the adventure is eight episodes long there is no real sense of padding, the storyline moves along at a cracking pace.

One of the highlights of the entire story is the performance of Kevin Stoney as the main villain, Tobias Vaughn, he is quite simply outstanding, mixing charm and menace with great panache and is a worthy adversary for Patrick Troughton's excellent Doctor.

The picture and sound quality have been dramatically improved by the Doctor Who Restoration Team, and the batch of special features are generally good, focusing on the original recordings and the animation process, all this is capped off by two super commentaries and production subtitles.

The use of animation provides a golden opportunity for fans to finally see a version of lost Doctor Who episodes that would otherwise never be seen again.

All in all this a very worthwhile project and will hopefully lead to more incomplete stories being animated. Buy this DVD release now.

Ok fans of the new Doctor Who series, you're going to watch the first five minutes and say 'Boring!' But no. You have to get to at least the second disc before the main action happens, and it seems that Russel T D and all the other new writers don't seem to get that the quiet, slow begins are much more creepy and chilling than the first seen being the Doctor rushing round the TARDIS in a storm. That's my first warning. Watch all of it before you judge.

The second obvious one is the cartoon episodes. They work really well and you would think they would appear funny at first, but it really helps understand the story rather than still images, and the Doctors' cartoon looks so real.

The cybermen here have so blank, evil faces it's untrue, and the music is so sixties yet so scary. I think with this story I don't tend to watch it through more than once, but pick out some of my favourite little scenes to watch - The Doctor and Vaugn tracking down the cybermen, the first cyberman awakening, the cyberman invasion, all the usual. There is something seriously magical about this story, and I advise anyone to give it a go.