| THE INVISIBLE ENEMY by Bob Baker & Dave Martin |
| Story 93 Synopsis: The TARDIS is attacked in space by a mysterious virus. The Doctor is infected. He lands the ship aboard the Titan Base, where the virus has already struck. He struggles with the Virus, and manages to get Leela to take him to the Bi-Al Foundation to be cured. There, he works with Professor Marius and his robot dog, K-9, creating clones of himself and Leela. The virus is preparing a base for itself back on Titan. The clones are injected into the Doctor's bloodstream, so he can find and defeat the Virus. Those already infected attack Bi-Al to defend what they see as an attack on the Nucleus of the Virus (which the Doctor is carrying). The clones reach the Nucleus, but die before they can deal with it. It travels to a tearduct, where it is brought into the macrocosm. With its supporters, it heads back to Titan, where the spawning will take place. The Doctor finds he has immunity, and tries to create an antidote to the infection. K-9 travels with the Doctor and Leela to Titan, but the Doctor's plan fails, so he falls back on Leela's preferred plan - to blow up Titan, and the Virus. Marius allows K-9 to travel away in the TARDIS. |
| Review:- Is this the watershed? The beginning of the end? Graham Williams' arrival as producer was nominal from Horror of Fang Rock, but his style sneaks through here for the first time, alongside script veterans Baker & Martin. Enter K-9... In essence, this is as much a claustrophobic chiller as seen in previous seasons, but the sci-fi setting is one not seen since Season 12. Here, a powerful force tries to take over the Universe, and the Doctor is powerless to stop it! Perhaps it is this that prompts his reliance on Marius' robot dog. Certainly he soon seems dependant on it, which is rather to his detriment. The rascal Time Lord who survived on his wits and his wit is now hamstrung by the involvement of a mobile computer with as effective a violent streak as Leela. It was K-9 that later producer JNT identified as a problem that had to go - so perhaps whatever subsequent reactions happened began here. The virus is impressive, knocking out all and sundry in its quest for dominance. Since it is such a single-issue monster, there is a problem with trying to pace the story. After the virus has infected the Doctor, he manages to get himself whizzed off to the Bi-Al Foundation, before the virus escapes his body, and whizzes back to Titan for the final spawning. Apart from the entertaining homage to Fantastic Voyage that episode 3 entails, this whole adventure could have been cut down drastically, and with little loss of drama. There is promise, when the Doctor finds he is at last immune, but the blow-it-up resolution rather spoils this. The virus is very good, but only as a short-term plot idea. In the long-term, it struggles to hold attention. K-9 is a walking plot solver, a shorthand for lazy writers. Sadly, though it has much to commend it, I can't recommend this story. |
| Disclaimer: I've seen the video, and read the book. |