'Doctor Who: The Android Invasion' (1975)


I know I've said this before but I'm indebted to the 'library bus', that used to park up the hill from ours, for keeping me going with 'Doctor Who' books and introducing me to stories that I would never have experienced otherwise. 'The Android Invasion' was one of those books and to be fair, I may well have seen it back in the day but I was around three months old, at the time, so can't really remember... ;o) That's what the DVDs are for though (and maybe, one day, a Britbox subscription) so today has been all about seeing what 'The Android Invasion' was all about and whether it was any good...

When the TARDIS lands in the sleepy village of Devesham, Sarah thinks the Doctor has finally got her home, but all is not as it seems... The village is unusually deserted and deadly white suited spacemen patrol the surrounding countryside. When the dead begin to come back to life, the Doctor knows that something is horribly wrong...

Who is Senior Defence Astronaut Guy Crayford, and why is he in charge of UNIT? And what plan are the alien Kraals carrying out behind the scenes? The invasion of Earth has already begun and if the Doctor can't stop it, mankind will be utterly wiped out.

We've known each other long enough by now for you to know that there is no such thing as a 'Doctor Who' serial that I can't stand. I grew up watching these stories every week and there is still a part of me that just has that sense of wonder about it all. I can't help it, it's just the way I'm wired. There is such a thing though as a serial that will leave me just a little non-plussed and 'The Android Invasion' is one of those I'm afraid.

Which is weird because 'The Android Invasion' has loads of stuff in it that I love. There is nothing more 'Doctor Who' than a creepy English village full of people acting strangely while white suited bodies lurk, ready to fire at you with their index fingers. I loved that and I loved the uncertainty around who's an android and who isn't (best use for ginger beer, finding out who is an android and who isn't) with this being used to good affect in keeping things moving forwards. I even liked the whole idea of the village being used to run experiments prior to the invasion taking place (little hints of 'The Sontaren Experiment' there for me) although once you realise what the actual plan is... were all the experiments actually needed? I'm not sure about that one.

I think what killed it for me, a little, were the Kraal whom I seem to remember being a lot more menacing in the novelisation that I read as a kid. Here, you have these really creepy androids (and you can just tell that the regular cast had a lot of fun playing two sides of the same coin) being controlled by an alien scientist who wasn't all that to be honest. What you do have though is the Doctor and Sarah Jane just being amazing together which makes up for an awful lot. Seriously, the worst 'Doctor Who' story ever (and there's a question...) would just be brilliant for having them in it.

'The Android Invasion' is fun then but maybe doesn't have the punch that it wanted to have. Not a bad story though.

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