The Invasion of Time

"The President should be shot on sight."

Writer: David Agnew
Format: TV
Broadcast: 4th February - 11th March 1978
Season: 15.06

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Leela, K9

Synopsis

The Doctor is behaving very oddly. After signing a treaty with enemy aliens, he returns to his home planet, Gallifrey, and demands the Presidency of the High Council of Time Lords. His first act of rule is to banish Leela to the wastelands on pain of death. His second is to sabotage the planet's defence barriers, enabling full scale invasion.

Why has the Doctor joined forces with the militaristic Vardans? Is he out for revenge against the Time Lords? Or does he have a hidden agenda? But his allies are also hiding a dark secret, for behind them is a familiar enemy waiting for the right moment to attack...

Verdict

The Invasion of Time was an excellent adventure and a wonderful story to conclude the fifteenth season of Doctor Who. It really does have it all and often goes underrated in my opinion. I really do love this story and when you step back and take a look at what exactly happens, in hindsight this adventure is actually huge! The Sontarans step foot on Gallifrey and take control. That really is quite something. But of course, in a six parter the terrific villains don't show up until the conclusion of part four in a brilliant cliffhanger. If the story ended with the Doctor announcing that they had won again, it would go down as a very good four-part adventure. Once the Vardans are defeated though, things have only just got started and it turns out that they were just a prelude for the Sontarans, returning for the first time since The Sontaran Experiment. I'm sure the part four cliffhanger would have gone down a storm back in the 70s. Tom Baker was on fine form as the Fourth Doctor and I liked how he gave no hints at whether he was actually on the side of the Vardans. He arrives on Gallifrey and immediately demands his inheritance and right to become Lord President. What exactly that means for the past relationship between the Doctor and Rassilon is up for interpretation but it is certainly something to ponder. It's an exciting thought that's for sure. The Vardans were good enemies themselves and I liked how they suspected the Doctor wasn't actually on their side the entire time. The Vardans themselves were full of mystery before their identity as humans was fully revealed. I liked the wavy paper-like forms that we saw and their ability to be able to travel on wavelengths of any kind is certainly a good one! It has a lot of potential and it's one we saw realised pretty well in this serial. I really liked Leela in this story and considering it was her last one, I liked how her decision to stay on Gallifrey with Andred wasn't really hinted at during the events of the story. The Doctor was taken aback and I liked how despite putting on a brave face when saying farewell to his savage companion, he seemed momentarily hurt when he closed the TARDIS doors. K9 had also left him to take care of Leela on the planet of the Time Lords but the Doctor soon had another model to assemble. Borusa was great in this story and he would obviously become a bigger character in future stories. The Castellan was a weak character and I like the idea of the Time Lords being vulnerable and not expecting to be invaded. Rodan was a lovely character and I really liked her relationship with both the Doctor and Leela. She was terrific in making the defense of the main systems applicable from within the Doctor's TARDIS. Gallifrey stories are something I very much enjoy and I liked how we got a glimpse of outside of the Citadel where things aren't all rosy. Things can also be tough for Gallifreyans and that was very interesting to see, especially once Leela assumed control. She really did shine in her final adventure which is how it should be. The way the Doctor dealt with both the Vardans and the Sontarans was very good and served as a fantastic conclusion to what is a superb story! The Doctor suffering memory loss after preventing the Sontarans from gaining the Great Key was a great touch. Overall, a stunning story that was absolutely fit for a season finale and companion sendoff.

Rating: 10/10