The Invisible Enemy (TV story)

A three-man rocket crew are nearly done with their mission to Titan Base until a course change puts the rocket in the path of a strange cloud in space. By the time they arrive, they have come under the control of a sentient virus which threatens the galaxy. When the TARDIS picks up an emergency message, it flies into the cloud, infecting the Doctor. To save himself and others, he must undertake a dangerous journey.

Plot

Part 1

A small spacecraft flies through an asteroid belt. Despite the efforts of the three-man crew, it is drawn into an anomaly. An energy discharge strikes the ship and infects the computer with a virus, which declares, "Contact has been made"...

By the time the ship reaches Titan Base, the three crewmen have been infected also. They kill the resident crew and reveal their slowly changing faces. When the station supervisor, Lowe, realises the men he knew are now trying to take over the base, he sends out a distress call.

Leela learns to write.

The Fourth Doctor and Leela, back in the refurbished console room, intercept the distress signal and proceed towards Titan. They pass through the same anomaly. The Doctor is struck by the energy, collapsing on the floor. Despite Leela's warrior instincts telling her there is danger and evil on the station, the Doctor insists they answer the mayday. The shuttle crew are already aware of the TARDIS's imminent arrival and prepare for the coming of "the Nucleus". Lowe tries to stop them, killing Silvey, but Safran and Meeker chase him into the cryogenic section and lock him in.

The Doctor and Leela separate and explore the station. Leela finds a frozen Lowe and helps him recover, learning of the shuttle crew's strange behaviour. The Doctor meets Safran and Meeker, who use the energy discharge to further infect him. They order him to kill Leela, who is immune and therefore useless to them. When the Doctor finds her, Meeker insists that he is not in danger from the Nucleus that infests the Doctor's body. Leela kills Meeker, but not before he has infected Lowe. As Lowe leaves to follow Safran, the Doctor creeps up behind Leela and aims a weapon at her back.

Part 2

The Doctor resists the voice in his head and collapses, his infection receding. Lowe and Safran confer and decide that, while Safran prepares the station for incubating the virus, Lowe shall protect the Doctor at all costs. When the Doctor insists on finding medical help, Lowe suggests the Bi-Al Foundation in the nearby asteroid belt. The Doctor gives Leela the co-ordinates before he puts himself in a coma and she pilots the TARDIS there.

The Doctor is taken to Professor Marius, an expert in alien diseases, who at first dismisses the Doctor as a spacenik. Lowe fakes an eye injury and infects a doctor with the virus. They begin infecting more staff members. Marius becomes much more interested in the Doctor's case when his robotic dog, K9, reveals the Doctor's extraterrestrial origin and that he is infected by a virus residing in the mind-brain interface. The Doctor wakes himself and discusses the virus with Marius and K9, who was built by the professor to replace the dog he left on Earth. They decide that the virus thrives on intellectual activity. Since Leela is an instinctive being, it cannot infect her.

Marius prepares to operate on the Doctor's brain, which makes the virus cause a shuttle to crash into the asteroid as a distraction, while the infected staff launch an attack on the operating theatre. Leela and K9 hold off the infected crew while the Doctor forms a new plan, preparing short-lived clones of Leela and himself before lapsing back into his coma. The Doctor's clone uses the TARDIS's dimensional stabiliser to shrink the clones to microscopic size so Marius can inject them into the Doctor's body.

Part 3

Clones of Leela and The Doctor in the Doctor's real brain.

The clones make their way into the Doctor's brain, dodging electrical impulses and the Doctor's immune system. They look for the mind-brain interface, where the Nucleus has hidden itself, and any neural damage that may show the way. As they proceed, they discuss the complexity of the brain and how it operates.

Lowe demands Marius surrender the Doctor, so Leela and K9 destroy the service shaft and barricade the corridor to slow the infected. The barricade helps until one of them infects K9 with the virus. K9 is ordered to kill Leela, but she dodges the blast and is merely stunned, while K9 shuts himself down to reboot. Lowe infects Marius and kills Dr. Parsons, but the nurse escapes and finds K9 and Leela in the corridor. Lowe has himself cloned and is miniaturised and injected into the Doctor to stop the other clones.

The remains of the clones of the Fourth Doctor and Leela.

The cloned Doctor and Leela cross the mind-brain interface and track down the Nucleus. The Doctor tries to convince it to leave, but the Nucleus asserts its right to survive and procreate like any other life form, explaining that it has hung dormant in space for millennia. It compares itself to the human pioneers swarming out into space. Now that it has access to the Doctor's TARDIS, it can spread the virus through time and space. The cloned Lowe is stopped by Leela's duplicate and the Doctor's phagocytes but, just as the Doctor's clone tries to shoot the Nucleus, the time limit runs out and the clones vanish. The Nucleus escapes from the Doctor's body through a tear duct and is enlarged by Marius to human size.

Part 4

The visible enemy.

The Nucleus explains to the now virus-free Doctor that, having used the dimensional stabiliser to grow, the virus's next generation can attack humanity on a macroscopic level. Leela disguises herself as an infected nurse and frees the Doctor so they can take refuge in the TARDIS with K9. Without the dimensional stabiliser they cannot leave. They watch as Lowe and his infected brethren help the Nucleus onto a shuttle for Titan.

K9 stuns Marius so the Doctor has time to examine his own blood and discover that Leela's clone has left him with antibodies against the virus. He replicates the antibodies and cures Marius, who can replicate the cure for his staff. The Doctor plans to eradicate the virus spawning on Titan, but Leela insists they simply blow it up. When the cure is ready, the Doctor borrows K9 from the Professor and heads for Titan Base.

The Nucleus arrives at the base just in time for spawning and enters the incubation tanks prepared by Safran. When the TARDIS arrives, Leela discovers the infected are developing resistance to her blaster. K9's weaponry is more effective, but his energy levels are dropping quickly. He draws the infected away while the Doctor sneaks up on the spawning tanks. Lowe confronts him and makes him lose the antibodies, but K9 uses the last of his power to shoot Lowe, who is absorbed by the swarm. Leela kills Safran with her knife while the Doctor alters his plan and rigs the refuelling tanks to blow. They escape the base with K9 just in time to see the massive explosion, amplified by the methane in the atmosphere, from orbit.

Returning to the Bi-Al foundation to restore K9 to Marius, they find the antibodies have been a success. Marius surprises the Doctor by asking him to adopt K9; weight requirements will not allow the professor to take his robot dog with him when he returns to Earth. K9 happily accepts the situation and departs with the Doctor and Leela, leaving Marius to wonder if the robot is TARDIS trained.

Cast

Crew

Assistant Floor Manager - Tony Garrick, Christabel Albery
Costumes - Raymond Hughes
Designer - Barry Newbery
Film Cameraman - Nick Allder
Film Editor - Glenn Hyde
Incidental Music - Dudley Simpson
Make-Up - Maureen Winslade
Producer - Graham Williams
Production Assistant - Norman Stewart
Production Unit Manager - John Nathan-Turner
Script Editor - Robert Holmes
Special Sounds - Dick Mills
Studio Lighting - Brian Clemett
Studio Sound - Michael McCarthy
Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
Title Music - Ron Grainer
Visual Effects - Tony Harding, Ian Scoones

References

Biology

K9 states the first successful cloning experiments were carried out in the year 3922. He adds, "The Kilbracken holograph cloning technique replicates from a single cell a short-lived copy. Efficiency of individualisation not completely guaranteed."
Professor Marius is said to be an expert in extraterrestrial pathological endomorphisms.

The Doctor

Leela tells the receptionist that the Doctor is from Gallifrey. The receptionist believes it to be in Ireland. This is also referenced in TV: Human Nature, where John Smith claimed he learned art from the school "Gallifrey" in Ireland.

Culture

Marius presumes that the Doctor is a spacenik.

TARDIS

The Doctor refers to the white console room as the "number two console room".
The TARDIS' dimensional stabiliser fits into Marius' equipment.
Leela is able to programme the TARDIS to go to the Bi-Al Foundation, once the Doctor gives her the coordinates.

Story notes

This story had the working titles The Invader Within, The Enemy Within and The Invisible Invader.
This story was listed on the 1970s sound effects LP as The Enemy Within.
This story featured more extensive model work than any previous Doctor Who story. (INFO: The Invisible Enemy)
According to Matt Irvine, the model used for the cratered surface of Titan was a re-use of the model used for the surface of the Moon in Space: 1999. (DCOM: The Invisible Enemy)
Enemy re-introduced the "primary" TARDIS console room, now slightly redesigned by Barry Newbery. It had been abandoned for the wooden, "secondary" control room in the previous year's season opener.
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.
In the Titan Base and Bi-Al Foundation sets, all signage is written phonetically in what the script calls "Finglish": thus, signs read "IMURJINSEE EGSIT" and "ISOLAYSHUN WARD" instead of "emergency exit" and "isolation ward". (INFO: The Invisible Enemy)
This is the only story in which the monitor on K9's left side actually displays anything.
John Leeson is credited as 'Nucleus Voice' for Part One, while for Parts Two to Four he is billed as 'Nucleus & K9 Voice' on-screen and as 'Nucleus Voice and K9' in Radio Times.
The introduction of K9 Mark I marks the beginning of an almost seven-year span of stories featuring at least one non-human companion which lasted until the departure of Turlough, a native of Trion, and the destruction of Kamelion, a shape-shifting android, in TV: Planet of Fire in 1984.

Ratings

Part 1 - 8.6 million viewers
Part 2 - 7.3 million viewers
Part 3 - 7.5 million viewers
Part 4 - 8.3 million viewers

Filming locations

Ealing Television Film Studios, Ealing Green, Ealing
Bray Studios, Slough
BBC Television Centre (Studio 6), Shepherd's Bush, London

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

The first shot of the Bi-Al Foundation shows it with the damage later caused by the shuttle crash.
When K9 blasts a chunk out of the wall, it's obviously a pre-cut segment.
The knife that Leela kills Meeker with is very obviously loosely sewn to his clothes. It wobbles back and forth after he falls.
In the very first scene, as the Doctor collapses to the ground, a person can be seen moving in the back of the set.
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.
The countdown clock in Marius' lab speeds up and slows down as needed for the plot.
When Marius' nurse meets Leela and K9 in the corridor, the camera and crew members can be seen reflected in her head-mirror.
When the Doctor is congratulating himself on blowing up the Swarm, the shadow of a boom mike can be seen.

Continuity

to be added

Home video and audio releases

DVD releases

Region 2 16 June 2008

PAL -

Region 4 4 September 2008

PAL -

Region 1 2 September 2008

NTSC -

This story was released on DVD on 16 June 2008 in a K9 Tales Box Set. It was released in the box set alongside K9 and Company.
Early Region 2 versions of the box set feature a fault on The Invisible Enemy disc. A scene from half way through episode 3 is skipped and appears after the closing credits. 2 entertain was aware of the problem but decided to go on with the release as planned. They are trying to fix the problem for later copies of the DVD box set.

Contents:

Commentary by Louise Jameson, John Leeson, Bob Baker and Matt Irvine
Dreams and Fantasy - Making-of documentary
Studio Sweepings - Raw studio footage from the serial
Visual Effect - Modelwork in The Invisible Enemy
Blue Peter - Clip from an episode featuring K9
CGI Effects - Option to watch serial with some original effects shots replaced by new computer-generated images
Trailers and Continuity
Photo Gallery
Production Subtitles
Radio Times Listings
Easter Egg - K9 appears on The Generation Game. To access this hidden feature, press left at 'Visual Effect' on the Special Features menu.

Notes:

Editing for the DVD release was completed by the Doctor Who Restoration Team.

DVD Region 1 DVD cover
DVD Region 4 DVD cover

K9 Tales

This story and K9 and Company were released as a DVD box set in 2008.

Australia Region 4 box set

Video releases

VHS UK cover
VHS Australian cover
VHS US cover

External links

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Synopsis