415 The Android Invasion Part Two

EPISODE: The Android Invasion Part Two
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 415
STORY NUMBER: 083
TRANSMITTED: 29 November 1975
WRITER: Terry Nation
DIRECTOR: Barry Letts
SCRIPT EDITOR: Robert Holmes
PRODUCER: Philip Hinchcliffe
FORMAT: DVD: UNIT Files: Invasion of the Dinosaurs & The Android Invasion

Sarah releases the Doctor. Crayford reports to Stygron that the Doctor & Sarah are space travellers as their escape is noticed. Sarah recognises Crayford's name and tells the Doctor he was killed on a deep space mission. The Doctor & Sarah encounter Mister Benton who draws a gun on them but staggers when Crayford countermands his order to kill. They see Harry acting under Crayford's orders too. The Doctor thinks that Crayford may have brought something back from space which is controlling everyone. The Doctor & Sarah are tracked by dogs but Sarah twists her ankle. The Doctor hides Sarah up a tree and draws the dogs off hiding under water in a nearby pond. Sarah is found and taken an alien laboratory. The Doctor finds the village phones aren't working so can't summon assistance. Harry operates the alien equipment which analyses Sarah's brain & body patterns. Trying the phone in the pub the Doctor is found by the landlord. The Doctor notices that the dartboard, like the money was, is brand new. Stygron argues with a fellow alien, Chedaki, about what they are doing. The Doctor finds that the horse brass in the pub is fake and all the calender pages are the same. The phone starts working and Sarah calls arranging to meet him at the village store. Chedaki worries the Doctor will turn the androids against the Kraals. Sarah tells the Doctor how she escapes and tells the Doctor how they are replacing people with duplicates. The Doctor says he thinks they may have released Sarah as part of a trap. Stygron creates a new android from Crayford and orders it to attack him demonstrating to Chedaki a weapon he has that can destroy the androids. Sarah and the Doctor return to where the Tardis was, finding it gone. The Doctor explains the Tardis has continued to the real Earth and that he knows that she isn't the real Sarah. They struggle, and "Sarah" falls to the floor, the blow dislodging her face and revealing an android face underneath.

Another cracking episode this, loved it. I'm sitting here thinking "why am I liking this over the previous story, Pyramids of Mars, which is a so called classic?" and I just don't know. I think it's something to do with the tone of the episodes, a bit lighter in these two over the dark atmosphere and themes of Pyramids of Mars that are appealing to me.

Several of the cast are known to us from previous stories though only one, Milton Johns as Guy Crayford, has a previous Barry Letts directed story to his name playing Benik in The Enemy of the World. He'll be back as Kelner in The Invasion of Time. Technically Ian Marter was in the Letts directed Carnival of Monsters but his presence here is necessary to bring Harry Sullivan back, becoming the first companion to appear in the series after they left as a regular character. Also back from UNIT is John Levene as RSM Benton, but Nicholas Courtney is absent from a UNIT story for the first time. Peter Welch is playing pub landlord Morgan and we saw him as a Sergeant in The Highlanders. Amongst the Androids there's a few familiar names: Keith Ashley was a Dalek in Genesis of the Daleks & a Zygon in Terror of the Zygons while Roy Pearce was a Solos Guard in The Mutants. Derek Hunt will return as, but won't be credited for, James in Black Orchid while George Ballantine will play a Hawker in Snakedance. Max Faulkner, playing Corporal Adams the UNIT trooper that "dies" in the first episode has been a regular guest artist over the years appearing in The Ambassadors of Death as a UNIT soldier, The Monster of Peladon as a miner, Planet of the Spiders as a Guard Captain and Genesis of the Daleks as a Thal Guard. He'll be back as the fight arranger for Hand of Fear and in The Invasion of Time as Nesbin. Under the make up as Marshall Chedaki is Roy Skelton who has been in (deep breath) The Ark providing Monoid voices, The Tenth Planet & The Wheel in Space providing Cybermen voices, The Ice Warriors as the Computer voice, The Krotons as Kroton voices, Colony in Space as Norton (his first appearance in front of the camera) ,Planet of the Daleks as Wester, The Green Death as James and The Hand of Fear as King Rokon. Oh and he provides Dalek voices for The Evil of the Daleks, Planet of the Daleks, Genesis of the Daleks, Destiny of the Daleks,The Five Doctors, Revelation of the Daleks & Remembrance of the Daleks