Nonureva Really Surprised!

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

alexanderdavies-99382 I can easily mention the series of "The Invaders" in the same breath as "Star Trek," "The Twilight Zone" and "The Outer Limits." "The Invaders" follows the attempts of an architect, David Vincent, who tries to convince a disbelieving world of the existence of aliens who have landed on earth to escape their dying planet. Each episode consists of four acts, plus an epilogue. It's similar to the previous show from the same producers, "The Fugitive." Watching each instalment, you just know that David Vincent is going to find it a challenge in convincing anyone about the alien invasion. Once in a while, he gains a few allies but most of these are either killed or silenced in some other way. It makes for a somewhat lonely existence when it is just one man, fighting his enemies alone. However, Vincent does manage to inconvenience the aliens on numerous occasions by thwarting their plans almost single-handed. Roy Thinnes as David Vincent is superb. His acting style is what I would call "naturalistic" but very credible. I disagree that his character comes across as being aloof or cold, David Vincent is simply exercising a good deal of caution in not trusting anyone easily and keeping his wits about him. He certainly displays compassion with those who have been victims of some kind, courtesy of the aliens. This is a genuinely gripping series with a slightly disturbing theme tune. Each episode offers something quite different and the writing and acting are marvellous. There are plenty of familiar faces in this one: William Windom, Kevin McCarthy, Michael Rennie, Murray Hamilton, Gene Hackman, James Daly, J.D Cannon, John Larch, Jack Lord, Jack Warden, Roddy McDowall, Burgess Meredith and others. It's a bit unfortunate that "The Invaders" only lasted two seasons. I reckon an additional season would have been great. Don't miss this one, it is one of the greats.

TurboarrowIII I think this is an enjoyable series. I remember seeing it for the first time when I was growing up in the 70s.Roy Thinnes is very good as architect David Vincent. He is desperate to show the world that aliens are trying to take over and is very good at conveying this desperation. He knows that it is difficult to trust anybody which can, at times, make his character appear cold and unfriendly. However, given the difficulty of his position this is understandable.There are times when the invaders do appear a bit incompetent however and could have killed Vincent on a number of occasions but this doesn't spoil the series. It is enjoyable to see how Vincent manages to survive.There were a number of stars who appeared in episodes including Gene Hackman, Jack Lord and Barbara Hershey.The music is good too. It adds to the tension and eeriness.Overall an enjoyable series with tension, action and excitement as well as a feeling of unease about the possibility of aliens taking over the world.

wtdk123 My review: Many shows from childhood fail to live up to expectations when you're an adult. "The Invaders" is an exception. Produced by Quinn Martin ("The Fugitive")and created by Larry Cohen, "The Invaders" took elements from Martin's most popular series "The Fugitive" and successfully created a paranoid science fiction thriller that inspired later shows like "The X-Files", "Dark Skies" and "The 4400".Architect David Vincent(Roy Thinnes)stops to rest after a long drive back from a meeting with a client when he witnesses an alien spacecraft land in the middle of nowhere. When he reports it to the local police he's treated with distain by a detective (the wonderful character actor J.D. Cannon)and finds that even his own boss (James Daly) has a hard time believing him. They encounter a couple of their honeymoon who completely discount Vincent's account of the landing. Going back to the site to speak with the couple again Vincent discovers that they are aliens themselves and part of a large conspiracy that has infiltrated every part of our society.We get some very cool extras that fans will enjoy. On the last disc is the long missing 60 minute pilot episode. While it doesn't look quite as good as the series itself with faded colors, it still looks surprisingly good without any restoration. The longer pilot had a number of brief scenes that were cut prior to the airing of the show including a slightly different ending.Roy Thinnes provides an introduction to each episode including the unaired pilot. He also sits for a nearly 30 minute interview discussing how he became involved with the show, the numerous guest stars he worked with (he essentially was the only regular on the show (aside from the unseen episode narrator William Woodson and introductory narrator Hank Simms)as he was always traveling to uncover hot spots where the invaders were up to no good). Characters did show up in multiple episodes but Thinnes carries the show.It's easy to see where "The X-Files" got its inspiration from. Thinnes praises the writers for the show as well as the directors (the first two episodes where directed by TV and film veteran Joseph Sargant who does a terrific job of setting up shots with cinematographer Andrew MacIntyre creating moody and magnificent atmosphere during the first episodes that rival "The Outer Limits" and "The Twilight Zone" at their best.We also get three promo spots produced by ABC for the series. The promos are essentially clip jobs with narration describing the series. They are still very nice to have in this set.The first season set looks exceptionally good given the age of the series. Although images are a bit soft the color is surprisingly strong and bold. The mono audio sounds really good with dialog crystal clear. Interestingly, series composer Dominic Frontier who also did the music for the first season of "The Outer Limits" cannibalizes music from that series for the pilot episode.Often seen as a Cold War metaphor, "The Invaders" is far more than that. The writing is superb and the episodes resonate because of the skilled direction and exceptional, believable lead performance by Thinnes. While it would be a stretch to say this series had a "story arc" like most modern TV shows, there is a sketchy one which is that Vincent sets out to find proof and expose the invaders. They, in turn, want to eliminate him because he's one of the few crusaders trying to uncover their plot to take over our world.Overall Paramount/CBS has done a superb job bringing this classic series to TV. I'm surprised at how well it has held up with most of the writing/direction/acting top notch. Featuring well known guest stars such as William Windom, Harold Gould, Roddy MacDowell, Suzanne Pleshette, Ed Begley, Dabney Coleman and Michael Rennie during its brief two year run, "The Invaders" was an exceptionally good series with cool visual effects but, more importantly, well written stories that could drawn an audience into the world of David Vicent.I'm hoping that the second season set will see the 1995 TV pilot that starred Scott Bakula included and, perhaps, we can get more interview time with Thinnes about shooting season two.

Thorsten-Krings Back in the late eighties there was always a double bill of The Invaders and Batman in the late afternoon on BBC unless I'm mistaken. Although The Invaders were an old show by 80s standards (bearing in mind that technology had developed at an incredible speed in those twenty years) it was still a gripping show. The Invaders took the basic concept of The Fugitive (also a Quinn Martin production) and combined it with elements of 50s paranoia science fiction. No security and no one was what he seemed to be. That made for great opportunities in story telling: Vincent was always in different places and the stories often took very unexpected twists. You also were unsure whether Vincent would lose this episode's battle or score a small victory against the aliens. The show was also fairly atmospheric. Interestingly enough that was reached mostly by the dramatic voice overs. Roy Thinnes was a good looking chap and I quite liked his performance as driven man who really was an intruder in ordinary people's lives. His acting style has been criticized as aloof but that's the whole point: Vincent is a man who doesn't belong. To me, The Invaders is probably the best 60s sci-fi show.