April 24: "The Invasion" Episodes Seven & Eight

The Cybermen have invaded London, and the entire world is asleep as a result of their Cyber control.  Things are looking dire indeed, but fortunately our small band of plucky heroes is still awake and ready to put up some resistance.  So they're regrouping and fending off an attack from Vaughn's guards (there to recapture Professor Watkins) before splitting up to deal with the invading Cybermen.

And Jamie's been shot!  Oh my goodness!  He's been shot, apparently in the back, as he's fleeing Watkins' house.  And this paragraph shows far more concern about his well being than the show does.  Yes, it turns out this is just a way to give Frazer Hines a couple weeks off, so some comments about it only being a "slight flesh wound" and he's off at the hospital, safely out of camera range for the next two episodes.

The Brigadier and the Doctor discuss their next move. (The
Invasion Episode Seven) ©BBC

You can feel the tension being ratcheted up in this episode, as it's a race against time to stop the rest of the invasion fleet from arriving on Earth.  So Jimmy Turner goes off to Russia to have them send a rocket up to destroy the mothership (in a trip described as taking "two hours" -- apparently this really is the future if they get to (presumably) Baikonur in that short time), the Doctor heads back to Vaughn's London headquarters to try and talk him out of this plan (and buy some time along the way), and the Brigadier and Zoe head to Henlow Downs to wake up the missile crew so they can shoot down the incoming fleet of spaceships.  Most of the action subsequently takes place here, as they get the missiles ready to fire (using the same sequence of stock footage twice in the same episode).  And Zoe, recalling her "genius" characterization from The Wheel in Space, quickly calculates how to aim the missiles to take out all the ships.  To do this, she rushes around the base getting numbers for her figures.  And yes, it's been commented on before, but there's still something entertainingly marvelous about watching more than one squaddie react by looking at her face quizzically before casting their gaze down to her posterior.

But yes, Zoe saves the day by blowing up the fleet -- except now the Cybermen feel Vaughn has betrayed them, and so they're going to send a Cyber-megatron bomb at the planet to wipe out all life on Earth.  (It's not clear what a "Cyber-megatron" bomb actually is, unless they're sending a Cyber-converted Decepticon at the planet.)  Interestingly, the cliffhanger for episode seven seems to hinge on Vaughn's decision.  "Is this what you wanted?" the Doctor cries.  "To be the ruler of a dead world?"  And we're uncertain as to whether Vaughn will join forces with the Doctor or not.

A Cyberman approaches Vaughn and the Doctor. (The
Invasion Episode Eight) ©BBC

Episode eight does in fact see Vaughn decide to fight the Cybermen alongside the Doctor, but his reasoning is exquisite: "Think of the millions of people on earth who are about to die!" the Doctor cries.  "Appealing to my better nature?" Vaughn replies wryly.  "No.  If I help you it'll be because I hate them... They destroyed my dream."  And so Vaughn and the Doctor fight their way to where the radio beam is guiding the bomb in and switch it off, but not before Vaughn is killed.

But there are still five minutes to fill, so naturally the Cybership comes in closer to drop the bomb off manually.  But Henlow Downs shoots the bomb out of the sky (using that sequence of stock footage a third time), and the Russians' rocket takes care of the ship itself.  The planet is safe from invasion.

In some ways this is deliberately pitched as the definitive invasion story (in case you couldn't tell from the title), but it's really a game of two halves: the first four episodes are all about Vaughn's machinations, while the last four deal with the actual threat of the Cybermen.  If this story succeeds, it's because of Kevin Stoney.  He's so good as Tobias Vaughn that he elevates everything around him.  This may be called The Invasion and ultimately be about the Cybermen invading, but it's really about Vaughn, as he moves from being in supreme control of the situation to helplessness at the hands of the Cybermen.  This is his story, made no clearer than by the fact that the final cliffhanger comes down to his decision, rather than the Doctor being in danger or the world about end (both of which are true at this point, but that's not how it's pitched).

None of this is to say that anyone else lets the side down: it's only his second story as Lethbridge-Stewart, but Nicholas Courtney is already giving a confident, self-assured performance as the head of UNIT.  And everyone else does a fine job as well (with the possssible exception of Sally Faulkner as Isobel, who's often rather broad in her portrayal -- but on the other hand, that's clearly how the script wants her to be).  And it's always good to have a firm hand like Douglas Camfield as director, who keeps everything moving interestingly and excitingly.  Yes, The Invasion is a nicely entertaining story, but when you come right down to it, it's squarely because of Vaughn.  Everything else is secondary to Stoney's masterful performance.