Advanced Review Round-Up: The Zygon Invasion

Philip Bates is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

According to our statistician (he sits in the corner of the office, by the bin, with a calculator, a pen, and a battered copy of The Devil Goblins from Neptune), Doctor Who has only aired on Hallowe’en once before: in 1964, over 8 million tuned into the opening part of Planet of Giants.

I think we can all agree that the scariest thing in that episode was Farrow’s whistling teeth. Horrifying. Gives me the creeps.

But fear not… No, wait, that’s not right is it? I mean, don’t worry, The Zygon Invasion is here to scare and thrill you. You lucky people. And peering over the advanced reviews, we get the general impression it’s going to be… well, fantastic.

Case in point, then: the Radio Times‘ Stephen Kelly said on Twitter that it was his favourite Doctor Who since Vincent and the Doctor (2010)! In his full review, he says:

“Both thematically and tonally, this is unlike anything Doctor Who has done before… Let’s rejoice at just how incredible Doctor Who can be; how nine series in, it can still deliver one of its best – and most important – ever stories.”

But what makes it so good? Kelly further notes the paranoia and echoing real events that makes The Zygon Invasion both unsettling and current:

“Save for a soliloquy on water-boarding, or a cameo from Tony Blair, they couldn’t possibly make it clearer: this is Doctor Who’s take on immigration, Islamophobia and – blimey – ISIS. How surreal is that? To hear the word ‘radicalisation’ in Doctor Who? To hear an innocent Zygon plead that, “I just wanted to live here. Why can’t I just live?” To hear the Doctor assert again and again that the extremists don’t speak for the majority… Much like an episode of The X-Files, the whole thing plays as conspiracy thriller – one that riffs off the paranoia of shape-shifting in a way that 1976 serial Terror of the Zygons never did. ‘Any living thing in this world, including my family and friends, could turn into a Zygon and kill me any second now,’ says Rebecca Front’s Colonel Walsh. ‘It’s not paranoia when it’s real.'”

Simon Brew, of Den of Geek, highlights the fact that it’s great to have the Zygons themselves back:

“Visually, I’ve always found them icky, and thanks to some excellent work beneath the costume, the facial contortions at work here are really quite sinister. Additionally, whereas Daleks are sometimes played with a wink to the audience, we’ve not actually seen the Zygons that often, so they’re a less known, and more unsettling threat.”

Calling it a “movie blockbuster”, he also says it’s not like previous part-ones in Series 9: it’s very fast-paced and gives everyone a lot to do.

Doctor Who TV agrees that there’s a bigger scope at work:

“It zips around several locations and characters across the world showing the gradual break out of the Zygon threat. It’s been compared to having the feel of a finale and that’s not far off the mark… Director Daniel Nettheim must be praised for giving the episode a real cinematic edge. Intentional or not, given the timing of the new movie, there’s a bit of a grittier James Bond feel to proceedings. Nettheim also allows the creepier scenes to develop by keeping our orange foes mostly out of sight until a later reveal, the underground scenes being a highpoint.”

CultBox‘s Malcolm Stewart expands on the international theme of the story, stating:

“For a start, none of this looks like Wales. With a script that veers from London to New Mexico to the fictional Turmezistan (originally Azerbaijan), there’s a particular pressure on the production team to deliver visuals that are both convincing and differentiated; but full credit to the set design, foreign location filming and, yes, even ubiquitous picture grading: it works.”

Yes, we hear that Turmezistan is a village of Zygons – that should be interesting. They seemed to have claimed the Earth in a way similar to how the Silurians had hoped – but obvious shape-shifting makes things a tad easier!

Cameron McEwan (aka Blogtor Who) calls it “epic”, and explains:

“As the troops hunt down the shape-shifting aliens we discover a horrific new talent that the Zygons have acquired. (Don’t worry, I’m not saying what it is.) In a stand-off between UNIT and their enemies, you’ll be holding your breath for what seems like an eternity in a moment that will shock and perhaps haunt you a little. It’s also heartbreaking, and you may hate the Zygons just a little bit more.

“And this isn’t even the cliffhanger! And that’s a another cracker.”

And to round off our, uhm, round-up, we turn to Impact Online, adding:

“While it’s still true that Doctor Who has lines it will never cross because of its need to appeal to all ages, it’s also  true to say that this Zygonian two-parter feels more ‘Torchwoodian’ than expected and this adventure will likely be seen as a benchmark of just what mature and nuanced thematic boundaries the main show can now approach and tackle while still remaining suitable for family viewing. That it does so with equal amounts of pathos, silliness, sleight of hand, righteous anger, topical social commentary and men in sucker-covered rubber-suits is impressive. This is Doctor Who raising its game.”

What’s more, they say that next week’s The Zygon Inversion  raises the benchmark even higher.

Everyone at K Towers can’t wait…!

The Zygon Invasion airs on BBCOne at 8:15pm on 31st October 2015.

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