History YMMV / DoctorWhoS13E4TheAndroidInvasion

* RelationshipWritingFumble: The abusive relationship HoYay subtext between Styggron and Crayford deserves a mention. Styggron is intended as an obsessive ControlFreak who has no interest in anything besides his convoluted plan, and it was supposed to be him manipulating Crayford for these ends and then abandoning him. Unfortunately, the gibberish-level convolution of his plan means that his {{Gaslighting}} of Crayford comes across as abuse for its own sake. The {{Padding}} scenes added by Creator/RobertHolmes add a whole subplot where Styggron straps down Crayford to an Agony Beam scanner to psychologically torture him by creating and destroying a robot duplicate in front of him, which makes Crayford's later obsessive devotion to him come off as inexplicable, unless he's emotionally codependent. The Doctor eventually has to talk Crayford into realising that Styggron's been lying to him about who he really is, which Crayford plays in the manner of someone finally realising the truth about an abusive husband.

* UncannyValley: Some of the androids qualify - the 'deactivated' androids with their flat expressions and staring eyes, the finger-gun androids with their slightly odd artificial hands, the android Doctor doing all the lovable Doctor tics but with dead, predatory eyes, and especially the android Sarah Jane when her face falls off and reveals a strange mechanical head with protruding eyeballs.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Both Creator/IanMarter and John Levene were both unhappy making this serial because they felt that there was no reason for Harry and Benton to be there at all. Indeed, they play their android duplicates for most of the story and even then, they play a minimal role. And this was their last appearance to boot.

* {{Narm}}: Sarah nearly falls down a fairly nonthreatening embankment. Not as bad as what she'd have to deal with [[Recap/DoctorWho20thASTheFiveDoctors later]], but it didn't come across as life threatening. Probably the best the location could offer and they made do.

* SignatureScene: The face falling off Sarah-Jane's android duplicate, to reveal the wiring underneath.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Both Ian Marter and John Levene were both unhappy making this serial because they felt that there was no reason for Harry and Benton to be there at all. Indeed, they play their android duplicates for most of the story and even then, they play a minimal role. And this was their last appearance to boot.

* SignatureScene: The face falling off Sarah-Janes android duplicate, to reveal the wiring underneath.

* SignatureScene: The fact falling off Sarah-Janes android duplicate, to reveal the wiring underneath.

** Styggron: "Commence the analysis of the ''braaaaaaaain!'' "

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The face falling off the android Sarah Jane. Not only is the effect one of the all-time behind the sofa moments, some very clever construction is used to make the servos look like they go right to the back of the head, and the eyeballs are mounted on stiff springs that twitch in a way frighteningly like natural eyeball flicker movement, making it seem like the android is still thinking and studying the Doctor as it turns its head towards him.

** Ater the Android Doctor is destroyed, fooling Sarah Jane into thinking the Doctor was dead for a moment, she tells him not to do [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E13TheWeddingOfRiverSong anything like that ever again]].

* UncannyValley: Some of the androids qualify - the 'deactivated' androids with their flat expressions and staring eyes, the finger-gun androids with their slightly odd artificial hands, the android Doctor doing all the loveable Doctor tics but with dead, predatory eyes, and especially the android Sarah Jane when her face falls off and reveals a strange mechanical head with protruding eyeballs.

* IdiotPlot: The story has a plot twist based around the idea that Crayford, a character who wears an eyepatch, actually still has a perfectly functioning eye underneath it without his knowledge. This would require him to never take his eyepatch off for years - not to clean it, not to sleep, nothing. The Doctor comes up with several incorrect theories regarding the events in the village - first that they've landed in the aftermath of a radioactive incident, then that there's mass hypnosis going on - which is quite unusual for him; Sarah forgets to tell the Doctor that the TARDIS has gone missing; and Styggron's "plan" is without doubt the most incomprehensible and random Gambit Roulette any villain has ever attempted in Classic ''Who'', which is saying something. The Doctor even speculates to an android Sarah about just one aspect of Styggron's plan (why's he bothering to create a simulated Earth village and fill it with android doubles if he could just wipe everyone out with a virus?) and the story never answers it. The DVD production subtitles spent a lot of time pointing out all of these plot holes and eventually conclude that Styggron is 'one of the most eccentric opponents the Doctor has ever faced... or else he's a twit'.

* HilariousInHindsight: The rocket-launch StockFootage used for the takeoff of Styggron's ship is the same clip that MTV used for its hourly station-identification in its early years.

* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The face falling off the android Sarah Jane. Not only is the effect one of the all-time behind the sofa moments, some very clever construction is used to make the servos look like they go right to the back of the head, and the eyeballs are mounted on stiff springs that twitch in a way frighteningly like natural eyeball flicker movement, making it seem like the android is still thinking and studying the Doctor as it turns its head towards him.

* Narm: Sarah nearly falls down a fairly nonthreatening embankment. Not as bad as what she'd have to deal with [[Recap/DoctorWho20thASTheFiveDoctors later]], but it didn't come across as life threatening. Probably the best the location could offer and they made do.

** Ater the Android Doctor is destroyed, fooling Sarah Jane into thinking the Doctorwas dead for a moment, she tells him not to do [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E13TheWeddingOfRiverSong anything like that ever again]].

* HamAndCheese: Creator/ TomBaker and Creator/ElisabethSladen hated everything they had to say and so rewrote all of their dialogue together. Both of them are clearly having a lot of fun.

* BetterThanCanon: The Target Novelisation is regarded as being superior to the story, largely because Creator/TerranceDicks filled in some of the PlotHoles.

* {{Padding}}: All of the scenes developing the relationship between Crayford and Styggron were added by Creator/RobertHolmes (and, since they're in a totally different writing style to Creator/TerryNation, it shows). It has the side effect of making Crayford and Styggron's relationship come off as a bit weirdly sadomasochistic.

* {{Padding}}: All of the scenes developing the relationship between Crayford and Styggron were added by cREATOR/RobertHolmes (and, since they're in a totally different writing style to Creator/TerryNation, it shows). It has the side effect of making Crayford and Styggron's relationship come off as a bit weirdly sadomasochistic.

* BetterThanCannon: The Target Novelisation is regarded as being superior to the story, largely because Creator/TerranceDicks filled in some of the PlotHoles.

* HilariousInHindsight: The rocket-launch StockFootage used for the takeoff of Styggron's ship is the same clip that MTV used for its hourly station-identification in its early years.