This is a story which actually benefitted from things going seriously wrong behind the scenes. The first story in colour, and the first to feature Jon Pertwee as the new Doctor, it almost never happened thanks to industrial action at the BBC - caused by that very move into colour.
In order to salvage the problem it was decided to dispense with studio recording on videotape and film the whole thing instead on location.
This would later mean that this story could be the first to be upgraded to HD and be released on Blu-ray.
Writer Nigel Kneale was not very happy with this story, as it very much pinched from his Quatermass II in its first episode. The similarities to the earlier production's opening moments are obvious.
A lot of the rest of the story has been robbed from its author's own works - namely a low budget British Sci-Fi movie called Invasion, which centres round a small cottage hospital.
The remainder owes a lot to an unused version of The Faceless Ones, by Malcolm Hulke and David Ellis. The earliest version of this story was known as "The Big Store" and was based in a department store where the aliens disguised themselves as mannequins.
In a nutshell, this isn't the most original of works.
There is a chicken / egg conundrum going on. If an Auton (Channing) is collecting the Nestene spheres and creating new Autons, who made him?
Robert Holmes will refine the Nestene threat for their next appearance, but in this story it would be difficult for them to conquer the whole of the UK quickly - let alone the whole planet.
Had the dolls in the factory been killer Nestene ones then that would have created a much wider impact on the country, but shop window dummies aren't spread evenly throughout the nation.
Why is General Scobie left alive? If it was necessary to keep him, why have him put on display in one of central London's most popular tourist attractions, rather than have him hidden away somewhere in the factory where he could be properly guarded?
When the Doctor attacks the Scobie Auton, his troops just stand there and watch for ages without doing anything, like shooting the man attacking their leader in the middle of an armed conflict.
Channing's abilities to identify brain prints are variable. He fails to notice that the Doctor is an alien on their first two encounters but can sense aliens at Tussauds. He can tell when Ransome is in the area even from miles away, but has to be told that Hibbert, who he sees every day, is outside his door.
Why does the Auton searching for the swarm leader not have a disguise? It is mentioned that the Nestenes don't want to face any confrontation with the authorities yet, so why draw potential attention to yourselves with an undisguised Auton?
The same could be said for the attempted abduction of the Doctor from the hospital. This was a high risk operation - which failed - all because the Doctor might have knowledge of the missing sphere.
Why does the Brigadier automatically distrust the Doctor to stick around, when there was never the slightest hint of him doing a runner in the middle of their last two adventures together?
And why does Liz, who has been totally sceptical about aliens etc. up to now, suddenly believe that the Police Box can go travelling?
You can catch a glimpse of the technician hiding behind the TARDIS operating the smoke machine.
The UNIT officer at the tracking station is wearing her tie badge upside down.
One of the supposedly wax dummies in Tussauds flutters her eyes, and General Scobie sways a little. One of the supposedly dead pedestrians in the famous dummy attack scene moves his arm.
The TARDIS when first seen is a model, which has the St John's Ambulance badge on it. We then cut to the real prop on location, which doesn't have the badge.
Can a regenerated body really have a manufactured item on it like a tattoo?
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