WWW2 - Invasion of the Dinosaurs 2

I mentioned earlier about how it took me years to realize that the omnibus version of Planet of the Daleks that I had been watching for years was missing Episode Three. The same thing goes for the omnibus version of Invasion of the Dinosaurs and Episode One. At the time, I thought, after watching the first scene of the story (that of The Doctor and Sarah handcuffed in the back of a detention center transport) that it was an odd scene to begin on.

Later, The Doctor and Sarah take stock of the situation, basically explaining the plot to themselves (and, more importantly, the viewer), that of the fact that London was deserted apart from the random appearances of several different dinosaurs. Shortly afterward, the Brigadier stumbles upon them, and the story finally gets underway, an episode and half into it. Overt padding has been this story's main downfall thus far. Well, that and, of course, the dinosaurs.

Buoyed by the success of the Drashigs (successful depending on who you listen to), Barry Letts greenlit this story hoping that the same effects could be parlayed into making realistic and convincing dinosaurs. I actually think some of the dinosaurs don't look too bad. The Brontosaurus and the Stegosaurus look good, and their limited movement looks relatively realistic for as far as pre-animatronic puppet technology had advanced by 1973 when this was made. It's when the dinosaurs, specifically the Tyrannosaurus Rex, start to move around, roar, and open and close their mouths that it starts to look really, really bad. Really bad. And it's not going to get much better. One's enjoyment of this story, it would appear, will hinge on being able to accept the shoddy dinosaurs as they are and move on, or just simply move on.