C11S02 Invasion of the dinosaurs
Synopsis
Returning to London, the Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith find a city almost completely devoid of life. The civilian population has been evacuated in the wake of an unimaginable event: somehow, dinosaurs have returned to terrorise the Earth...
As the Brigadier and UNIT fend off increasingly vicious attacks from gigantic prehistoric reptiles, the Doctor investigates just how these monsters are appearing without warning. But when Sarah Jane is kidnapped, the Doctor realises that perhaps even his oldest friends can't be trusted...
Cover notes
British television in the early 1970s had many iconic images, and Jon Pertwee's Doctor teaming up with UNIT to defeat invasions was an integral part of Saturday night viewing. It was during the original transmission of Invasion of the Dinosaurs that the media first reported that Pertwee would be leaving Doctor Who. Looking back now, this was perhaps the ideal story in which the signal for an era's end was made.
Now entering his fifth season, the Third Doctor valiantly leapt to Earth's defence time after time, with his cloak billowing behind him and the Brigadier supporting him all the way. All manner of alien threats had tried to invade our world, and in this story the ultimate in monsters finally arrive - dinosaurs! The Triceratops, Stegosaurus and Tyrannosaurus Rex were creatures the viewing public had long wanted their time-travelling hero to face, and the cliffhanger endings to four of these six episodes pit the Doctor against various prehistoric beasts.
Of course, on a restrictive 1970s television budget, the appearance of Cretaceous creatures requires the viewer to suspend some measure of disbelief. For some time this story was relegated to the position of a poorly realised experiment. Thankfully, this viewpoint has changed of late, with Invasion of the Dinosaurs now seen as a testament to the victory of creative ideas over budget, and the beginning of a fitting swansong for a legendary incarnation of the Doctor.
Cast
| The Doctor | Jon Pertwee | listed as Doctor Who |
| Sarah Jane Smith | Elisabeth Sladen | |
| Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart | Nicholas Courtney | |
| General Finch | John Bennett | |
| Captain Yates | Richard Franklin | |
| Sergeant Benton | John Levene | |
| Lieutenant Shears | Ben Aris | ep. 1 |
| Sergeant Duffy | Dave Carter | ep. 1 |
| Corporal Norton | Martin Taylor | ep. 1 |
| Private Ogden | George Bryson | ep. 1,2 |
| R/T soldier | John Caesar | ep. 1 |
| Phillips | Gordon Reid | ep. 1 |
| Lodge | Trevor Lawrence | ep. 1 |
| warehouse looter | Terry Walsh | ep. 1 |
| Charles Grover M.P. | Noel Johnson | ep. 2,3,4,5,6 |
| Professor Whitaker | Peter Miles | ep. 2,3,4,5,6 |
| Butler | Martin Jarvis | ep. 2,3,4,5,6 |
| Peasant | James Marcus | ep. 2 |
| UNIT corporal | Pat Gorman | ep. 2 |
| Mark | Terence Wilton | ep. 3,4,5,6 |
| Ruth | Carmen Silvera | ep. 4,6 |
| Adam | Brian Badcoe | ep. 4,5,6 |
| Private Bryson | Colin Bell | ep. 5,6 |
| Robinson | Timothy Craven | ep. 6 |
Crew
| Written by | Malcolm Hulke | |
| Title music | Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop | |
| Title sequence | Bernard Lodge | |
| Incidental music | Dudley Simpson | |
| Special sound | Dick Mills | |
| Film Cameraman | Keith Hopper | listed ep. 1,6; probably all |
| Film Sound | Andrew Boulton | listed ep. 1,6; probably all |
| Film Editor | Robert Rymer | listed ep. 1,6; probably all |
| Visual effects designer | Clifford Culley | listed ep. 1,6; probably all |
| Costume designer | Barbara Kidd | listed ep. 1,6; probably all |
| Make-up | Jean McMillan | listed ep. 1,6; probably all |
| Studio Lighting | Alan Horne | listed ep. 1,6; probably all |
| Studio Sound | Trevor Webster | listed ep. 1,6; probably all |
| Video Tape Editor | Barry Stevens | listed ep. 6; probably all |
| Script Editor | Terrance Dicks | |
| Designer | Richard Morris | |
| Producer | Barry Letts | |
| Director | Paddy Russell |
DVD Extras
| Richard Franklin Peter Miles Terence Wilton Richard Morris Terrance Dicks Paddy Russell |
commentary track | |
| ep. 5 | John Levene | commentary track |
| Coming soon | A tantalising glimps of another exciting adventure for the TARDIS crew in a forthcoming DVD release. | |
| People, power and puppetry | The cast and crew of Invasion of the Dinosaurs reflect on the making of this epic story. | |
| Deleted scenes | A rare scene from the first episode, discovered on the cutting copy of the location film is presented here without sound. Other deleted scenes from part three are also included. | |
| Now and Then | Return to where dinosaurs once terrorised London, and witness how the locations used in 1974 have changed over the last four decades. | |
| Billy Smart's Circus | Jon Pertwee brings the Whomobile to the Circus to join the fun. | |
| Doctor Who Stories: Elisabeth Sladen part one [2003] | Elisabeth Sladen talks about her role on the programme in this interview shot for 2003's The Story of Doctor Who. | |
| episode 5 slate | (easter egg) | |
| photo gallery | ||
| Radio Times listings |
Commentary
| serial code : | WWW |
| episode count : | 6 |
| initial broadcast date : | 1974-01-12 |
| DVD release date : | |
| DVD SE release date : | |
| BluRay release date : | |
| part of the U.N.I.T. Files boxset | |