Dr. Who and The Daleks Film Reviews

I will confess that I have never watched an episode of the Dr. Who TV series which has been going on longer than most people have been alive. It just skipped by me while I was growing up and trying to catch up on some 50 years of TV shows is way beyond me. All I knew was that the British Police box was used to time travel and traverse the universe. And that is basically all I still know after watching the movie. I have been wanting to see this though for years because Peter Cushing is in it but never got around to it till now. I don't know what I was expecting but not really this. It feels very much made for children and the cheap sets look like they could have been built in the basement of BBC which produced the TV show. Amicus actually made this one and the sequel for an astounding price of 500 pounds for the rights. Dr. Who as played by Cushing is an eccentric doddering old scientist who can't remember any one's name, constantly runs out of breath and who takes his two granddaughters with him on these adventures. From what I gather after reading a bit, this Dr. Who isn't really the Dr. Who of the TV show. That one is an alien of sorts who changes bodies when his body runs out - which coincides with the change of actors. At least, I think.

Barbara (Jennie Linden) has a date come over and they all go into the backyard to visit the Police Box. Ian (Roy Castle) accidentally pushes the lever and off they go. Where to and when they have no idea but it is a world that has nearly died as they are surrounded by a petrified forest. A nuclear war seems to have wiped everything out. They see lights in the distance though and set out to visit. Turns out to be inhabited by a species that calls themselves the Daleks. We never really see the Daleks except for a glimpse of a green claw as they are all encased in robot like contraptions that can shoot a gas. Happily, they speak English - or maybe not since their speech is sort . . . of . . . like . . .this and got on my nerves quickly. How they reproduce is never explained but if there is a will there is a way. They can never leave their fortress because of the radioactivity outside.

Another species appears - the Thals who look human but are kind of greenish with blonde hair. Radiation seems to have made them all fit and killed off all the unattractive ones. They are running out of food. Which is not surprising since they seem to spend most of their time sitting around chatting and trying to look their best in their mirrors. Get out and grow food or something. The Daleks want to kill them all with another nuke and rule the planet, That seems pointless since they can't go anywhere. Enslave them instead I would say. It has to be hard doing housework encased as they are. Dr Who, Ian and the two girls are constantly getting into trouble with the Daleks who imprison them and plan to kill them. The multi-colored Daleks are the coolest thing about this - apparently, they are in the TV show but I feel cheated not really seeing one. They likely look like ALF. Definitely for children but I look forward to Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D..

Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D.
Director: Gordon Flemyng
Year: 1966
Rating: 7.5

This is a large and needed upgrade over the first Dr. Who/Dalek film in every way. The budget is clearly bigger which is surprising in that the first film didn't do all that well at the box office, the scope of the film is larger, they film outside of a set, Dr. Who is much more energetic and pro-active, the models and miniatures look fine, there are way more Daleks and they keep their very cool look and the myriad of bright jellybean colors. The film sparkles and is good fun. Still fine for children but more tilted to adults than the last one. The older granddaughter and her annoying boyfriend have been jettisoned and are not missed. It was the younger ten-year old one (Roberta Tovey) who had the spunk and guts. Cushing was adamant that she come back. At 80 minutes, this whizzes by.

Traveling in the Police Box now are Dr, Who, the granddaughter and a grown-up niece (Jill Curzon). Just as they are about to take off from a London street a dazed policeman from a knock on the head opens the door and collapses inside. It is too late to stop the machine and so Tom has to go with them. Tom is played by Bernard Cribbens who I have loved for one episode of Faulty Towers as the slow boiling irate customer. He just passed away recently. They set the time for London 2150 and upon opening the door they witness a destroyed city with mankind nearly extinct and others hiding in the shadows. Who is responsible for this? Those damn Daleks of course! Dr. Who just like the rest of us ask how this can be - when he left them in the first film they were destroyed. But here they are by the hundreds with spaceships. They have managed through a mind-bending machine to turn hundreds of humans into troops that follow their orders - marching around like black suited Star War Stormtroopers. We never do find out how the Daleks made such a comeback.

Other humans have been forced to build a deep shaft in a mine that appears to be headed towards the earth's core. Our little group make contact with the Underground - Ray Brooks and Andrew Keir - and they make a plan to destroy the Daleks! They get divided but all make their way to the mine - coming across human collaborators on the way. After this one, I wish Cushing had made a few more. Apparently, he regretted not being in the TV show. Me too. That would get me to watch it.