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varos

episode guide

invasion of the dinosaurs

story 71 : season 11 : serial WWW : 6 episodes

Producer: Barry Letts
Director: Paddy Russell
Writer: Malcolm Hulke
Script Editor: Terrance Dicks
Designer: Richard Morris

cast information

Jon Pertwee (Doctor Who); Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith); Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart); John Levene (Benton); Richard Franklin (Mike Yates); John Bennett (General Finch); Ben Aris (Lieutenant Shears); Dave Carter (Sergeant Duffy); Martin Taylor (Corporal Norton); George Bryson (Private Ogden); John Caesar (R/T Soldier); Gordon Reid (Phillips); Trevor Lawrence (Lodge); Terry Walsh (Warehouse Looter); Noel Johnson (Charles Grover M.P.); Peter Miles (Professor Whitaker); Martin Jarvis (Butler); James Marcus (Peasant); Pat Gorman (UNIT Corporal); Terence Wilton (Mark); Carmen Silvera (Ruth); Brian Badcoe (Adam); Colin Bell (Private Bryson); Timothy Craven (Robinson);

crew information

John Wilcox (Assistant Floor Manager); Barbara Kidd (Costumes); Keith Hopper (Film Cameraman); Bob Rymer (Film Editor); Dudley Simpson (Incidental Music); Jean McMillan (Make-Up); George Gallaccio (Production Assistant); Dick Mills (Special Sounds); Alan Horne (Studio Lighting); Trevor Webster (Studio Sound); Ron Grainer (Title Music); Clifford Culley (Visual Effects); Delia Derbyshire (Theme Arrangement);

episode information

  Title First UK Transmission Duration Ratings Archive Status
1 Part One 12 January 1974 at 17:30 25'29" 11.0mil 16mm b/w telerecording
2 Part Two 19 January 1974 at 17:30 24'43" 10.1mil PAL 2 inch colour videotape
3 Part Three 26 January 1974 at 17:30 23'26" 11.0mil PAL 2 inch colour videotape
4 Part Four 2 February 1974 at 17:30 23'33" 9.0mil PAL 2 inch colour videotape
5 Part Five 9 February 1974 at 17:30 24'38" 9.0mil PAL 2 inch colour videotape
6 Part Six 16 February 1974 at 17:30 25'34" 7.5mil PAL 2 inch colour videotape
  1. Part One
    » Recovered from a private collector May 1982
    » b/w film inserts exist
  2. Part Two
    » Held by the FVTL when audited in 1978
  3. Part Three
    » Held by the FVTL when audited in 1978
    » A 71-edit exists also
  4. Part Four
    » Held by the FVTL when audited in 1978
  5. Part Five
    » Held by the FVTL when audited in 1978
  6. Part Six
    » Held by the FVTL when audited in 1978

release information

In Print:
Novelised as: Doctor Who and the Dinosaur Invasion
Written by: Malcolm Hulke
Number 022 in the Target Doctor Who Library

Versions
1976 Published by Allan Wingate Ltd, UK in hardback
With cover artwork by: Chris Achilleos
19 February 1976 Published by Tandem, UK in paperback
With cover artwork by: Chris Achilleos
ISBN: 0 426 10874 0
29 June 1978 Published by W. H. Allen, UK in paperback
With cover artwork by: Jeff Cummins
ISBN: 0 426 10874 0
May 1979 Published by Pinnacle Books, USA in paperback
With cover artwork by: David Mann
18 November 1993 Published by Virgin Publishing Ltd, UK in paperback
With cover artwork by: Alister Pearson
ISBN: 0 426 10874 0

plot synopsis

Returning to an apparently deserted London, the Doctor and Sara Jane are arrested as looters and put on trial, but they escape from the vehicle transporting them when a Tyrannosaurus Rex attacks it. On finding the Brigadier, he explains that the evacuation took place when dinosaurs started to appear on the streets, although they soon vanish without trace. The whole thing is part of a plot by Sir Charles Grover and a group of scientists to revert the Earth to a time before technology corrupted society, and it's up to the Doctor to try and defeat their Operation Golden Age

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