July 1: Invasion of the Dinosaurs Parts Three & Four

A Tyrannosaurus bursts through a brick wall. (Invasion of
the Dinosaurs Part Three) ©BBC

This could have easily been an episode full of padding, but writer Malcolm Hulke has chosen to turn up the conspiracy elements in part three.  So after a quick intervention by Mike Yates to un-sabotage the Doctor's stun gun and bring the Tyrannosaurus down (which actually is an effect that's rather well done), the story starts to focus on the people working against UNIT.  Mike Yates is obviously conflicted between loyalty towards his new colleagues and his old ones, as he angrily insists that the Doctor isn't to be hurt: "You tried to murder him!  You deliberately materialised a savage monster knowing it would attack him!  ...I warned you I wouldn't have the Doctor harmed."  But despite the assurances of Professor Whitaker and Butler, another attempt to get the Doctor killed is made, when someone goes into where the Tyrannosaurus is being held (which again looks rather good when all it has to do is lie there unconscious) and cuts the chains that are restraining it -- so when Sarah heads into the hangar to take pictures of it, the flash awakens it and it rears up unfettered.  Then, to add to the conspiracy flavor, the exit door has been bolted from the outside, leaving Sarah at the mercy of the dinosaur -- and it's only the timely arrival of the Doctor which frees her.  And while the Doctor's time-field-detecting machine has also been sabotaged, they at least know that there is a conspiracy afoot.

But, pleasingly, it's Sarah, not the Doctor, who works out most of what's going on with the situation.  She's the one who determines that it's Professor Whitaker working to bring dinosaurs into the present day (and continues to believe so, despite the protestations of the Right Honourable Charles Grover that the man was a crank), and who works out that there must be a nuclear generator operating in central London that's simply been made secret (which is why the Brigadier couldn't find any trace of it).  Furthermore, she remembers something about building secret underground bunkers for the government "back in the Cold War days" (so when did the Cold War end in Doctor Who?  The later episode called, er, "Cold War" definitely has it back on again by 1983), and she's smart enough to try and track it down with the help of Charles Grover.  Only it turns out she's too good; she's stumbled right onto the antagonists' base, and Grover is in on the conspiracy too.  We're not quite to the levels of conspiracy that we had in the Malcolm Hulke co-scripted The Ambassadors of Death, but they're doing a nice job of starting to build things up.

And then, in what's really a wonderful cliffhanger, Sarah is hypnotized (or conditioned, or something) and then wakes up in a strange place, where a man named Mark tells her she's on a spaceship.  "We're on our way.  Soon we shall arrive on the planet that's to be our new home...  We left Earth three months ago," he adds, showing Sarah a view out of the window of outer space and a distant planet.

Unfortunately, part four immediately ruins that cliffhanger by cutting to General Finch complaining to the Brigadier and the Doctor about the events that just happened with the Tyrannosaurus back at the hangar -- thus completely ruining the illusion that Sarah's been on board a spaceship for three months.  If they'd run with this a bit (even just up to the point where Sarah feels her head and notices that the wound she suffered in part three is still there) it would have been far more interesting.  But as it is the focus shifts from "what happened?" to "how will she escape?", and all the scenes with Sarah in the meantime become just that little bit less interesting.  Although, considering how they're going to head to a "New Earth" (though presumably not the one with New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York) because of all the problems that humanity caused on the original, it's a bit odd that Ruth wants to get things started by killing Sarah off.  Oh, and look (though probably only of interest to me): our first character on Doctor Who named Adam.

The Doctor in his new car. (Invasion of the Dinosaurs
Part Four) ©BBC

The Doctor, meanwhile, is tooling around London in his brand-new space age car, the Whomobile (though it's never called this on screen).  This was a car specially commissioned by Jon Pertwee, who lobbied Barry Letts to have it show up in the series.  In the event, it only appears here and in Pertwee's last story.  It's pretty eye-catching and, honestly, a bit ridiculous.  However, it does match the third Doctor's personality by this point, so we'll call it an indulgence and let it slide.

This is the episode where the Doctor actually finds the secret base under London, only for the conspiracy to block him when he tries to report it -- and, somewhat oddly, even the Brigadier seems unwilling to believe him.  And yes, the part where the Doctor wanders the base, only for shutters to slam down around him, does feature noticeably wobbly walls, but as you will no doubt have figured out by this point (if you've been watching in order like I have), this is the exception rather than the rule.

But really, that's about it for this episode.  Other than introducing the Whomobile and revealing that General Finch is also in on the conspiracy, this installment seems to be more about treading water than dramatic revelations.  And then, in quite an odd cliffhanger, Professor Whitaker lures the Doctor back to the hangar, where a Stegosaurus then appears -- at which point Finch bursts in and declares, "There's your monster maker, Brigadier.  Caught in the act."  As if simply being present at an appearance was somehow sufficient proof of guilt.