Doctor Who (TV Series) The Invisible Enemy: Part One (1977) User Reviews

Episode 1, very good indeed.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 14 January 2019]

I'm watching this for the first time in a very long while, it's one of the stories I have very little love for, but I watch with an open mind. I will review each episode individually, as I believe there to be a huge disparity between the first two, and the last two

Part one, is actually very, very good. It's real space horror, it has a very creepy, uncomfortable vibe, the malevolent force is sinister, and gives the fear of the unknown. The model shots, I thought were pretty good, better obviously on a smaller television. The duo of Tom and Leela is terrific.

Tom is particularly brilliant, when he's possessed and hunting Leela, he truly is terrifying, and very cold. Michael Sheward is great also.

Really impressed by Part 1, I always laugh that there's a character called Meeker. It makes me think of Rentaghost, and from memory I remember parts 3 and 4 resembling that show, but time will tell.

Off to a flyer. 8/10

The Doctor's fantastic voyage

[jamesrupert2014 · 8/10 · 7 March 2016]

The Doctor and Leela battle a virulent space swarm capable of taking over the minds of man and machine with just a static-y glance. As usual, the demands of the story greatly exceeds the resources of the production, especially when the Doctor and his companion are cloned, miniaturised and injected into the 'real' doctor's brain to hunt down and destroy a sentient viral invader (that looks something like a giant crayfish). Never-the-less, scenes like the shuttle landing on Titan, with Saturn looming overhead, however dodgy, are why I love science fiction films of any vintage and budget. The acting is generally good (albeit many of the secondary characters speak most of their lines in the standard monotone of the possessed), the doctor is at his cranky and supercilious best, and Louise Jameson gets develop her Leela the huntress character more than usual. As a bonus, we get K9's origin story, which actually explains why it (he, she?) looks like a dog. A fun episode that's best enjoyed at the moment (as it does not really stand up to post-hoc scrutiny).

Pretty good.

[invisibleunicornninja · 7/10 · 16 April 2018]

Ignoring the cheap sets, this is one of the better episodes of Doctor Who. Its clever and original. The story is weird but fun. The actors are all great. I'd recommend this episode - especially if you're a fan of the show.

Giant rubber shrimp conquers space

[antiprice · 20 April 2006]

This is a truly underrated episode of Doctor Who. Most Whovians will only give props to this sparkling ep because of the debut of K-9. Personally, I never thought he brought anything worthy to the series. This ep has a unique quality in that we get a guided tour of the Doctor's mind. Although it's just fuzzy orbs and lights, there is a heightened sense of presentation that could have been seen in Planet of the Spiders. Tom Baker carries himself confidently through a diseased mind and actually feels at home! Fond memories swirl around me when I reflect upon this misunderstood gem. The highlight is the reveal of the enemy as a giant shrimp in a wheelchair. Anybody who is a fan of this show from the get-go obviously must understand that Doctor Who made the most of very little. Having said that, this ep has everything that a Whovian needs. I think that most Briti-files expect some highly theatrical flamboyance to their experience (a la Black Adder or Keeping up Appearances). This is your classic monster fest. All the haters can eat a wet sock monkey. I loved it and can only hope that this makes a splashing debut on DVD some day. My sole two complaints lie in that K-9 has never been a strong character and that this is only available on the End of the Universe collection of VHS tapes. Along with Megalos, this is a mandatory ep to view with a bowl of popcorn (or medicinal herb).

The Pharaohs Were Right...

[Xstal · 7/10 · 3 July 2022]

Laurence Scarman has been resurrected, he's made it to Titan from Mars unaffected, where hairs start to sprout, around eyes and round snout, a contagious force, has connected, infected.

What is visible is the increased aim for comedy and a drop from top quality of Seasons 12 to 14.

[A_Kind_Of_CineMagic · 8/10 · 12 January 2015]

Review of all 4 episodes:

This story is not awful at all but is clearly a change in general direction for the series and not a good one. The first 2 parts are not bad at all but show clearly the start of the more humour based, lightweight story writing that was forced upon the series by bosses. Parts 1 and 2 fall into what I would term as the category 'quite fun and enjoyable with plenty of good aspects but not at all outstanding by Doctor Who's very high standards': 7.5/10. Part 3 then falls quite a lot further down into the category of rather silly and disappointing by Doctor Who standards: 4/10 and Part 4 is rather too jokey and flimsy, not too bad but below the expected level for the show: 6/10.

The story is a space adventure in which the TARDIS is infiltrated by 'the swarm', an alien intelligence that wishes to spread itself across the universe. The arrival of K-9, the robot dog who becomes The Doctor's companion is notable and K-9 is enjoyable in his debut. The line saying "I hope he is TARDIS trained" and a few other moments regarding him are examples of the sillier humour creeping in though. The idea of cloning and shrinking the Doctor and Leela then wandering about inside the Doctor's body to fight the virus is overly ambitious with limitations of effects and is not convincing (an idea re-used to rather better standards in 'Into the Dalek' in 2014). This journey inside the body and the rather embarrassing giant shrimp-like swarm nucleus are the low points.

The script and production is not bad but following more than three years of such amazing high quality it stands out as less high standard. There are some decent effects such as the spaceship coming in to land in Part 1 but also some really bad effects, some funny lines and some cringe-making ones, some good ideas and some problematic ones, some good sets and costume ideas and some unimpressive costumes/make-up, some nice touches and some clumsy bits. Overall a below par adventure but not really poor.

My ratings: Parts 1 & 2 - 7.5/10, Part 3 - 4/10, Part 4 - 6/10.

A highly entertaining and fun story

[DoctorThotcer · 8/10 · 31 December 2019]

Seeing this for the first time, thanks to BritBox, I must say it's rather a forgotten gem.

The story is convoluted, the main action a bit silly, and the sets, costumes and effects vary wildly from nicely realised to blummin ridiculous, sometimes in the same scene, but there's model work a-plenty, big silver spaceships, timelord trans-dimensional trickery, the very first appearance of K9, and a giant alien prawn with aspirations far beyond being tossed in any Thousand Island dressing.

It's not a particularly sciencey bit of science fiction, but it's certainly entertaining.

The Rot Is Starting To Set In

[Theo Robertson · 5/10 · 31 October 2013]

Landing on the Titan satellite base the Doctor is shocked to discover it has been infiltrated by an alien presence in the form of a virus . Very soon the Doctor finds himself as a host for this virus

This is a story at feels more at home in a Hinchcliffe produced story . It's very derivative being obviously inspired by Nigel Kneale especially QUATERMASS 2 which is what one might expect from the slightly post modernist script editing from Bob Holmes who also wrote his own remake Spearhead From Space in 1970 . and let's not forget the line " Contact has been made " is a direct reference to the original THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT

The problem is that the rot of the Williams era is quickly starting to set in on a visual level even at this early stage . With Hinchcliffe you'd expect him to push the boat out where the horror element is involved where as here they're constantly undermined by rather poor production values . The make up on the possessed humans is rather distracting and let's not mince words in saying the final appearance of the Nucleus is one of the most poorly realised aliens in the history of British television and the cast deserve some credit for appearing in those scenes without collapsing in to fits of hysterical laughter . The more dead pan these scenes become the more unintentionally funny they are . Compare this to the not dissimilar BLAKES 7 episode Star One to see how a alien infiltration story should be done . That said one should also remember that Williams was under pressure to cut out the horror and violence from the show so one should give him the benefit of the doubt and some of the model work is impressive

It's also the story that introduced K9 to the show and straight from its debut story it shows the limitations of this robotic character that it can't travel faster than crawling speed and has to be on a smooth studio floor . Interesting that it constantly got written out in every story requiring location filming and with hindsight one is puzzled as to how it remained in the show for almost three years