Doctor Who (1963) 15.02.01

The Invisible Enemy - Part One

A spaceship arrives at Titan Base after passing through a mysterious cloud. The three human crew members have been infected and are now possessed by whatever was in the cloud. They are supposed to change places with three others who are waiting for them on Titan but the three from the shuttle kill their replacements.

The three possessed men go after Lowe, the station supervisor. He sees that something is wrong and sends out a distress signal. The Doctor and Leela receive the distress signal and head for Titan Base. They pass through the same mysterious cloud. The Doctor is infected but doesn't know it. Leela senses that something is wrong but the Doctor won't listen to her.

Lowe tries to arrest the three possessed me. He shoots at them, killing one of them, when they don't drop their weapons. The Doctor and Leela find the body. but no one else. The Doctor tells Leela to stay put but she goes exploring. She finds Lowe almost dead. She revives him and asks him what's going on.

The Doctor meets up with the two remaining possessed men. They tell him that he has to dispose of Leela. She has been rejected. One of the men goes with the Doctor when he goes looking for Leela. They catch up to Leela and Lowe. Leela kills the man who was accompanying the Doctor but before he dies the thing possessing him transfers to the station supervisor.

The episode ends with the Doctor seeing Leela. She doesn't see him as he raises the pistol to shoot her.

Thoughts

Leela is back in her traditional outfit for the first time since Robots of Death.

I know that this is the story in which K-9 is introduced but that's about all I recall. K-9 isn't in this installment. I'm sure I must have seen this one before but so far nothing has jogged my memory. It has probably been about 40 years since I last saw this story. I don't think I recorded it on VHS so I might have only seen it one time. 

So far so good, although the guest stars seem a bit wooden and lacking in interesting character traits. I don't recall how K-9 gets introduced. Presumably he must already be on the station. This isn't a homerun or must watch story just yet. 

Notes

Michael Sheard plays Lowe. He appeared in six different Doctor Who stories, playing different characters in each one. He was also in Pyramids of Mars, Castrovalva, and Remembrance of the Daleks. He also appeared in The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and one episode of Space 1999.

Brian Grellis plays Safran. the leader of the three astronauts who get infected by the mysterious cloud. He also appeared in Revenge of the Cybermen and Snakedance, playing different characters, and On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Jay Neill played Silvey, the astronaut who is killed by Lowe. He also appeared in Masque of Mandragora and Underworld, playing different characters and an episode of Fawlty Towers.