Invasion of the Dinosaurs 323366 225900040 2008-07-15T22:45:50Z J Greb 1806135 Update {{Doctorwhobox| |number=071 |image=[[Image:Invasion of the Dinosaurs.jpg|250px|]] |caption=The [[Third Doctor]] and the [[United Nations Intelligence Taskforce|UNIT]] team investigate Operation Golden Age |serial_name= Invasion of the Dinosaurs |show=DW |type=serial |doctor=[[Jon Pertwee]] ([[Third Doctor]]) |companion=[[Elisabeth Sladen]] ([[Sarah Jane Smith]]) |guests=*[[Nicholas Courtney]] — [[Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart]] *[[Richard Franklin]] — [[Captain Mike Yates]] *[[John Levene]] — [[Sergeant Benton]] *[[Noel Johnson]] — Sir Charles Grover *[[Peter Miles]] — Professor Whittaker *[[Martin Jarvis]] — Butler *[[John Bennett (actor)|John Bennett]] — General Finch *[[Terence Wilton]] — Mark *[[Carmen Silvera]] — Ruth *[[Brian Badcoe]] — Adam *[[Ben Aris]] — Lieutenant Shears *[[Dave Carter (actor)|Dave Carter]] — Sgt Duffy *[[Martin Taylor (actor)|Martin Taylor]] — Corporal Norton *[[George Bryson]] — Provate Ogden *[[John Caesar (actor)|John Caesar]] — R/T Soldier *[[Pat Gorman]] — UNIT Corporal *[[Colin Bell (actor)|Colin Bell]] — Private Bryson *[[Timothy Craven]] — Robinson *[[Trevor Lawrence]] — Lodge *[[Terry Walsh (actor)|Terry Walsh]] — Looter *[[Gordon Reid (actor)|Gordon Reid]] — Phillips *[[James Marcus]] — Peasant |writer=[[Malcolm Hulke]] |director=[[Paddy Russell]] |script_editor=[[Terrance Dicks]]<br>(and [[Robert Holmes (screenwriter)|Robert Holmes]], uncredited) |producer=[[Barry Letts]] |executive_producer=None |production_code=WWW |series=[[List of Doctor Who serials#Season 11 (1973-74)|Season 11]] |length=6 episodes, 25 minutes each |date=[[January 12]]&ndash;[[February 16]], [[1974]] |preceding=''[[The Time Warrior]]'' |following=''[[Death to the Daleks]]'' |}} '''''Invasion of the Dinosaurs''''' is a [[List of Doctor Who serials|serial]] in the [[United Kingdom|British]] [[science fiction television]] series ''[[Doctor Who]]'', which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from [[January 12]] to [[February 16]],[[1974]]. ==Synopsis== The Doctor and Sarah arrive in 1970s [[London]] to find that it has been evacuated, due to the mysterious appearance of [[dinosaur]]s. It turns out that the dinosaurs are being brought to London via a [[Time travel|time machine]] in order to further a plan to revert London to a pre-technological level. ==Plot== The [[Third Doctor]] and [[Sarah Jane Smith]] arrive in a deserted [[London]] plagued by looters and lawlessness where the [[United Nations Intelligence Taskforce]] is assisting with maintaining martial law. The regular army, headed by General Finch, has evacuated the entire city and issues a command that any looters in London will be shot on sight. The Doctor and Sarah are soon arrested on suspicion of being looters themselves but are identified from the photographs by [[Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart]], who is heading up the UNIT operation, and arranges that the pair are freed to help combat the monsters that have necessitated the evacuation of London. [[Dinosaur]]s have started appearing all over the city – but that is not all, as the Doctor comes across a medieval peasant from the days of [[John of England|King John]], who disappears in a time eddy. It seems the dinosaurs have been present for several months, but nobody can account for their sudden appearance or the havoc they are causing. The British Government has been relocated to [[Harrogate]] during the crisis, and the army has taken charge to ensure an orderly evacuation and to try and maintain some sort of control in the city. The dinosaur appearances are various – [[pterodactyl]]s, ''[[Stegosaurus]]'', ''[[Tyrannosaurus|Tyrannosaurus rex]]'' – but the creatures seem to vanish as mysteriously as they appear. The Doctor ventures out around the city with a UNIT escort, hoping to learn more of the curious phenomenon, and they encounter a ''Stegosaurus'' moments before it disappears. He starts to suspect someone is deliberately bringing the dinosaurs to London – and in a hidden laboratory a pair of scientists, Butler and Professor Whitaker, are shown operating the Timescoop technology that is making the situation possible. They are being aided by Captain [[Mike Yates]] from UNIT, who is revealed to be recovering from a nervous breakdown caused by the events depicted in ''[[The Green Death]]''. Mike feels the Doctor could help them achieve Operation Golden Age, but Whitaker is unconvinced, and tells Mike to sabotage the stun gun which the Doctor is building for use on the dinosaurs. He does this, imperiling the Doctor when he encounters a ''Tyrannosaurus rex'', but the situation is saved and the creature is stunned and captured. Hours later, however, General Finch sets it free, evidently part of the conspiracy too. Sarah Jane has meanwhile set off to gather her own evidence and meets with Sir Charles Grover, an ecologist MP who is acting as Minister with Special Responsibilities in London. She is drugged by him and when she wakes up is astounded to find herself on a vast spaceship. The crew include Mark, Adam and Ruth, all famed British minor celebrities who have adopted new aliases and lives. They tell her they en route for a New Earth where mankind can begin again, closer to nature. They left Earth three months earlier and the ship is one of a fleet that is carrying over two hundred people to a new life. Sarah is committed to the re-education programme to enable her to think like them. The Doctor now focuses on more searches of London using his new vehicle, the Whomobile, as transport. Under [[Trafalgar Square tube station]] he finds the base used by Whitaker and Butler, but is scared away when they use a pterodactyl to defend their lair. When he returns with the Brigadier, the signs of occupation have been removed. Operation Golden Age is revealed to be a broad conspiracy containing Whitaker, Butler, Yates, Grover and Finch as its core co-ordinators. They have emptied London to enable it to revert to a more natural state, after which the people on the spaceships (in reality they are in vast bunkers and not in space at all) will be allowed out and enabled to repopulate a clean and free planet. Whitaker also works out how to reverse time, so that soon none of humanity apart from their own chosen specimens will ever have existed. Finch tries to frame and discredit the Doctor, whom he knows will not support their plans, and the Doctor soon twigs that an over-zealous Yates is the UNIT mole. [[Sergeant Benton]] lets the Doctor escape, for which Finch threatens a court martial. The Doctor uses his freedom to track down more monsters, but when he is recaptured the Brigadier asserts his authority and takes the Doctor into UNIT custody rather than the regular army’s. Sarah has meanwhile escaped from the fake spaceship having learnt its true nature, but is apprehended by Finch, who tracks her down and returns her to Whitaker’s custody. While she is away Mark works out that the ship is a fake too and exposes this to the other passengers, but he is not believed. When Sarah is returned to the ship she and Mark use the fake airlock to convince Ruth and the others of the depth of the deception Shortly afterward Finch and Yates reveal their hands to the Doctor, Benton and the Brigadier, and reveal the nature of their plans. The Doctor and the Brigadier get away once more and head back to the base, evading dinosaurs en route, where they confront Grover and Whitaker. The duped environmentalists from the fake spaceship also appear, along with Sarah, and demand an explanation. In the ensuing fight Whitaker and Grover are transported back through the Timescoop to the Golden Age they sought to bring to modern Britain. Back at UNIT HQ, the Brigadier confirms to the Doctor that the crisis is over, but there are still some human casualties to deal with. Finch will face a court martial while Yates is being offered the chance to resign and given extended sick leave. The Doctor reflects that people like Grover may have had good motivations in wanting to fight pollution and environmental degradation, but they took their schemes too far and endangered all mankind and its civilisation. He decides it is time for a holiday and offers to take Sarah Jane to the holiday planet of Florana. ===Cast notes=== *John Bennett would later return to ''Doctor Who'' as Li H'sen Chang in ''[[The Talons of Weng-Chiang]]''. *Peter Miles has also appeared in ''Doctor Who'' in other roles in ''[[Doctor Who and the Silurians]]'' (1970) and ''[[Genesis of the Daleks]]'' (1975). *Martin Jarvis had earlier appeared as Hilio in ''[[The Web Planet]]'' ([[1965]]) and would later appear as the Governor of Varos in ''[[Vengeance on Varos]]'' ([[1985]]). ==Continuity== *Sarah Jane Smith refers to her encounter with real dinosaurs in a conversation with [[Rose Tyler]] during the episode "[[School Reunion (Doctor Who)|School Reunion]]". The [[Seventh Doctor]] also mentions the events of this story to [[Ace (Doctor Who)|Ace]] in ''[[The Happiness Patrol]]''. *A clip on the website of ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'' refers to the events of this story as having been explained as mass hallucinations caused by a contaminated water supply. *This episode establishes Sarah Jane as being 23, making her born in [[1951]], however the UNIT stories may have taken place later than the serial was aired. See [[UNIT Dating Controversy]]. *An alternative version of the events of this serial is mentioned in the [[Big Finish]] Doctor Who Unbound audio play [[Sympathy for the Devil (Doctor Who audio)|''Sympathy for the Devil'']]. ==Production== {{DoctorWhoEpisodeHead |Archive=Y | {{DoctorWhoEpisodeBody|Episode 1|12 Jan 1974|25'29"|11.0|16mm B&W engineering print|Archive=y}}<!--71--> {{DoctorWhoEpisodeBody|Episode 2|19 Jan 1974|24'43"|10.1|PAL 2" color videotape|Archive=y}}<!--71--> {{DoctorWhoEpisodeBody|Episode 3|26 Jan 1974|23'26"|11.0|PAL 2" color videotape|Archive=y}}<!--71--> {{DoctorWhoEpisodeBody|Episode 4|2 Feb 1974|23'33"|9.0|PAL 2" color videotape|Archive=y}}<!--71--> {{DoctorWhoEpisodeBody|Episode 5|9 Feb 1974|24'30"|9.0|PAL 2" color videotape|Archive=y}}<!--71--> {{DoctorWhoEpisodeBody|Episode 6|16 Feb 1974|25'34"|7.5|PAL 2" color videotape|Archive=y}}<!--71--> }} *Working titles for this story included ''Bridgehead from Space'' and ''Timescoop''. *The first episode has the story title contracted to ''Invasion'' in an attempt to conceal the central plot device. However this was undermined by the BBC listings magazine ''[[Radio Times]]'' who gave the full story title. ''See:'' [[Doctor Who story title controversy|''Doctor Who'' story title controversy]] *Malcolm Hulke protested against the use of the title ''Invasion of the Dinosaurs'', preferring the original working title of ''Timescoop'', and felt the contraction for the first episode was silly, especially because the ''Radio Times'' listing used the full title. In a response letter after transmission script editor [[Terrance Dicks]] pointed out that all the titles used for the project had originated in the ''Doctor Who'' production office. He agreed that the contraction to ''Invasion'' was a decision he now regretted but noted that "''Radio Times'' are a law unto themselves". ===Missing episodes & Archive=== *The 625-line colour [[PAL]] transmission master videotapes for the serial were scheduled to be wiped and reused, but only Episode 1 was erased. The serial remained incomplete in the BBC Archives until 1983, when a monochrome print of Episode 1 was found and returned. All Pertwee episodes of ''[[Doctor Who]]'' now exist in the Archives, albeit some only in black and white. It had been rumoured that this episode was wiped because it was mixed up with an episode of the Patrick Troughton serial ''[[The Invasion (Doctor Who)|The Invasion]]'', though this is almost certainly untrue as ''The Invasion'' had already been wiped when ''Invasion of the Dinosaurs'' was first transmitted. In addition, the procedure for disposing of older episodes would have made such a mixup highly unlikely. This episode is the last episode that does not exist in its original form. *The surviving film recording of Episode 1 is the only telerecording of a Season 11 episode that exists. *Black & White film inserts from episode one exist as well. The b&w prints were used as practice for the film editor to make cuts before they cut the colour negatives. *A Colour 35mm film print from Episode five exists as well. *Episode three's first edit (Also know in the BBC as a 71 edit) also exists, without sound effects or music on the soundtrack. ==In print== {{Doctorwhobook| |title=Doctor Who and the Dinosaur Invasion |series=[[List of Doctor Who novelisations|Target novelisations]] |number=22 |featuring= |cover=Doctor Who and the Dinosaur Invasion.jpg |writer=[[Malcolm Hulke]] |publisher=[[Target Books]] |coverartist=[[Chris Achilleos]] |isbn=ISBN 0 426 10874 4 |set_between= |pages= |date=19 February 1976 |preceding=[[Terror of the Zygons#In print|Doctor Who and the Loch Ness Monster]] |following=[[The Tenth Planet#In print|Doctor Who and the Tenth Planet]] |}} A novelisation of this serial, written by [[Malcolm Hulke]], was published by [[Target Books]] in February 1976 as ''Doctor Who and the Dinosaur Invasion''. In 1993 it was reprinted with the title ''Doctor Who - Invasion of the Dinosaurs''. An unabridged reading of the novelisation by actor Martin Jarvis was released on CD in November 2007 by BBC Audiobooks. ==Broadcast and VHS release== *According to "Doctor Who in the BBC", after the episodes were broadcast, many children viewers of the show complained that the ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' was actually an ''Allosaurus''. *''Doctor Who: The Television Companion'' (by Howe and Walker, [[BBC Books|BBC Publishing]], 1998) quotes a contemporary review (from a [[fanzine]]) that rather unkindly describes the dinosaur special effects thus: "After escaping they [the Doctor and Sarah] came up against the first dinosaur and, oh dear, shades of [[Basil Brush]]! A [[glove puppet]] nervously skiing about London streets didn't exactly fill me with fright..." *This was the final complete story to be released by [[BBC Worldwide]] on [[VHS]], in 2003. ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== *{{BBCCDW | id=invasiondinosaurs | title=Invasion of the Dinosaurs}} *{{Brief |id=www | title=Invasion of the Dinosaurs}} *{{Doctor Who RG | id=who_3w|title=Invasion of the Dinosaurs}} ===Reviews=== *{{OG review |id=3w | title=Invasion of the Dinosaurs}} *{{DWRG |id=invasionofd | title=Invasion of the Dinosaurs}} ===Target novelisation=== *{{DWRG |id=invasionofdnov | title=Doctor Who and the Invasion of the Dinosaurs}} *[http://www.personal.leeds.ac.uk/~ecl6nb/OnTarget/1976/dinosaur/76dinosa.htm On Target — ''Doctor Who and the Invasion of the Dinosaurs''] {{Doctor Who (season 11)}} {{UNIT Stories}} [[Category:Third Doctor serials]] [[Category:Doctor Who missing episodes]] [[Category:Dinosaurs in fiction]] [[Category:1974 television episodes]] [[vo:Tutatak Dinosauras]]