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| Available at Amazon.com |
There’s a nervous bliss when a cult TV series that you’ve only read about gets released on DVD. After years of being teased by the memories of fanatics and scribblings of historians, you get to digest the program with your own eyes. However the bliss can transform into betrayal that you’ve spent years being fascinated by what was really a clunker. The recent releases of Time Tunnel and Land of the Giants disappointed me. Neither Irwin Allen produced show was as cool as retrospectively advertised. When it was announced that The Invaders: The First Season was arriving on DVD; I feared a third let down was on the way. Thankfully, this sci-fi show lived up to the worshipful hype.
The narration during the opening credits succinctly sets up the series: “The Invaders: alien beings from a dying planet. Their destination: the Earth. Their purpose: to make it their world. David Vincent has seen them, for him it began one lost night on a lonely country road, looking for a short cut that he never found. It began with a closed deserted diner, and a man too long without sleep to continue his journey. It began with the landing of a craft from another galaxy. Now, David Vincent knows that the Invaders are here, that they have taken human form. Somehow he must convince a disbelieving world that the nightmare has already begun.”
“The Beachhead” gets the series off on the good foot. David Vincent (Roy Thinnes) spots a spaceship, but the authorities don’t believe him. A couple that had a camper near the landing site claim they saw nothing. His business partner (James Daly) isn’t sure what to make of it. Vincent believes there’s something wrong with the camper couple. He drives out to the their hometown and discovers the aliens haven’t merely landed on the Earth. They’ve made real estate investments. Ellen Corby (The Waltons‘ Grandma Walton) is pure creepiness as she attempts to snuff Vincent’s curiosity. The pilot episode sets up the paranoia that energizes the series.
The Invaders should be a serial adventure, but the episodes are self contained. You can skip around without feeling like you’re missing a plot point. Each week Vincent roams the country looking for an opportunity to expose the Invaders without coming off as a nutjob. He needs solid evidence and not proof that could be fabricated by the staff of the Weekly World News. He’s very realistic in what it’s going to take to make people take notice of the strangers with weird pinkies.
The series is overrun by dozens of famous (or soon to be famous) actors in guest star roles as humans and Invaders. Vincent rushes to meet a respected astrophysicist that knows about the Invaders in “The Experiment.” But the guy’s son (Roddy McDowall) doesn’t want to expose them. “The Mutation” gives us a dose of Suzanne Pleshette (The Bob Newhart Show) as a small town stripper who leads Vincent to a landing site. Like all good TV strippers, she hides a deep secret. “Vikor” dares to expose what would happen if Jack Lord (Hawaii Five-O) sold out the human race. He’s an industrial giant who trades his support for the promise of ruling America. Only Vincent can stop his rise to power.
“The Ivy Curtain” has the Midlands Academy under the control of the visitors. Murray Matheson (Banacek) heads the school. He wants Jack Warden to be their private pilot to pick up “international students.” Vincent gives a knuckle thesis to shut down the brainwashing academy. What major university isn’t run by people from another planet? “The Betrayed” includes Norman Fell (Mr. Roper) and a mysterious computer tape. For those enjoying Mannix: The First Season, Joseph Campanella dons the priest collar in “Storm.” “Wall of Crystal” has a pre-Mod Squad Peggy Lipton as a bride whose honeymoon trip is ruined by an alien encounter.
The greatest guest role happens in “The Innocent.” The aliens demonstrate to Vincent that they mean no harm in their earthly exploits. Michael Rennie plays the “friendly alien.” Nearly 16 years earlier he arrived as Klaatu in The Day the Earth Stood Still. But does Rennie really come in peace this second time around?
For an unknown reason, they used what appears to be a PAL transfer of “Beachhead.” This means everything is a little bit sped up. This can be annoying to quite a few folks. But there’s no need for a rant. An hour-long version of “Beachhead” is included as a bonus feature. It’s transfered at the proper speed.
The special effects on The Invaders are extremely primitive by today’s CGI standards. Luckily the major effect is Roy Thinnes. He’s pumped and paranoid as he hunts down alien enclaves across the country. The adrenaline rush powers the suspense. He doesn’t ham it up or play it stiff. He makes you believe that there are aliens amongst us. Unlike certain cheesy sci-fi TV shows of this era, the scripts on The Invaders are top notch. It is easy to see how this series was an inspiration for The X-Files. The Invaders deserves its hype.
The Episodes
“Beachhead,” “The Experiment,” “The Mutation,” “The Leeches,” “Genesis,” “Vikor,” “Nightmare,” “Doomsday Minus One,” “Quantity: Unknown,” “The Innocent,” “The Ivy Curtain,” “The Betrayed,” “Storm,” “Panic,” “Moonshot,” “Wall of Crystal” & “The Condemned.”
The video is 1.33:1 full frame. The first few episodes have over processed color in certain scenes. The rest of the series looks sharp with proper fleshtones. The transfers are rather clean. The audio is Dolby Digital mono. The levels are good enough so you can feel the lasers zapping away. Larry Cohen provides a commentary track on “The Innocent.” He talks about his career in TV before creating The Invaders including how he met Quinn Martin. Cohen went on to make It’s Alive. There’s a lot of silent gaps in his talk. No subtitles, but it is Closed Captioned.
The Beachhead: Extended Pilot (1:00:48) contains deleted and extended scenes. Unlike the first version, this isn’t sped up.
Interview with Roy Thinnes (27:23) is a recent talk with the star. He’s one of those guys who can pull off a bowtie.
Season One Promos (2:26) are three old network commercials. They knew how to scare folks with the aliens taking over our planet.
Introductions by Roy Thinnes accompany every episode. Mostly he gives a quick description of the show. He does mention noted guest stars.
The Invaders doesn’t allow the special effects to dominate the acting and scripts. It doesn’t try to distract us with UFO, rayguns and little green men to cover plot holes and weak performances. The Invaders: The First Season is the perfect package for folks who had merely read about the show. The inclusion of fresh bonus features with Thinnes makes this perfect for original fans of the series.
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CBS DVD presents The Invaders: The First Season. Created by: Larry Cohen. Starring: Roy Thinnes. Running time: 17 episodes on 5 discs. Rating: Not Rated. Originally Broadcasted: Jan. 10 to May 9, 1967. Released on DVD: May 27, 2008. Available at Amazon.com
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