Score 5/10
Multiple directors & writers (as most shows are)
Music : Theme by Dominic Frontiere
Country : USA
Language : English
Duration : 2 seasons (17+26 episodes), about 51 minutes each.
Aired : January 1967 to March 1968
Full production and cast member on IMDb (beware that you'll know who comes back more than once!)
The Invaders is a sci-fi show that garnered a cult following over the past few decades, and which I waited until now to watch and finally understand this status.
It's a show that, in my sad opinion, didn't meet its potentials and its so deeply rooted in a metaphor of the cold war, that it's not as relevant to modern days as some other sci-fi shows of its period, as it has fewer social commentaries, and most of the political atmosphere isn't the same anymore - not withstanding some current aspects.
It all starts when David Vincent, an architect in search of a shortcut to get back home in the middle of the night, sees a landing of a UFO. He learns of their plans to conquer the planet, and tries his best to convince others, to enlist their aid ; but, most often, he isn't believed, or he's talking to aliens. Indeed, these aliens take human form, and one can tell that they aren't real only by checking their pulse, wounding them and seing no blood, or, in most cases, have to shoot them. These aliens don't die, they disintegrate in a red glow, which is an indication about the main metaphor of this show : the cold war, off course.
The show was a study in paranoia, first of one person, and then of a group of persons, as Vincent eventually does manage to connect with other believers, and they all are in a race against the clock of alien invasion.
Sadly, the entire first season and part of the second had a lot of repetition in stories : Vincent runs into aliens, who do a really bad job at hiding, and at getting rid of this human foe ; he outwits them, most often wrestles and/or shoots them, and moving on from desert and city to the next... Then, we finally get a better quality, with more variety in surroundings ; some characters make repeated appearances and become recurrent, and the plot moves from the basic initial one to include more interesting aspects of this adversarial system, and... the show gets cancelled at the end of 2 seasons and 43 episodes.
The first season also had a consistent problem : never counting bullets. Thus, some guns can fire more than their intended bullets, and this is corrected for the second season, where all characters are shown reloading their guns in many scenes.
There are several key points which I find annoying and unbelievable:
First, why is Vincent an architect? he should have been some cop of FBI or something. I cannot believe one bit that an architect can keep up with so much physical punching and being beat up more than once in each episode or almost, and seldom gets really wounded. He shouldn't have been in such a shape, with no training!
Second, why does he often go with cops or soldiers to some places, as if he was an agent of some sort ? a civilian put in many situations that aren't realistic to me at all (was it even in 1967-68?)
Third, why he only gets a camera twice in the whole show ? why does he throw the camera AND misses the alien right in front of him the first time, and throws away the film when he wants to protect a woman (damsel in distress!) the second time? His obsession to fight the aliens would have made him throw something else, to have proof to use! (yes, I know, a study in paranoia, so no one can believe him for many episodes, but... BUT, there is a limit! a paranoid person would do their best to keep data and track and photos and audio of anything they come by).
Fourth, the show also has a huge gender-imbalance due to the period, where some episodes may have 1-2 women guest stars, and some none at all. Several of the women involved are actually aliens, and others have no dialogues, and/or fill the usual roles as nurses, or wives. Towards the end of the run, this improved to some extent, and although mostly white-male cast members for the show, there were just a few minorities.
Five, for the period, men, and especially Vincent, are shown leading women by the arm in alpha-moves that are annoying, but have to be taken in their context, just like the disparities discussed above.
Six, repetition, wash & repeat!
Each episode starts with an announcement that it's in color (ABC was the last to adopt color) , that it's a Quin Martin production, and the first few scenes are a cold open. Then, the introduction (which never varies) and after the lines that he has to face a disbelieving world, the guest stars are shown and announced, with the title. Then, there are 4 acts and a short epilogue, before the end credits.
Narration : Dick Wesson (episode credits) & William Woodson (all others).
Main star : Roy Thinnes. The show had many, many guest stars, including Gene Hackman, Edward Asner, Louis Gosset Jr, Peter Graves, Burgess Meredith, Barry Morse, Kent Smith, Michael Rennie (yes, Klatu!!) ;
Many others were also in Star Trek, such as Lawrence Montaigne, Joanne Linville, Susan Oliver, Diana Muldaur, BarBara Luna, Sally Kellerman, Alfred Ryder, William Windom, ;
or on The Fugitive (another Quinn Martin production), for example, Lin McCarthy, Diana Hyland, John Milford, Suzanne Pleshette...
The Invaders was continued in a spin-off some years later, in 1977, in Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected, known in the UK as Twist in the tale. I haven't seen it to know if the story ever ends, but I suppose that it doesn't. This show had only 8 episodes, aired in February and March (6 episodes), the final 2 in August, and that there have been 5 additional proposed but un-produced episodes, which hints to unfinished story endings. Only the first episode saw Roy Thinnes' return.
The show also was remade in 1995, as a mini-series comprised of 2 episodes lasting 87 minutes each, and starred Scott Bakula. I haven't seen it either, but I don't imagine it doing too well, not with an imdb medium note of 5.3 compared to 8.1 for the original 1967 show... the same one I give a 5/10 due to all the issues I noted above.
To finish this long review, I won't compare here all the dvd editions for the 1967 show. I didn't wish to suffer the pal speedup of French or UK releases, and went straight to the US region 1 dvd box sets, EAN's 097361326740, and 097361387444, released in 2008 &2009.
Image is in color, full screen and an ok quality, as much as a non-remastered to HD can.
Sound 2.0 stereo ONLY, no other options and no subtiles of any kind. I had to use the stereo function on my HiFi and despite clearer dialogues than spread on all speakers, some weren't too clear (but then again, I have a bit of hearing loss).
The first season is spread over 5 discs. The second 7 discs as there are more episodes.
One can chose watching one episode at a time, or view all, and in both cases, either episode alone, or with Roy's introductions, which are usually spoilery, and sometimes he adds some anecdote, before announcing the original airdate, and the episode's title with a dramatic flair.
The first season special features includes the series creator, Larry Cohen's, commenary on The Innocent episode (disc 3) ; a "brand-new" interview with Roy Thinnes - I haven't watched this ; also a 69' extended version of the pilot episode The Beachhead, and 3 season one promos.
The second season special features includes Alan Armer's commentary on The peacemaker (disc 6) and another (2008) interview with Roy (I watched this one, it's 36 minutes long and he recalls some anecdotes as long answers to short questions which are given in text form, before his reply. Some aren't displayed long enough so you may need to pause).
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