The Android Invasion

''The Android Invasion'' is the fourth serial of the thirteenth season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 22 November to 13 December 1975.

The serial is set on the planet Oseidon and in England. In the serial, the alien race the Kraals plot to wipe out humanity with a virus to prepare the Earth for their invasion.

The serial was directed by former series producer Barry Letts and written by Terry Nation — his first ''Doctor Who'' script for eleven years not to feature his creations, the Daleks. The serial marks the last appearances in the programme of both John Levene in his recurring role as Sergeant Benton, and also of Ian Marter, who makes a guest appearance as previous companion Harry Sullivan.

Plot

In the village of Devesham, the Doctor and Sarah Jane meet a group of humanoid robots in white suits and opaque helmets, who shoot at them with their index fingers. The Doctor and Sarah Jane flee to a pub, where the villagers wait motionless until the clock strikes, when they suddenly come to life, acting normally. It is implied that both the pub and the village are stuck in a time loop.

The Doctor finds his way to the local Space Defence Station and introduces himself to Senior Defence Astronaut Guy Crayford, who places the Doctor in a cell. It is revealed that Crayford is working for Styggron, the leader of an alien race called the Kraal. Sarah frees the Doctor and they escape, but when the soldiers turn back, they capture Sarah. Styggron tells Crayford to locate, but not seize, the Doctor.

In the pub, the Doctor fights off an android copy of Sarah Jane. The real Sarah is being kept alive so Styggron can test the virus he intends to use on Earth. They are captured again and the village is overrun with the white-suited robots. The Doctor explains that the Kraal planet will soon be uninhabitable due to high levels of radiation, so the Kraal plan to eradicate humanity and take over Earth. The duplicated village was a training ground. Crayford explains that he is helping the Kraals because they rescued him and reconstructed his body, while Earth left him for dead.

Sarah and the Doctor escape aboard Crayford's rocket and travel to Earth to warn the real defence station, while being followed by android duplicates of themselves. They land separately on Earth in their pods, and Sarah finds the TARDIS in the woods. When Crayford's rocket lands, Colonel Faraday and Harry Sullivan head there, not knowing that Styggron is there with Crayford. The real Doctor enters the Station and meets Benton, who tells him where Harry and Faraday are. The Doctor contacts them by radio and urges them not to enter the rocket.

The real Doctor explains the Kraal invasion to Faraday and Sullivan, but they have been replaced, and the android Doctor is pointing a gun at him. The android Doctor is about to shoot the original when Crayford enters, saying that Styggron promised no killing. The real Doctor tells him that the Kraal did not reconstruct him, but merely brainwashed him. Realising the truth, Crayford rushes out, distracting the android long enough for the Doctor to make his move. In the struggle, the Doctor jams all the androids in mid-step. Styggron enters, holding a ray gun on them, but Crayford attacks him. The two grapple and Styggron shoots Crayford. Using his android duplicates as a distraction, the Doctor defeats Styggron.

Production

The story was influenced by the film ''Invasion of the Body Snatchers'' (1956), and would be the last Terry Nation script for ''Doctor Who'' for four years until his final script for the series, ''Destiny of the Daleks'' (1979). This was the first script by Nation since ''The Keys of Marinus'' (1964) that did not feature the Daleks.

Location filming for the Kraal-replicated village of Devesham took place in East Hagbourne, Oxfordshire, a few miles from Didcot. Scenes outside the Space Defence Station were filmed at the National Radiological Protection Board at nearby Harwell.

Cast notes

Nicholas Courtney was unavailable to play Lethbridge-Stewart, so his character was re-written as Colonel Faraday. Ian Marter would continue his acting career and go on to write several ''Doctor Who'' novelisations, an original novel featuring Harry and an unused screenplay, ''Doctor Who Meets Scratchman'', the last with Tom Baker. He died in 1986 from diabetes-related health complications.

Only three Kraals are seen throughout the story. Styggron was played by Martin Friend. Marshal Chedaki was played by Roy Skelton. The silent Kraal underling that appears in one scene was played by the series' long time stuntman Stuart Fell. Milton Johns had appeared as Benik in ''The Enemy of the World'' (1967–68). His next appearance in ''Doctor Who'' would be as Castellan Kelner in ''The Invasion of Time'' (1978).

Broadcast and reception

Kenneth Williams briefly mentioned viewing episode two of this story in his diaries, writing on 29 November 1975 "''Doctor Who'' gets more and more silly." Paul Cornell, Martin Day, and Keith Topping gave the serial a negative review in ''The Discontinuity Guide'' (1995), writing that it was "stupid, tiresome and very irritating". In ''The Television Companion'' (1998), David J Howe and Stephen James Walker reported that the serial had a mixed reception. They wrote that the Kraals were "somewhat unoriginal but otherwise reasonable addition", with average effects and the actors making the most of it. They also praised the direction, but wrote that the plot was too far-fetched. In 2010, Mark Braxton of ''Radio Times'' awarded it two stars out of five, writing that ''The Android Invasion'' was the weak link in the season. He criticised the plotting and use of UNIT, but was more positive towards the way the story played around with the android duplicates of characters. DVD Talk's Ian Jane gave the serial three-and-a-half out of five stars, saying that it "may not be the deepest or for that matter the most original of stories told in the series but it's a fun tale that breezes by at a good pace". He praised the location work and the androids and white robots. ''SFX'' reviewer Ian Berriman also criticised the far-fetched plot, but said that it was "as enjoyable as it is unlikely".

''The Android Invasion'' was reviewed favourably by John Kenneth Muir, who described it as "an atmosphere-laden suspense thriller", despite finding some deficiencies in the storyline, which he referred to as an idiot plot. Muir praised the conceit of frightening, android duplicates of familiar people, and he traced influences from the films ''Invasion of the Body Snatchers'' (1956) and ''The Stepford Wives'' (1975). He also notes the similarity of the depiction of androids in ''Doctor Who'' to the Fembots that appeared the following year in The Bionic Woman television series ("Kill Oscar", 1976), with "faces filled with circuitry and round, lifeless orbs for eyes". Another familiar science-fiction device used in ''The Android Invasion'' is that of artificial duplicate settings; Muir considered that the "fake" village of Devesham imitated scenarios seen in earlier television series such as ''Star Trek'' (" The Mark of Gideon", 1969), ''UFO'' ("Reflections in the Water", 1971) and '' Space: 1999'' (" One Moment of Humanity").

Commercial releases

In print

A novelisation of this serial, written by Terrance Dicks, was published by Target Books in November 1978. The novelisation was later designated number 2 when Target opted to number the first seventy-three novelisations alphabetically; however no edition using the number was ever released.

Home media

''The Android Invasion'' was released on VHS in March 1995. The serial was released on DVD in the US on 9 January 2012 as a stand-alone, and again on 9 January 2012 alongside ''Invasion of the Dinosaurs'', coupled as the "UNIT Files" box set in the UK. This serial was released as part of the Doctor Who DVD Files in Issue 126 on 30 October 2013.

References

External links

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Target novelisation

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Android Invasion, The
Fourth Doctor serials
Doctor Who serials novelised by Terrance Dicks
1975 British television episodes
Television episodes about androids
Television episodes written by Terry Nation
Doctor Who stories set on Earth
UNIT serials
Works about astronauts