The Invisible Enemy Part Four

The one where the Nucleus enters the macro universe and begins to incubate...

It's really, really bad, isn't it? That awful prawn costume for the Nucleus is one of the most embarrassing missteps in Doctor Who history, up there alongside Mestor, human Dalek Sec, and the frog universe. It's actually really good as a giant prawn fancy dress outfit - I think anybody wearing that would probably win any crustacean cosplay contest - but as a Doctor Who monster, flood-lit on brilliant white sets, it's simply abominable. John Scott Martin does as much as he can inside the costume to make it fearsome, but a constant quiver and the occasional shuffle do not a Weeping Angel make. At least John Leeson's voice is suitably grim, giving the Nucleus an obsessive, rasping, burbling intensity. If you just listen, it's OK!

It can't even walk. You wouldn't really expect a giant prawn needing to walk, but the script does require it to get from the lab to the spaceship, resulting in comedy scenes of two actors having to support John Scott Martin by each arm/ frond as he shuffles along the Bi-Al corridor, screaming "Hurry! Hurry!" I think I can hear the collective laughter of 8.3 million viewers seeping its way through the soundtrack...

My favourite bit of this entire episode is where Leela gets to dress up as a Bi-Al nurse. I'd totally forgotten that this happens, as if I'd erased it from my memory, but doesn't Louise Jameson look fab? I wouldn't say that about just anybody who chooses to dress up in pea green PVC and white skull cap, but she somehow manages to pull it off. I love seeing Leela touching up her make-up and looking resplendent in her mint toothpaste outfit!

The recovered Doctor decides that the best way to defeat the Nucleus is to develop an antivirus based upon Leela's immunity. I'm a bit scratchy on this, because I was under the impression that Leela wasn't immune as such, just impervious to the Nucleus's need to contact with "intelligent" entities. She is a reject, not a walking antivirus. Anyway, so the Doctor says that when the cloned Leela dispersed into his body, it created antibodies that can be used to fight the virus. So the antivirus is basically made up of Leela's "non-intelligence", not an actual biological template. I don't get it. Maybe I'm just not clever enough, but I'll go with it anyway, just as millions of eight-year-olds did back in 1977.

Leela's preference is to just blow up Titan base, taking the virus and its incubating swarm with it. "That's your answer to everything," snaps the Doctor. Well, that's rich coming from the man who wantonly blows up Zygon spaceships and grand country houses. It's ironic that, in the end, the Doctor does have to blow up Titan base, because his plan to kill the virus biologically is scuppered when Lowe destroys the antivirus (I have to assume this is the case as this key incident happens off screen).

Throughout all this running along corridors and zapping people with unconvincing red laser beams, the Doctor and Leela have borrowed K-9, who manages to get in and out of the TARDIS with impressive speed and ease (despite the step). K-9 also displays his ability to jack himself up again, tilting up to face the Doctor in the TARDIS. Plus, he also whispers when stealth is required, although I think all that's thrown to the dogs when his super-noisy motors power up!

One impressive aspect of this episode is the model shot of the incubating virus on Titan, bubbling and smoking away like a moving storyboard from Aliens. It's just one of a great many fantastic model shots in this story which really help to sell the scale of the canvas Bob Baker and Dave Martin are using to tell the story. It's a pity that what it all boils down to is blowing the monster up, but at least Leela's happy.

The final scene is one of those fulcrum moments in Doctor Who history, where there were two paths to take, and I always like to wonder what it would have been like on the road not taken. Professor Marius inexplicably gifts K-9 - his "best friend and constant companion" - to the Doctor because he's apparently about to return to Earth. No explanation is given as to why Earth wouldn't want a robot dog to visit. It just feels a little too pat for me. If Marius had given even a slightly convincing reason to give K-9 up, I'd be happier, but as it is, Marius gives away his pride and joy, and neither he or his pet robot get to say goodbye to one another. It's a weird moment, and rushed, as is the whole episode (I'm not sure why, because it runs to under 22 minutes).

A quick aside... No Doctor Who spin-off fiction has yet reunited K-9 with Marius, but interestingly, the short story Tautology (printed in Doctor Who Magazine in 1992) sees Marius being gifted an old computer from the 20th century by his niece's boyfriend Frank, but finds that the technology is too advanced for that time. He then sets about building K-9 Mark I using the tech. However, the wonderful thing about it is that the computer is the remains of K-9 Mark III*, handed down through generations of Sarah Jane Smith's family until it got to Frank... And so K-9 Mk III* forms the basis for the construction of K-9 Mk I. Ooh, my brain hurts...

* Actually, probably K-9 Mk IV, as writer Glenn Langford wouldn't have known back in 1992 that Mk III gets blown up in School Reunion!

And so K-9 joins the Doctor and Leela aboard the TARDIS for many adventures to come. K-9 will go on to become a bit of an icon, indelibly linked to the public's collective perception of Doctor Who for the rest of the 1970s. Audiences love him. Tom Baker doesn't. But the star of the show would have to wait until a new producer climbed on board in order to get rid of the tin dog. I wonder what Seasons 15, 16, 17 and 18 would have been like without K-9? I reckon he wouldn't be that much missed, but as things stand, we're stuck with him. Let's give a dog a chance.

"I only hope he's TARDIS trained." If nothing else, I'm glad to see the back of Frederick Jaeger as Professor Marius.

Overall, The Invisible Enemy is a game of two halves. I love the spooky, shadowy scenes set on Titan in parts 1 and 4, but as soon as the action transfers to the Bi-Al Foundation, the whole thing just looks cheap. It's strange, because I admire Derrick Goodwin's direction, Barry Newbery's sets, Scoones and Harding's model work, even the concept of K-9... but somehow, as a whole, The Invisible Enemy doesn't work very well. And as for that giant prawn...

Contact has been severed.

First broadcast: October 22nd, 1977

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: That model shot of the incubating virus eggs is stunning.
The Bad: The giant prawn.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆ (story average: 6.3 out of 10)

"Would you like a jelly baby?" tally: 08

NEXT TIME: Image of the Fendahl...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Part One; Part Two; Part Three

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: https://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-invisible-enemy.html

The Invisible Enemy is available on BBC DVD as part of the K9 Tales box set. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Tales-Invisible-Enemy/dp/B00153NOQS/