The Invisible Enemy: Doctor Who: Season 15
| SYNOPSIS |
| DETAILS |
| CAST & CREW | REVIEWS |
 Goldby |  Grob |  Long |
The Invisible Enemy SYNOPSIS:
After travelling through a space cloud , the Doctor is infected by a virus that feeds on intelligence and takes over the will. He diverts the Tardis to nearby Titan base where most of the crew been affected and taken over as well. The virus rejects Leela and she is seen as a disposable threat.
The invisible enemy is seeking to become more than a virus and not even Leela can now trust the Doctor, whose infection is now showing. He assists her getting the Tardis to a medical asteroid where a Professor Marius attempts to cure him. However the crewmen led by Safran follow and bring many staff under the influence of the nucleus of the swarm.
They want the Doctor as the Nucleus itself is lodged in his head. Before Leela & K9 are knocked out Marius is also possessed he injects cloned copies of the Doctor and Leela, into the Doctor's infected host body to destroy the virus from within. But the Nucleus escapes from it's host body and finally achieves physical existence. But now the Doctor, Marius and K9 have affected a cure that can destroy the Nucleus.
Return to top of page
The Invisible Enemy SERIAL DETAILS:
| Episode | Broadcast | Run Time | Viewership (In Millions) |
| Part One | 1-Oct-77 | 23:09 | 8.6 |
| Part Two | 8-Oct-77 | 25:13 | 7.3 |
| Part Three | 15-Oct-77 | 23:28 | 7.5 |
| Part Four | 22-Oct-77 | 21:22 | 8.3 |
Return to top of page
The Invisible Enemy CAST & CREW
Stars:
The Doctor:
Tom Baker (Fourth Doctor)
Companions:
Louise Jameson (Leela)
John Leeson (K-9 Mk. I)
Guest Stars:
Michael Sheard — Lowe
Frederick Jaeger — Professor Marius
Brian Grellis — Safran
Edmund Pegge — Meeker
Jay Neill — Silvey
Roy Herrick — Parsons
Elizabeth Norman, Nell Curran — Nurses
Jim McManus — Ophthalmologist
Roderick Smith — Cruikshank
Kenneth Waller — Hedges
Pat Gorman — Medic
Anthony Rowlands — Crewman
John Scott Martin — Nucleus
Production Staff for serial 4T:
Writer - Bob Baker & Dave Martin
Director - Derrick Goodwin
Script editor - Robert Holmes
Producer - Graham Williams
Return to top of page
The Invisible Enemy REVIEWS
Goldby
The Invisible Enemy
OK talking prawn aside I really liked this one as well. So there are some seriously dodgy model shots and set effects but think that this was the first story Graham Williams produced in terms of production order. Have always liked more the standout episodes that most TV shows have a variation on - in that something affects the hero physically that either knocks him out of the main action or turns him into the bad guy for most of the story. Here BOTH happen at once.
You wonder how the Doctor will get out of this one because the virus affects the intelligence so there's no way he can actually out think it. The Nucelus was truly worrying while we can't see it, particularly it's ability to take over everyone's mind when contact had been made. Not many times are there when all the good guys have been knocked out by the end of episode 2, including the leads and the bad guys are poised to win. Hmmm the Nucleus was unique though, never heard of a virus being able to affect machinery e.g. when it took over K9 briefly.
Still it points where the show will be going from now on, bigger concepts and more silly science apparent throughout the Invisible Enemy - like mini clones chasing a virus round a time lord's brain and more humour was added with Marius hamming up a Germanic scientist for all it's worth. And a metal dog, who was endearing on his first appearance but sort of got more tiresome as he went on. Yes and right Grob by pure accident we see Leela actually wears a G string under her leather chamois outfit. Hmmmm will say 7/10 as apart from Marius most of the supporting cast are still playing it real like the Hinchcliffe years and not sending it up, not yet anyway.
Grob
We're onto talking prawns now. I don't know what Graham Williams was thinking when he took over from Phillip Hinchcliffe. "Where is my fucking budget?" is one thing that went through his mind. "How can I top Talons of Weng Chiang?" might be another. Well, if audiences loved the authenticity and brilliance of Talons then they are bound to enjoy the hijinks and mirth onboard a medical asteroid with a talking prawn. Yes! The public will be talking about that for years to come! Sure.....hats off to Invisible Enemy everyone.
Dunno what is worse; the prawn with serious designs on itself, the idiocy of the science of the Doctor cloning himself and Leela for a trip inside his own brain, or Tim sending me another email saying "Its a show about a time travelling police box! The science is SUPPOSED to be weird!" Maybe, but C'MON!!! The Doctor and Leela are cloned from a single cell, they are grown instantaneously in a cupboard - fully clothed! - and then shrunk down, injected via a syringe into the Doctor's head and go off to fight a prawn that has taken up residence in his brain. There, they have exactly one episode of Doctor Who to live (how do they breathe by the way?) to defeat said prawn before they expire. The Doctor's head by the way, actually contains a FUCKING DOOR!!!! And killer beach balls!! And when they do find the bloody prawn the cloned Doctor actually stands there for ten minutes yapping to it rather than doing the one thing that he was supposed to come and do in the first place - KILL IT!!! So the thing escapes - via the Doctor's tear duct and goes on the bloody loose. Its more than - as Ross Mack would say; "WHACK!" its "FUCKED!!!"
Invisible Enemy is written, by the way, by Bob Baker and Dave Martin who wrote Hand of Fear which was pretty bloody good. And as per other stories they give us another cool catch phrase to go with "Eldrad must live!" and "The Quest is the quest!" and "Tim is a moron!" - we get "Contact has been made!" Saucy. I actually sued to use that as my opening line when I used to phone girls up to ask them out. Why I am still single is a mystery to me. Neil Barnett makes yet another Doctor Who appearance (see picture) as Professor Marius who invented K9. I can see the appeal the tin dog would have on the kids - even I wanted one when I was ten - but geez it gives one the shits pretty quick doesn't it? Knowing that the production team filmed two endings; one with his going with the Doctor and one with him staying with Neil Barnett, I know I was yelling "NO!!!! Stay with bloody Neil!!" when the professor was offering K9 around like a bowl of nuts at Christmas.
Production-wise, it looks cheap and tacky like a Space 1999 show. The budget was seriously stolen by Phil and Bob and it really shows. But we do get a nice look up Leela's skirt in one shot. Still, its a 2/10. Hey; Invisible Enemy is more watchable than The Space Museum.
Next week, we go from The One With The Talking Prawn to THE ONE WITH THE SLUGS....
Long
I've always liked the Invisible Enemy. Perhaps it's because I don't look at Dr Who like a documentary, but I understand that some people like to "treat it as if it were real"...First and foremost, this story is fun. Just like the episode of Family Guy when Stewie shrinks himself to fly inside Peter to stop impregnating Lois for a fourth time... it's fun! OK, yes, it's silly... especially when compared with some of the previous couple of series, but I don't have any problem with cloning, miniaturizing and injecting into a body to fight the virus... makes perfect sense to me!
As does the threat of the nucleus. OK, the realisation of the nucleus is something that wouldn't look out of place on a BBQ, but my memory of episode 3 is still one of legitimate fear for what it might do to the Doctor... so it's not a physical threat in the same way a classic Who monster is, but it still holds some threat... more than a stretchy piece of skin with a mouth anyway! I like the way the virus effects people too - cotton wool can be effective!
We also get the iconic K9... he can get annoying, but he's still something that is totally unique, and as big a part of Who culture as jelly babies, police boxes and teeth and curls... and he's probably actually at his best in this one! We also get the return of the traditional TARDIS control room... the Mandragora one was classy, but this is what it should be... like a big white... studio!I'm going against the fan boys.
Return from The Invisible Enemy to Dr Who Classic Series
or
Return to the Old TV Shows home page
| Screen Shots:
|
