Saturday 30 April 2016

Television: 'The Invaders' (1967-1968)

"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 shortcut 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." (Opening narration.)

Yes, David Vincent has seen them, in this excellent Quinn Martin production. Normally, Quinn Martin productions were so utterly humorous as to be unwatchable, but 'The Invaders' worked due to the silliness of the underlying concept, unlike 'The Fugitive' or 'The Untouchables'. Why silly? There was an architect who seemingly never did any designing, there were aliens that disintegrated in a red flash at the slightest injury, flying saucers, and an endless sequence of episodes where David doesn't quite procure evidence of the aliens but does find a small ally or two. In short, it was the perfect 'solitary man' episodic series. (Other notable examples: 'The Fugitive', 'The Incredible Hulk', 'Quantum Leap'.)

Back in the olden days, when it was repeated on the BBC at teatime, we used to have great fun with this show, as well as it's analogues on other days of the week. 'The Invaders' was the exemplar of shows to make fun of. Now, rewatching it properly, it's a series of improbably high quality. It only ran for a season and a half, but has lived on for decades and is very influential in the right circles. It's probably because of the high production values, the excellent dramatic structure of every episode (although some humour would have been nice), and the solid performance of Roy Thinnes as the protagonist. Thinnes might not have been able to crack a joke, but he could look serious in every circumstance for indefinite periods of time, unfailingly. (For more over serious Thinnes work, check our the dour 'Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun'!)

You could develop habits while watching 'The Invaders'. To this day, my mother asks 'Is he one?' at the debut of every character, due to the paranoia embedded in the show. The aliens disguise themselves as humans, so the audience is often teased with that 'are they or aren't they?' question. How could the aliens be told apart? The most obvious tell was that many of them had little fingers that didn't bend, which was a great touch. They also routinely wore green overalls when not undercover, didn't have pulses, and acted a little creepily. Yes, it sounds cheesy, but it did work. Maybe it was the music and the stellar guest casts that were pulled into each episode.

Sadly, 'The Invaders' didn't get to conclude definitely due to a cancellation, but it was showing encouraging signs of overcoming its own formula by introducing a secondary regular character to back up the protagonist, and developing an actual mythological arc for the show. The main plot was evolving, in a near-modern way, but was stopped in its tracks. We'll never know now what happened, but the series was a classic nonetheless, and one which has lasted much better than its more popular predecessors in the Quinn Martin stable. Yes, it's a classic, and the music was iconic.

"In the far reaches of outer space, the Invader reorganizes his plan for the conquest of the Earth. He's been delayed - but he hasn't been beaten." (Closing narration: 'Moonshot'.)

O.

Subsequent follow-up post: Here.

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