The Invaders!

There were many great television series in the 1960s as well the 1970s. One of my favorites was a little-known outer space series called, The Invaders. This was an American science-fiction series that aired on ABC for two seasons, from 1967 to 1968.

Roy Thinnes starred as David Vincent, an architect who accidentally witnessed the arrival of aliens from another planet. He wages a hopeless one-man war against them. The aliens disguise themselves as humans and try to infiltrate human institutions.

Every week David Vincent must try and convince the public and government officials that aliens have landed on Earth and are trying to take over the planet. However, no one ever believes him, and they think he is crazy.

The aliens appear human except for a few telltale characteristics. They lack a pulse, the ability to bleed, or show emotion, and many have a deformed fourth finger. While the disguised aliens can be killed by humans, they glow red and disintegrate when this happens, eliminating evidence of their existence. This makes it hard for Vincent to convince anyone of their being on earth.

Most of the aliens, in particular the lowest-ranking members or workers, are in green jumpsuits and are emotionless and have deformed little fingers that cannot move and are bent at an unnatural angle, although "deluxe models" could manipulate this finger. Black aliens' palms were not pale, like humans of African descent, but were the same shade as the rest of their skin. Some mutants experience emotions like those of humans and even oppose the alien takeover.

When the aliens die, their bodies glow red and burn up with their clothes and anything else they were touching. On several occasions, a dying alien would touch a piece of their technology to prevent it from falling into the hands of humans.

In one episode, a female alien who falls for Vincent, and is killed while running to warn him he is in danger and told him, “That’s what happens to us when we die here on Earth.”

In another episode, after an alien encounter, Vincent manages to retain a piece of alien technology to use as evidence they exist, and for examination by both his group and the authorities.

The spaceship The Invaders used to reach Earth is a flying saucer design resembling early 1950s photographs of alleged flying saucers. They differ slightly because they have five shallow protrusions on the bottom of the flying saucer.

To kill humans, the aliens use a small handheld disc-shaped weapon with five glowing white lights and hold it to the back of a human’s head or neck to induce a seemingly natural death, which is usually diagnosed as a cerebral hemorrhage. They also use weapons that disintegrate witnesses, vehicles, and members of their own race with some sort of ray.

The aliens also have a small device that consists of two spinning, transparent crystals joined at their corners that acts like a truth serum. This forces humans to do the aliens' bidding, or in most cases imposes the complete loss of memory of previous events.

It was a great science-fiction series about aliens and the way they glowed red when they died, which was very different for television during that time. I truly loved the series.

The series became a cult classic, leading to other aliens versus earthlings films and television shows. It has been seen in many rerun editions as well. The series also hosted many famous guest stars.

In 2004, TV Guide placed the main character David Vincent at number six on its 25 Greatest Sci-Fi Legends list.

Main Character: Roy Thinnes – Roy is 87.