Invasion von der Wega

For a guy supposedly on a lone (un-paid) crusade he seems to be doing incredibly well. Every single week he's out there in a crisp new suit, with a different gleaming car and limitless gas money. I wonder if there's a good dental plan too? But seriously, I love this series. One of my earliest memories of childhood was watching The Invaders on my parents' first TV set back in the late 1960s. This was just before the moon landings and we were all obsessed with Space; even little kids like me. It's really nice to see the show back on British Channel 5 - even if it is shown at 04:20. Basically, Architect David Vincent stumbles on an Alien plot to conquer Earth and each episode shows his lone struggle to fight the nasty aliens and convince fellow earthlings of the threat. I really don't know if this show will appeal to young people but to 40-somethings like myself it's delicious nostalgia & I'm hooked all over again. A really good example of '60s US television. What I particularly enjoy is seeing minor roles played by people who went on to become famous, even stars. Last week the lead "guest" alien was an obscure young actor called Gene Hackman. Several months later he won the role of Buck Barrow in Bonnie & Clyde, and the rest is history. It's quite fascinating to ponder on what made him SO much more successful than others who've long faded into oblivion, including (sadly) Roy Thinnes who played David Vincent so well. "That's Hollywood" I guess. All in all it's an excellent sci-fi series and to my mind it hasn't aged. The admittedly "formulaic" lay-put and 1960s feel to the show seems to be fashionable again. Well worth watching.

This was a milestone series in my opinion - the acting was usually above average. Roy Thinnes was excellent - the way he shows his frustration when explaining the aliens is very good. Roy was cast perfectly for this series. I recently was able to buy all the episodes on DVD - just watched "Dark Outpost" - This is one of the best episodes as well as the first one.

If I remember rightly, the whole series doesn't end by driving the invaders off the Earth, when I get to that DVD I'll see of course

Theme music excellent too (Dominic Frontiere I think)

WELL DONE ROY!!

In the late 1960s Science Fiction on British TV consisted of Thunderbirds and little else, since Star Trek had not been aired yet,but before that "The Invaders" established a Beachhead on our late night schedules. Aged 8 , i was soon captivated by the story one mans fight to convince the world that aliens were living among us and had wormed their way into the police,government and military and were planning to take over the Earth! This was not easy; the aliens looked and acted like us but required frequent "regeneration" in transparent tubes otherwise they would die,and burn up leaving only ashes. Whenever David Vincent [played by Roy Thinnes] discovered alien installations he would phone the cops,only for the switchboard operator to be alien! By the time the cops arrived only dust would remain and Vincent waswritten off as a nut. The show had strong parallels with Cold War paranoia communist witch hunts but benefitted from fine writing and sparingly used but impressive special effects.Of the videos available in Britain i strongly recommend #1] "Beachhead"[excellent music,great story and acting from Roy and his beautiful guest star Diane Baker] and "The Saucer/The Enemy"[two superb episodes on one vid!].Also, if you can find it,"The Trial" where a human is tried for murdering an alien.The scene with the alien "parents" outside the courthou astonishing-----10/10.

After more then fifty years I rewatched The Invaders, a show that had me at the edge of my seat when I was young. For that time it was just the bomb when you talked about sci-fi series. The series actually aged well, even though there are a lot of examples of how different cinema was back then, when people were certainly not as demanding as now. For example the fighting scenes that are a bit woody, the stuntmen that don't even look like the characters (in David Vincent's case it's just so obvious), but nobody really cared about that. The Invaders had a great soundtrack, all orchestral but very efficient to bring a suspenseful atmosphere to the show. Roy Thinnes is the star of the show. His nonchalance in any kind of dire situation is just a delight to watch. I enjoyed every single episode, back then but also now. I wish they would remake this show, just to see what they could do with our modern techniques. The intro of the show is something that you will never forget, after fifty years I still knew it by heart. The structure of the episodes are always the same but even then it's never boring, act 1,2,3 and 4 followed by an epilog. It all adds to the quality of this excellent sci-fi show from the late sixties. The only negative thing to me is that the show should have had more than two seasons. The ending wasn't that satisfying in my humble opinion.

I think Roy Thinnes' role as "David Vincent" was unsurpassed; it is awfully difficult to appraise one's acting ability when the role they play has never, ever been played before--By anyone! I mean, Acting is an art of "role" playing-Mimicking- How does one confront such a disturbing revelation, as discovering

that Alien beings have infiltrated the earth, especially, when they look exactly(almost)as we do? His bewildered look, and keen reactions--and sometimes, non-reactions, were the hallmark of his craft- I think he was underestimated as an actor- His "down-to-earth" behavior is perhaps his saving grace.

Maybe it is a blessing in disguise- Actors today are wrapped up in their own self-certifying egos; and their idiot pride usually accellerates their status of, "Who was that?" after only a few years of practice. Roy, on the other hand, is impossible to forget- Ask anyone who is between the ages of 45 and 60, today if they know who Roy Thinnes is--or "DAVID VINCENT"--and I bet almost everyone will say,

"THE INVADERS"! The Show itself had promise- Perhaps, if I were to rewrite it, I would have opted for a more Soap-Opera, serial "hook" to follow a sequence- The Aliens seemed to have no plan- but, for the Obvious-Take over the world- Some episodes were comical! Donald Davis played a funny kind of Alien-- and, most had no sense of Humor-but, even some of the Women Aliens were too weird to be true. Their gadgets were cool. Spinning Crystal hypno-beams to extract info for interrogation was cool; and the "Death-Disc" was sinister, to say the least- The Ray Guns were clumsy the first season; new model in '68- The Aliens'willingness to commit suicide, unquestionably, was also odd. The Aliens also seemed to be good fighters, in a fist-fight; but also, died easily when wounded or shot- Roy Thinnes is from Chicago--and his accent came through--! It was cool- and here is a kicker--I am related to him! My mother's family is "THINNES" from Wisconsin; then Illinois--and yes--it is the same Family, originally from Luxembourg! I hope only one day to meet him, and introduce him to my son, Dominic- He is a Fan of "The Invaders"! as am I! Try to find these on Video--they are worth it- Nothing Gross, or Evil--just good, wholesome science fiction, at it's best- FrancoDomenico Lisanti