Doctor Who - The Invisible Enemy

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We don't think we've ever seen a worse special effect than that wall which K9 breaks down, with the break lines blindingly obvious even before he starts. What were they thinking?

Up till now, we thought The Web Planet was the worst Who we'd seen. But at least The Web Planet was trying, even if it failed spectacularly. This is just a cynically slapped together mess that spits in the audience's eye. Ugh. Take it away. Affably Evil: The Nucleus holds no particular grudge against the Doctor, and admits that the Doctor would be perfectly within his rights to kill him... if he can.Love the haphazard way the crazy German Doctor scoops cloned Doctor and Leela into his syringe. How are they not crushed and drowned? K9 stuns Marius so the Doctor has time to examine his own blood and discover that Leela's clone has left him with antibodies against the virus. He replicates the antibodies and cures Marius, who can replicate the cure for his staff. The Doctor plans to eradicate the virus spawning on Titan, but Leela insists they simply blow it up. When the cure is ready, the Doctor borrows K9 from the Professor and heads for Titan Base. Bob Baker and Dave Martin originally hoped that much of part three could be made on location, with the Doctor's mind represented by college cloisters or a stately garden. According to Matt Irvine, the model used for the cratered surface of Titan was a re-use of the model used for the surface of the Moon in Space: 1999. ( DCOM: The Invisible Enemy) Several pieces of furniture on Titan Base are reused from that series as well.

A virus lurking in deep space infects the crew of an earth shuttle on its way to Titan. The infected humans kill the crew they are supposed to be relieving, except for one man, Lowe, whom they infect. They begin preparing the base for breeding. Meanwhile, the TARDIS has been invaded by the same virus, and the Doctor becomes the host for the Nucleus of the Swarm. After he attempts to kill "The Reject" Leela (who is immune), the Doctor realizes what's happening and puts himself into a self-induced coma to keep from being taken over completely. Leela, accompanied by Lowe, rushes him to the Bi-Al Foundation hospital asteroid using the TARDIS, where she hopes Professor Marius will be able to find a cure. Genetic Memory: The clones of the Doctor and Leela have the memories of their originals. K9 explains that this is because they are more like "biological photocopies" than proper clones, hence their shortened lifespans. Which does not in any satisfactory way explain how they cloned their clothes. Homaged much later on in "The Doctor's Daughter".Malevolent Masked Men: The infected shuttle crew have their space helmets when going to kill those on the base. On lifting the visors, we see how the Virus has altered them. When the Doctor, Leela and K9 first leave the Bi-Al Foundation in the TARDIS in part four, Professor Maruis is visibly stood next to the TARDIS as the Doctor enters, waving him goodbye. However, in the subsequent wide shot of the TARDIS dematerialising, he has disappeared. On top of this the detail of the story is weak. It is a bit of a 'base under siege' affair in some ways but mostly it doesn't really work in the first half. In the second half it just gets daft. The Doctor's clone enters his own head – and not in a theoretical way which one could go with, but in a real 'Innerspace / Fantastic Voyage' way. This element is daft in the concept, and really doesn't work at all in the execution. The design standards don't help but it doesn't do much interesting in there – or at least not interesting enough to cover for the weaknesses. The nucleus itself is a sight to see – a mix of a prawn, a rat, and one of those inflatable dancing men you see outside North American car showrooms. It is hard to take serious, particularly as it is forcibly wheeled around the place. Speaking of which, K9 makes an appearance here, and as much nostalgic charm as he/it brings, it is hard not to notice the limitations of the character even in the first outing. I do look forward to seeing how they manage to find a use for him moving forward.

The Doctor resists the voice in his head, warns Leela and collapses, his infection receding. Lowe and Safran confer and decide that, while Safran prepares the station for incubating the virus, Lowe shall protect the Doctor at all costs. When the Doctor insists on finding medical help, Lowe suggests the Bi-Al Foundation in the nearby asteroid belt. The Doctor gives Leela the co-ordinates before he puts himself in a coma, and she pilots the TARDIS there. When they return to the hospital, they thank Prof. Marius for the use of K9, who has ably assisted them. Prof. Marius offers K9 to the Doctor, as he is due to return to Earth, and the Doctor and Leela leave with their new companion in the TARDIS. Visual Effect - Mat Irvine meets up with his old colleague Ian Scoones at Bray Studios to talk about the visual effects for The Invisible EnemyForeshadowing: At the very beginning of the first episode, the Doctor compares humanity's explosion into the galaxy to a virus. The Doctor eventually collapses as a result of his infection, but first manages to relay to Leela the coordinates of a local hospital asteroid. At the Bi-Al Foundation, based on the asteroid, Professor Marius clones the two time travellers, miniaturises the clones using the relative dimensional stabiliser from the TARDIS and then injects them into the Doctor's body in the hope that they can find and destroy the nucleus. When the Doctor is congratulating himself on blowing up the Swarm, the shadow of a boom mike can be seen. Secondly: a return to the Leisure Hive (from ‘The Leisure Hive’) based purely on the connective tissue between the words ‘Hive’ and ‘Swarm’.