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The Invasion Format Reviewed: DVD Review The Invasion on DVD is a quite unique adventure, as the BBC have taken the decision to commission animators Cosgrove Hall to provide the visuals for the missing episodes of the story. Cosgrove Hall are, for me, most famous for producing the cartoon Danger Mouse, and their animation of episodes 1 and 4 for The Invasion has caused quite astir in the fan community, with most very much looking forward to a 'more complete story'. Like all missing stories, the audio track is provided by 'off-air recordings', i.e. people having recorded them as they were broadcast. A variety of sources are used to provide the best audio possible overall. The Invasion sees the Doctor going to meet Professor Travers, but finding Travers is working abroad leads the Doctor to seek Professor Watkins, who is renting Travers' flat with his photographer niece Isobel. Watkins is working at International Electromatic (IE), and the Doctor goes to find him to ask for help repairing TARDIS circuits. There he meets IE Managing Director Tobias Vaughn, and discovers that all is not right with IE. Returning to Travers flat, the Doctor and Jamie are kidnapped by henchmen who turn out to be from U.N.I.T., headed by Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart who are already investigating IE as people come out of IE and are different. The Doctor then discovers that the problems are due to IE hiding a Cyberman invasion plot, and a struggle ensues with the Cybermen sending a signal that knocks out all the population bar those the Doctor has had fitten with Neuristers and those Vaughn has saved. Cybermen then appear from the London sewers, and the Doctor gains time by visiting Vaughn while U.N.I.T. destroy the invasion fleet with teh help of Zoe. A Cyber-magatron Bomb is then destroyed, along with the Cyber mother-ship, and peace is restored to the Earth. The Invasion is one of those stories that is always held in very high regard by fans of the show. This reputation though is fully justified when you look into the story. From beginning to end, the story hits the right tone, and flicks between a largely serious plot with little comical asides such as Troughton's funny jumping whilst being shot at in the final episode. One reason for the excellent tone is the superb incidental music that is very distinctive throughout all eight episodes. What goes along with this is an excellent script, penned by Derrick Sherwin, from the original story by Kit Pedlar. This story also gives the Cybermen a bit of evolution, and the style of the Cyberman head is pretty much set here until the classic series finished. Only minor modifications were made to the head from here on, while the body costume still underwent significant alteration. The regular cast is Wendy Padbury as Zoe, Frazer Hines as Jamie and Patrick Troughton as the Doctor. All give really great performances, but the relationship between Troughton and Hines really comes out here as a great influence on the scenes they have together. The guest cast is also very strong in The Invasion. Nicholas Courtney sets the standard for many subsequent appearances as the Brigadier (despite the slug he was balancing on his lip) and his staff all good, particularly Robert Sidaway as Captain Turner. The real star of the whole show though is Kevin Stoney as Tobias Vaughn. Stoney really gives a magical performance in this story and quite rightly draws many plaudits from his fellow cast members. The main reason why this DVD is different, is becasue of the Cosgrove Hall animation. Whilst the presentation is reminiscent of Scooby Doo, putting the visuals to the audio track really fits well and goes in perfect context with the rest of the story. I believe that as it is only episodes 1 and 4 missing of the original 8 episodes, there was a clear frame of reference for much of the artwork, but still, Cosgrove Hall should be heartily congratulated for their efforts. The only real complaint with this story I have is in the conclusion. For the climactic scenes of the destruction of the Cyber bomb and mothership, we are treated to Captain Turner on the U.N.I.T. radio describing the destruction. With the other scenes done so well, this was a bit of a disappointment. Overall, The Invasion is rightly held as one of the great adventures in the Troughton era. Until the DVD release in November 2006, the story was however deprived of video for episodes 1 and 4. For the DVD release, the video was provided Cosgrove Hall in the form of animation. This fusion between original audio, video and new animation works wonderfully to create the current definitive version of a great adventure featuring some of the most iconic images in the shows history. Rating:  |