The Doctor (Jon Pertwee) and Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen)
find London deserted after they return from their latest trip in the TARDIS. London has been evacuated due to mysterious
appearances of dinosaurs that have been roaming the streets. The Doctor searches for the source of these
appearances as the Brigadier and UNIT fend off attacks. They even have to contend with sabotage to their
efforts.
INVASION OF THE DINOSAURS aired during Jon Pertwee's fifth and final year
as the third version of the Doctor. The story is from another excellent script by Malcolm Hulke (this script was to
be his last for DOCTOR WHO). The big problem are the dinosaurs which look very stiff and have gained INVASION
OF THE DINOSAURS with the reputation of the dodgy dinosaur story. The first disc includes the option to
play episode one in black and white (since all copies of the color story are believed to be lost) or in color (using
the revolutionary Color Recovery Process which can bring out the lost color signals from episodes converted to black and white-
with mixed results that works better for some episodes compared to others).
SPECIAL FEATURES:
On disc one is an audio commentary with actors Richard Franklin (Captain Mike Yates), Peter Miles (Professor
Whitaker), Terrance Wilton (Mark), production designer Richard Morris, script editor Terrance Dicks and director Paddy Russell,
as moderated by Toby Hadoke. An additional ten minute audio commentary for episode five with John Levene (Sgt. Benton)
is included on disc two. Still I think the optional production notes subtitle track for the episodes are more entertaining
to read while watching the episodes than listening to the audio commentaries.
Disc two has several features,
four minutes of deleted scenes cut for pacing, a photo gallery, PDF Materials (Radio Times listings that can be
viewed via DVD-ROM on a computer).
PEOPLE, POWER, AND PUPPETRY is a thirty-two minute making-of that covers the
ups and downs of making INVASION OF THE DINOSAURS including the original story line that was changed to INVASION
OF THE DINOSAURS and resulted in the dodgy dinosaur story. The making-of documentary features interviews
with various cast and crew from the story in addition to clips from the story and photos.
NOW AND THEN is a tour of the locations used for the story and showing what they look like
today. Many of the locations haven't changed.
DOCTOR
WHO STORIES: ELISABETH SLADEN Part 1 features the first part of an interview with the actress sometime before her
death as she recounts how she was chosen for the role (she was the replacement since Pertwee didn't approve of the
statuesque actress originally cast for the role) and various stories from her first season as Sarah Jane Smith (including
a prank played on her about needing special CSO underwear for the blue screen scenes).
Also included on
the disc is a short clip from BILLY SMART'S CIRCUS which features an appearance from Jon Pertwee as the Doctor and the infamous
Whomobile (which Pertwee specially made for the series).
FINAL ANALYSIS: Despite some dinosaurs effects that didn't quite work,
INVASION OF THE DINOSAURS is another good DOCTOR WHO story from the Jon Pertwee error despite some logic flaws that can be
forgiven for the sakes of the story.
this DVD review is (c)1-16-2012 David Blackwell and cnanot be reprinted without
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