Day 416: The Android Invasion Part 3

It's worth mentioning that this is essentially the last script for Doctor Who to be written by Terry Nation (he will be credited for one more story but there are varying accounts as to how much he actually wrote of the story). It's also one of only two stories that he has written not to feature the Daleks, out of 10.5 stories that he is fully credited for. It's thus interesting to see what he does when he's clearly not able to write to the set structure that he is used to employing for Dalek serials. There are less allies for the Doctor and Sarah Jane, for instance, instead they are surrounded by danger at every turn. There's also a knowledge that visuals can make for more memorable moments than dialogue, Part 1 ends with the reveal of the monster's face, Part 2 with the reveal of the android face of Sarah Jane and Part 3 has an entertaining set-piece where the Doctor is tied to a spire in the centre of the village. But there are still issues. Nation doesn't let things be subtle, with future plot revelations being hinted at throughout dialogue or set-pieces (there's one particularly egregious example which we shall look at tomorrow relating to an eyepatch), but on the whole he provides some generic action adventure fun, and sometimes we all need a little bit of that in our lives.