Once upon a time, in the not too distant past, we saw three Doctors forcing the invading Zygons and UNIT to start negotiating “the most perfect treaty of all time.” If you don’t remember this, there’s no need to dig out your copy of the 50th Anniversary episode as it’s briefly recapped at the start for you. Since then, however, the details of this peace treaty have not been mentioned again, and so in many ways this two-parter acts as a sequel of sorts.
As we have seen from the promotional material, the upshot of this peace treaty was that twenty million Zygons have been living secretly among humans on the planet for the last two years or so. A small number of them are unhappy with the current arrangements, therefore deciding to break away from the alliance made between their commanders and UNIT and start making demands of their own. Osgood finds herself in the wrong place, at the wrong time, which is how the Doctor and Clara find themselves called upon to help set her free, and try to re-establish the peace between the two sides before there’s an uprising.
Rather surprisingly, considering the Halloween broadcast and writer Peter Harness’ scare factor in his previous script (last season’s Kill the Moon) there aren’t too many spooky or shocking moments in the episode. As you know, I wasn’t a big fan of his offering last year; the ‘science’ involved was a major let down, as were the supporting characters – off the top of my head I can only recall Courtney, though that’s possibly due to her being an established role last year.
The Zygon Invasion does at least leave the majority of the science to one side, thankfully, although I do find myself struggling somewhat with the characterisation again at times, but not quite to the same extent I must admit. I’m sure most people will have realised the subject matter that the show is tackling with this story, and while in general it handles this issue in a way that will spark worthwhile debate, I can’t help winching slightly at a few of the clichés used. The best way to shine new light on a real world situation isn’t to be subtle, or indeed too blunt, with your rhetoric, which is how some of the cast are unfortunately portrayed here.
The Zygon Invasion airs on Saturday 31st October at 8.15pm on BBC 1 and BBC 1 HD in the UK, and at 9pm on BBC America. Below are a few dialogue teasers to see you through until then, if you want to have any guesses on who said what I will fill in any correct answers before the episode airs. Don't forget to come back to vote in our poll after the episode and let us know what you thought.
“They’re dangerous, and your friend is almost certainly dead. We’re not going to allow them to disperse”
“Don’t kill me because I can’t remember”
“I know there are other blobby factions that you don’t control, they’re planning something”
“Did you just call yourself Doctor Disco?”
“We couldn’t fight them, you can’t tell who’s who”
“Oh, do you still have the presidential aircraft?”
“There is something very wrong happening underneath London”
“There’s twenty million Zygons, and most of the data was with…her”
“It makes one wonder what the question is”
“Any race is capable of the best, and the worst”