A silly and inventive adventure with some questionable production values and the introduction of K9 begins strongly but falls flat by the end.
Story: 6
This story is lighthearted and silly. It's adventurous from the very start and keeps going at a brisk pace. It's not the strongest story plot-wise, but it's remembered for its introduction of robotic dog companion K9. It's a pretty action-heavy story too, particularly in the second half.
The story truly gets silly and creative in Part Three, once we enter the Doctor's head. It's a pretty stupid sequence meant to once again boast over the Doctor's superior mind, but it stands out nonetheless.
The way how Leela's immunity against the virus becomes a central mystery in the story feels like something that would be done in the revived series, where the companion is usually given more of a mysterious purpose.
Acting: 8
K9 is voiced by John Leeson, arguably the most well-known and popular actor to voice the character. That squeaky but determined voice is hard not to love and be annoyed by at the same time. Leeson also voices the Nucleus of the Swarm, and I have never seen such a contrast between two separate performances by the same actor in one story. The Nucleus sounds like shit.
The great Michael Sheard is back after previously playing the concerned brother of Marcus Scarman in Pyramids of Mars (1976) and Summers in The Mind of Evil (1971). He's okay here, but not particularly interesting.
Another returning actor is Frederick Jaeger, who appears as the slightly nutty Professor Marius (somewhat of a mix of Kettlewell from Robot, 1974; and Solon from The Mutants, 1972). This performance is quite different from his equally brilliant turn as Sorenson in Planet of Evil (1975). Here he is a silly but memorable character, and one of my all-time favourite supporting characters.
The Doctor: 8
This story puts the Doctor in an unusual position from the very beginning, forced to work for the bad guys from the onset, despite trying to fight against the influence of the Nucleus. The Doctor is pretty helpless most of the time, so Leela gets an important job keeping things running.
The Companions: 9
While Leela still acts naively at times, she is given an important role in this story and gets plenty of interesting stuff to do. With the Doctor out of action for parts of the story, Leela becomes more important than ever before. That being said, she just hangs around with K9 halfheartedly fending off the villains until the final episode.
The Monster/Villain: 2
The virus is a pretty bland idea for a Doctor Who monster by now, but having it (mostly) invisible is a great way to save money. The possessed hosts seem very ineffective, and the fight scenes between them and Leela/K9 has less energy than the trench warfare of WWI.
The Nucleus within the Doctor's brain looks and sounds like shit (literally) but even worse is the ridiculous space shrimp that appears in the cliffhanger to Part Three. That's some horrifying stuff.
Production: 8
I quite like the production values on this one. The model work is beautiful, the costumes look great (at least the astronaut suits do) and some of the visual effects are pretty creative. The sets are colourful but simple. The set design inside the Doctor's head is creative, but the visuals don't hold up very well.
The Nucleus of the Swarm is the ugliest alien lump I've ever seen in anything. Terrible, utterly terrible. And its shrimp version is stuff from anyone's worst nightmares.
Pacing: 8
This story is evenly paced, quite fast and mostly solid.
Atmosphere: 6
The difference between the previous story, Horror of Fang Rock (1977), and this one are like night and day. While Fang Rock is atmospheric and creepy, The Invisible Enemy is colourful and silly. The silliness feels somewhat out-of-place at times, and with a weird plot and some ineffective villains, it becomes even less tense.
The tension and horror of most earlier stories in Tom Baker's era are gone and will never be back again. The fine ideas presented in this story are overshadowed by the silliness of the production.
Impact: 10
The only reason this story is remembered among fans is due to the introduction of K9. Other than that it doesn't leave any lasting impressions.
Replay Value: 7
Despite its silliness, the stupid plot and some problems with the production, this is a fun little adventure to re-watch now and again.
Random Observations:
This story famously introduced K9, the robotic dog companion and one of the more popular companions in the show's history. K9 was popular with the kids but caused loads of problems for the cast and crew backstage. We also see the return of the original TARDIS console room, now slightly updated.
Michael Sheard will be back in Castrovalva (1983) and, perhaps more interestingly, in the Eighth Doctor audio drama The Stones of Venice (2001).
Once again an alien causing some strange boogie-loo appearing on the victims' hands. It is something Doctor Who likes to do a lot.
There are some similarities between this story and The Tsuranga Conundrum (2018), including scenes set in sickbay while an alien menace is on the loose. The Doctor entering his own body is similar to the Doctor entering a Dalek's casing in Into the Dalek (2014).
The second time we meet a clone of the Fourth Doctor, after his android copy in The Android Invasion (1975). This is also the third time the Doctor is miniaturized, after Planet of Giants (1964) and Carnival of Monsters (1973).
Marius: "I only hope he's TARDIS trained". That's the worst final gag line I've ever heard.
Review by Theo KallströmVIP 6BlockedParent2018-07-21T09:27:45Z— updated 2020-06-30T05:49:01Z
A silly and inventive adventure with some questionable production values and the introduction of K9 begins strongly but falls flat by the end.
Story: 6
This story is lighthearted and silly. It's adventurous from the very start and keeps going at a brisk pace. It's not the strongest story plot-wise, but it's remembered for its introduction of robotic dog companion K9. It's a pretty action-heavy story too, particularly in the second half.
The story truly gets silly and creative in Part Three, once we enter the Doctor's head. It's a pretty stupid sequence meant to once again boast over the Doctor's superior mind, but it stands out nonetheless.
The way how Leela's immunity against the virus becomes a central mystery in the story feels like something that would be done in the revived series, where the companion is usually given more of a mysterious purpose.
Acting: 8
K9 is voiced by John Leeson, arguably the most well-known and popular actor to voice the character. That squeaky but determined voice is hard not to love and be annoyed by at the same time. Leeson also voices the Nucleus of the Swarm, and I have never seen such a contrast between two separate performances by the same actor in one story. The Nucleus sounds like shit.
The great Michael Sheard is back after previously playing the concerned brother of Marcus Scarman in Pyramids of Mars (1976) and Summers in The Mind of Evil (1971). He's okay here, but not particularly interesting.
Another returning actor is Frederick Jaeger, who appears as the slightly nutty Professor Marius (somewhat of a mix of Kettlewell from Robot, 1974; and Solon from The Mutants, 1972). This performance is quite different from his equally brilliant turn as Sorenson in Planet of Evil (1975). Here he is a silly but memorable character, and one of my all-time favourite supporting characters.
The Doctor: 8
This story puts the Doctor in an unusual position from the very beginning, forced to work for the bad guys from the onset, despite trying to fight against the influence of the Nucleus. The Doctor is pretty helpless most of the time, so Leela gets an important job keeping things running.
The Companions: 9
While Leela still acts naively at times, she is given an important role in this story and gets plenty of interesting stuff to do. With the Doctor out of action for parts of the story, Leela becomes more important than ever before. That being said, she just hangs around with K9 halfheartedly fending off the villains until the final episode.
The Monster/Villain: 2
The virus is a pretty bland idea for a Doctor Who monster by now, but having it (mostly) invisible is a great way to save money. The possessed hosts seem very ineffective, and the fight scenes between them and Leela/K9 has less energy than the trench warfare of WWI.
The Nucleus within the Doctor's brain looks and sounds like shit (literally) but even worse is the ridiculous space shrimp that appears in the cliffhanger to Part Three. That's some horrifying stuff.
Production: 8
I quite like the production values on this one. The model work is beautiful, the costumes look great (at least the astronaut suits do) and some of the visual effects are pretty creative. The sets are colourful but simple. The set design inside the Doctor's head is creative, but the visuals don't hold up very well.
The Nucleus of the Swarm is the ugliest alien lump I've ever seen in anything. Terrible, utterly terrible. And its shrimp version is stuff from anyone's worst nightmares.
Pacing: 8
This story is evenly paced, quite fast and mostly solid.
Atmosphere: 6
The difference between the previous story, Horror of Fang Rock (1977), and this one are like night and day. While Fang Rock is atmospheric and creepy, The Invisible Enemy is colourful and silly. The silliness feels somewhat out-of-place at times, and with a weird plot and some ineffective villains, it becomes even less tense.
The tension and horror of most earlier stories in Tom Baker's era are gone and will never be back again. The fine ideas presented in this story are overshadowed by the silliness of the production.
Impact: 10
The only reason this story is remembered among fans is due to the introduction of K9. Other than that it doesn't leave any lasting impressions.
Replay Value: 7
Despite its silliness, the stupid plot and some problems with the production, this is a fun little adventure to re-watch now and again.
Random Observations:
This story famously introduced K9, the robotic dog companion and one of the more popular companions in the show's history. K9 was popular with the kids but caused loads of problems for the cast and crew backstage. We also see the return of the original TARDIS console room, now slightly updated.
Michael Sheard will be back in Castrovalva (1983) and, perhaps more interestingly, in the Eighth Doctor audio drama The Stones of Venice (2001).
Once again an alien causing some strange boogie-loo appearing on the victims' hands. It is something Doctor Who likes to do a lot.
There are some similarities between this story and The Tsuranga Conundrum (2018), including scenes set in sickbay while an alien menace is on the loose. The Doctor entering his own body is similar to the Doctor entering a Dalek's casing in Into the Dalek (2014).
The second time we meet a clone of the Fourth Doctor, after his android copy in The Android Invasion (1975). This is also the third time the Doctor is miniaturized, after Planet of Giants (1964) and Carnival of Monsters (1973).
Marius: "I only hope he's TARDIS trained". That's the worst final gag line I've ever heard.
Score: 72/120