Search - The Invaders - Seasons 1 - 2 on DVD

"The Invaders-In Color!"

Wayne Klein | My Little Blue Window, USA | 04/19/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This combo pack features both the package for the first and second seasons of "The Invaders". The show looks quite good with a few exceptions during the first season set. It appears that the episodes are drawn from cleaned up 35 mm vintagae prints.

During the first season we discover along with architect David Vincent (Roy Thinnes) that there is a plot by aliens from another world to take over our world. They take human form but have some distinct differences (at least some of them)that make them obvious to someone like Vincent. He has a difficult time getting people to believe him initially but he gathers enough evidence to become a threat.

The first season set includes one episode where footage had to be substituted from what appears to be 16mm print syndication print as the original episode print was damaged. The few scenes pulled from this are very soft and blurry but otherwise the rest of the prints look extremely good for their age. Color is pretty solid throughout (even when upscaled on my Blu-ray player) and CBS/Paramount has cleaned up most of the dirt and debris with white speckles the only noticeable flaw in most of the episodes (typical of films from the time--caused during the duplication process from the interpositive).

The other issue is that the pilot evidently has been time compressed (why? I'm not exactly sure given that it would have fit just fine on the disc at a full 51 minutes)it runs about 49 minutes. I really didn't notice it all that much until I compared the vocal timbre on the 60 minute pilot episode that is included as an extra. Why this occured I'm not sure unless this was an accident or they weren't sure about how well things would fit given the extras that were planned (or perhaps the show was sourced from a digital transfer of the UK version of the series which is in the PAL vs. NTSC format that is commonly used in the U.S.--these run at slightly different speeds which could account for this).

We get introductions for each episode by actor Roy Thinnes as well as an extended interview in which he reveals he saw a UFO just prior to accepting the role in the series.

Creator Larry Cohen provides a commentary track on the episode "The Innocents" where he reveals that while producer Quinn Martin didn't really want him to write any episodes after creating the show, he did provide outlines for the bulk of the 16 episodes during the first season that were followed pretty closely.

We also get three season one promos and the rarely seen 60 minute extended version pilot. The source for the hour long pilot has faded more than the 45 minute pilot version and looks a bit more gritty than the aired pilot but overall looks quite good. We get all 16 first season episodes here as well.

The second season set includes all 26 second season episodes. Again, star Thinnes provides introductions for each episode. We also get interview footage centering around the production of the second season. Alan Armer line producer for Quinn Martin Productions on "The Invaders" provides a commentary track on "The Peacemaker" and he reveals that the line producers in many respects acted as story editors on the show as well assigning/writing/producing episodes. Martin's shows always had top notch production values but Armer does cite one of the common failings of Martin's other shows--falling into a predictable formula something that "The Invaders" managed to avoid for the most part during its brief two season run on ABC.

In the second season Vincent begins to gather others who believe him and work with him including millionaire Kent Scoville (Kent Smith). During the second season, Vincent pursues the aliens and even finds some aliens that for their own reasons are willing to help and cooperate with Vincent although they have very different motives.

Image quality for the second season is also extremely good. Colors are solid throughout and the episodes have been clenaed up outside of white specks on the film source (which, again, are from the 35mm prints that were used for airing on the show).

Packaging is quite nice in a multiple disc holder Amray case with clear plastic. On the inside you can read an episode summary for each episode, it's original air dates and the extras for the set.

Overall, this is quite a good package and CBS/Paramount has done a good job of presenting the show only using inferior sourced print material on one episode that I found. The extended pilot was searched for as an extra for this set almost delaying the original release date of the set as they searched for it.

The only thing missing here is the two hour pilot for the 1990's version of "The Invaders" with Scott Bakula that NBC tried to launch. That would have made a nice extra and bookended the series nicely but, aside from that minor point, this is an extremely good set that fans of the series will enjoy."

Made me feel 40 years younger!

Dennis E. Math | Western Wisconsin | 03/31/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As a kid I used to look forward to the night that The Invaders was on just as positively as a child would look forward to the start of the summer vacation. Of all the great shows of this period which included Star Trek by the way, this was this then early teenagers favorite. For some reason the show seemed to never go into syndication (the video will tell you that it is one of the most popular shows in syndication in Europe). The Sci-Fi Channel finally ran the series in the early 1990s and I taped them. Well, VHS tape breaks down and of course I had to deal with commercials so it was with GLEE that I found this fine series on DVD. I couldn't order quickly enough and once again felt like a 13 year old again awaiting the delivery.
Once the shipment arrived I spent several days at work feeling like roadkill from staying up late watching this show. I still feel that it was the finest Quinn Martin Production made and brought paranoia to life in a manner which few if any programs have managed before or since. The program has aged quite well, much better than this viewer has and remains actually a well written and of course well produced adult oriented thriller featuring a main character portrayed by Roy Thinnes whose acting skills actually lets you get the feel of being a person who is a sole witness to an ongoing,hidden alien invasion and can find few believers to help him in his virtually single handed defense of our planet and oh so slowly only gradually picking up fellow witnesses as he fights the enemy that has taken human form (though some exhibit a peculiarity of their hand), with their sole motivation being to make our world, theirs. If this show came out today, with or without todays digital special effects which this show did not have available, it would be extremely successful in this viewers belief.
The Fugitive was a Quinn Martin Production as were several other highly successful shows of the period but this relatively unknown production was by far superior to all the others. If you never saw this program when it originally aired or if you did and have forgotten it, trust me and purchase this series of DVDs. The price is a bargain and all you will lose will be a bit of productivity at the jobsite as, like a great book, it is really hard to stop watching this once you start which will lead to numerous nights of limited sleep.
This quite simply was my most enjoyable purchase in recent memory and made this balding 55 year old feel like the 13 and 14 year old he was when he first enjoyed this finely crafted and thrilling show when it originally aired.
Trust me and buy it while you can. I guarantee you, no matter your age, that if high action science fiction appeals to you that you cannot find a better purchase. If high action science fiction hasn't appealed to you before then it will if you take the chance and view this classic late 1960's era series. And do not miss the special feature at the end of the last video of the series and when you view each program chose Mr. Thinnes introduction to each program.
Man, I am so glad I bought this series! I hope you do too!"

A forgotton classic finally on DVD

John Prothero | 05/05/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Unless you're planning to go to Europe, you'll probably never get to see this series in syndication. If you see this DVD set at a good price, grab it. Roy Thinnes plays David Vincent - an architect who lost his way while driving late at night and wound up at a deserted diner. Suddenly he sees an alien ship land and tries to convince a disbelieving world that the invaders are here, have taken human form and are walking among us. The aliens discover the Vincent knows about them and either try to eliminate him or discredit his story by making him look like a crackpot. In the final season he does manage to find others who believe him and share his cause to stop the invaders from taking over Earth. This series is a must for any serious sci-fi fan."

Fun Viewing

Only-A-Child | 01/18/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The 42 one-hour episodes of the science fiction series "The Invaders" were originally broadcast on ABC from 1967-1968. That might seem like just one season but the series was a mid-season replacement, which premiered in January 1967. The season one DVD set includes only the 16 episodes produced to fill out the remainder of ABC's 1966-67 broadcast season.

Like "The Prisoner" which also premiered in 1967, "The Invaders" has become a mega cult hit over the years and this DVD package is greatly anticipated. The series has its roots in 1950's paranoia science fiction, specifically those films ("Invasion of the Body Snatchers", "It Came From Outer Space", "Invasion From Mars") that were surrogates for the anti-Communist hysteria that swept the country during the early Eisenhower era.

"The Invaders" took up the old theme of finding the enemy in our midst and was a worthy successor to the classic anti-Communist series "I Led Three Lives" (1953-1956). But the anti-Red phobia was no longer a draw by 1967 so the series confined itself to aliens from outer space and drew few parallels to those folks from behind the Iron Curtain. It did exploit the growing distrust of American business and government leaders by showing alien infiltration of these sectors.

Ray Thinnes plays architect David Vincent who stumbles across a spacecraft of disembarking aliens one night. They are from a dying planet and have come to colonize the earth. Their strategy is to infiltrate society by taking the form of humans, but like the robots of "Westworld" they have a little problem with their hands (or in this case with a bent pinky finger). They also have no heartbeat as a consequence of having no heart. And when they die their bodies rapidly evaporate, leaving no trace for Vincent to prove his claims to the authorities.

Vincent becomes a latter day Paul Revere, riding around trying to spread the alarm to a citizenry that dismiss him as a nut case. He is never able to bring physical proof of his claims to anyone important. The aliens do not kill him because his death might make his story more believable so they monitor his activities and do their best to thwart his various schemes.

Each episode was structured as a four-act play with commercial breaks between acts and an epilogue. Quinn Martin regular William Conrad provided a narration. Conrad also did narration for "The Fugitive". During its run "The Invaders" became more and more like "The Fugitive" because the original concept offered the writers no where else to go. There were only so many ways Vincent could fail to warn people of the aliens and should he successfully convince the world of the invasion the series would end. So like Richard Kimble he becomes a man on the run who episodically meets up with new people each week. This takes away from the original idea of an alien invasion.

The acting is generally first rate and the music lively and distinctive. Production design is standard Quinn Martin, the occasional sci-fi devices are meant to be taken seriously and are not the self-parody stuff of 1960's sci-fi series like "Lost In Space" and "The Time Tunnel".

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child."