The Android invasion - EPisode 3

The penultimate episode of story spends the first seven minutes or so dealing with a bomb going off. At one moment it’s said that there is nine minutes before the bomb goes off. It’s the longest nine minutes that I have felt for some time. Despite their being a short amount of time it doesn’t feel like there is much of a build-up.

The one few bits of comfort come in the form of Crayford. There is a bit of an explanation about why Crayford is working for the Kraal’s. Crayford believes that he is going to return to earth and the Kraal’s are going to help him. Crayford’s return to Earth has been prepared and so his return (arranged by the Kraal’s) won’t be so much of a shock. It’s one of the few things that the Kraal’s do that actually makes sense. Of course it’s going to go wrong at some point but at least that moment will come along and it’s something to enjoy.

The Doctor’s best moment comes when he is tied up with the bomb right in front of him. It’s a nice little scene. Sarah is quite inventive in this episode. It only really happens when she electrocutes the android guard but it’s still a great little moment. This is another episode where Harry appears and again he makes more of a contribution to the story than he did in the later stages of his time on the show.

It really doesn’t make sense as to why they are going to the trouble of recreating one English village when they plan to bombard the planet with some bacteria. Surely they wouldn’t have to bother with any of that and instead just perfect the bacteria and use that instead. Oh well it just gives Terry Nation the opportunity to cruise in writing terms and despite Barry Letts’ best efforts there is little to find exciting.

This has to be the first story that I have watched for quite some time that is worse than I previously thought. I think that when it’s watched in one sitting then it’s easy to overlook things and thus enjoy it a bit more and so as a result this is the one story of the season that I have become disappointed with. I think that the problem with the story is that it’s a convoluted plot and I just cant get beyond that. It’s a plot that also doesn’t have the mileage to go four episodes. In terms of plot development, it doesn’t really achieve anything, its not until the very end that it seems to be moving towards something. Its definelty the weakest Terry Nation script.