‘THE INVASION OF TIME’

Please feel free to comment on the review.

On Gallifrey with Vardans, Sontarans, the Fourth Doctor, Leela and K-9
by Tim Bradley and Timelord007

Tim Bradley:
So, here we are on… Hey, will you stop that?!

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Tim and Timelord007 struggle, as they fight over possession of Tim’s Season 15 Blu-ray box set of ‘Doctor Who’.

Timelord007:
GIVE IT TO ME!

Tim Bradley:
Look, this is my copy of the Season 15 Blu-ray box set of ‘Doctor Who’. Get your own!

Timelord007:
I can’t review the story if I can’t see it! The least you can do is share!

Tim Bradley:
You have your own copy of ‘The Invasion of Time’ on DVD. Use that whilst we’re doing the updated review.

Timelord007:
But the Blu-ray version is superior, isn’t it? It’s got the CGI effects option, hasn’t it?

Tim Bradley:
The DVD version has the CGI effects option too, you know. They just transferred it from the DVD to the Blu-ray in the box set.

Timelord007:
(abruptly calms down) Okay, okay! I’ll hold my DVD copy of ‘The Invasion of Time’ whilst you hold your Season 15 Blu-ray box set. We’ll see if there’s a difference between the two versions as we review the story.

Tim Bradley:
That suits me fine.

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Tim holds his copy of the Season 15 Blu-ray box set of ‘Doctor Who’ whilst Timelord007 holds his copy of ‘The Invasion of Time’ on DVD.

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Timelord007:
I feel stupid holding my ‘Invasion of Time’ DVD.

Tim Bradley:
Well, you were the one that started it.

Timelord007:
Let’s get on with the review, shall we?

Tim Bradley:
Yeah, agreed. We’ll be here all day if we keep on like this.

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Tim Bradley:
So, here we are on the season finale of Season 15 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. This is what we’ve been building up to in Tom Baker’s fourth season as the Fourth Doctor and Graham Williams’ first season as producer of the classic TV series. 🙂 This is ‘The Invasion of Time’ and it’s a six-part story.

Timelord007:
Ah, yes! The six parter to end Season 15 on. The original story featured tinfoil aliens called Vardans, a cockney-sounding Sontaran, the last two episodes have the Doctor running in an unused hospital, Tom Baker goes all evil and shouty for a while, and Leela falls in love with somebody for about five minutes.

Tim Bradley:
Those are just some of the elements that Timelord has mentioned about this story. What about the actual ‘Invasion of Time’? Is it good and worthy as a season finale? And is the story improved in its CGI effects version on DVD and Blu-ray compared to the original transmitted version on DVD and Blu-ray?

Timelord007:
Spoilers alert, there’s not much difference.

Tim Bradley:
(slightly annoyed) Come on, Timelord, don’t be like that. You’re spoiling it for the audience out there.

Timelord007:
I’m only saying as it is. It can’t be helped if you speak the truth, can it?

Tim Bradley:
(wryly) I’m so glad I’ve got you to help me out on this updated review.

Timelord007:
(smugly) I know. I’m just that kind of charming guy who knows how to help.

Tim Bradley:
(sighs) The first time I saw ‘The Invasion of Time’ was when I received the ‘Doctor Who’ story for my birthday in May 2008. I was a young ‘Doctor Who’ fan back then. I was looking forward to checking out this ‘Doctor Who’ story. I hoped it would be an exciting Sontaran fest set on Gallifrey featuring our heroes.

Sadly, it didn’t turn out like that, which was very disappointing. The Sontarans only appear in the last two episodes of the story instead of most of it. I’ve made up for the disappointment over the years by writing my own ‘Doctor Who’ story featuring the Sontarans, which I’ve called ‘The Stockbridge Terror’.

Timelord007:
I still haven’t found time to check out more of your ‘Doctor Who’ stories, Tim, including that one.

Tim Bradley:
It’s okay, Timelord. They’re still waiting for you to check them out whenever you want to.

Timelord007:
Oh, good. That’s great to know.

Tim Bradley:
Originally, ‘The Invasion of Time’ wasn’t going to be the season finale to Season 15 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. The story was actually a last-minute entry as the finale. Originally, the show’s script editor Anthony Read had commissioned a completely different six-part adventure altogether. 😐

That story was called ‘The Killer Cats of Geng Singh’ and would have been written by David Weir, who was an old colleague of Anthony Read’s in the past. Unfortunately, David Weir failed to meet the script deadlines, and it was decreed the story would have been very expensive to produce, which is a shame.

Timelord007:
And from what I’ve read, according to the DVD notes I’ve got, the story would have required a stadium full of cat people. Can you imagine the nightmare of that? And this was all before ‘Survival’ happened!

Tim Bradley:
So instead, we have ‘The Invasion of Time’, a six-part story by David Agnew, who makes his first contribution to the ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. David Agnew would later contribute to ‘Doctor Who’ again for his superb story ‘City of Death’ in Season 17. And he later wrote the short story ‘Playing with Toys’…

Timelord007:
(interrupts) Err, Tim? You do know David Agnew isn’t a real person, right?

Tim Bradley:
What are you talking about, of course he’s real. I mean, I know he hasn’t done any interviews, but he has written for more than just ‘Doctor Who’. He’s written for shows like ‘Play for Today’, ‘Playhouse’ and ‘Target’. And apparently, according to Terrance Dicks, David Agnew is a nice friend of Robin Bland.

Timelord007:
No, seriously, Tim. David Agnew does not exist! It might shock and surprise you to know this, but ‘The Invasion of Time’ is actually by the script editor Anthony Read and was script-edited by the producer Graham Williams. ‘David Agnew’ was a pseudonym to cover up the identities of the two guys involved.

Tim Bradley:
(gradually) Well, yes, of course, I did know that, thank you very much. I’m not that stupid.

Timelord007:
Also, Tim, ‘Robin Bland’ is a pseudonym for Terrance Dicks when he wrote ‘The Brain of Morbius’ before it got rewritten by Robert Holmes. Surely, you knew that too.

Tim Bradley:
(annoyed) Yes, yes, I know, I know, Timelord. I was trying to make a joke out of the situation. Clearly, you’ve missed it and ruined the joke for us already!

Timelord007:
(sighs) Anyway, to talk about the story’s plot, ‘The Invasion of Time’ sees Tom Baker’s Doctor and his companion, Louise Jameson as Leela, arrive on the Doctor’s home world of Gallifrey. The Doctor unexpectedly, but legally, claims the title of President of the High Council of the Time Lords of Gallifrey.

Tim Bradley:
Something which he previously claimed for a bit in the Season 14 story ‘The Deadly Assassin’. ‘The Invasion of Time’, in many ways, is a sequel to ‘The Deadly Assassin‘. This in terms of the story’s setting: Gallifrey, the costumes and the set designs, which are mostly borrowed from ‘The Deadly Assassin’. 🙂

Timelord007:
However, the Doctor acts very aggressively, bordering on madness. As soon as he is sworn in as President and given access to the Matrix – the repository for all knowledge of the Time Lords – the Doctor’s first act is to have his companion, Leela, banished to the wastelands, outside of the Citadel.

The wastelands are where the outcast Gallifreyans make their dwellings. Meanwhile, the Doctor sets about dismantling the defensive barrier around Gallifrey, as he seems to be aiding an alien race called the Vardans to conquer Gallifrey and control time. Is there more to the situation than meets the eye?

Tim Bradley:
Seriously, Timelord?

Timelord007:
Sorry, I couldn’t help adding a little ‘Transformers’ pun.

Tim Bradley:
(sighs) When released on DVD in 2008, ‘The Invasion of Time’ was given a 2-disc set. The story was on Disc 1 and the special features were on Disc 2. Now, ‘The Invasion of Time’ is mostly released on a single Blu-ray disc with the special features from the 2-disc DVD set transferred to the Blu-ray itself. 🙂

In terms of story structure, the first four episodes set on Gallifrey are about the Doctor becoming the Time Lord President and letting the Vardans invade. We don’t see the Sontarans until the end of ‘Part Four’ where they invade Gallifrey, and we have some of the last two episodes take place in the TARDIS.

Timelord007:
And it’s mostly the Doctor, his friends and the Sontarans running around in circles in an unused hospital – which, apparently, is St. Anne’s Hospital in Redhill in Surrey. There’s no real reason for why the TARDIS corridors look like they belong to an unused hospital and why we’re going around in circles.

Tim Bradley:
I would have preferred it if the Sontarans had featured as the main enemy in all six episodes of the story. Not have the Vardans be the enemy for the first four episodes and then have the Sontarans appear in the last two episodes. I appreciate the surprise factor, but it wasn’t what I had hoped for. 😐

When I did ‘The Stockbridge Terror’, I switched it around by having the Sontarans appear in the last four episodes of the six-part story instead of just appearing for mostly the last two episodes. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t dislike ‘The Invasion of Time’ as a ‘Doctor Who’ story, as I greatly enjoyed seeing it.

But when you set expectations like that on the DVD cover for people who want to check out this story, then it’s going to be a pain at the receiving end when you realise your expectations of this TV adventure were misplaced. I’m sure that wasn’t the intention, but it was what I felt like at the time. 😐

Timelord007:
I remember first seeing ‘The Invasion of Time’ on those UK Gold omnibus repeats that were shown on a Sunday morning. I thought it was an average story at the time. I remember enjoying the story until the climax of ‘Part Four’ before it went downhill with the running around in TARDIS/hospital corridors.

I also recall my parents buying me the story on VHS from Woolworths, which I saw when I was laid up in bed with bronchitis. The original ‘Invasion of Time’ VHS release had two VHS tapes. That’s three episodes per tape. Remember those bulky things you had to rewind once you’d played them through?

Tim Bradley:
Oh, yes. Those were the days when I was growing up in the 1990s watching VHS tapes as a kid and recording my favourite TV shows on VHS tapes. I’m amazed those aren’t with us anymore and they’ve been replaced by DVD and Blu-ray. I’ve shared my own video memories in a blog post not so long ago.

Timelord007:
Then of course, I purchased the 2-disc DVD set upon release in 2008 with the new CGI effects option. I must admit, I like the CGI effects option version of the story, as the look of the Vardans is greatly improved compared to their tinfoil appearance. And the DVD extras are great value in added material.

Tim Bradley:
The Blu-ray extras also add great value to ‘The Invasion of Time’, especially the ‘Behind the Sofa’ item featuring contributors like Sarah Sutton, Colin Baker and Janet Fielding. I greatly enjoyed Sarah’s reactions to ‘The Invasion of Time’, even if she, Colin and Janet were viewing just the story’s highlights.

Timelord007:
(ruefully) Ah, yes. Let it be said: the only reason the classic ‘Doctor Who’ Blu-ray box sets keep Tim happy is because Sarah Sutton is in the ‘Behind the Sofas’. It’s not like the stories are the main priority.

Tim Bradley:
Incidentally, I’m not really one for Gallifrey stories in ‘Doctor Who’. I get confused when I see a story set on Gallifrey and we delve into Time Lord politics. But it’s nice to have a lighter depiction of Gallifrey in ‘The Invasion of Time’ compared to the darker, moodier depiction featured in ‘The Deadly Assassin’.

I enjoyed the humorous moments where the Time Lords chatted and bickered amongst each other. Some of the humour in ‘The Invasion of Time’ is encouraged by the story’s director Gerald Blake. This is his second ‘Doctor Who’ story to direct. The first story he directed was ‘The Abominable Snowmen’.

Timelord007:
For me, Gallifrey reminds me of when I used to see ‘Westminster Live’, which was shown on BBC Two from 1989 to 2002. The politicians would talk utter nonsense among themselves as they bicker and complain. I could easily imagine someone like Teresa May being a Gallifreyan cardinal in those scenes.

(shudders) Ugh! That’s an image I want to quickly erase from my memory. Tim, pass me the mind probe!

Tim Bradley:
(confused) Wouldn’t it be better to think of someone like Rishi Sunak as a Gallifreyan cardinal? Or Sir Keir Starmer? Or President Donald Trump?

Timelord007:
Well, she was Prime Minister when we originally reviewed this story. (Pause; impatiently) Just give me the mind probe, will you?!

Tim Bradley:
Okay, as you wish. Here you go. Here’s the mind probe.

Timelord007:
Thanks, mate!

Timelord007 takes the mind probe from Tim and puts it on his head, switching it on. A moment of silence ensues.

Timelord007:
(sighs; contented) Ah, that’s better. Now, where was I? (thinks; realises) Ah, yes! Whilst nothing gets done on Gallifrey, leaving it to someone else to save the day, I can truly understand why the Doctor left his home world to seek adventure. Because as a whole; Gallifrey is bound to be a very boring place.

Tim Bradley:
It’s fascinating how the concepts of Gallifrey introduced in ‘The Deadly Assassin’, including Rassilon and the Matrix of Gallifrey, are explored further in ‘The Invasion of Time’. Granted, the scripting of ‘The Invasion of Time’ was all done in a rush, but it’s intriguing how it’s developed upon in this TV story.

Timelord007:
I love Tom Baker’s performance as the Fourth Doctor in ‘The Invasion of Time’. His incarnation of the usual bonkers eccentric makes way for a darker and more sinister Doctor, as he slowly seems to be losing his grip on reality. You’re never sure what’s going on in his mind, especially in that first episode.

The Doctor’s banishment of Leela in ‘Part Two’ is outright cold, and his rage when unleashed during a particular scene with Borusa in ‘Part One’ is so unsettling. Tom plays the role of the Fourth Doctor very convincingly, as the story hints on how the Doctor could be, if he ever truly turned evil, which is chilling.

Tim Bradley:
Yeah, Tom Baker is great as the Doctor in this adventure! Seeing him behave very strangely did make me feel uneasy, and it terrified me when I saw him having fits of anger at certain points in the story. There are moments though that I quite like where Tom’s Doctor is allowed to have humour in the tale.

This includes scenes where Tom’s Doctor takes out a bag of jelly babies from his coat pocket and he offers one to Commander Andred. It’s so funny how that scene’s played out between Tom Baker and Chris Tranchell as their characters, especially when Andred gets given the whole bag of jelly babies. 😀

I also enjoyed those moments in ‘Part Six’ of the story where the Doctor, Leela and Rodan are on the run from the Sontarans, and they get lost in the TARDIS. The Doctor even trips up on his scarf at one point, which made me laugh. 😀 The Doctor’s fourth wall breaking moments can also be very amusing.

Doctor:  Even the sonic screwdriver won’t get me out of this one.

Timelord007:
I didn’t really appreciate the fourth wall antics shown in this story. I mean, the Doctor does it twice. First with the “Even the sonic screwdriver won’t get me out of this one!” line, and then him grinning towards the camera by the story’s conclusion. Seriously, is he looking at us when he’s doing that or not?

Tim Bradley:
Yeah, even I have to admit that the Doctor looking at us at the story’s end is pretty weird. But at least after the first time he broke the fourth wall in ‘Part Two’, he gets to say a line to help him open a door.

Doctor: There’s nothing more useless than a lock with a voice print.

Timelord007:
Please stop!

Tim Bradley:
Apparently, Tom Baker smiled at us at the end of each season in the Graham Williams era of ‘Doctor Who’. He did this at the end of ‘The Invasion of Time’, the end of ‘The Armageddon Factor’, and the end of ‘Shada’ (both the 1992 version and the 2017/2021 version). I’m amazed I didn’t notice that before.

Timelord007:
Probably seen into his future of becoming Sir Tom Baker. Or getting his MBE in December 2024.

Tim Bradley:
Probably, yes. (Pause) Perhaps you’d better talk about Louise Jameson as Leela, Timelord.

Timelord007:
Fair enough. (clears throat) When it comes to talking about Louise Jameson as Leela, for the most part, I thought she was given a decent storyline, barring her departure scene. Louise gets to show Leela’s strength and vulnerability throughout, as she rallies the Gallifreyan outcasts to help rescue the Doctor.

This is a ‘Doctor Who’ story that demonstrates Leela’s strength as a fierce warrior by taking up arms in battle. It also demonstrates her when she’s quite dismayed and heartbroken at being treated appallingly by the Doctor. This is especially once he has Leela banished to the wastelands in ‘Part Two’.

Tim Bradley:
For me, ‘The Invasion of Time’ was the first time…. (laughs) Crikey, that rhymes. I’d forgotten I did that when I did the original review on this story back in 2017…

Timelord007:
(interrupts) You were saying?

Tim Bradley:
Anyway, back on track. ‘The Invasion of Time’ was my first encounter with Louise Jameson as Leela as a ‘Doctor Who’ companion. It’s quite ironic having seen her other TV adventures and listened to the Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’, that the first time I saw her in the TV series was her swansong story.

I’ve met Louise Jameson at many conventions over the years and have greatly enjoyed interacting with her and sharing with her how much I’ve enjoyed Leela in ‘Doctor Who’, both on TV and audio. I greatly appreciate Louise’s commitment and dedication in playing Leela on TV and in the audio stories.

She certainly does play Leela very well for the majority of this ‘Doctor Who’ story. I like that even though she’s been banished by the Doctor, she has this belief her friend would never turn out to be a traitor and she’ll continue to stand by him. Leela even says this to Rodan in ‘Part Three’ of the TV story.

Leela: No, if the Doctor wished me banished, it was for a reason.
Rodan: Reason dictates the Doctor is a traitor.
Leela: Never!
Rodan: Reason dictates.
Leela: Then reason is a liar!
Rodan: And if I am right?
Leela: Then I am wrong, and I will face the consequence.

Timelord007:
Let’s talk about K-9 for a bit, voiced by John Leeson. K-9 is great in this ‘Doctor Who’ adventure and is given a fair amount to do. It’s strange how likeable this robot dog is, which is all down to John Leeson’s excellent voicing of the character. Usually, I wouldn’t be for characters like this, but K-9 is pretty good.

Tim Bradley:
Yes, K-9 is pretty good in this ‘Doctor Who’ story and I like how John Leeson gets to voice him in this. Although, K-9 can be pretty noisy when he’s in the TARDIS and when he’s moving about on all wheels. That’s with the Mark I model, incidentally. Thankfully, things improved with Mark II in the next season.

I enjoyed the first scene between K-9 and Leela at the story’s beginning when the Doctor is absent attending to the Vardans aboard their spaceship. It was so funny when Leela found K-9 seemingly sulking, as Leela coos him out of his…mood, I guess…by tickling under his chin and K-9 lifts his head. 🙂

Leela: K-9, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to shout at you.
K-9: Apologies are not necessary.
Leela: No, no, no, of course they’re not.

It’s interesting that K-9 seems to be working with the Doctor a lot in the first four episodes of ‘The Invasion of Time’ and they seem to be in the know about what’s going on with the Vardans. I liked that moment when the Doctor told K-9 to get off his foot just as she was about to leave the TARDIS. 🙂

Doctor: Can I have a few moments to get away, please?
K-9: Affirmative.
Doctor: And will you get off my foot, please?
K-9: Affirmative.

Timelord007:
The guest cast includes John Arnatt as Chancellor Borusa. John Arnatt is amazing as Borusa in this ‘Doctor Who’ story. He comes across as both charming and likeable, and he shares a wonderful chemistry with Tom Baker. To this day, he’s my absolute favourite incarnation of the Borusa character.

Tim Bradley:
Yeah, I like John Arnatt as Borusa. The character was previously played by Angus MacKay in ‘The Deadly Assassin’. I like how John Arnatt plays Borusa compared to other actors who’ve played him, as he’s always thinking about what’s going on, even when the Doctor is behaving rather oddly in the tale.

Timelord007:
There’s Milton Johns as Castellan Kelner. Milton Johns previously played Benik in ‘The Enemy of the World’ and Guy Crayford in ‘The Android Invasion’. His performance as the manipulative Castellan Kelner is very similar in style to his two previous ‘Doctor Who’ characters, but it’s decent, nevertheless.

Tim Bradley:
I’ve seen Milton Johns in episodes of BBC sitcoms like ‘The Good Life’ and ‘Ever Decreasing Circles’, both with Richard Briers. I enjoyed his performance as Castellan Kelner. Like John Arnatt as Borusa, you don’t know what the Castellan is thinking, yet his motives are clearly sinister and slimy throughout.

Chris Tranchell guest stars as Andred, the Commander of the Chancellery Guard on Gallifrey. I quite like Andred in this story. He can be a little slow regarding what’s going on with Tom Baker’s Doctor becoming Time Lord President, but he comes across as loyal and he’s very willing to protect his people.

Timelord007:
Chris Tranchell as Andred…. Well, he’s a bit of a bore, isn’t he? The character needed more screen-time, especially if you’re setting up his character as a love interest for Leela.

Tim Bradley:
There’s also Hilary Ryan as Rodan, who is like a traffic controller on Gallifrey. This is one of the rarest occasions where we see a female Time Lord in ‘Doctor Who’ and this was before Romana came along in the following season. Rodan gets to help the Doctor once they and friends are inside the TARDIS. 🙂

Timelord007:
Hilary Ryan gives a decent performance as Rodan. She also gives us a taste of what a future Gallifreyan companion would be like. I wonder if her character influenced Graham Williams to introduce a new Time Lady in Romana when she was introduced in Season 16 – ‘The Key To Time’ season.

Tim Bradley:
The story’s guest cast also includes Charles Morgan as the Gold Usher, Dennis Edwards as Lord Gomer, and Reginald Jessup as Lord Savar. There are also the Gallifreyan outcasts, including Max Faulkner as Nesbin, Ray Callaghan as Ablif, Michael Mundell as Jasko and Gai Smith as Presta. All are very good. 🙂

Incidentally, Max Faulker who plays Nesbin in this ‘Doctor Who’ story has had many roles in many ‘Doctor Who’ stories. He’s been in stories like ‘The Ambassadors of Death’, ‘The Monster of Peladon’, ‘Planet of the Spiders’, ‘Genesis of the Daleks’ and ‘The Android Invasion’. He must be very multi-talented.

Timelord007:
Say, Tim. Did you know that when the Doctor was talking to the Vardans in ‘Part One’, he had his scarf on? But by the time he returned to the TARDIS with Leela and K-9 inside, he had his scarf off and it was hanging on the hatstand? Someone in charge of continuity hadn’t paid attention making this tale.

Tim Bradley:
Yes, I did notice that continuity error on the DVD and Blu-ray versions of the story. How could the production team have messed that up? I also have to agree with you about the Vardans in that they’re really appalling in their original tinfoil appearance when the adventure was shown on TV in early 1978.

Timelord007:
What a relief that the CGI effects option is available to us for ‘The Invasion of Time’ on DVD and Blu-ray. The CGI makeover is very impressive, and I prefer watching ‘The Invasion of Time’ with the new effects rather than the old effects. It’s a shame the Vardans aren’t given enough time to be developed.

I mean, the Vardans are an intriguing species in ‘Doctor Who’ and perhaps in a four-part structure, ‘The Invasion of Time’ would have worked better in developing this alien race further, had the Sontarans not appeared at the end of ‘Part Four’. The Sontarans’ appearance did feel very tagged-on.

Tim Bradley:
It’s also interesting what the Vardans truly turned out to be, as they appeared in ‘Part Four’ as men in military uniforms and are played by Stan McGowan, Tom Kelly and Julian Hudson. And it’s only in ‘Part Four’ we get to see them like that. Beforehand, they were semi-tinfoil monsters or glowing CGI beings.

I agree with Timelord that the CGI version of the Vardans when they’re struggling to materialise is more impressive than what’s in the original TV version of the story, and I prefer watching ‘The Invasion of Time’ with the CGI effects option. At least I’m not laughing at them when seeing the Vardans in CGI.

Timelord007:
And then there’s the Sontarans for us to talk about. As I said before, the Sontarans feel rather tagged-on in the story. The end of ‘Part Four’ should’ve been an epic cliffhanger, but it’s ruined when we have the reveal of the leader, Commander Stor of the Sontaran Special Space Service. Yes, I know, the SSSS.

Doctor: Isn’t that carrying alliteration a little far?

Tim Bradley:
Stor is played by Derek Deadman, who I’ve also seen in one of ‘The Sooty Show’ episodes called ‘Superdog and the Comedian’ where he played the villainous Comedian. He’s also had a small role in ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’. Quite a contrast to when he portrays Stor in ‘Doctor Who’.

I enjoyed the Sontarans when I saw them in this story, finding them fun to watch. Mind you, Stor’s make-up as a Sontaran isn’t great. I found it ugly and disturbing, but not matching to other Sontaran make-ups, as in ‘The Time Warrior’, ‘The Two Doctors’ and ‘The Sontaran Stratagem’/’The Poison Sky’.

Timelord007:
Stor is definitely one of the ugliest Sontarans ever in ‘Doctor Who’s history. I found Derek Deadman’s performance very pantomime and utterly dreadful. I mean, he can hardly get his words out to deliver anything remotely threatening. The Sontarans are supposed to be a fierce force of nature, aren’t they?

Bred for war! But here, we have a Muppets’ version of one of Sontar’s finest warriors. Also, Deadman seemingly stares out at the audience whilst speaking out threats to the Doctor in one of his cockney tones. That’s another breaking the fourth wall moment I really detest. It’s very cringeworthy, isn’t it?

It doesn’t make Stor intimidating when issuing threats at the Doctor by looking at the audience. It just makes him and the whole set-up very silly. It doesn’t contrast well with the darker aspects of the story. It’s a case when the comedy and drama don’t blend well together, which I find very frustrating indeed.

Tim Bradley:
As mentioned before, I wish we saw more of the Sontarans in this ‘Doctor Who’ adventure, as they only appear at the opportune moment when the Vardans have left and done their work for them. They also do nothing but chase the Doctor and his friends around in his TARDIS for the rest of the story.

Timelord007:
And there’s a clumsy Sontaran who trips over a sun lounger in the swimming pool area of the Doctor’s TARDIS in ‘Part Six’ of the ‘Doctor Who’ story. That’s got to be embarrassing when you’re watching it.

Tim Bradley:
Even more so when you find it’s Stuart Fell, a regular ‘Doctor Who’ stuntman, playing the Sontaran. (Pause) Speaking of the sun lounger in the swimming pool area (or the TARDIS bathroom, apparently), the swimming pool itself was filmed at the British Oxygen company in Hammersmith in London. This is a clear indicator they couldn’t build a specifically built bathroom and make it look like it’s in the TARDIS.

I mean, I know the production team were down on their time and were running out of time and budget when making the story. But surely, it wouldn’t hurt to do a little bit of decorating in the swimming pool area and in the hospital corridors to indicate we are in the TARDIS and not clearly evident Earth places.

You can’t take it seriously that we’re still inside the TARDIS once we enter those hospital corridors and when we were in the TARDIS bathroom that looks like a swimming pool. I believe the TARDIS bathroom/swimming pool is described better in the ‘Shada’ novelization/audiobook, released in 2012.

Timelord007:
It’s obvious that the budget was down to its last few pennies by this point in the production of Season 15, and the location filming of a disused hospital completely fails to convince as the TARDIS corridors. It gets weirder once we see Borusa sitting by the TARDIS swimming pool drinking a cocktail. Yes, really!

There’s also a voracious plant that gobbles up a Sontaran trooper. Why would the Doctor keep such a plant inside his TARDIS?! And then there’s some nonsense about the assembly of a D-Mat gun, and the Doctor eventually suffers amnesia sustained from a gun blast. That, I found incredibly unsatisfying.

Tim Bradley:
Yeah, even I must admit that was rather disappointing. I mean, I’m sure the Doctor retained some memory of being the Time Lord President after he used the D-Mat gun on Stor in ‘Part Six’. But to appear like before Leela, Borusa and everyone else and seeming to have lost his memory is unfulfilling.

Anyway, as we’ve established, the story comes to an end, and this happens to be the last regular appearance of Louise Jameson as Leela. Yep, from out of nowhere, Leela decides to stay on Gallifrey. And it turns out she’s fallen in love with Andred. It’s very poorly handled how Leela got written out. 😦

Leela: I’m staying.
Doctor: What? Staying? Here? Why?
Leela takes Andred’s hand.
Doctor: Ah, I see.

Timelord007:
I was so upset with how Leela was written out in this story. It’s rumoured producer Graham Williams tried to persuade Louise Jameson to stay and thought she would. But I think due to her strained relationship with Tom Baker at the time and her lack of character development, she decided to leave.

So, producer Graham Williams and script-editor Anthony Read hastily wrote her the leaving scene where Leela falls in love with Andred, the Gallifrey guard, who she’s known for five minutes, which is a complete and utter joke. The character deserved a way better exit than this shambolic written effort.

Tim Bradley:
Yeah, Louise Jameson said herself she would have preferred it if Leela died saving the Doctor by the story’s end. In a sense, that would have been a great way for her to depart and be more suited to Leela’s character. Now, I’m not saying staying on Gallifrey and falling in love with Andred is a bad thing.

Andred is a very nice guy throughout this ‘Doctor Who’ story. But there was never an indication of a romance between Leela and Andred. They had a couple of scenes together in ‘Part One’ where Leela tries out a few outfits to wear at the Doctor’s coronation as the Time Lord President, but it’s not much.

There’s also the moment in ‘Part Six’ where Andred is shot by Stor’s rheon carbine and Leela tends to him. It’s a sweet, tender and touching moment to watch, but is that enough to suggest a romance between them? It’s not strongly evident, and it doesn’t help in terms of justifying Leela’s departure. 😦

Timelord007:
It’s completely out of tone. By all means, have her stay on Gallifrey. She could have stayed to rule the Gallifreyan wastelands with the Gallifreyan outcasts. Or as Louise Jameson suggested, she could have sacrificed herself to save the Doctor. But don’t have Leela fall in love with someone she doesn’t know.

Tim Bradley:
Love stories in ‘Doctor Who’ need to have a sense of realism about them. I hope it’s what I’ve done with my ‘Fifth Doctor’ series of ‘Doctor Who’ stories where I’ve written Nyssa and Billy’s romance story and developed it gradually in all the stories I’ve written for them. It just isn’t so for Leela here. 😦

But then, I suppose Louise Jameson is thankful to star in the ‘Gallifrey’ spin-off audio series by Big Finish, which continues after ‘The Invasion of Time’. It has many stories featuring Leela with Romana and K-9 on Gallifrey. I’ve not had a chance to hear those audio stories yet, but I’m sure they’re pretty good.

Timelord007:
I haven’t heard the ‘Gallifrey’ audio dramas either, as I focus more on the ‘Doctor Who’ audio stories than the spin-offs. But they must be popular, since Big Finish continue to produce them.

Tim Bradley:
‘The Invasion of Time’ also features the last regular appearance of K-9 Mark I in ‘Doctor Who’.

Doctor: Come on, K-9.
K-9: Negative. I remain.
Doctor: Here?
K-9: Affirmative.
Doctor: Why?
K-9: To look after the mistress.

Tim Bradley:
I must admit, when I first saw that, I did wonder, how come K-9 is staying on Gallifrey with Leela when in future tales, K-9 would be joining the Doctor on travels with Romana, and then the Doctor would soon give K-9 to Sarah Jane at some point? This was before I discovered there were plenty more K-9s.

Timelord007:
K-9 has had at least four models to his name. Five, if you count the horrendous Australian TV series shown from 2009 to 2010. For me, K-9 Mark II, who debuts in the next season – Season 16 – is my favourite version of the character.

Tim Bradley:
The farewell between the Doctor and Leela is also very abrupt, rather quick and not very satisfying.

Leela: Doctor?
Doctor: Yes?
Leela: I will miss you.
The Doctor smiles and shuts the TARDIS door on them all.
He leans against the TARDIS console room door for a moment.
Doctor: I’ll miss you too, savage.

Tim Bradley:
It’s like after all they’ve been through, with the Doctor trying to teach Leela to be more civilised in Seasons 14 and 15. After all that, it seems to have come to nothing and with no emotional connection between them to the end. It undoes the Professor Higgins/Eliza Doolite relationship between them. 😦

And look, I know that the relationship between Tom Baker and Louise Jameson was strained in the time they worked together in the TV series. But surely, they could have had a longer farewell between each other. Don’t have the Doctor shut the door on Leela after she tells him she’ll miss him. It’s wrong!

Timelord007:
Bad writing. Both Jo Grant and Sarah Jane Smith had emotional farewells in their swansongs, but Leela’s exit is truly awful. She’s left behind on Gallifrey to be with Andred – a man she barely knows – and she has the TARDIS door being shut on her.

Tim Bradley:
The original DVD special features were as follows. There was a dual mono sound audio mix option for the story, and an audio commentary with Louise Jameson, John Leeson, script editor Anthony Read and visual effects designer Mat Irvine. There was a CGI effects option of the story and an info-text commentary option to enjoy.

There was the making-of documentary ‘Out of Time’ with behind-the-scenes cast and crew interviews. There were deleted scenes of the story, and ‘The Rise and Fall of Gallifrey’ behind-the-scenes featurette, which chronicles the development and history of Gallifrey in the classic TV series of ‘Doctor Who’. There’s ‘The Elusive David Agnew’, a mockumentary that examines the mysterious writer of ‘The Invasion of Time’. There were also some BBC continuity announcements of the story, and a photo gallery of the story. There was a ‘coming soon’ trailer for the ‘K-9 Tales’ DVD box set, including ‘The Invisible Enemy’, starring Tom Baker, Louise Jameson and K-9, and ‘K-9 & Company: A Girl’s Best Friend’, starring Elisabeth Sladen and K-9. There was also a ‘Radio Times Listings’ PDF of the story and an Easter Egg, which happens to be visual effects designer Colin Mapson examining the Crown of Rassilon prop that features in the story.

On Disc 6 of the ‘Doctor Who – The Collection – Season 15’ Blu-ray, the dual mono sound audio mix option, the DVD audio commentary, the CGI effects option, the ‘Out of Time’ making-of documentary, the story’s deleted scenes, ‘The Rise and Fall of Gallifrey’ featurette, ‘The Elusive David Agnew’ mockumentary and the Colin Mapson DVD Easter Egg can be found on there. The info-text commentary option and the photo gallery have been updated for 2024 on the Blu-ray. The BBC continuity announcements have been updated into BBC trailers and continuity announcements of the story.

The new special features on Blu-ray include the ‘Behind the Sofa’ feature on ‘The Invasion of Time’ with Louise Jameson (Leela), fan and critic Toby Hadoke and Betsan Roberts, wife of the late director Pennant Roberts as well as Colin Baker (the Sixth Doctor), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa) and Janet Fielding (Tegan) as well as Katy Manning (Jo) and Matthew Waterhouse (Adric). There’s a ‘Scene Around Six’ compilation of film footage showing Tom Baker on a promotional tour of Ireland. There’s ‘The Final Battle’ Season 15 Blu-ray trailer with three audio options, including stereo sound, 5.1 surround sound and Dolby Atmos sound. There’s the ‘Doctor Who Stories: Louise Jameson’ interview (taken from ‘The Face of Evil’ DVD), and a ‘coming soon’ trailer for ‘The Key to Time’ season (Season 16 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series), including ‘The Ribos Operation’, ‘The Pirate Planet’, ‘The Stones of Blood’, ‘The Androids of Tara’, ‘The Power of Kroll’ and ‘The Armageddon Factor’, starring Tom Baker, Mary Tamm and K-9 (taken from ‘The Time Warrior’ DVD). There’s a brand-new Blu-ray audio commentary for ‘Parts Four and Six’ of ‘The Invasion of Time’ with Tom Baker, moderated by Toby Hadoke.

On the PDF front, as well as the ‘Radio Times Listings’ of ‘The Invasion of Time’, there are production documents, six camera scripts and a videogram editing script. You need a special Blu-ray computer drive for that.

On Disc 7 of the ‘Doctor Who – The Collection – Season 15’ Blu-ray, the new special features on Blu-ray include the ‘Darkness & Light: The Life of Graham Williams’ behind-the-scenes documentary. There’s ‘The Panopticon Archive’ panel interview with Louise Jameson and John Leeson, moderated by John Molyneux; ‘The 50th Anniversary Archive’ companions panel interview with Louise Jameson, Katy Manning and Sophie Aldred, moderated by Matthew Sweet; and the ‘Monstercon II’ convention panel interview with Louise Jameson, moderated by Nicholas Pegg. There’s also the studio clocks compilation for Season 15, and an audio archive item where Louise Jameson appears on BBC Radio Bristol in March 1978.

Timelord007:
Wow! That’s a lot of special features. And a lot of words you’ve just said.

Tim Bradley:
So, to sum up, ‘The Invasion of Time’ is an enjoyable six-part ‘Doctor Who’ adventure to serve as the season finale in Season 15 of the classic TV series. It’s not great and there’s no denying in terms of the flaws it has. But I would certainly recommend giving it a watch if you enjoy Gallifrey and Sontarans. 🙂

The story contains a very intriguing scenario set on Gallifrey, especially in terms of how the Doctor initiates himself to become President of the Time Lords and behaves strangely. The build-up to the Sontarans is slow, but Tom Baker and Louise Jameson’s performances as their characters are excellent.

I advise you not to be too disappointed if you’re expecting there to be plenty of Sontarans featured in this story, as there’s very little of them to find in this ‘Doctor Who’ adventure. At least they have a good go in making an appearance and being worthy to invade Gallifrey, which is impressive, isn’t it? 🙂

It’s something no-one else has dared to do at that point. Yes, the Daleks would later battle against the Time Lords on Gallifrey in the Time War, as seen in ‘The Day of the Doctor’, but it’s amazing that it’s not the Daleks who did it first with invading Gallifrey. It was the Sontarans that managed to do that. 🙂

Timelord007:
‘The Invasion of Time’ is a mixture of what I love and loathe about ‘Doctor Who’. Parts of it are gritty and dramatic, whilst other parts are rather silly and cringeworthy. Tom Baker is excellent, as ever, as the Fourth Doctor, and John Arnatt is simply superb as Borusa whenever I see him in this six-part story.

Despite Louise Jameson’s good performance as Leela, her departure is poorly-handled and the inclusion of the Sontarans turned this political dramatic sci-fi adventure into pure pantomime. So yeah, ‘The Invasion of Time’ does have flaws, but at least Tom Baker’s excellent performance saves it.

Tim Bradley:
As for Season 15 overall, well, like I said at the beginning in my ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ review, this was a transitional season in the classic TV series as well as the Tom Baker era. It’s a season that saw a change in terms of style and approach from the end of one producer’s run to a new producer’s run. 😐

Graham Williams was finding his feet in terms of making his mark as the new producer of ‘Doctor Who’. But he was having to contend with already established elements in scripts commissioned by Robert Holmes, which had gothic horror elements that had been carried from Philip Hinchliffe’s tenure.

Season 15 starts off being like a season from the Philip Hinchcliffe era with ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ before it decides to switch in and out of stories that have light-hearted elements to stories that have gothic horror elements. ‘The Invisible Enemy’ is light-hearted whilst ‘Image of the Fendahl’ is very gothic horror.

‘The Sun Makers’ is where the Graham Williams era starts to come into fruition, especially with the tone and atmosphere being light-hearted compared to previous stories penned by Robert Holmes. ‘Underworld’ is the first story that delves into ancient myths and legends with a sci-fi take on them. 🙂

‘The Invasion of Time’ rounds things off in the season, but it’s a completely different tone to how the season began. ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ is dark and dangerous. ‘The Invasion of Time’ is a story that deals with political intrigue, but, as Timelord describes it, also takes things into the realms of pantomime. 😐

I wouldn’t say Season 15 is a bad season, but I don’t think it’s the greatest I’ve seen in the classic TV series. It’s certainly the weakest of the three seasons in Graham Williams’ tenure as producer of the TV show, as his next season – Season 16 – would prove how things would be better under his reign. 🙂

I enjoyed ‘The Key to Time’ season (Season 16) and Season 17 more than I enjoyed Season 15, because those seasons aren’t filled with Philip Hinchcliffe era-like elements that Season 15 has. Season 15 struggles in terms of trying to be a season that appeals to current fans whilst bringing the new ones in.

And I don’t blame Graham Williams for that. As I said, he was trying to find his feet in terms of how to be the new producer of ‘Doctor Who’. But it’s clear that the creativity behind the season wasn’t so stable, especially when you consider the limits and constraints of time and budget featured in the season.

I also wish the Fourth Doctor and Leela’s journey had been better-handled in Season 15 compared to how it began in Season 14. This is especially with the Professor Higgins/Eliza Doolittle approach of Tom Baker’s Doctor teaching Leela how to be civilised, which was done in the last three stories of Season 14.

But with the changeovers of producers and script editors from Philip Hinchcliffe to Graham Williams and from Robert Holmes to Anthony Read, the consistency of that relationship between the Fourth Doctor and Leela wasn’t so stable. This is evident when you see the characters in ‘The Invasion of Time’.

It’s a shame Tom Baker and Louise Jameson’s working relationship wasn’t the smoothest in the two seasons they did together, but I’m glad they’ve become good friends over the years, especially in the Big Finish audios they’ve done. And it was also great to see them joined by K-9, voiced by John Leeson.

Timelord007:
As for me, Season 15 of ‘Doctor Who’ is a mixed bag. ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ is an excellent start to the season and I’ve enjoyed ‘The Invisible Enemy’ more on re-watches. ‘Image of the Fendahl’ is another good story whilst ‘The Sun Makers’ is a satirical take on the UK tax system. ‘Underworld’ is a bit dull, but watchable because of Tom Baker. And ‘The Invasion of Time’ is a mixture of what’s good and bad about ‘Doctor Who’. I’ll never understand why they didn’t give the series a bigger budget, because the ratings were strong and the classic TV series has a strong fanbase.

Tim Bradley:
Season 15 isn’t the smoothest of ‘Doctor Who’ seasons when you watch it in the transitional phase it went through. I’m glad I’ve revisited the stories of Season 15 in its Blu-ray box set, especially when seeing them in the ‘Behind the Sofa’ items and being watched by ‘Doctor Who’ stars like Sarah Sutton.

Now the Doctor has left Gallifrey and Leela has stayed behind to be with Andred, K-9 and everyone else, it’s a matter of time before our intrepid Time Lord has K-9 Mark II built and finished to join him on his next set of adventures. Those set of adventures will have him on the quest for the Key to Time!

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Tim Bradley:
Well, thank you again, Timelord007, for helping me out with this review on ‘The Invasion of Time’.

Timelord007:
No problem, Tim. As always, I’ve enjoyed our collaboration on this review.

Tim Bradley:
Well, that’s all from us, folks! End credits now. 😀

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Sting music. Roll original 1974 Tom Baker end credits.

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‘The Invasion of Time’ rating by Tim Bradley – 7/10
‘The Invasion of Time’ rating by Timelord007 – 7/10

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‘DOCTOR WHO AND THE INVASION OF TIME’

Please feel free to comment on the review.

Let’s Invade Gallifrey Once More

For Terrance Dicks

This is the first time I’ve reviewed a Season 15 story in novelization/audiobook form! 🙂

‘The Invasion of Time’ was the first ‘Doctor Who’ story I’d seen in Season 15 of the classic TV series on DVD before checking out the other stories of the season. Therefore, it’s fitting that I should check out the Target novelization/audiobook of the story as the very first one.

At this point, I’ve not read the Target novelizations/audiobooks of ‘Horror of Fang Rock’, ‘The Invisible Enemy’, ‘Image of the Fendahl’, ‘The Sun Makers’ and ‘Underworld’. It’s only a matter of time before I check out those stories as novelizations/audiobooks on my blog.

In many respects, ‘The Invasion of Time’ is a ‘Doctor Who’ story that was written in a rush. This is especially when the original season finale of Season 15 – ‘The Killer Cats of Geng Singh’ by David Weir – ran into problems. Script editor Anthony Read had to resolve them.

You can tell that ‘The Invasion of Time’ suffered in terms of budget as well as enhancing character drama, particularly by the end with Leela’s departure from the TV series. It’s a TV story that you either like or dislike. 😐 Me personally, I don’t dislike ‘The Invasion of Time’.

But I wouldn’t say it’s a great season finale. I would have liked more Sontarans to have been featured in the story rather than have the Vardans take up the first four episodes and the Sontarans appearing in the last two. Leela’s departure could have also been better. 😐

Whilst I have my reservations about ‘The Invasion of Time’ as a TV story, what does that say about the Target novelization by Terrance Dicks? Would he improve things with regards to the story? Would ‘The Invasion of Time’ be better in print than on the TV screen?

I can’t say Terrance Dicks does in-depth and engrossing novelizations of ‘Doctor Who’ stories, as very often he would novelize a story that wasn’t penned or script-edited by him in a straightforward manner. He wouldn’t add too many additions or changes to the story.

Sometimes he would amend a weak aspect of a story that didn’t work on TV to fit in line with the prose audiences he’s writing for, but he generally keeps to what was shown on the TV rather than rewrite the story from scratch. I enjoy his novelizations because of that.

It’s fascinating that he novelized ‘The Invasion of Time’ for the Target range of ‘Doctor Who’ stories, as this is the second time he’s novelized a story featuring Robert Holmes’ version of Gallifrey. The first time was when he novelized the Gallifrey story ‘The Deadly Assassin’.

I’ve not read or heard ‘The Deadly Assassin’ Target novelization/audiobook at this stage, but I can tell Terrance is doing a follow-up to that through his novelization of ‘The Invasion of Time’. It makes sense, especially as he introduced the Time Lords via ‘The War Games’.

There are clearer references made to ‘The Deadly Assassin’ in ‘The Invasion of Time’ novelization, more so than when watching ‘The Invasion of Time’ on DVD and Blu-ray. There’s also a mention of the Master stealing the Great Key of Rassilon in the novelization.

I didn’t recall the Master’s name being mentioned in the TV story when reading/hearing ‘The Invasion of Time’ novelization/audiobook. I’ve checked a transcript of the TV story to be sure and it turns out the Master wasn’t mentioned in the TV story, which is fascinating.

‘The Invasion of Time’ as a novelization was published in February 1980. That would have been at least two years after the TV story was shown in 1978. Plus, Terrance wrote ‘The Invasion of Time’ novelization three years after ‘The Deadly Assassin’ novelization in 1977.

In terms of the book’s structure, the story is divided into 15 chapters. Usually when Terrance Dicks novelizes a four-part ‘Doctor Who’ story, he would give three chapters per episode to match up a 12-chapter structure in a book, which I find quite satisfying indeed.

Ideally, when novelizing a six-part ‘Doctor Who’ story, the chapter length should be at least 18. Lance Parkin did it when he wrote ‘Cold Fusion’ as a six-part story in book form. So, how come Terrance Dicks doesn’t do that for ‘The Invasion of Time’ with novelizing it?

Why is it 15 chapters instead of 18 chapters? Admittedly, Terrance Dicks has done this before when he novelized ‘The Time Monster’ as a 15-chapter book instead of 18 chapters, but I feel ‘The Invasion of Time’ is a small book compared to ‘The Time Monster’.

In reading and listening to ‘The Invasion of Time’ as a novelization, I found three chapters were provided for ‘Part One’, two were given to ‘Part Two’, three were given to ‘Part Three’, two were given to ‘Part Four’, two were given to ‘Part Five’ and three were given to ‘Part Six’.

It’s clear Terrance truncated quite a lot of scenes in ‘The Invasion of Time’ that were mostly padding in the TV story. Hence why the story is given the 15-chapter treatment instead of 18. Or maybe six-part stories were given 15 chapters instead of 18 in those days.

At least Terrance isn’t held back by budget restrictions when it comes to describing the world of Gallifrey and the TARDIS interiors in the novelization. At least the TARDIS interiors aren’t described as corridors in a disused hospital as what occurred in the TV adventure.

When checking out ‘The Invasion of Time’ novelization, I purchased the unabridged audiobook via Audible. I enjoyed the audiobook read by John Leeson, who played K-9 in the TV adventure. John Leeson has an engaging reading voice when listening to him on audio.

Granted, he doesn’t do an exact reaction of Tom Baker’s booming tones as the Fourth Doctor, but it’s interesting how he voices Leela with a higher tone to make her sound female on audio. And his voice for Castellan Kelner matches to Milton John’s voice on TV.

‘The Invasion of Time’ allows John Leeson the opportunity to play Sontarans, including Stor on audio. I mean, he got to voice Daleks in ‘Remembrance of the Daleks’, so, why not voice Sontarans in a Target audiobook? His voice for Stor is deeper than it sounded on TV.

It’s also fascinating that there’s not many scenes for John Leeson to voice K-9 in the Target audiobook compared to the TV story. Then again, K-9 doesn’t appear in every scene in ‘The Invasion of Time’ and when he does appear, he often does assignments in silence. 🙂

In terms of what’s different in the novelization compared to the TV story, apparently, Leela still has brown eyes compared to when her eyes changed from brown to blue in ‘Horror of Fang Rock’. I find that peculiar, since surely Terrance Dicks would have known about that.

Or maybe it was something that Robert Holmes as the script editor of that TV story added in after Terrance Dicks submitted his initial four scripts before production began. Then again, I’ve not read/heard ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ as a novelization/audiobook at this point.

In the novelization, it’s clarified the Doctor first heard about the Vardans’ attempted invasion of Gallifrey before the one in this story via a telepathic warning from the Matrix. I believe this was when he was inside the Matrix during the events of ‘The Deadly Assassin’.

The Capitol’s exterior gets described in the Target novelization as having sheer white walls and gleaming towers that can be seen from far within the cragged moorlands. Plus, airlocks separate the marbled interior from the exterior atmosphere. I find this intriguing.

Over the years, Gallifrey has changed in terms of design through sets and costumes. There hasn’t been a consistent design to Gallifrey every time we visit the planet. It’s interesting how Terrance Dicks describes the Capitol’s exterior in this story’s novelization.

It’s revealed in the Target novelization that no other Time Lord has attempted to run for the position of President since the Doctor’s declaration of candidacy in ‘The Deadly Assassin’. I find this peculiar, particularly since the Doctor has been absent from Gallifrey.

This is from leaving Gallifrey in ‘The Deadly Assassin’ to returning to Gallifrey in ‘The Invasion of Time’. I would have thought a re-election would have been called for in the Doctor’s absence. Did the Time Lords really anticipate the Doctor would come back to them?

This is especially when it seems with no other candidate brought forward, the position automatically fell to the Doctor as outlined in the Constitution of Gallifrey. It’s something that would be changed rather radically when we get to ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’, no doubt.

In the ‘Part One’ scenes set in Leela’s quarters, Andred apparently does return her knife to her in exchange for her presence at the induction ceremony. This is better than Leela snatching the knife from him when he didn’t expect it, as he should have guarded that knife.

When we have the Doctor’s induction ceremony as President, it’s explained more clearly as to what the search for the Great Key of Rassilon is. It’s established that the artefact was believed to be stolen by the Master when he fled Gallifrey in ‘The Deadly Assassin’. 😐

In the book, the candidate has to touch the empty pillow instead of a purely ceremonial gesture, which I found odd when watching ‘Part One’ of ‘The Invasion of Time’ on Blu-ray. It also transpires the Great Key that the Master had found in a museum was simply a facsimile.

The actual key lies in Borusa’s keeping. In the book, Borusa’s attempt to give the Doctor the incorrect key as shown in ‘Part Five’ is omitted. This is for the best in the novelization. It saves time for the Doctor to acquire that key instantly from Borusa than to be played with.

More is revealed about how Kelner acquired the role of Castellan from Spandrell, who was in ‘The Deadly Assassin’ and has retired by the time of this story. Apparently, Kelner succeeded in the Castellan role due to a combination of good birth and political intrigue.

Kelner’s office in the novelization is described as ‘an elaborate affair of transparent plastic and gleaming metals with complex control consoles and brightly flickering vision screens everywhere’. I don’t think the Castellan’s office was quite like that in the TV story.

In the novelization, the office is described as ‘gaudy’, even by Time Lord standards, but it helps to maintain his image. The Castellan is noted to have cultivated the Bodyguard Squad for similar purposes. It should be noted Kelner does get captured by Leela in the novelization as in the TV tale. 🙂

Unfortunately, Kelner goes unmentioned in Chapter 15 of the story. I just realised Kelner seems to have been forgotten about following his capture by Leela. I expected Terrance to provide a resolution on what happened to Kelner in the story. Sadly, that didn’t happen.

Stor the Sontaran is described as having a lipless mouth with blazing red eyes. Apparently, he removes his helmet after arriving on Gallifrey at the end of ‘Part Four’ in the novelization. This is in contrast to the TV story, as he removed his helmet in ‘Part Six’. 😐

Maybe Terrance Dicks wanted to recreate that same cliffhanger moment in ‘Part One’ of ‘The Time Warrior’ where Linx removed his helmet at the end. It makes sense, as we should have seen more of Stor’s face in ‘Part Five’ instead of having him be fully helmeted.

According to the Doctor, the fusion grenade that Stor used in the Panopticon will not only trigger a black hole beneath the planet, but also likely wipe out the Sontaran battle fleet as well. I don’t believe this was clear enough in the TV story compared to the novelization.

It’s revealed what happened to Nesbin, the Outsiders’ leader, when he was cast out of the Capitol for assaulting a rival Time Lord, which is an offence almost unheard of in Gallifreyan society. I’m glad Terrance Dicks added that aspect of Nesbin’s character there.

Although, it’s unfortunate that Nesbin doesn’t appear much in the story after parting company with Leela at the start of the attack on the Capitol when it’s occupied by the Vardans. He isn’t seen again until the Doctor’s final farewell in ‘Part Six’, which is unusual.

As I’ve indicated, the TARDIS interior is described as metallic rather than having brickwork as seen in the TV story. I like it that Stor charges through the door in the TARDIS’ sickbay than shattering the window panel when our heroes hide from him and his troops.

Andred being shot in the arm by Stor is more pronounced in the novelization compared to the TV story. When Stor charges through the door, he immediately sees Andred and he shoots him. This is instead of shooting him unawares when Andred is hiding behind a wall.

I’ve noticed that there are minor dialogues in certain scenes throughout ‘The Invasion of Time’ in the Target novelization. Most significant is when the Doctor orders Leela to shut up. Instead of relaying to K-9 thoughtlessly, she repeats the instruction in outrage before K-9 complies.

Andred also vows to strike back at the Lord President in front of Leela instead of after and Rodan have gone outside the Capitol. I suppose Andred should be lucky that Leela didn’t kill him then, as Leela would have warned Andred not to do anything to hurt the Doctor. 😐

The bodyguard whom Kelner assigns to the Doctor gets names in the Target novelization and he happens to be called Varn. He’s described as ‘very big, very brave and very stupid’ (Very harsh on the last description there 😐 ) with a single-minded devotion to the Castellan.

The two Outsider characters Jasko and Ablif are merged into Jablif in the story. Not that you’d know that, as Jasko and Ablif weren’t really major characters in ‘The Invasion of Time’. Although, both Jasko and Ablif do appear as separate characters in earlier scenes.

Whoops! 😀 Leela’s departure in the novelization does feel more abrupt compared to the TV story. At least the Doctor actually says, “I’ll miss you too, savage” to Leela before he shuts the door on her rather than shutting the door first and saying it inside the TARDIS. 🙂

‘Doctor Who and the Invasion of Time’ has been an enjoyable reading and listening experience in terms of a novelization and audiobook. I can’t say it changes my mind on how I feel about ‘The Invasion of Time’, especially as Terrance doesn’t change much to it.

But it’s been intriguing how Terrance has translated ‘The Invasion of Time’ into prose form, especially since he wasn’t involved in the TV story’s production at the time and he does it as a follow-up to ‘The Deadly Assassin’ novelization, which I do greatly appreciate here. 🙂

A revelation I’ve had about ‘The Invasion of Time’ is that it’s a story that’s dependent on plot than on character drama. It’s something that loses it appeal in the story, especially when you consider Leela’s departure was done in a rush and written at the last minute. 😐

Despite that, I’m glad I checked out ‘The Invasion of Time’ as a novelization by Terrance Dicks and I enjoyed it more with the audiobook read by John Leeson. I’m glad I’ve satisfied my curiosity on how ‘The Invasion of Time’ is presented in prose from than via visual form.

‘Doctor Who and the Invasion of Time’ rating – 7/10

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