Invasion: Earth (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Invasion: Earth is a BBC
science fiction
TV series. It was made in collaboration with the Sci Fi Channel
, and released in 1998 as six fifty minute episodes.
The series was conceived, written and co-produced by Jed Mercurio
, a former physician who (under the pseudonym John MacUre) gained prominence in Britain the 1990s as the creator and writer of the offbeat medical drama series Cardiac Arrest
.
The principal cast included Vincent Regan
in his first starring TV role, Maggie O'Neill
(who later co-starred in the acclaimed British comedy-drama series Shameless
), veteran American character actor Fred Ward
(Tremors) and Anton Lesser
as alien abductee Lt Charles Tyrell.
Invasion: Earth was a co-production between BBC Scotland and the Sci-Fi Channel. It was shot on location in Scotland with considerable assistance from the British armed forces and is also notable as one of the first British TV series to feature extensive use of computer-generated imagery
(CGI).
1944, during the height of the V2 rocket blitz on England
, an unidentified and notably non-German
object crashes, devastating the suburb in which it falls. A bomb disposal
team arrive on the scene, led by Lt. Charles Tyrell, an Oxford Don and anthropologist, but while searching the scene the soldiers discover two of the crashed craft's occupants; one is shot dead by a soldier while attempting to flee the scene (much to Tyrell's dismay), while the other occupant falls out of the carft, badly injured by the crash. It soon becomes apparent that the occupants are not human, with their domed heads and speckled pale skin. Tyrell establishes a rapport with the survivor, just as Military Intelligence
arrives.
The action then moves to Scotland
, 1998, and a joint RAF / NATO airforce base. Flight Lt. Chris Drake and his navigator
, Jim Radcliffe, are part of a team sent to intercept an unidentified craft over the North Sea
. During the ensuing encounter, both the base and the interceptors are seemingly attacked by a weapon that shuts off their power and disables all their instruments, so Drake impulsively acts against orders and shoots down the UFO. In the process, his own craft is damaged and he and Radcliffe must eject over the ocean. Drake is recovered alive but Radcliffe suffers serious injuries during ejection and dies in the sea before he can be rescued. The guilt-ridden Drake is grounded as a result of his hasty actions.
At the same time a local group of government-sponsored university students, who moonlight as amateur SETI
watchers, pick up a strange transmission aimed at the far reaches of space. Led by Dr Amanda Tucker, the group comes to the conclusion that this is an extraterrestrial message. After hearing rumours of the UFO encounter, Tucker heads for Scotland, where she meets and after a fortuitous meeting she joins forces with Drake. After uncovering some of the truth behind the events, they are reluctantly recruited by NATO commander Reece (Fred Ward
) (who believes the transmission to be terrestrial
rather than alien) to decipher its meaning.
Meanwhile, RAF personnel race to hunt down and capture the downed UFO pilot and recover his craft. Equipped with alien technology, including a cloaking device
, the pilot evades them (despite being wounded by a sniper) but he finally stops a motorist, who takes him to hospital. Once located by the military and stripped of his strange garb and apparatus, the pilot is found to be none other than Tyrell, who refuses to communicate with his captors, even though they assume him to be a test pilot
for a foreign nation's air-force. Meanwhile Tucker's associate, computer wiz Nick Shay (Paul J. Medford) discovers that the signal sent by the alien craft has in fact been intercepted and jammed by another force, and he suggests that they might be dealing with two distinct alien races who may be in conflict with each other.
. Before it can be removed, a strange portal opens, apparently attempting to capture him. During the ensuing gunfire, one of the RAF soldiers is killed, although the gunfight also reveals that the invaders are physical entities who can be harmed. Thinking that the enemy power is trying to rescue him, Tucker rips out Tyrell's tooth, but this allows the portal to home in on her instead and she and a number of British troops are drawn into another such portal, vanishing into the beyond.
Tyrell is Taken back to the base, is interrogated, but gives nothing. The NATO commander of the base, Maj. Gen. Reece, is open-minded as to the pilot's reasons, while his 2i/c Group Capt. Preston, angry that Tyrell may be a British traitor in the pay of a foreign power, orders his torture
.
A day later, Dr Tucker and the RAF troops sucked into the portal are returned, suffering from terrible nightmare
s of being tortured by strange creatures. Attempts to press them further causes terrible seizure
s. Amanda, on the other hand, seems fine, although she's scratched the letters "nD" into her arm, leaving a wound that seems unable to heal.
in origin, and that the kidnapping aliens are part of a third force unrelated to Tyrell's faction, investigate further, finally getting Tyrell to tell his story. He recounts that the alien survivor from 1944 was part of a peaceful race dubbed the "Echos", who have studied other planet
s. After being shot down during one of their surveys, the survivor is imprisoned in a lunatic asylum reserved for the handicapped offspring of the British elite. Tended to and studied by Tyrell, the high command is adamant that the traveler is the test-pilot of a V2 rocket, chosen from the Nazi concentration camps due to his physical deformities
. Tyrell is ordered to leave and the Echo eventually dies from ill-treatment, but not before giving Tyrell a key to alert other Echoes to his presence.
Tyrell, having lived with the Echoes for more than 50 years, explains that the Echoes are locked in a life-or-death struggle with an alien species (which the NATO team dub "nDs"), a race of inter-dimensional beings who harvest
organic matter in order to absorb it into their machines. The nDs exist in multiple dimension
s, using portals to manipulate and interact with our own reality, although they cannot survive long in normal Earth space.
Tyrell helps the RAF activate his craft and send a distress signal to the Echos. In response, a lone Echo lands in Scotland, bringing a message that its entire species has committed self-genocide rather than allow the nDs to harvest their race for their malignant ends. As a coup de grâce, Tyrell kills the last surviving Echo and explains that Dr Tucker was taken for a reason: she has been genetically changed in order to become half-human, half-nD, an overseer for the nDs latest crop - humanity.
which they hope will kill the nDs.
. An amorphous mountain of alien tentacle
s and design appears on the outskirts of Kirkhaven, and it begins expanding, swallowing up and absorbing all the surrounding organic matter
and transporting it back to the nDs' home. The Earth forces attack the structure but soon discover that conventional weapons are powerless to damage or stop it. Wishing to atone for her earlier disbelief, Group Capt. Preston flies a fighter jet into the portal in order to carry out reconnaissance, but she does not return and she is presumably captured or killed. Aided by her growing self-awareness of the nD mindset, Amanda uses the data collected by Preston to discover a safe passage through the nD structure. With her guidance, Drake flies into the structure to launch a rocket
directly into the portal, in the hope of causing a chain-reaction that will destroy it. The plan seems to work at first, and Drake's plane successfully escapes from the collapsing nD structure, but the joy of the Earth forces proves shortlived—within moments a new structure rises up in place of the first, expanding at an even greater rate. Amanda now realises that the plan has failed and that there are probably an infinite number of other nD structures which can be be 'folded down' into normal space to replace any that are destroyed.
With Earth
's future in the balance, and the world finally paying attention, it becomes clear that the only chance is the use of ultimate force, so the Prime Minister authorises the detonation of a thermonuclear bomb to destroy all the organic matter in a 50-mile radius around the portal, in hopes that this will starve the nDs of raw materials and stop the portal from growing any larger. The defenders resolve that same tactic must be used again and again whenever a new portal appears, anywhere in the world. As Dr. Tucker's transformation continues unabated despite all efforts, she walks out to stand in the kill zone as the bomber approaches and releases its weapon. The screen blurs to white, accompanied by the rumbling roar of a detonation, as the final credits roll.
and
Invasion: Earth - Volume 2: Chapters 4-6 (The Fall of Man/The Battle More Costly/The Shatterer of Worlds)
Each tape also includes part of a two-part behind-the-scenes documentary called The Making of Invasion: Earth.
DVD Features
To date, Invasion: Earth has only been released on Region 1 DVD in the United States
, and as far as is known there are currently no plans for a Region 2 release for the UK. However, these discs can be played in the UK on a multi-region DVD player.
A fully illustrated guide to Invasion: Earth, which includes a detailed look at the real science behind the fiction and exclusive interviews with the cast and crew. The book has sadly long since gone out of print, but is well worth tracking down.
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
TV series. It was made in collaboration with the Sci Fi Channel
Sci Fi Channel (United States)
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
, and released in 1998 as six fifty minute episodes.
Creation and production
Invasion: Earth is a dark science-fiction drama about the discovery of a planned invasion and conquest of Earth by a sinister race of inter-dimensional alien beings, and the efforts of a small NATO force who strive to counter the threat.The series was conceived, written and co-produced by Jed Mercurio
Jed Mercurio
Jed Mercurio is a British author; TV and film producer and medical doctor-Biography:Jed Mercurio is a British writer who also writes under the name John MacUre. He created the television series Cardiac Arrest and Bodies and the sci-fi miniseries Invasion: Earth...
, a former physician who (under the pseudonym John MacUre) gained prominence in Britain the 1990s as the creator and writer of the offbeat medical drama series Cardiac Arrest
Cardiac Arrest (TV series)
Cardiac Arrest is a British medical drama series made by World Productions for BBC One and first broadcast between 1994 and 1996. The series was controversial due to its depiction of doctors, nurses, and the National Health Service.-Creation:...
.
The principal cast included Vincent Regan
Vincent Regan
-Career:Regan was born in Swansea on 16 May 1965, the son of Irish immigrants. As a youth he moved to Ireland with his parents, but returned to Britain and attended St Joseph's College, Ipswich in Suffolk....
in his first starring TV role, Maggie O'Neill
Maggie O'Neill
-Biography:The youngest of six Catholic brothers and sisters, born to head teacher parents, O'Neill grew up in the Midlands, where she was educated at a convent school, and after being inspired by a sixth-form drama teacher, "fell" into acting....
(who later co-starred in the acclaimed British comedy-drama series Shameless
Shameless
Shameless is a British television drama series set in Manchester on the fictional Chatsworth council estate. Produced by Company Pictures for Channel 4, the first seven-episode series aired weekly on Tuesday nights at 10pm from 13 January 2004...
), veteran American character actor Fred Ward
Fred Ward
Freddie Joe "Fred" Ward is an American actor. He began his career in 1979 alongside Clint Eastwood in Escape from Alcatraz. He is best known for his starring roles in the motion pictures Remo Williams, Tremors, Henry & June, Short Cuts, The Right Stuff and Exit Speed...
(Tremors) and Anton Lesser
Anton Lesser
Anton Lesser is a British actor. He attended Moseley Grammar School and the University of Liverpool before going to RADA in 1977 where he was awarded the Bancroft Gold Medal as the most promising actor of his year....
as alien abductee Lt Charles Tyrell.
Invasion: Earth was a co-production between BBC Scotland and the Sci-Fi Channel. It was shot on location in Scotland with considerable assistance from the British armed forces and is also notable as one of the first British TV series to feature extensive use of computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
(CGI).
Episode 1: The Last War
ENGLANDEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
1944, during the height of the V2 rocket blitz on England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, an unidentified and notably non-German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
object crashes, devastating the suburb in which it falls. A bomb disposal
Bomb disposal
Bomb disposal is the process by which hazardous explosive devices are rendered safe. Bomb disposal is an all encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated functions in the following fields:*Military:...
team arrive on the scene, led by Lt. Charles Tyrell, an Oxford Don and anthropologist, but while searching the scene the soldiers discover two of the crashed craft's occupants; one is shot dead by a soldier while attempting to flee the scene (much to Tyrell's dismay), while the other occupant falls out of the carft, badly injured by the crash. It soon becomes apparent that the occupants are not human, with their domed heads and speckled pale skin. Tyrell establishes a rapport with the survivor, just as Military Intelligence
Military intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that exploits a number of information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to commanders in support of their decisions....
arrives.
The action then moves to Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, 1998, and a joint RAF / NATO airforce base. Flight Lt. Chris Drake and his navigator
Navigator
A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation. The navigator's primary responsibility is to be aware of ship or aircraft position at all times. Responsibilities include planning the journey, advising the Captain or aircraft Commander of estimated timing to...
, Jim Radcliffe, are part of a team sent to intercept an unidentified craft over the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
. During the ensuing encounter, both the base and the interceptors are seemingly attacked by a weapon that shuts off their power and disables all their instruments, so Drake impulsively acts against orders and shoots down the UFO. In the process, his own craft is damaged and he and Radcliffe must eject over the ocean. Drake is recovered alive but Radcliffe suffers serious injuries during ejection and dies in the sea before he can be rescued. The guilt-ridden Drake is grounded as a result of his hasty actions.
At the same time a local group of government-sponsored university students, who moonlight as amateur SETI
SETI
The search for extraterrestrial intelligence is the collective name for a number of activities people undertake to search for intelligent extraterrestrial life. Some of the most well known projects are run by the SETI Institute. SETI projects use scientific methods to search for intelligent life...
watchers, pick up a strange transmission aimed at the far reaches of space. Led by Dr Amanda Tucker, the group comes to the conclusion that this is an extraterrestrial message. After hearing rumours of the UFO encounter, Tucker heads for Scotland, where she meets and after a fortuitous meeting she joins forces with Drake. After uncovering some of the truth behind the events, they are reluctantly recruited by NATO commander Reece (Fred Ward
Fred Ward
Freddie Joe "Fred" Ward is an American actor. He began his career in 1979 alongside Clint Eastwood in Escape from Alcatraz. He is best known for his starring roles in the motion pictures Remo Williams, Tremors, Henry & June, Short Cuts, The Right Stuff and Exit Speed...
) (who believes the transmission to be terrestrial
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
rather than alien) to decipher its meaning.
Meanwhile, RAF personnel race to hunt down and capture the downed UFO pilot and recover his craft. Equipped with alien technology, including a cloaking device
Cloaking device
Cloaking devices are advanced stealth technologies still in development that will cause objects, such as spaceships or individuals, to be partially or wholly invisible to parts of the electromagnetic spectrum...
, the pilot evades them (despite being wounded by a sniper) but he finally stops a motorist, who takes him to hospital. Once located by the military and stripped of his strange garb and apparatus, the pilot is found to be none other than Tyrell, who refuses to communicate with his captors, even though they assume him to be a test pilot
Test pilot
A test pilot is an aviator who flies new and modified aircraft in specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques or FTTs, allowing the results to be measured and the design to be evaluated....
for a foreign nation's air-force. Meanwhile Tucker's associate, computer wiz Nick Shay (Paul J. Medford) discovers that the signal sent by the alien craft has in fact been intercepted and jammed by another force, and he suggests that they might be dealing with two distinct alien races who may be in conflict with each other.
Episode 2: The Fourth Dimension
As NATO attempts to analyse the alien landing pod, the danger that Tyrell poses to Earth becomes apparent when, during examination, he is found to have a tracking device in his toothTooth
Teeth are small, calcified, whitish structures found in the jaws of many vertebrates that are used to break down food. Some animals, particularly carnivores, also use teeth for hunting or for defensive purposes. The roots of teeth are embedded in the Mandible bone or the Maxillary bone and are...
. Before it can be removed, a strange portal opens, apparently attempting to capture him. During the ensuing gunfire, one of the RAF soldiers is killed, although the gunfight also reveals that the invaders are physical entities who can be harmed. Thinking that the enemy power is trying to rescue him, Tucker rips out Tyrell's tooth, but this allows the portal to home in on her instead and she and a number of British troops are drawn into another such portal, vanishing into the beyond.
Tyrell is Taken back to the base, is interrogated, but gives nothing. The NATO commander of the base, Maj. Gen. Reece, is open-minded as to the pilot's reasons, while his 2i/c Group Capt. Preston, angry that Tyrell may be a British traitor in the pay of a foreign power, orders his torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
.
A day later, Dr Tucker and the RAF troops sucked into the portal are returned, suffering from terrible nightmare
Nightmare
A nightmare is an unpleasant dream that can cause a strong negative emotional response from the mind, typically fear or horror, but also despair, anxiety and great sadness. The dream may contain situations of danger, discomfort, psychological or physical terror...
s of being tortured by strange creatures. Attempts to press them further causes terrible seizure
Seizure
An epileptic seizure, occasionally referred to as a fit, is defined as a transient symptom of "abnormal excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain". The outward effect can be as dramatic as a wild thrashing movement or as mild as a brief loss of awareness...
s. Amanda, on the other hand, seems fine, although she's scratched the letters "nD" into her arm, leaving a wound that seems unable to heal.
Episode 3: Only the Dead
Drake and Amanda, having come to the conclusion that their enemy is now extraterrestrialExtraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
in origin, and that the kidnapping aliens are part of a third force unrelated to Tyrell's faction, investigate further, finally getting Tyrell to tell his story. He recounts that the alien survivor from 1944 was part of a peaceful race dubbed the "Echos", who have studied other planet
Planet
A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
s. After being shot down during one of their surveys, the survivor is imprisoned in a lunatic asylum reserved for the handicapped offspring of the British elite. Tended to and studied by Tyrell, the high command is adamant that the traveler is the test-pilot of a V2 rocket, chosen from the Nazi concentration camps due to his physical deformities
Deformity
A deformity, dysmorphism, or dysmorphic feature is a major difference in the shape of body part or organ compared to the average shape of that part.Deformity may arise from numerous causes:*A Genetic mutation*Damage to the fetus or uterus...
. Tyrell is ordered to leave and the Echo eventually dies from ill-treatment, but not before giving Tyrell a key to alert other Echoes to his presence.
Tyrell, having lived with the Echoes for more than 50 years, explains that the Echoes are locked in a life-or-death struggle with an alien species (which the NATO team dub "nDs"), a race of inter-dimensional beings who harvest
Harvest
Harvest is the process of gathering mature crops from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper...
organic matter in order to absorb it into their machines. The nDs exist in multiple dimension
Dimension
In physics and mathematics, the dimension of a space or object is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify any point within it. Thus a line has a dimension of one because only one coordinate is needed to specify a point on it...
s, using portals to manipulate and interact with our own reality, although they cannot survive long in normal Earth space.
Tyrell helps the RAF activate his craft and send a distress signal to the Echos. In response, a lone Echo lands in Scotland, bringing a message that its entire species has committed self-genocide rather than allow the nDs to harvest their race for their malignant ends. As a coup de grâce, Tyrell kills the last surviving Echo and explains that Dr Tucker was taken for a reason: she has been genetically changed in order to become half-human, half-nD, an overseer for the nDs latest crop - humanity.
Episode 4: The Fall of Man
During the night, the soldiers who were kidnapped by the nDs attempt to escape, killing their guards. Most are recaptured but one, who is undergoing curious physiological changes, manages to evade capture. He drives to a reservoir some miles away, cuts his brachial artery and throws himself into the dam, where he bleeds to death. Meanwhile, Tucker and the RAF team use a signal device from the Echo escape pod as a lure to attract and capture an nD, but the attempt goes disastrously wrong—the nD easily escapes from confinement, killing several personnel and destroying much of their equipment.Episode 5: The Battle More Costly
It becomes slowly apparent that the NATO officer found dead in the reservoir is part of a plan to infect a local town with an illness of alien origin. It also gradually becomes evident that the events in Scotland are part of a larger conspiracy designed by the nDs and only put in motion due to Tyrell's accidental landing on Earth. When the nDs again attempt to capture Tyrell, Drake is forced to shoot him as he is being dragged into the portal, to prevent him being taken alive. As the disease spreads through the townsfolk, portal kidnappings become more frequent, and the base personnel - ignored by their superiors and lacking reinforcements - attempt to hold off the vanguard of the nD invasion, racing to develop an experimental toxinToxin
A toxin is a poisonous substance produced within living cells or organisms; man-made substances created by artificial processes are thus excluded...
which they hope will kill the nDs.
Episode 6: The Shatterer of Worlds
The nDs are kidnapping the populace in order to use them as living batteriesBattery (electricity)
An electrical battery is one or more electrochemical cells that convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy. Since the invention of the first battery in 1800 by Alessandro Volta and especially since the technically improved Daniell cell in 1836, batteries have become a common power...
. An amorphous mountain of alien tentacle
Tentacle
A tentacle or bothrium is one of usually two or more elongated flexible organs present in animals, especially invertebrates. The term may also refer to the hairs of the leaves of some insectivorous plants. Usually, tentacles are used for feeding, feeling and grasping. Anatomically, they work like...
s and design appears on the outskirts of Kirkhaven, and it begins expanding, swallowing up and absorbing all the surrounding organic matter
Organic matter
Organic matter is matter that has come from a once-living organism; is capable of decay, or the product of decay; or is composed of organic compounds...
and transporting it back to the nDs' home. The Earth forces attack the structure but soon discover that conventional weapons are powerless to damage or stop it. Wishing to atone for her earlier disbelief, Group Capt. Preston flies a fighter jet into the portal in order to carry out reconnaissance, but she does not return and she is presumably captured or killed. Aided by her growing self-awareness of the nD mindset, Amanda uses the data collected by Preston to discover a safe passage through the nD structure. With her guidance, Drake flies into the structure to launch a rocket
Rocket
A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...
directly into the portal, in the hope of causing a chain-reaction that will destroy it. The plan seems to work at first, and Drake's plane successfully escapes from the collapsing nD structure, but the joy of the Earth forces proves shortlived—within moments a new structure rises up in place of the first, expanding at an even greater rate. Amanda now realises that the plan has failed and that there are probably an infinite number of other nD structures which can be be 'folded down' into normal space to replace any that are destroyed.
With Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
's future in the balance, and the world finally paying attention, it becomes clear that the only chance is the use of ultimate force, so the Prime Minister authorises the detonation of a thermonuclear bomb to destroy all the organic matter in a 50-mile radius around the portal, in hopes that this will starve the nDs of raw materials and stop the portal from growing any larger. The defenders resolve that same tactic must be used again and again whenever a new portal appears, anywhere in the world. As Dr. Tucker's transformation continues unabated despite all efforts, she walks out to stand in the kill zone as the bomber approaches and releases its weapon. The screen blurs to white, accompanied by the rumbling roar of a detonation, as the final credits roll.
Cast
- Vincent ReganVincent Regan-Career:Regan was born in Swansea on 16 May 1965, the son of Irish immigrants. As a youth he moved to Ireland with his parents, but returned to Britain and attended St Joseph's College, Ipswich in Suffolk....
as Flight Lt. Chris Drake - Maggie O'NeillMaggie O'Neill-Biography:The youngest of six Catholic brothers and sisters, born to head teacher parents, O'Neill grew up in the Midlands, where she was educated at a convent school, and after being inspired by a sixth-form drama teacher, "fell" into acting....
as Dr. Amanda Tucker - Fred WardFred WardFreddie Joe "Fred" Ward is an American actor. He began his career in 1979 alongside Clint Eastwood in Escape from Alcatraz. He is best known for his starring roles in the motion pictures Remo Williams, Tremors, Henry & June, Short Cuts, The Right Stuff and Exit Speed...
as Maj. Gen. David Reece - Phyllis LoganPhyllis Logan-Education:Logan was educated at Johnstone High School in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, Scotland. After school, she graduated from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama with the James Bridie Gold Medal in 1977.-Career:...
as Squadron Leader Helen Knox - Anton LesserAnton LesserAnton Lesser is a British actor. He attended Moseley Grammar School and the University of Liverpool before going to RADA in 1977 where he was awarded the Bancroft Gold Medal as the most promising actor of his year....
as Lt. Charles Terrell - Sara KestelmanSara KestelmanSara Kestelman is an English actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Lady Frances Brandon, Lady Jane Grey's mother, in Lady Jane.-Biography:...
as Group Capt. Susan Preston - Paul Medford as Nick Shay (as Paul J. Medford)
- Jonathan DowJonathan DowJonathan Dow is a British actor. He joined the National Youth Theatre at the age of 14, and after finishing his A levels he trained at the Guildhall Drama School. His first big television role was as Under Secretary Tim in No Job for a Lady with Penelope Keith.He has also appeared as P.C....
as Flight Lt. Jim Radcliffe - Gerard Rooney as Sgt. Tuffley
- Christopher FairbankChristopher FairbankChristopher Fairbank is an English actor best known for his role as Albert Arthur Moxey in the hit comedy-drama series Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.-Career:...
as Wing Cmdr. Friday (as Chris Fairbank) - Nicola Buckingham as Echo
- Diana Payan as Gran
- Laura HarlingLaura HarlingLaura Harling in England, is a British actress.In 1995, aged nine, she played the granddaughter of Belle, Scrooge's former fiancée, in an adaptation of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol with the Royal Shakespeare Company...
as Emily Tucker - Bob BarrettBob BarrettRobert Patrick Barrett was an American football offensive end in the American Football League for the Buffalo Bills in 1960. He played college football at Baldwin-Wallace College.-See also:...
as Flight Lt. Stewart
VHS
Invasion: Earth - Volume 1: Chapters 1-3 (The Last War/The Fourth Dimension/Only the Dead)and
Invasion: Earth - Volume 2: Chapters 4-6 (The Fall of Man/The Battle More Costly/The Shatterer of Worlds)
- Label: BMG Video
- Release Date: 1998
- Catalogue №: 74321 576 823 (Volume 1), 74321 576833 (Volume 2)
- Availability: Deleted
Each tape also includes part of a two-part behind-the-scenes documentary called The Making of Invasion: Earth.
DVD
Invasion: Earth (2-disc Region 1 box set)- Label: A&E Television Networks
- Release Date: 2005
- Catalogue №: AAE-71413 (Disc 1: AAE-71414, Disc 2: AAE-71415)
- Availability: Out now
DVD Features
- Production Notes
- History of Alien Invasion Films
- Cast Biographies
To date, Invasion: Earth has only been released on Region 1 DVD in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and as far as is known there are currently no plans for a Region 2 release for the UK. However, these discs can be played in the UK on a multi-region DVD player.
Tie-in publication
The Invasion: Earth Companion- Publisher: Headline Book Publishing
- Year: 1998
- Author: Peter HainingPeter HainingPeter Alexander Haining was a British journalist, author and anthologist who lived and worked in Suffolk...
- Original Price: £9.99
- ISBN №: 0-7472-7622-6
- Availability: Out of print
A fully illustrated guide to Invasion: Earth, which includes a detailed look at the real science behind the fiction and exclusive interviews with the cast and crew. The book has sadly long since gone out of print, but is well worth tracking down.
External links
- Invasion Earth review at SciFi.com.
- Invasion Earth at SideReel.com.
- Invasion Earth at TVShowsOnDVD.com.