The Invisible Man

DVD, The Champions (The Invisible Man)

This is the episode that first made me think highly of the series when I saw the DVD featuring the opening two episodes, and realise that it might be more than just a nostalgic curio, but contain some strong drama. 'The Beginning' was a good beginning, but 'The Invisible Man' hit it out of the park. The main credit must go to the villain, and long before I'd even heard of 'Department S' and Jason King, or the man who played him, Peter Wyngarde (who died earlier this year), his cunning and immoral surgeon, John Hallam, set the bar high for the whole series. Wyngarde just had that ability to play the character as seeming in control of every situation, yet allowing us to see the cracks of his evilness coming loose every now and again. It's the contrast between Hallam's calm, professional detachment even in the surprise of seeing Craig show up at his Winslow Private Nursing Home unexpectedly, compared with his barely contained rage at his accomplice in the crime, Charles Sumner, going against his orders not to try and kill the unconscious agent because he could prove useful. His callous nature shows itself most powerfully in the final moments when his gleeful attempt at trying to crash Craig's pursuing vehicle turns round on himself and he loses control of the flatbed lorry. Sumner's crushed under the weight of the solid gold presses and cries out pitifully for help, but Hallam staggers away, a last attempt to evade his pursuers, and lets his associate die.

That Hallam was willing to trade in his professional badge as a medical practitioner for the carnal desire of ill-gotten wealth is a stain on his character, but throughout the episode he displays dispassionate cruelty and complete lack of empathy for those he inflicts pain on, all under the cover of a doctor which somehow makes it worse. I sense that he was the instigator of the whole plot as Charlie shows occasional shock at what he's had to do, such as when he's stabbed the disoriented Sir Frederick Howard, Director of the bank they were robbing of its gold (I wonder if the passersby on the streets during the chase were extras or real people they filmed around - because there were a lot of them). He tries to brazen it out in front of Hallam, but it's clear he was shaken up, despite being a surgeon himself by implication (Hallam reminds him he's cut open plenty of patients). Yet when his dreams of avarice are threatened he's quick to want Craig dead and shows how quickly he recovers from his first murder to want to do it again. Hallam never has any compunctions, anyone that stands in his way will die, and you can predict that he may even have planned to kill off Sumner if he ever became a problem. Just look at his murder of Van Velden, his contact at the port of Rotterdam in Holland - when he discovers the nature of these presses, "Eets not enough" for a £500 bribe, and Hallam just shoots him and throws a covering over the body. Nothing's going to stand between him and his money.

The plan wasn't a bad one: rob a bank of its gold by influencing the Director, melt it all down and transform it into printing presses, paint over, and transport it to a South American country. Easy. The episode starts with a much more mysterious approach that makes it seem more like 'The Avengers' as we're shown Sir Frederick dealing with what appears to be an invisible man. I'm surprised he didn't realise that he had an implant from the way the 'vibrator' spread pain through his ear and the voice was a little tinny and radio-like, unless it sounded much clearer to the actual patient. It was a very good premise because you at first assume he really is being 'haunted' by an invisible enemy and there's something about an important man in his later years being brought down to rock on his knees with cries of pain, plus the way it introduces him in the throes of agony was a good shock to start us off. He regathers his pride and haughtiness when dealing with Craig later, but you can never remove that image of a man reduced to a crybaby and he had the perfect floppy hair to emphasise his powerlessness.

If the villain is a great one, then the episode is also improved by practically no showing of the seams. Like 'The Beginning' they use a variety of devices to create everything they need, with a bit of back projection here and there, stock footage of the Alps or London, and doubles for some of the external filming, but they also filmed in London and other outdoor locations, they went to the trouble of seeing the truck on the road, or having a car chase, and when you think of many episodes being created on sets, even when they were supposed to be outside, or not bothering to film establishing shots, this production looks lavish by comparison. Lavish might be a bit of a stretch, but it all holds together much better than most and has a scale that impresses - for example we see New York on Tremayne's map, then an image of a skyscraper followed by Richard trying to convince a bank they may be in danger. It's only a few seconds but it sells the idea of these people jetting around the world. We also have Geneva, where they're based, the James Bond meeting on a cable car for Craig and his Swiss contact, Boursin, and travel from London to the countryside in England, and Holland, both countryside and port, and never do you think that this is trickery, it feels real. When these things work you don't think about them, but you really do when they're doing it in a soundstage or reusing sets.

So the episode succeeded both in villain and in settings and scope, and the only area it could be said to fall down is in the integration of the three Nemesis agents, since for much of it, Sharron and Richard are little more than bystanders. But Craig has a lot of good stuff, and the others are part of it, just not as big a part, so it doesn't hurt the episode, though I always prefer when the three are used equally and to their best advantage. One area where they were allowed to do so in the series is introduced here: the opening scene which demonstrates one or more of their powers, this first time being one of the best as a hulking bodybuilder enters the gym where Craig and Richard are working out and starts showing off. They may be the champions of law, order and justice, as the voiceover says, but also of putting showoffs in their place, and they do so by not only repeating his weightlifting feat, but throwing it between them and putting the showoff to shame! It's funny (although I wonder if they really need to exercise with the powers they have), and holds more interest for the fact that I believe the bodybuilder was an uncredited Dave Prowse, a decade before he became famous for playing Darth Vader in 'Star Wars.' He's not the only one to lack recognition, as there are several minor roles not included in the end credits: the nurse at Winslow; a patient called Muriel who also has a line; Burton, the assistant of Sir Frederick, as well as his chauffeur. Even the Winslow receptionist, Carol, is uncredited, which I'm surprised they were allowed to do since all these people had lines.

One part of the story throws up a negative aspect of their powers that hadn't been considered before: Craig's enhanced auditory sense allows him to hear the voice inside Sir Frederick's inner ear (he reports he hopes it's not a Joan of Arc complex!), but this comes back to bite him when he has the same operation performed on himself and is forced to have the implant - I should think in that situation improved hearing would actually be a detriment because the pain would be even more intense (a bit like whenever the Ferengi in 'Star Trek' were subjected to loud noises and were shown to be far more susceptible to it). It's not touched on in the episode, but it is clear that Craig is in intense pain, and it would have to be to bring him down. One of the best examples of his superhuman abilities in a more interesting way is when he's been gassed by Hallam in his operating theatre and even barely conscious and weak, the doctor can barely hold the door closed with all his strength as Craig pulls from the other side! It shows both how powerful they are, but also that they aren't infinitely gifted, there is a point that is too much even for them. Before that we get a terrific fight where Craig takes on both Hallam and Sumner, with Hallam using his brain a bit more after realising Craig's too strong to subdue, which is why he turns on the gas and vacates the room, an inspired solution to use what was at hand to achieve his goal.

I'm not convinced giving Craig an implant was as inspired, they really should have killed him, but they couldn't do that for the sake of the series, and we know they aren't bulletproof. But what did Hallam hope to gain from turning him loose in the country, was it just so they could listen in on his conversations to his associates and keep track of what was going on? That would make sense if they were monitoring him all the time, but how could they expect to listen in the moment he phoned home? Obviously for the sake of the story they did just that, and there was an excellent increase in tension as they realise this guy, who's 'as strong as an ox' for not staying under long despite the drugging, somehow made it to Rotterdam far quicker than they'd expected, and finally he's within sight of Wharf 52. It made me think of 'Star Wars Episode 1' when those in the command centre are hearing the Jedi coming and nothing can stop them! It's also important to note that, unlike Superman, they aren't faster than a speeding bullet, Craig dodging between crates to get closer, though ultimately brought down by the vibrator in his ear and held at gunpoint. But he is fast enough to act when a truck drives past, nipping in front of it, then hanging onto the other side for a free ride, until the screaming tone loosens his grip. One thing that always bothered me was when he jumps into the lake to destroy the implant the underwater part of the scene is just a swimming pool with a ladder and grid pattern on the floor! It doesn't really matter because it's another great moment and though doubles had been used for most of the location work we get to see the real Craig exit the lake which shows dedication to the cause.

On top of improved hearing and reflexes, strength and greater resistance to anaesthetic (which could be unfortunate if he ever needed a serious operation!), Craig is able to hold his breath for longer than any normal man, the part of the mission Tremayne calls attention to in what would become his customary questioning of their methods at the end of episodes. With Sharron and Richard kept out of it for most of the time they don't share much, but they do get a telepathic warning that Craig's in danger. Strangely, it doesn't happen when he's fighting Hallam and Sumner, it occurs after, when Hallam's drugging him ready for his ear op. Maybe the sense was attuned to only activate when their colleague was really in trouble, and at first he was holding his own against the pair, so it was only when he was helpless they had the sensation of danger. If Sharron doesn't get to do much she does at least use her expertise in the autopsy to discover the little bug that had been sewn into Sir Frederick's ear, so that was an important contribution. I think the villains made a mistake when they killed the man, though, as that would only draw attention to the bank and a great scandal, but Hallam seemed to enjoy exercising power over people, a typical villain of evil. If his crime had merely been a large heist (such as hadn't been seen at that bank in two hundred and fifty years, says Sir Frederick, also pointing to the disposal problems of that much bullion, though he mustn't have seen Ealing comedy, 'The Lavender Hill Mob'), he wouldn't have seemed so bad, but his relish in causing pain and using his cover of healer, made him despicable. He's so bad he even has time for an evil laugh when driving along thinking they've got away with it, and Wyngarde even makes that seem natural and real!

It's said that nobody could pull off a heist of that magnitude, but then they hadn't dealt with 'Jason King' before! Craig had a good line in response to Sir Frederick's claims of the impossibility, that, "records only attract record breakers." All too true, but thanks to the Champions of justice they don't get away with it. It's a horrible end for the villains, one crushed under the weight of avarice, the other shot in the leg by his partner in crime, staggering away as his senses become jumbled and the avenging angels stride purposefully after him until he collapses. I wonder what happened to him, was he sentenced to life imprisonment, killed by one of the states, or rehabilitated? That's not the concern of the Nemesis agents, they did their job and it was only the devious planning of Hallam that stopped Craig from being murdered in cold blood. I'm not sure there was ever as fascinating and dangerous an opponent they faced, so the series peaked very early and this may just be my favourite episode, though there are a couple of other contenders. Something I thought of seeing the opening montage again was how much better it is that they filmed a special sequence just for that where each of the agents is looked at by the others as their name comes up, followed by the famous fountain. It's all very simple, but much better than the common flinging together of clips and shows their bond apart from the rest of the human race.

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