'Invasion Earth': BBC/RAF scifi series c1998

Non Air Cadets Film, TV and Music
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I was going to post this on the old forum on Saturday coming, but with the new forum appearing early, and a new/unused topic slot, why not post this early…because you may like it…

So: ‘Invasion Earth’, broadcast by BBC back in 1998. Absolutely classic British sci-fi tv series, in all the good and bad ways you can think of.

Very much in the Dr Who/Survivors style, but much darker and deeper. Beware, it’s six (yes, six!) 45-minute episodes. Even if you can’t be bothered watching all of it now, give it a skim-watch over Xmas. It’s heavy, heavy in places, but lots of over-the-top fun in other ways.

Where else will you see: RAF Regiment Gunners being dragged into alien vortexs…a Tornado flying through a 100ft high alien blob…Rapier SAMs being shot at aliens…RAF doctors working on saving the star of the show from bio-contamination…A Tornado 2-ship doing an unauthorised UFO intercept, all with proper r/t procedures…ah, they don’t make 'em like they used to!!!

I had lots of awareness of this whilst it was being made, and watching it when it was eventually broadcast was really weird.

Much of the filming was done only a few miles down the road from me (I’m often a passing visitor to ‘Kirkhaven’), and, of course, all the activity at Leuchars was…fun!

[video width=425 height=344 type=youtube]HoolPkbp9Dc[/video]
Invasion Earth -The Last War - ep1

[video width=425 height=344 type=youtube]_pViHWsvemQ[/video]
Invasion Earth-The Fourth Dimension-ep2

[video width=425 height=344 type=youtube]nZd8i2I6RwI[/video]
Invasion Earth-Only the Dead-ep3

[video width=425 height=344 type=youtube]1KwmpZSf2D0[/video]
Invasion Earth-The Fall of Man-ep4

[video width=425 height=344 type=youtube]gwEt9xcGnBE[/video]
Invasion Earth-The Battle More Costly-ep5

[video width=425 height=344 type=youtube]chASkX9k_3o[/video]
Invasion Earth- The Shatterer of Worlds-ep6

Anyway, give it a whirl, don’t take it too seriously, but enjoy!

wilf_san

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I bought this on DVD years ago might have to watch it again now!

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Thanks wilf_san, I enjoyed that!

Some scenes did seem vaguely familiar, so I must have caught at least some of it first time round.

I’m surprised the RAF / MOD let that actress anywhere near a RAF station after one of her earlier, much more controversial (ahem) productions!

Obviously a lot of genuine hardware - Tornados, Pumas, Chinook, Hercules, Rapier, etc. But was that chest webbing ever ‘genuine’ kit?

Were all the airfield / hangar scenes done at Leuchars or did they use somewhere else too?

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Most of the hanger shots were done at Leuchars (as were some of the action sequences), but I’m unsure about many of the outdoor building shots, ‘outside’ the ops centre. The Regt field squadron ‘takeover’ of the so-called Kirkhaven is actually at Dunning, and most if the giant alien blob shots are up in the hills towards Gleneagles. I can’t now ever look at the Dupplin Church without expecting to see a 200ft tall genetically-modified bin-bag coming over the horizon…!

Chest rigs…yes, regular Regt gunners certainly used to use them, at least sometimes. There are certainly some weird bits of kit in the series (and the USAF General is just a bit OTT), but it works overall.

The hanger footage when they start working on the downed alien spacecraft was interesting at the time. The reactions from the locals in Leuchars and even from the quarters was totally dead-pan…as if they saw that kind of thing arriving all the time at VASF on the back of a flat-bed!!

Glad you liked it…once you’ve seen it, you feel it kind of out-Dos Dr. Who (which just has to be said, for the sheer novelty value!)

wilf_san

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Who knows, maybe they did regularly see that stuff? Oh how I love conspiracy.

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well that helped pass a duty weekend, thank you very much, now just need something to help pass the next 2 weeks of duty/crap xmas tv!

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Late to this party, but couldn’t help but comment, as I was one of the regiment gunners sucked into the portal! Great fun filming, and I can confirm that the webbing and chest rig we were wearing was all our own.

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Great stuff! I always hoped that the Stn Rgt Flt at Leuz got some decent photos of The Regiment fighting the aliens, in return for all their efforts!! That would’ve been so cool, up on the wall of Bldg 185!!

I can then just imagine the look of sheer terror on the face of some poor-little JT on a Monday morning, seeing that, and them just about to start their annual CCS requal…

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Station Regt flight be blowed! Three quarters of QCS deployed up from Uxbridge for the duration, and a good number of the rocket jockeys from the Rapier OCU at Honington with their cloud punching gear.

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Presumably the local Gnrs might’ve been pulled into the production as extras (they won’t have been as photogenic as QCS /63, I dare say!)

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Going to give this a watch as looking into it one of the writers/produers is Jed Mercurio of Line of Duty fame and former RAF Officer

Thanks for the thread resurrection

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