YMMV / Doctor Who S11 E2 "Invasion of the Dinosaurs"

• Designated Hero: Throughout the story the Doctor attempts to persuade the villains that although their goals are noble, they are trying to achieve them by blowing things up, and there should be another way. But then, instead of actually bothering to find or even propose another way, he just blows the villains up.
• Don't Shoot the Message: The gist of the Doctor's speech at the end.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Martin Jarvis playing a character named 'Butler,' as he later goes on to play Alfred Pennyworth in the Batman: Arkham Series. Who is, of course, Batman/Bruce Wayne's butler.
  • As Nash Bozard pointed out, this story has the same plot as Terra Nova.
  • In Episode 1, a looter is arrested for stealing a colour television. For decades, that was the only episode of Season 11 that couldn't be watched in colour, as the master tape had been wiped.
  • In part 5, the shots of the Doctor looking up at the helicopter while driving may spur some viewers to start humming "Monkey Man".
  • This shot◊ of the dinosaur breaking through the brick wall is very Koolaid-Man-esque.
• It Was His Sled: The production team were keen to keep the reveal of the dinosaurs a surprise, so the first episode's title was shortened to "Invasion" so as not to spoil their appearance. Nowadays, as DVD releases and streaming services use the full title, it is virtually impossible for any first time viewer to go into the story unaware of the dinosaurs' appearance. Even at the time of original broadcast this was a problem, as the Radio Times billed Episode One under the full title; Terrance Dicks subsequently came to regret the contraction in part because of this, although he noted the Radio Times were "a law unto themselves".
• Magnificent Bastard:
  • Sir Charles Grover is an extremely affable minister in the British government who plans to create a new world free from humanity's pollution. Helping to co-ordinate an evacuation of London by having his right-hand man Whitaker send in dinosaurs to clear the population. Grover convinces the best and brightest of humanity to follow him into bunkers while making them think it's instead a colonization trip to another planet. Instead, Grover plans to journey with them into the prehistoric era and create a new perfect world. Grover constantly covers himself from any problems such as framing the Doctor as the Dinosaur summoner or kidnapping Sarah Jane Smith to bring her to his side. Determined to bring about a utopia even at the cost of resetting all of humanity, Grover proves to be one of the most charming of the Doctor's foes.
  • Professor Whitaker is the right-hand man of Sir Charles Grover and a brilliant scientist who invented time travel technology. Whitaker sends dinosaurs into London to clear it of people to allow Grover to be able to create his utopia. Ruthless when it comes to dealing with threats, Whitaker manipulates Mike Yates into setting up the near death of the Doctor via T-Rex and later plays as a victim to bring the doctor to an area where the transport is occurring to frame him as the Dinosaur summoner. Even when captured, Whitaker is able to escape and then tries to jettison the creation of the new world by resetting the old one being defeated only by seconds.
• Narm: As has been noted, the epically dodgy dinosaurs can ruin every scene they're in. However...
• Narm Charm: For some viewers, the special effects are so hilariously bad that they swing all the way around to delightful.
• Never Live It Down: It's an intelligent, well-plotted story with an important message that is still relevant today, but is remembered only as "the one with the toy dinosaurs".
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Lieutenant Shears is played by Ben Aris, who would later be best known for playing Julian Dalrymple-Sykes in Hi-de-Hi!.
  • Ruth is played by Carmen Silvera, who would later be best known for playing Edith Artois in 'Allo 'Allo!.
• Special Effects Failure:
  • A major example. To say the dinosaurs were crap is a bit of an understatement. Someone from the effects team knew someone else who had an effects team in Pinewood Studios who specialised in making puppets, and assured Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks that they would be able to have convincing dinosaurs. Convincing dinosaurs were in no way delivered, and Dicks gleefully notes in a DVD Easter Egg that the company went out of business after the episode was made, for reasons obvious upon viewing. They are so bad that the producer actually begged The BBC to destroy all the copies out of personal embarrassment (all episodes of this one, ironically, survive). One of the dinosaurs still exists and is kept in the dinosaur museum in Dorchester. It's actually quite impressive... as a static exhibit.
  • Even the producers acknowledged the sub par effects... but they're not talking about the dinosaurs. On the special features for "Robot", the producers mention how some of the effects were further compounded by compositing dinosaurs shot on video with footage of the humans (and Time Lord) on film. (It was brought up on "Robot" to explain why they averted Video Inside, Film Outside for similarly compositing something in outdoor footage.
  • A comparatively minor example, but the Tyrannosaurus rex in the episode doesn't actually roar and instead literally says, "Roar!"
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The main plot is actually generally regarded as being pretty good, sometimes even the best story of Season 11, and the scenes set in the deserted London are very atmospheric. Unfortunately, the massive failure to convincingly realize the dinosaurs on-screen tends to overshadow the story's merits. It often shows up on lists of serials that would benefit from a George Lucas Altered Version like "Day Of The Daleks".
• Took the Bad Film Seriously: To their credit, Jon Pertwee and Elisabeth Sladen sufficiently act like they're being attacked by dinosaurs and pterodactyls, rather than a fake pterodactyl-on-a-string being swung at their heads. It's almost convincing (alas, all the acting skills in the world can't make it look real).

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