Story by and copyright D. S. Brown. Images copyright QM productions.

THE INVADERS TV show premiered Jan 10, 1967 while THE FUGITIVE was still on the air. Despite the sustained popularity of THE FUGITIVE it was in its last season due to the exhausting schedule that David Janssen had been subject to. THE INVADERS was intended to overlap and then replace THE FUGITIVE.

THE INVADERS was another QM production sharing the same 'Act 1", "Act 2" format as THE FUGITVE. From the instant the opening credits blared "THE INVADERS.... IN COLOR" you are reminded of the last season of THE FUGITIVE with the running man logo and the booming voice telling you that THE FUGITIVE is in color.

A narrator steers you into the nightmare world of each protagonist who has discovered something through the windshield of his car. In THE FUGITIVE it is a one armed man running from the scene of a murder. In THE INVADERS, it is the landing of an alien spaceship. This provoked a reprise of the FUGITIVE nomad premise. In this case our hero David Vincent (played by Roy Thinnes) isn't wanted for murder, but is ostracized as a 'fringe nut' who attempts to prove that aliens are taking over the earth. Instead of hunting the elusive seldom seen one armed man, Vincent is chasing an entire race of aliens who are out to silence him.

David Vincent crisscrosses the country, but doesn't often use false identities like The Fugitive did. Vincent's is also spared The Fugitive's fate to "toil at many jobs". In one episode he worked as an architect merely to get close to an alien takeover project. In other episodes he occasionally takes on odd job to get on the inside of various alien enterprises, but the cash seems merely incidental to Vincent. Vincent's previous profession as architect and the murder of his partner by aliens seems to have set him up financially. He stays in decent hotels, and frequently drives new cars, although he sometimes travels by bus.

Ford Motor Company provided vehicles for the show which explains why Vincent's personal car in the premiere episode is a Galaxie convertible. Throughout the first season Vincent is often seen pulling into a new town driving various colored two door Galaxie convertibles. In an early second season episode, "THE SAUCER" David Vincent drives a baby blue fastback Mustang. Lincoln Continentals are the car of choice for tycoons in this show.

The entire series was released on two DVDs. Images copyright Quinn Martin.

David Vincent's hopeless situation was somewhat alleviated when a group of 'Believers' began assisting David Vincent. The series was short lived and the final episodes appear in the second DVD collection.

The series ran out of steam and didn't conclude with a resolution as did THE FUGITIVE. THE INVADERS was a darker show on all counts. The music is macabre to the extreme with crazy camera angles emphasizing the topsy turvy paranoia of characters. The bleak relentlessly doom soaked scripts were a downer for audiences. In the second season David Vincent makes greater headway in his efforts to convince people and things aren't quite as hopeless.

The more cerebral, detached style of acting that Roy Thinnes used to create the character of David Vincent was necessary to the series premise. You needed an imperturbable hero who in no way can be misconstrued as a 'conspiracy nut'. He is no raving buffoon breathlessly screaming out garbled messages. Vincent won over his doubters with rational, calm, reasoned logic. His self control faltered slightly when he would get impatient or quick with people, but it was always a contained frustration. The audience was screaming at the other characters on his behalf.  

There is audience sympathy and admiration, but not audience love which is what Janssen was able to generate on THE FUGITIVE. The irony is that Vincent is fighting to save the whole human race, and Kimble is fighting to save his own life. THE FUGITIVE hit a nerve with audiences who were able to identify with being falsely accused. There was some distance from David Vincent's dilemma, since it involved a leap of faith not needed to identify with Richard Kimble in THE FUGITIVE.

On THE FUGITIVE the character of Richard Kimble had to prove his innocence. Kimble overcame doubt through his good deeds, a sense of fair play and decency. Because of his predicament Kimble is also very vulnerable. This played into Janssen's mastery of evasive discomfort. I don't think it could be properly duplicated by other actors. Kimble WILL die if he is arrested because he was heading to execution when he escaped.

David Vincent is in danger, but the aliens can't risk killing him now that he is widely publicized. They can only discredit him. Vincent is able to maintain a brave, confident front. When confronted with danger he fights wildly and we feel his frustration, but there isn't the same sense of desperation seen in the Kimble character.