Invasion of Earth was the first skit included amongst the interviews within 30 Years in the TARDIS, and later More than 30 Years in the TARDIS. It broke the fourth wall, depicting not a straightforward adventure in the Doctor Who universe, but the daydreams of a young boy watching the programme itself (for which reason it is not considered a valid source on this Wiki). New footage was intermingled with archival footage from the Doctor Who stories referenced.
Plot[]
A young boy is walking around London with a toy gun, pretending that he is fighting Doctor Who monsters. To his horror, as he walks past a shop window, some shop window dummies actually start coming to life as Autons. Running away from them, the boy goes past the web-covered, cadaverous newspaper salesman from The Web of Fear, and up the very same stairs climbed by the Cybermen in The Invasion, he turns a corner to find himself faced with a postbox which, after a second look, begins to look like an angry Dalek — jolting him out of his daydream as he finds that he had simply dozed off while watching Doctor Who from behind the sofa.
Later, he dreams that, as he sleeps on the sofa, he is being hugged and watched over by Sarah Jane Smith — but, just as a Sontaran enters the room, her eyes begin to glow a frightening green.
Cast[]
- Boy - Josh Maguire
- Newspaper seller - Adrian Rigelsford
- Black-haired Auton - Heather Barker
- Auton - Gary Russell
- Sarah Jane Smith - Elisabeth Sladen
Crew[]
Worldbuilding[]
- The "monsters" the boy pretends to be shooting at include Monoids, Dalek Troopers and Vogans.
Story notes[]
- The skit did not have an on-screen title, with the bulk of it essentially serving as a pre-credit sequence for the documentary itself, and the final stinger shot with Elisabeth Sladen appearing near the very end, but one was given in the "chapters list" of the VHS edition of More than 30 Years in the TARDIS.
- The ending of this skit links in with events of the seventh one, which depicted Elisabeth Sladen getting captured by a Sontaran with glowing green eyes.
- It is possible, due to the presence of the Sontaran, that Elisabeth Sladen's character has been replaced by a Rutan, hence the glowing green eyes.
- Josh Maguire also played "The Boy" in several narrative-less "reaction shots" to classic series clips shown throughout the documentary. Additionally, he played a boy in Susan and the Daleks, one of the other skits in More than 30 Years in the TARDIS, but this did not seem narratively connected to the opening sequence.
- The name of the shop from which the Autons emerge is "Magister and Splink", hinting at the involvement of the Master.
