The Invaders - The Second Season
by Don Medford, George McCowan, Gerald Mayer, Jesse Hibbs, Lewis Allen
List Price:
Our Price: $25.48
You Save: $11.50 (31%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Arthur Franz, Diana Muldaur, Kent Smith, R.G. Armstrong, Roy ThinnesDirector: Don Medford, George McCowan, Gerald Mayer, Jesse Hibbs, Lewis Allen
Brand: INVADERS
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Box set, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 1320 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-01-27
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Paramount
Movie Reviews of The Invaders - The Second Season
Movie Review: Good but the First Season was Better
Summary: 3 Stars
I always enjoyed this show even as a boy but now, in retrospect, I can see why The Invaders was cancelled after only its second season.
For some reason, the writers decided to change the show's overall, and critical, premise - that of a man alone, persecuted, laughed at battling not only alien invaders but sceptics and disbelievers who would rather see him thrown into an insane asylum - to a new season where this same man, David Vincent, not only has a circle of co-believers around him but allies willing to collaborate in the battle. Some of these allies are even people like Edgar Scoville, who is wealthy and well placed with many connections in both military and industrial circles and who uses these connections (without much difficulty) to assist David Vincent in the struggle.
Unfortunately, this change undermines the whole spirit of the show, for the desperation the main character had to get people to believe him is pretty much negated. Just why the writers chose to do this I have no idea. In addition, there are several episodes where Vincent and his allies actually collaborate with the aliens to achieve mutual ends. One episode even has the aliens bringing a dead Vincent back to life after he is accidentally electrocuted. Credibility is definitely stretched to the limit here.
Probably the worst episode is one featuring black aliens along with a black investigator David has managed to convert. Inspite of some measure of obstructionism by his socially conscious black wife - who suspects reverse racism on her husband's part - this investigator remains undaunted as his suspicions about a well respected and famous black scientist continue to grow. To his credit, he has discovered one important and distinguishing feature of this interesting new type of alien that he quickly shares with David Vincent. He has realized that these black aliens are easily discerned from human blacks because, of all things, the palms of their hands are black too! It almost borders on the hilarious, not to mention the stilted, unconvincing performance of the socially conscious wife and several of the black extras which can only leave viewers shaking their heads. An obvious attempt to make the show 'socially relevant' stumbles badly.
There are also a number of actors who return to the series after appearances in the first season however none of them, if they weren't first killed off, reprise their original roles. I consider this a mistake because opportunities to present viewers with some measure of continuity are needlessly thrown away. The example of the alien 'leader' played by Alfred Ryder sums it up best. In the first season he was the sinister Mr. Nexus who ruthlessly kills the human collaborator he suspects has turned against him. In the second season he still plays a leader but is portrayed as a completely different, yet virtually identical, character and an opportunity to develop an on-going nemesis for David Vincent is, accordingly, lost. Perhaps the writers later realized their mistake for Mr. Ryder was brought back to portray this same, new character in a subsequent episode.
Nevertheless, there are still an overabundance of good moments throughout the second season, especially the first episode where the aliens have managed to infiltrate NORAD through the wife of an air force major. It makes for some really gripping moments.
All in all, I would still recommend this collection for interested viewers and I certainly don't regret purchasing it.
Summary of The Invaders - The Second Season
Genre: Television: Series
Rating: NR
Release Date: 27-JAN-2009
Media Type: DVD
If the TV biz, like professional sports, gave out a "most improved" award, then The Invaders would be a prime candidate. Not that the first season of this '60s sci-fi/adventure series was bad, as it dutifully introduced the concept (aliens from a dying planet have come to Earth to lay the groundwork for a massive invasion) and the hero (Roy Thinnes as architect David Vincent, who sees the spacemen land and becomes obsessed with stopping them and alerting his fellow humans to the threat). But the second season, delivered here with 26 episodes on seven discs, hits the ground running, greatly amping up the tension and sense of imminent dread. For one thing, while Vincent is still the main man, many others now realize that there are aliens among them; just four episodes in ("Valley of the Shadow"), an entire town watches as an alien glows red and then disintegrates after being shot, and about a third of the way through the season we learn that Vincent is one of a small and valiant group of so-called "Believers" who have dedicated themselves to thwarting the bad, um, guys (who, although they lack blood, a pulse, and a heartbeat, look just like humans, save for their distended little fingers). And Vincent himself doesn't just root out aliens anymore--he converses with them, negotiates with them, considers working with them, and even kisses a comely female (in "The Life Seekers"). As for the invaders, they still have a host of dastardly methods for wiping out Earthlings: disabling the military's air defense system before their ginormous invasion flotilla arrives, upping the radiation in the atmosphere to lethal levels, assembling the world's leaders in one spot under false pretenses in order to wipe them all out, and so on. But while their ray guns, spaceships, brainwashing devices, and various other technologies are way ahead of ours (the effects work is still primitive, but there are plenty of fistfights and chase sequences to make up for that), they are not infallible; and it's their very lack of human emotions that may prove to be their undoing. But we'll never know, because Episode 26, "Inquisition" (in which Vincent and his allies determine exactly when the alien invasion will occur), was the last one produced. As was the case with the first season boxed set, Thinnes' episode intros and a new interview with the actor are the main bonus features. --Sam Graham
Science Fiction & Fantasy DVD Video
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Movies most talked about in Quinn Martin Television Shows on DVD
Quinn Martin, Producer: A Behind-the-Scenes History of QM Productions and Its Founderby Jonathan Etter
McFarland; Published: 2008-08-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $35.00
The Streets of San Francisco: Season Two, Vol. 2STREETS OF SAN FRANC; Release date: 2008-11-11; DVD
Best price: $23.99
Price in other shops:
The Streets of San Francisco: Season Two, Vol. 1STREETS OF SAN FRANC; Release date: 2008-07-01; DVD
Best price: $28.59
Price in other shops:
The Streets of San Francisco - Season 1, Vol. 2DOUGLAS,MICHAEL; Release date: 2007-09-25; DVD
Best price: $24.29
Price in other shops:
The Streets of San Francisco - Season One, Vol. 1MALDEN,KARL; Release date: 2007-04-10; DVD
Best price: $25.48
Price in other shops:
Cannon: Season Two, Vol. 1Cannon; Release date: 2009-06-02; DVD
Best price: $21.50
Price in other shops:
Cannon - Season One, Vol. 2Cannon; Release date: 2008-12-02; DVD
Best price: $25.50
Price in other shops:
Cannon: Season One, Vol. 1Paramount; Release date: 2008-07-08; DVD
Best price: $21.50
Price in other shops:
The Invaders - The Second SeasonINVADERS; Release date: 2009-01-27; DVD
Best price: $24.89
Price in other shops:
The Invaders - The First SeasonUnknown; Release date: 2008-05-27; DVD
Best price: $26.18
Price in other shops:
Similar DVD Movies
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Season 1 Vol. 2TCFHE; Release date: 2006-07-11; DVD
Best price: $15.66
Price in other shops:
The Fugitive: Season Two, Vol. 2FUGITIVE; Release date: 2009-03-31; DVD
Best price: $25.98
Price in other shops:
Night Gallery: Season TwoNIGHT GALLERY; Release date: 2008-11-11; DVD
Best price: $34.93
Price in other shops:
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: Season One, Vol. 1Voyage; Release date: 2006-02-21; DVD
Best price: $14.25
Price in other shops:
The Norliss TapesSTARZ HOME ENTERTAINMENT; Release date: 2006-10-03; DVD
Best price: $12.54
Price in other shops:
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea - Season Three, Volume TwoTCFHE; Release date: 2007-10-23; DVD
Best price: $15.00
Price in other shops:
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea - Season Three, Volume OneVoyage; Release date: 2007-06-19; DVD
Best price: $15.99
Price in other shops:
Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E.: The Fifteen Years Later AffairPARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2009-03-03; DVD
Best price: $12.71
Price in other shops:
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: Season 4, Vol. 1Voyage; Release date: 2009-03-31; DVD
Best price: $25.30
Price in other shops:
The Invaders - The First SeasonUnknown; Release date: 2008-05-27; DVD
Best price: $26.14
Price in other shops: