Invasion of the Dinosaurs

Directed by

UK Viewers

11 million

Appreciation Index

Synopsis

The Doctor and Sarah return to London in the present day only to find the city strangely deserted, while nearby UNIT are dealing with a series of monster appearances.

Part Two

First aired

Saturday, January 19, 1974

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Directed by

UK Viewers

10.1 million

Synopsis

The Doctor attempts to solve the mystery of the monster invasion. His first move - the capture of a dinosaur.

Part Three

First aired

Saturday, January 26, 1974

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Directed by

UK Viewers

11 million

Appreciation Index

Synopsis

Yates sabotages the Doctor's equipment to stop him finding the location of Whitaker's base but then the tyrannosaur escapes, placing Sarah in danger.

Part Four

First aired

Saturday, February 2, 1974

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Directed by

UK Viewers

9 million

Synopsis

Sarah attempts to find a way off the spaceship while the Doctor tries to track down the source of the time displacements.

Part Five

First aired

Saturday, February 9, 1974

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Directed by

UK Viewers

9 million

Synopsis

The Doctor has been framed as the monster maker by Finch and is on the run from the army, while Sarah attempts to alert UNIT to what Grover is up to.

Part Six

First aired

Saturday, February 16, 1974

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Directed by

UK Viewers

7.5 million

Appreciation Index

Synopsis

The Doctor is rescued from Finch by the Brigadier and Benton and tries to persuade them to stop Grover before millions of people are erased from history.

Characters

Third Doctor

Jon Pertwee

Sarah Jane Smith

Elisabeth Sladen

How to watch Invasion of the Dinosaurs:

Watch on iPlayer

DVD

U.N.I.T Files (Invasion of the Dinosaurs / The Android Invasion)

VHS

Invasion of the Dinosaurs (VHS)

Reviews
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7 reviews

I love her and her effects a little rocky but she cute

Like Liked 1

Review last edited on 24-11-24

This review contains spoilers!

Not bad, not bad at all. The dynamic going on with Yates is definitely what sticks out most in the story, more so than the limited role of the dinosaurs. It's pretty compelling stuff as Mike clearly wants to do the right thing, but is caught up in this complex situation. The whole idea of environmentalists taking things to far is an old and tired plot thread in fiction, but I'll give Invasion of the Dinosaurs the credit of it being a fairly old story by now when this sort of story wasn't nearly as played out as it is by today's standard. The dinosaurs don't look great, but I would say the bigger disappointment is that it kind of feels like they are more of a background threat compared to the larger conspiracy going on with Operation Golden Age. I'm pretty neutral towards these episodes overall - there's a lot to like but the story feels limited in lots of little ways. Sarah Jane doesn't stand out as much as usual.

Like Liked 1

Review last edited on 22-11-24

This review contains spoilers!

Invasion of the Dinosaurs is thoroughly underrated and in many ways I'm glad, as its taken me twelve years of being a fan before I've seen it, and there is nothing better than watching a wonderful Doctor Who story for the first time.

This story had me on the edge of my seat, the deserted London streets were fantastically shot. The domestic scenes shot on film reminded me of Spearhead from Space (which made me happy). They built up the story with a pleasing, foreboding, dystopian view of a future London. I really enjoyed the first story simply being titled Invasion. I can imagine that this made the dinosaur reveal all the more pleasing to its original audience.

I'll address the dinosaurs "look", as I understand that this seems to be a fixation for most people reviewing it. Personally, I don't understand how you could be a fan of Doctor Who and rely on utterly convincing special effects in order to be able to enjoy it. Regardless, in all honestly I've seen worse and I commend the production team for delivering on a very difficult technical challenge.

Sarah Jane and The Doctor continue to be on fine form, thrown into the action with an attacking pterodactyl. For me, dinosaurs, looting and abandoned streets is real gritty drama! I enjoyed the UNIT soldiers treating The Doctor and Sarah Jane as thieves - Jon Pertwee particularly suits acting out these scenes with righteous indignation. I laughed hard at "so much about honour among thieves". This is the Third Doctor I really enjoy watching, as opposed to the boring "this wine is of an excellent vintage" persona we see plenty of in his third and fourth seasons.

I praised The Green Death for its inventive use of the UNIT regulars. Invasion of the Dinosaurs takes this a step further - after returning from a leave of absence Mike Yates chooses to betray UNIT and The Doctor whilst managing to not lose sight of the character that we are familiar with. The character always believes he is doing the right thing and acting in a way which will benefit his friends in the long run. This creates an interesting tension scenes such as where he had to interfere with The Doctor's plans undetected.

There were so many things going on in this story, when Sarah arrived on the fake spaceship travelling to new Earth I was struck by yet another brilliant element being thrown into the mix - admittedly it didn't keep up this pace for the latter half of the story.

Perhaps the most interesting element was the idea of left wing values being taken to an undesirable extreme. The misguided travelers find themselves part of a global conspiracy to stop pollution by any means possible - in this case removing nearly all of modern humanity from existence by moving the Earth back in time! Why they had to go all the way back to dinosaur times is not addressed - but it made for an interesting setting!

Like Liked 1

Review last edited on 14-11-24

Another day, another Malcolm Hulke banger. This man WILL not miss.

Like Liked 2

Review last edited on 12-09-24

This has a good script, about ideological cultism and doomerism, and to my eyes, white supremacy and genocide. I don't read it as having an anti-environmental message at all (even before the Doctor's little speech at the end), but rather a warning about how easy it is for people across political and ideological lines to fall into fascism. And despite Lis Sladen's sense that Sarah was too passive in it, I think it shows her as a really strong character, largely by keeping her separate from the Doctor. We also see some of her journalism background at work.

It is, however, too damn long. Four episodes, omitting some of Sarah's and the Doctor's repeated captures and escapes, would have been much more suitable.

Like Liked 3

Review last edited on 20-08-24