The Invaders Seasons 1 and 2 !! (1 Viewer)

[shadyguy]

That Jonas Skorzeny vampire was what made him famous outside of the Star Trek world!!
Hmmm, I never realized he was Jonas (joe-nus) Temple in the Outer Limits and Jonas (yawn-ose) Skorzeny in The Night Stalker movie.
Same first name but pronounced differently!

 

[Jack P]

Actually in Night Stalker it was spelled "Janos".

 

[shadyguy]

You are so right jack !!
I had a brain fart and need more coffee !

That Janos Skorzeny scarred me for life as an 8 year old and i still have a nightmare at least once a year that that creepy vampire is after me !!

 

[Ron68]

The last time I watched this series, before the DVDs, was in the late 70s or early 80s. I used to talk with my friend about the show after school and we had wondered how the show ended. I'm glad I got to see the final episode. The series really stuck with me all these years even though I forgot a lot about it, episode and story wise. I never remembered anything about the "Believers" at all.

I think I would have liked the middle section of season 2 more if Vincent's allies had been introduced better, than just suddenly being there. It makes sense for Vincent to have recruited allies in his quest but they came to suddenly and too soon in the series. The sudden change to the series threw my off but once we got near the end of the season, things really picked up. I think when I re-watch the series I'm going to enjoy season 2 more, now that I know what to expect.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

It took me this long to finally slog through Season 2. It just wasn't that compelling. I agree with many of the comments here that adding the Believers was an inevitable development, but it also diluted the impact of the one man paranoid intensity.

The prints were good, but the color was a bit oversaturated through most of the series, with orangish skin tones. Probably the type of film stock used.

The last episode, "The Inquisition" definitely DID NOT provide any closure for the series, and, even more disappointedly, it barely featured Roy Thinnes. I love me some Susan Oliver as much as anyone, but the episode predominately featured her soap opera relationshsip with attorney general Peter Mark Richmond.

"The Life Seekers" would have been a more fitting finale, because it featured the successful escape of the the peace-minded aliens (and a great Barry Morse) back to their planet with the possibility they would lobby their planet to choose another substitution than Earth. A simple coda on the end of that (even in the VO) would have provided that believable closure for fans.

Overall, I enjoyed watching the series again, and so did my 12 year-old son, so that speaks well for it's legacy. It was particularly satisfying to hear from Roy Thinnes in the interview and in the introductions, but he SPOILS THE PLOT in almost all of those introductions, instead of just making a personal reminiscence about a guest star or facet of the episode.

Because of the strong and ongoing fan base for this show in Europe, and particularly in France, I wonder if we'll ever see another incarnation of this series where, like TOS Star Trek, some of the effects are upgraded. The spaceship look still holds up but the superimposition zooms as it landed or lifted off made my son groan, "Bad CGI." No, I tried to explain, "Bad opticals." But they were cool back in the time.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

Originally Posted by Hollywoodaholic



The prints were good, but the color was a bit oversaturated through most of the series, with orangish skin tones. Probably the type of film stock used.

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I noticed this too. It's pretty darn obvious and would appear like some attempt at grading it a consistent modern look, resulting in older fans not feeling too happy about it, it actually takes the fun out of it for me. I'm nowhere near through this release, haven't even reached the Kent Smith episodes yet - one major reason I bought it.

 

[JeffT.]

Interestingly most of the online DVD reviews cite the second season (1967-68) of THE INVADERS as being (overall) better than the first (1967) so maybe something is being missed there and welcomes a revisit. I have seen the first 10 second season shows so far and there are most definitely hallmarks to be found like "The Saucer," "Valley of the Shadow," "The Enemy," "The Trial," "The Spores" and "Summit Meeting," Parts One and Two.

Those that I didn't list were still enjoyable nonetheless especially "Condition: Red!"

Both first and second season DVD releases of THE INVADERS placed well within the AMAZON.COM (U.S.) and the AMAZON.CA (Canada) top 100 sales ranks and I am certain that their combined certified success encouraged not only the long overdue DVD release of the fourth season (1967-68) of VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA but ONE STEP BEYOND as well. So the DVD release of THE INVADERS has done nothing but good for all-and-sundry...especially SF fans!

Our INVADERS group had the opportunity to submit questions in advance for Roy Thinnes to respond to during the oncamera taped discussion and I personally supplied quite a few of them myself which (believe it or don't) actually made it in the final two indepth Roy Thinnes conversations but I neglected to ask for Roy's authoritative version of THE INVADERS' cancellation mainly because I thought that this was a (obvious) question that would have been asked of him anyway...which of course it wasn't!

Never assume anything and I won't ever again!

I would like to see a Blu-ray DVD release of THE INVADERS utilizing fully restored and digitally remastered video transfers struck from the original 35mm print negatives but frankly I have no real appreciation for CGI embellishments which really don't look that good or convincing anyways.

Wherever needed if there were some "minor" touch-ups done here-and-there (like the effects shot of the descending UFO seen in the main opening titles with the unfortunate matte superimposure bleeding in evidence) that would be satisfactorily sufficient.

Jeff T.

 

[younger1968]

i purchased the invaders and find it very good. If you like sci-fi shows then i would recommend it. I am huge sci-fi fan would also recommend V The Series, The Starlost, etc.

 

[Harry-N]

Though not finished with the set, I went back to finish watching (I'd fallen asleep) "Valley Of The Shadow". What intrigued me about this was the pairing of character actors Jon Lormer and Harry Townes. Checking IMDb after watching "Return Of the Archons", a STAR TREK episode, the IMDB revealed that Jon Lormer and Harry Townes were in the same production seven times!

1. "Ironside" (1967) {Gentle Oaks (#5.12)}
2. "Outlaws" (1960) {Beat the Drum Slowly (#1.3)}
3. "Star Trek" (1966) {The Return of the Archons (#1.21)}
4. "Studio One" (1948) {A Bolt of Lightning (#4.9)}
5. "The Fugitive" (1963) {Tug of War (#2.7)}
6. "The Invaders" (1967) {Valley of the Shadow (#2.4)}
7. Destination Space (1959) (TV)

I find that an amazing coincidence, that these two would be paired in three of my favorite series (THE FUGITIVE is the third) along with four others.

Harry