Stories Television Doctor Who Season 11 Serial: 1 2 3 4 5 Invasion of the Dinosaurs 1 image Overview Episodes Characters How to Watch Reviews 10 Statistics Related Stories Quotes 2 Transcript Overview First aired Saturday, January 12, 1974 Production Code WWW Written by Malcolm Hulke Directed by Paddy Russell Runtime 150 minutes Time Travel Present Tropes (Potential Spoilers!) Dinosaurs, Milkman, Reverse the polarity, Stranded on Earth, The Doctor’s Name, Time Eddy, Time Travel Pivotal Story Arc (Potential Spoilers!) Working for UNIT, Yates' rebellion Inventory (Potential Spoilers!) Whomobile Location (Potential Spoilers!) Earth, England, London Synopsis The Third Doctor and Sarah arrive in 1970s London to find it has been evacuated because dinosaurs have appeared mysteriously. As the line between friends and enemies wavers, the Doctor soon discovers the dinosaurs are being brought to London via a time machine to further a plan to revert Earth back to a pre-technological "Golden Age"... Watch Watched Favourite Favourited Add Review Edit Review Log a repeat Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Owned Save to my list Saved Edit date completed Custom Date Release Date Archive (no date) Save 6 Episodes Part One First aired Saturday, January 12, 1974 Runtime 25 minutes Written by Malcolm Hulke Directed by Paddy Russell UK Viewers 11 million Appreciation Index 62 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 Malcolm Hulke Directed by Paddy Russell 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 Malcolm Hulke Directed by Paddy Russell UK Viewers 11 million Appreciation Index 63 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 Malcolm Hulke Directed by Paddy Russell 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 Malcolm Hulke Directed by Paddy Russell 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 Malcolm Hulke Directed by Paddy Russell UK Viewers 7.5 million Appreciation Index 62 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. Show All Episodes Characters Third Doctor Jon Pertwee Sarah Jane Smith Elisabeth Sladen The Brigadier Nicholas Courtney John Benton John Levene Mike Yates Richard Franklin Dinosaurs Show All Characters (6) 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 Add Review Edit Review Sort: Date (Newest First) Date (Oldest First) Likes (High-Low) Likes (Low-High) Rating (High-Low) Rating (Low-High) Word count (High-Low) Word count (Low-High) Username (A-Z) Username (Z-A) Spoilers First Spoilers Last 10 reviews 26 April 2025 · 55 words Review by VoRus1 2 Malcolm Hulke's final script for Doctor Who is a certified banger. Delightful story, very reminicent of The Ambassadors of Death which is a very high mark for me. Dinosaurs are so great, it's crazy - i know everyone says they look cheap but i do not care, they were brilliant, just like a kaiju movie VoRus1 View profile Like Liked 2 14 March 2025 · 37 words Review by Azurillkirby 2 I wasn't sure about this story at first, but I liked it more and more as it went on. The conflict is surprisingly compelling. I also really like the cute, cheap dinosaur suits. :) A. Maybe A+. #KirbyDW Azurillkirby View profile Like Liked 2 29 December 2024 · 132 words Review by Carter_S 2 This story was pretty good. The actual story was very nice, if a bit badly paced. That being said, I think it could've used a bit more explaining. Most of the cliffhangers are just the Doctor facing a dinosaur, but overall, I quite enjoyed them, for reasons I'll get into later. Pertwee, Sladen, and Courtney are on point here, as is the rest of the UNIT crew. I enjoyed how they got the feeling of not knowing who was on the Doctor's side, and that twist would've surprised me, if I had no prior knowledge of this story. I enjoyed the settings, and the Dinosaurs. Dear Lord, the Dinosaurs. They. Were. Terrible. I love them all with my whole heart. Overall, a very great story to put on that's hard to fault. Carter_S View profile Like Liked 2 24 November 2024 · 12 words Review by Rock_Angel 2 I love her and her effects a little rocky but she cute Rock_Angel View profile Like Liked 2 22 November 2024 · 172 words Review by dema1020 Spoilers 2 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. dema1020 View profile Like Liked 2 Show All Reviews (10) Open in new window Statistics AVG. Rating442 members 3.80 / 5 Trakt.tv AVG. Rating496 votes 3.70 / 5 Member Statistics Watched 826 Favourited 111 Reviewed 10 Saved 6 Skipped 1 Related Stories The Blogs of Doom Robinson Rating: 2.58 Story Skipped Short Story Reviews(1) More Actions View Sets Close Related Sets Set of Stories: The Blogs of Doom Add Review Edit Review Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Save to my list Saved Other adaptations of this story: We define an adaptation as a recreation of a similar story but on a different medium or with different characters. Target Collection Doctor Who and the Dinosaur Invasion Rating: 3.75 Story Skipped Book Reviews(1) More Actions View Sets Close Related Sets Set of Stories: Target Collection Add Review Edit Review Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Save to my list Saved Quotes Add Quote Link to Quote Favourite SARAH: It's weird seeing London like this. All those deserted streets. YATES: I rather like it. YATES: Have you noticed the air? SARAH: Hmm? YATES: It's clean. No cars, no people. Do you know yesterday I saw a fox in Piccadilly? SARAH: And nightingales in Berkeley Square? YATES: It's not impossible. SARAH: No. No, I like London the way it was, traffic jams and all. YATES: Yes, I expect you're right. — Invasion of the Dinosaurs Show All Quotes (2) Open in new window Transcript Needs checking Part One [A London park] (Welcome to an eerily quiet London. The Albert Embankment, the Cenotaph, Trafalgar Square, the West End, Old Billingsgate, Smithfield, everywhere that there is usually humanity moving all hours of the day or night are empty. A dog sniffs around a car where the driver's door has been left open. A milk float is abandoned, with a smashed milk bottle and the money bag lying on the pavement. Children's toys are left alone in the grass. The quiet is shattered by the TARDIS materialising.) SARAH: It seems to be all right.DOCTOR: Well, I told you I'd get you back home safely, didn't I?SARAH: We set off from the Research Centre.DOCTOR: Well, there's no point in going back there. No, I set course for UNIT HQ.SARAH: Well, this isn't UNIT HQ.DOCTOR: The space time coordinates were a bit out, that's all. We can't be far away.SARAH: So where are we?DOCTOR: Somewhere in London.SARAH: And when?DOCTOR: Well, when we left. Give or take a few weeks.SARAH: It's not the nineteenth century or the twenty first?DOCTOR: My dear Sarah, you are perfectly safe. Now all we've got to do now is go and find a telephone and ring the Brigadier. (The sound of a tree crashing to the ground.) Show Full Transcript Open in new window
