The great thing about Classic Who is that, even when you have a wobbly story like Pyramids of Mars you never have to wait long to get a truly great story. The Android Invasion is a veritable who's who of Who -- written by Terry Nation in his only non-Dalek story since the first season's Keys of Marinus, directed by former producer Barry Letts, featuring the last appearances of John Benton and Harry Sullivan, and also a major villain role played by Milton Johns, who had previously appeared in the very excellent Enemy of the World. What I'm saying is, I really enjoyed today's viewing on the treadmill.

Let's talk about that.

The Android Invasion - Parts 1 & 2

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

The premise of the story is that the Doctor and Sarah Jane arrive in the TARDIS on the outskirts of the small English village of Devesham, which appears to be completely abandoned on short notice. They encounter an oddly-behaving UNIT soldier who stumbles over a cliff and falls to his death, and they also encounter a quartet of faceless astronaut-looking men who fire on the Doctor and Sara immediately. The mystery slowly unfolds as they gradually figure out that they are not, in fact, on Earth but are on some alien planet that has constructed a facsimile of Devesham and populated it with androids that look exactly like the town's residents.

Along the way they encounter doppelgangers of both Harry Sullivan and Sergeant Benton, and in the second episode Sarah Jane herself is captured and WestWorlded. (Is that a word? It should be.) The final shot of part two, when the Doctor reveals that he knows that Sarah Jane is an imposter, is wonderfully chilling as AndroidSarah is knocked to the ground and her face falls off to reveal the mechanical workings beneath. I mean, seriously, take a look at this:

I love everything about this story, from its tone and pacing to its visuals and framing. It is properly creepy, and the slow reveal is done with enough deftness to keep the viewers fully engaged. It is nice to discover that Terry Nation has at his disposal a bag of tricks that does not include Nazi Pepperpots. The opening sequence, with the herky-jerky UNIT soldier staggering though the countryside before tumbling over a cliff, was just the right level of weird and off-putting. I really love when Classic Who leans into the horror genre, and this one ranks right up there with the best.

I am so looking forward to tomorrow's conclusion.

STATS:

Doctor(s): Fourth
Companion(s): Sarah Jane Smith
Episode(s): The Android Invasion - Parts 1 & 2
Steps Walked: 6,960 today, 1,421,603 total
Distance Walked: 3.43 miles today, 705.76 miles total
Weight: 260.64 lbs (five day moving average), net change -46.74 lbs