Patrick Troughton is my favourite Doctor Who and Roadshow have one again released another gem on DVD from December 1968 entitled "Invasion". This remarkable DVD is dubbed a "special edition" as it features two of the missing episodes of this story that has been faithfully recreated with brand-new animation and original TV soundtracks.

Although this has been previously released on VHS, the video quality is unfortunately abysmal but for those fans of Doctor Who, the final piece of the chapter is finally here and with that said, the animators done a brilliant job at recreating the missing scenes from the original storyline. When you see Patrick Troughton, he looks almost identical to his real-world counterpart as is his sidekick Zoe (played by the delightful Wendy Padbury) with all their facial expressions and characterisations.

The story behind the Invasion involves the Doctor and Zoe visiting his old Yeti friend, Dr. Travis only to find his tenant's niece whose uncle has disappeared. The adventure unfolds in two directions, that of the fear of all of the computers in the world linking up and enslaving humanity and also the reappearance of the Doctor's old foes, the Cybermen.

The first of these strands was a common theme in the 1960's and in this case also reflects the fear of the emergence of a monopoly which was not government controlled in a field of strategic or national importance. Combine that with the inhuman Vaughn, surely one of the Doctor's most inhuman, human villains, and his alliance with the Cybermen on the promise of control of earth and you have a very strong plot indeed. There are some good outside shots here also, presaging the Pertwee years and there is another bonus with the setting of the invasion in London.

The National Tourist Board could not have done a better job with the Cybermen sweeing through the East End of London with the backdrop of St. Paul's Cathedral. Taken together with the dolly bird images of Zoe and Isobel which highlighted the modern role of London as the Swinging Capital of the world and you get a marketing person's dream. This story has Patrick Troughton also at his strongest in a rousing performance which almost has you cheering.

Feature a plethora of special features, perfect video and audio quality, Doctor Who the Invasion is probably the best DVD is the entire collection of Doctor Who. Highly Recommended!

Special Features

• Missing Episodes 1 & 4 now recreated with brand-new animation and the original TV soundtracks!

• Commentary by Frazer Hines (Jamie), Wendy Padbury (Zoe), Nicholas Courtney (the Brigadier) and Chris D'Oyly John (Production Assistant), plus James Goss (bbc.co.uk), Steve Maher (Cosgrove Hall Films), and Mark Ayres (audio cleanup) discuss the animated Episode 1

• Flash Frames - featurette about the creation of the animated Episodes 1 and 4, including interviews with the animation team at Cosgrove Hall
  Love Off-Air - an affectionate tribute to the people dedicated enough to capture the soundtracks of Doctor Who in the 1960s, enabling the recreated episodes on this DVD

• 2 animated trailers

• Character Design - showcasing Steve Maher's character design drawings and animation tests

• Evolution of the Invasion - cast and crew recall making of The Invasion featuring contributions from Padbury, Hines, Courtney and D'Oyly John plus Kevin Stoney (Vaughn), Sally Faulkner (Isobel), Peter Halliday (Packer), Edward Burnham (Watkins), Ian Fairbairn (Gregory) and Terrance Dicks (script editor)

• VHS Links - Nicholas Coureny's links from the 1993 video release of The

• Invasion

• Photo Gallery

• Production Subtitles

• Digitally remastered picture and sound quality