 This story is considered by many fans of the show to be rather lacklustre. It is though, significant in the history of the shows for introducing K9, the robot dog voiced by John Leeson. Designed by Tony Harding, and built by the BBC Visual Effects department, K9 would become one of the show’s most popular elements.
Although this story was intended to be the second story broadcast as part of Season Fifteen it was recorded first. This was to allow time for the preceding story, "Horror of Fang Rock", to be written when it was decided, at short notice, to cancel a vampire-based story called "The Vampire Mutation" due to a fear that it could detract from the BBC’s high-profile adaptation of Bram Stoker's classic novel "Count Dracula", which was due for transmission close to when the story would have aired. Having been filmed first in the season this story was actually the first to be produced by Graham Williams.
This story was directed by Derrick Goodwin, whose career in television had largely centred on comedy shows (such as On the Buses and Thick as Thieves), although he had also worked on an episode of Z Cars. Derrick Goodwin later had to decline, due to scheduling conflicts, an invitation from Graham Williams to return to Doctor Who. So as well as being his first Doctor Who story it also turned out to be his only work on the show.
The voice of K9 was provided by John Leeson, who had appeared in comedy and children’s programmes, including Dad’s Army and Rainbow as well as being a BBC continuity announcer. The director for this story, Derrick Goodwin, had recently renewed the acquaintance of John Leeson, who he had first met while working in repertory theatre. John Leeson was originally contracted to voice K9 for the final three episodes of this story but his contract was extended to include the Voice of The Nucleus as well. In the closing credits for episodes Two to Four, John Leeson was therefore credited as ‘Nucleus and K9 Voice’.
It was not decided until late in the production that K9 was to be a new companion. The script for this story however, had been structured so that the scene in which K9 departs with The Doctor and Leela could simply be dropped if the character was not to be retained, leaving the implication that he had simply been returned to Professor Marius off-screen. Soon after recording of this story had been completed Producer Graham Williams decided to keep K9 on for at least the remainder of Season Fifteen despite the problems that the prop had posed.
Unfortunately the K9 prop quickly proved itself to be a source of frustration when it was discovered that the remote control mechanism sometimes interfered with the cameras, resulting in visual distortion on the recordings and the prop itself going haywire. Consequently, Tom Baker quickly grew frustrated with K9, occasionally going so far as to give the prop a solid kick. It has also been commented that Tom Baker also disliked the fact that the robot dog’s short stature meant that he often had to stoop down so that they could be in the same shot together. Fortunately, however, Tom Baker and John Leeson quickly developed a strong camaraderie. As K9 was now due to stay on in the show Tony Harding started formulating plans to overhaul the robot dog’s inner workings to make the prop more controllable and to prevent it disrupting the cameras.
With K9 continuing beyond this story John Leeson therefore became a member of the regular cast, as the voice of K9, which he would do for three of the four forthcoming seasons. The decision to use K9 in multiple stories was made partly to offset the expense that had gone into making the prop. Because of this the following stories in Season Fifteen had to be slightly rewritten to explain K9’s lack of involvement.
Michael Sheard, who played the part of Lowe, makes his fourth of six appearances in Doctor Who, his best known roles being Laurence Scarman in the 1975 story "Pyramids of Mars" and the Headmaster of Coal Hill School in the 1988 Seventh Doctor story "Remembrance of the Daleks".
Frederick Jaeger, who played the part of Marius, also played Jano in the 1966 First Doctor story "The Savages" and Professor Sorenson in the 1975 story "Planet of Evil".
Also amongst Derrick Goodwin’s cast was his wife, Elizabeth Norman, playing Professor Marius’ nurse.
This story saw a return to the original-style TARDIS Console Room, which was abandoned after "Pyramids of Mars", when the ‘wooden’ secondary Console Room, which had been introduced in the previous season’s story "Masque of Mandragora". The wooden version had warped while in storage, during the break between seasons, to the point that it was no longer usable. Producer Graham Williams therefore opted to return to a simplified variation on the predominantly white, more futuristic set employed during the shows’ first thirteen seasons. Longtime Doctor Who designer Barry Newbury elected to simply retain the traditional white TARDIS console prop which had been used prior to Season Fourteen. This version of the TARDIS Console Room would be used up until the 1983 Fifth Doctor story "The King's Demons".
Originally this story was to have featured the Key to Time, but subsequent stories could not be reworked at a late date so this particular storyline was postponed a year when it became the main theme for Season Sixteen.
The sequence in which the miniaturised clones of The Doctor and Leela journey inside The Doctor’s brain was partially inspired by the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage.
This is not the first story involving shrinking. Others include: the 1964 First Doctor story "Planet of Giants", the 1973 Third Doctor story "Carnival of Monsters" and the 1979 Fourth Doctor story "The Armageddon Factor". Also Virgin Books’ The New Adventures novel "Timewyrm: Revelation", written by Paul Cornell, involved a journey into The Doctor’s mind.
Attacked by the alien virus, The Doctor is seen lapsing into his first self-induced cataleptic trance since the 1979 story "The Brain of Morbius". His lack of consciousness was due to the Virus feeding on ‘intellectual activity’. Professor Marius is also heard to state that The Doctor has ‘a symbiotic self renewing cell structure’.
The use of Leela’s antibodies actually causes a time paradox as she is descended from people who left Earth after this story, and by being present in 5000 AD she gives humanity the antibodies she has always possessed.
Listen out for the scene in the second episode when Leela tells the receptionist that The Doctor is from Gallifrey which she believes to be in Ireland - much the same as Tegan Jovanka tells her captors in the 1983 Fifth Doctor story "Arc of Infinity". Gallifrey was also assumed to be in Ireland in the 1976 story "The Hand of Fear" and in the 2007 Tenth Doctor story "Human Nature/The Family of Blood" as well as in the Virgin Books’ The New Adventures novel "Blood Harvest" that was written by Terrance Dicks.
This story also reveals that Leela is left-handed, or at least writes with her left hand. Actress Louise Jameson is right-handed, but chose to make Leela a left-handed writer in order to increase her awkwardness at this task. Also, strangely, Leela seems to have learned how to operate the TARDIS since she is able to program it to the Bi-Al.
Professor Marius built K9 not only as a personal databank, but also to replace the dog he left behind on Earth. It is therefore strange that Professor Marius is content to part with his ‘best friend, as he is heard to say when referring to K9.
This is the only story in which the monitor on K9’s left side is seen to display anything.
K9 was originally to be called Pluto but this was changed to avoid the wrath of the Walt Disney Corporation who own the copyright for the name used for their famous cartoon dog.
It is not hard to miss the scene when K9 blasts a chunk out of a wall as it is obviously a pre-cut segment. Also when K9 shoots one of the infected men, the blast beam appears to come out of his eyes, then moves down to his snout as the camera moves.
Other apparent errors in this story include: when the TARDIS first arrives on Titan, in the background you can see one of the relief ship crew still helmeted, the first shot of the Bi-Al Foundation shows it with the damage later caused by the shuttle crash and strangely the countdown clock in Marius’s lab speeds up and slows down as needed for the plot.
The 51st century is a significant time in the Whoniverse. Aside from the Great Breakout mentioned in this story and being the home era of K9, the century will also bring a new ice age, a Sixth World War, time travel research leading to the Time Agency (all mentioned in the previous season’s story "The Talons of Weng-Chiang") and the time-portals in the ship where the events of the 2006 Tenth Doctor story "The Girl in the Fireplace" take place. The Doctor also states that this time period is when humans first travel outside the solar system, but that was later contradicted in the 2009 story "The Waters of Mars" when the Tenth Doctor implies it happens some time around 2089. Notable humans from the era include former Time Agent Captain Jack Harkness - who was a companion of the Ninth Doctor and the Tenth Doctor - and River Song.
This story was listed on a 1970’s sound effects LP as "The Enemy Within" which would go on to become an alternative title given to the 1996 television movie "Doctor Who: The Movie" that starred Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor.
"The Invisible Enemy" was repeated on BBC One on consecutive Thursdays in July/August 1978.
This story was released on DVD as part of the "K9 Tales" box set along with the 1981 spin off-story "K9 and Company: A Girl's Best Friend". Editing for this DVD release was completed by the Doctor Who Restoration Team. Early versions of the box set feature a fault on "The Invisible Enemy" disc. A scene from half way through Part 3 is skipped and appears after the closing credits.
The Target novelisation of this story, written by Terrance Dicks and published in 1979, was planned to be re-released by Virgin Books’ in 1994 with cover art by Alister Pearson. This release however, was cancelled.
| |
|
The Firsts:
The introduction of new companion K9 voiced by John Leeson.
This first story to see the return to the original-style TARDIS console room, which was abandoned after "Pyramids of Mars".
The first Doctor Who story to be directed by Derrick Goodwin.
|
|
(Position = 125 out of 159)
(Position = 164 out of 200)
(Position = 196 out of 241)
