"There never was a golden age, Mike. It's all an illusion."
I'd be remiss not spending a part of this post memorializing Malcolm Hulke. Invasion of the Dinosaurs was his last script for the program, and although he would spend some years further working on novelizations of his own stories for the Target range, he would not contribute to the TV show again. It's a real shame, because I'd consider him one of the most conscientious and clever writers that Doctor Who ever had, and because he died far too young, at the age of 54 in 1979. Although a few of his stories weren't complete successes, there's not a single one that didn't have a lot of heart and wit behind it.
This last script of his is no exception. Coming quick on the heels of The Green Death, which had a more optimistic vision of environmentalism, it's easy to see this story as if it might be a reaction in some way. He must have liked the propaganda tape bit, because the concept is reused from Colony in Space, a story where, if you recall, everyone is packed onto the Earth like hens in a hutch without any space for themselves. The issue of overpopulation is returned to here, but a more critical light is shone upon it.
The timing couldn't be more appropriate, because over the past couple of days, the late Duke of Edinburgh's remarks in the 1980s about "solving" overpopulation have been circulating again - a confusing quote where he says, should reincarnation exist, he'd like to be reborn as a deadly virus. Implicit in this story, though not spelled out directly, is the perfect riposte to this sort of talk: "Overpopulated by whom?"
It's easy for people living in the "developed" world to tut about rising birth rates and depleting resources in the global south, but the types who point this out (at least in my country, and I imagine in Britain as well) fail to understand that it's generally because of a history of colonization, and later exploitation through globalized capitalism, that these countries have these problems. It's because their material wealth, their natural resources, and their manpower were stolen from them that these issues have arisen, not because of something as simple as "too many babies".
We see where this kind of banal rhetoric leads those who fall for it in this story, as Mike Yates, traumatized by the effects of Global Chemicals' mind control and pollution in The Green Death, is duped into believing in a "golden age" before the onset of industrialization when everything was good and right and gentle. After spending three seasons with Yates, for all that I never warmed to him like I did to Benton, it's heartbreaking seeing him fall for this and betray the rest of the regular cast. It's an incredibly brave writing decision, and effective too. The look of hurt on the Doctor's face when he realizes is great, as is the moment soon after when he expresses doubt over whether the Brigadier is also involved. It's clear that the cozy little UNIT family's very existence is now in question.
I was a little worried when the "spaceship" segments were introduced, hoping that the story wouldn't spread itself too thin across both Earth and space, but was relieved by the revelation that (reminiscent of the bunker in The Enemy of the World) the spaceships are a fraud, and they're actually underneath Project Golden Age's control center in London. Looking at the people that Sir Charles Grover has seen fit to preserve for his "New Earth", it's probably unintentional, but certainly apropos, that "the right sort of people" only seem to include white Britons.
It is once again my duty to inform you that, tragically, the dinosaurs don't stand up to standards of scientific rigor, but really, I can't see why the dinosaur puppets are the main thing people talk about with this story. They're really fine, honestly, and the core message is far and away more striking. This is a brilliant story, and one sadly still relevant today, when people make ignorant posts about empty city streets under COVID lockdown where animals are wandering around where they shouldn't be, saying "nature is healing". Nature will never heal until humans find more civilized and equitable ways of distributing resources, and believe it or not, wiping out the entire population and starting over with a blank slate is not the answer.
Sorry for getting political, but I think it's what Mac Hulke would have wanted! Death to the Daleks is next.
KKLAK!
(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 11 April 2021.)
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