Dalek's Invasion Earth 2150AD

Up The Wooden Hill
 

Dalek's Invasion
Earth 2150AD
UK 1966
Directed by Gordon Flemyng
AARU/Amicus/Studio Canal
UHD/Blu Ray Zone B Dual Edition Steelbook

Warning: Slight spoilers going up the
wooden hill to Bedfordshire.

I think it’s testament to the fact that Dalekmania certainly held the UK in thrall in the mid-1960s, when even the main protagonist of the show on which it was based, Doctor Who, is not even mentioned in the title of this follow up to the previous year’s movie Doctor Who And The Daleks (reviewed here). Based on the late 1964 Doctor Who serial The Dalek Invasion Of Earth (reviewed here), Dalek’s Invasion Earth 2150AD makes the usual changes to accommodate many of those established in the first film but also changes the main acting line up a little too... as well as, somewhat annoyingly, relocating the action from the year 2164 and moving it forward to the titular date.

In essence it’s the same plot, with the Doctor, as played by Peter Cushing as an Earth scientist and still introducing himself as Dr. Who, arriving in future London... only to find out it’s been conquered by Daleks who are using some of their captured humans, reprogrammed as zombie-like slaves called Robomen. They are used to enforce the work of many others being used as slave labour in their mysterious mining project in Bedfordshire, where they are drilling through to the Earth’s core to explode it with a bomb in order to be able to drive the planet around to wherever they want.  The Doctor and his companions all get separated three ways and eventually reunite in Bedfordshire, where they cripple the Daleks plan and destroy them all... as you know they are obviously going to.

It’s a pretty strong film, it has to be said. Perhaps not quite as colourful as the first (with it’s alien, green and red hued landscapes) but still quite bright and cheery, especially where the Daleks are concerned. Let’s look at the cast first.

Well, we have actor Ray Brooks here, who was of course a big sensation at the time for playing in the movie version of The Knack... And How To Get It (reviewed by me here). So much so that he’s even mentioned as “The boy from The Knack” in the trailer for this movie. Then there’s the somewhat gruff, brilliant presence of future Professor Quatermass actor Andrew Keir as Wyler. He is the grumpy resistance fighter who befriends young Susan when she is separated from the others. Susan herself is once again played, in the most charming fashion, by young Roberta Tovey... the only actor to return from the first film, alongside Peter Cushing. There are also appearances from Philip Madoc, Sheila Steafel and Eileen Way. If the Daleks and their Robomen slaves are a satire of the ‘what if’ possibility of the Nazi’s invading the UK, these three are brilliant as the even more evil, human turncoats who betray their own kind to their enemies.

And in terms of the rest of the crew of the TARDIS, asides from Cushing and Tovey... well, Barbara and Ian have been jettisoned (although their TV equivalents were certainly in the original TV broadcast story). Instead we have Lousie, played by Jill Curzon and, in the role of policeman Tom Campbell, the late great Bernard Cribbins, beginning his long relationship with Doctor Who which would only continue in the next century, when he starred a number of times opposite David Tennant’s Doctor (and possibly one other if they do what I think they are going to do for the 2023 anniversary episodes later in the year).*

Actually, Cribbins’ character has the best introduction of a new companion ever, created just for the film. There’s a sinister pre-credits sequence where a driver of a getaway car awaits his friends who are robbing a jewellery store, as a piano version of Bach’s Toccata And Fugue in D Minor turns into a jazzier tune. He spot’s Cribbins walking the beat and bashes him over the head as an explosion goes off in the jewellery store. The robbers escape with the driver and the damaged policeman runs after them, throwing his truncheon at them and blowing into his whistle. He then spots a police box and rushes over to use the telephone but, of course, when he opens the door, he’s confronted with the inside of the TARDIS with the Doctor, Louise and Susan staring back at him, before promptly feinting from the blow to the head. The Doctor decides the scene of the crime is too dangerous for him in his weakened state so they take him with them to explore the year 2150AD... roll credits and the beginning of the adventure.

Okay, so you are gong to notice a lot of posters in this movie, both in the 20th and 22nd Century AD (the same posters, in fact), promoting Sugar Puffs, who had a tie in promotion with the movie. An early and very intrusive spot of product placement, it has to be said. Something even more noticeable (although it always kind of was) are the strings holding up the quite beautifully designed Dalek mothership... and I think this beautiful Blu Ray transfer of the film is the first time I’ve realised that the shots of the full scale ship in close up with the actors coming in and out is actually a partial matte painting.

The Robomen are quite good looking in terms of costume and, I can only assume these must have been something of an influence, either subconsciously or not, on the creation of one of the UK’s greatest comic strip characters over a decade later, Judge Dredd. They even have their own leitmotif in Bill McGuffie’s much punchier and exciting score (the more sombre score for the first film was by Malcolm Lockyer). A score which even goes into the broadly comical for Bernard Cribbin’s slapstick ‘fitting in with the synchronised movements of the Robomen’ sequence, which was presumably put in to lighten the mood of what is, for a family film, quite a dark and doom laden storyline.

The Daleks themselves are not reused from the first movie (although five of them were actually borrowed from the late 1965 London stage play The Curse Of The Daleks). They’ve been rebuilt and are not quite as gloriously haphazard in their colour schemes this time... although still quite bright and good looking. Also, the massive oversight from the first film, the non-use of the Dalek’s famous one word catch phrase “Exterminate!” is finally used in this film. Over and over again... whether you want them to say it or not. There are, alas, a lot of shots, especially effects shots, where the Daleks look completely immobile and unmanned, which doesn’t do anything to enhance their reputation as the most dangerous creatures in the universe, it has to be said.

One final thing to look out for is the stuntman shot by Daleks who takes a fall off a ruined building and hurts his ankle, which was left in and why he looks in such pain when he stands up for his death moment. The stuntman in question was off to hospital and back in time later that day to finish off his scene, you’ll be glad to know.

And that’s me done with Dalek’s Invasion Of Earth 2150AD. I can never make up my mind, whenever I watch them, which of the two Peter Cushing as Dr. Who films I like the most but, yeah, they are still both great films and definitely great ones to watch as an archive of some of the more beautiful looking films of the 1960s, for sure. Great stuff.

*Yep, this has now been confirmed since I wrote this review.

Dr. Who And The Daleks

Coloured Chiaru-Skaro

Dr. Who And The Daleks
UK 1965
Directed by Gordon Flemyng
AARU/Amicus/Studio Canal
UHD/Blu Ray Zone B Dual Edition Steelbook

Dalekmania.

That’s what it was which gripped the nation back in the early to late 1960s. The Doctor Who TV series was pretty much saved by the monstrous Daleks, brought in for the second story (I think it started as the fifth episode of the show). For reasons too long to go into for my blog (but you can read all of this background stuff elsewhere), show runner Verity Lambert kinda snuck the monsters in, almost against the wishes of her boss Sydney Newman and, because of these creatures, the show was suddenly transformed from having a lukewarm reception to being an overnight smash, with kids in playgrounds everywhere the next day sticking their arms out in front of them and yelling “Exterminate!”, the Dalek catchphrase (I’ll come back to that in a minute).

Now, ‘serious’ Doctor Who fans always seemed to have a problem with the two AARU produced movies over the years and, while it’s not hard to see why in terms of the obvious differences, I was aghast to find, via one of the new extras on this super restored transfer of the film, that this kind of attitude still prevailed in some quarters to this day. I mean, yeah the films are different but... really?

I’ve loved the 1960s movie adaptations (for that’s what they were... adaptations) since seeing them for the first time as a kid in the 1970s (in pan and scan on a black and white telly). And, despite being a consciously constant watcher of the show from Jon Pertwee’s opening episode in 1970 to the present day, I’ve always had a soft spot for these widescreen creations. They’re big and colourful, so much so that, to me, they absolutely epitomise (along with certain other films such as Modesty Blaise, reviewed here and Blow Up) just what 1960s cinema is all about. Dr. Who And The Daleks is an incredibly beautiful looking film on every level but, as I said, there are a lot of differences to the show.

Okay, so for starters, the title is a dead give away. The film is a remake of the first serialised Dalek story... um... The Daleks... which was part of the show Doctor Who. And that’s the way it was always spelled... Doctor... not Dr like in the film version (well... actually... the William Hartnell version of the character was sometimes billed under that character name but, the opening titles were always the longer form). Also, the Doctor in this version, played to absolute perfection by Peter Cushing, is not an alien like his television counterpart in the story, William Hartnell. Nor is he playing him as the grumpy and somewhat intimidating old man in the way that Hartnell brought the character to life. Instead, the absent minded professor like Dr. Who is an eccentric Earth scientist and inventor and he’s quite a lovable character. Even when he repeats the folly of putting his friends in deadly jeopardy by deliberately sabotaging the TARDIS (invented by him in the movie... not stolen by him as in the show), he still comes out of it as though he’s done nothing. Worst of all, though, he’s actually referred to twice in the movie as Dr. Who and not, as he is in almost every episode of the series (apart from some troublesome continuity riddled episodes), The Doctor.

Then we have his companions Ian and Barbara. Unlike in the TV show where they are Susan’s inquisitive school teachers, here they are boyfriend and girlfriend and, well, Barbara is obviously part of the family so, she must also be the Doctor’s daughter. In the movie they are played nicely by Roy Castle (as the comic relief man, relishing his flamboyant manner and slapstick comedy moments) and Jennie Linden, portrayed as a very strong female character with a lot of intelligence to her, it has to be said.

And, of course, there’s Susan. Like the TV show, she’s the Doctor’s granddaughter but, unlike the TV show, she’s not a teenager. There was no need for her to be, really, since the other characters had been changed so much from their original conception... instead she’s played by 12 year old Roberta Tovey, playing a little younger than her actual age, by the feel of it. She’s actually fantastic in this and Peter Cushing refused to reprise his role as the Doctor in the next film unless she was still a part of it. As a result, only Cushing and Tovey returned for the sequel.

Asides from all these differences, the story follows a condensed version of the original serial, where the Doctor and his companions persuade the golden haired Thals (with enough coloured eyeshadow and dress sense to parody the hippie movement of the time) to fight for their existence against the evil Daleks. 

These were not quite the Daleks as seen in the TV show. They were of a very slightly different design (not so much that many people would notice the difference, I suspect) but, since this was the first time they’d been seen in colour, the producers (unlike the TV show who stuck to drab greys and beige for a very long time) decided to make multi-coloured Daleks in Reds, Blues, Silvers, Golds and Blacks. Even their sensors (yeah, that’s balls to you) which went up the bottom of their armour were sometimes different colours on a single machine, alternating between silver and gold on a single Dalek in some cases. And guess what... they look absolutely fantastic here. When the TV show tried to do their own spin on that many decades later, during the Matt Smith era, the resulting designs were nowhere near as cool and vivid as the ones used in these movies. Although, these Daleks were apparently re-used in the William Hartnell Doctor Who serial The Chase, which beat the movie out of the gate on TV (review coming fairly soon). That being said, they could only still be seen in monotone on the telly so, yeah, they looked quite spectacular in the movie and I could watch these versions of them all day.

Two other curios about the movie, in terms of the audio side of things. Firstly, the iconic sound used in the show from day one, used to denote the dematerialisation and rematerialisation of the TARDIS, has been replaced by a very quick, mundane sound effect for some reason. Secondly, the Dalek’s famous, single worded catchphrase of “Exterminate!” is completely absent from this film... I was sitting there waiting to see if it came up and, for some strange reason, it didn’t (although, if memory serves, the writers and producers learned their lesson on that score in time for the second movie).

And, I’m sure there’s lots more I could say about Dr. Who And The Daleks but, honestly, there’s so much reference material out there that I would only be repeating what others have already said (and where’s the fun in that?). What I will say though is that, despite a nice, if perhaps a little lacklustre in places, musical score by Malcolm Lockyer (which holds no continuity with the TV show in any way, just does its own thing)...the film has some brilliant performances, some wonderful shot designs and an overall psychedelic atmosphere which makes this first film, in particular, one of the trippiest incarnations of Doctor Who ever. And where else would you see the Daleks using the very height of alien technology... 1960s lava lamps?  I’ll always circle back around to this film every five years or so, for another watch. Highly recommended viewing.

Now On The Big Screen

Whoniversal Pictures

Now On The Big Screen: The Unofficial And Unauthorised Guide To Doctor Who At The Movies
by Charles Norton Telos Publishing
ISBN: 978-1845839307

“Now you can see them in colour on the big screen...
closer than ever before. So close, you can feel their fire...”

Thus stated the original theatrical trailer to the 1965 movie Dr. Who And The Daleks, which is one of the many items under discussion in this, relatively, new book (2013/15) by Charles Norton. Which is what I found myself reading on Christmas Day this year since, for technical reasons, the new Patricia Cornwell and Kathy Reichs novels had not yet found their way to me under their traditional, seasonal wraps. Don’t worry, said tomes were gifted to me a few days later once family members had been met and greeted so, if you’re waiting for my usual, annual review of the latest works by these two ladies... they will be coming soon (as soon as I get to finish them).

Instead, this somewhat marvellous tome given to me on Christmas morning gets to be my first book review of 2017 and, I have to say, it’s certainly an interesting project (as is often the way with unauthorised and, therefore, often more ‘honest’ editions). Writer Charles Norton not only attempts to document the origins, production and aftermath of the original and, to date, ‘only’ Doctor Who movies to be released in cinemas at the height of Dalekmania in the UK - the 1965 movie Dr. Who And The Daleks and the 1966 film Dalek Invasion Of Earth 2150AD (both starring Peter Cushing as scientist Dr. Who and Roberta Tovey as his grand daughter) - but he also, for the majority of the book, goes on to lift the curtain on all the various planned and aborted Doctor Who movies which have never made it to the screen in the intervening years. Some of these proposed projects came from names associated somewhat with the television history of the show itself and others, from less familiar quarters. And it’s a very interesting read for anyone who loves the colourfully depicted, distorted movie versions of the characters as played by Cushing and co as much as they do the television show.

The first two sections deal with the original motion pictures in quite some detail and even include, like I’ve seen done before in other important works that deal with British films of that era, some of the considerations of the BBFC (British Board of Film Censors, as the acronym more honestly stood for in those days) from the script submissions, before even a shot of frame was filmed. This is interesting in itself since we have an insight into some scenes which were scrapped and also some sequences which were shot and then later cut or modified, like the close-up shots of the Kaled inside one of the Daleks which the BBFC thought too disturbing to include in a family/children’s film (such as it was perceived back then). It also includes, as do all of the chapters dealing with other, more ill-fated productions, comments about the experience from various cast and crew culled from a number of credited sources over the years.

It’s good stuff and, as far as I can tell, the most definitive story 'behind the scenes' of the two Peter Cushing movies in print and, if it had just been these two movies that the book was solely about, then it would have still been a great read. As interesting though, are the next chapters which probably make up around three quarters of the book, which detail the likes of various projects by people who were trying to get another movie incarnation of the good Doctor to the screen... including a third continuation of these original two movies.

So we have a section, for example, devoted to Doctor Who Meets Scratchman, which was the long gestating brain child of the two writers who were also starring in the television series at the time the project was first mooted... Tom Baker (the Fourth Doctor) and the late Ian Marter (who played the Doctor’s fourth assistant Harry Sullivan, for a while, as a preliminary to going on to write various novelisations of the series for Target books, before dying tragically young). There are some nice reminiscences to be found here including the time when Tom Baker and Ian Marter went to the Dominion in London in 1977/8 to take a look at that new Star Wars movie which had just come out... only to leave the cinema dejected when they realised the budgetary goal posts for any big screen science fiction projects had just been dramatically changed and that they really had no hope in hell of getting something like that financed.

Along with a whole host of projects in the book, two of which would have featured one of my favourite ladies, Caroline Munro, in their genetic make-up, the tome also covers Douglas Adams’ proposed film project, Doctor Who And The Krikkitmen. Now Douglas Adams had a history of writing some episodes of the show (including the infamous ‘lost’, half filmed due to TV strikes, Tom Baker story Shada) but he is perhaps more famous, world wide, as the man who created and wrote the legendary Radio Show, series of novels, TV show, theatre production, movie and audio recordings that constitute The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. Now, as soon as I’d read the title of his proposed Doctor Who movie I think I’d figured out what eventually became of it and, sure enough, this book confirms that it did end up being the basis of the third of the five Hitchhiker novels... Life, The Universe and Everything.

Now On The Big Screen does, in places, get a little dry and perhaps just a little tedious in some chapters but it’s all done in the name of enlightenment and you can’t knock author Norton’s quite thorough approach to digging up all he can about the material in this volume. Indeed, a synopsis of the script usually running between five and eight pages long is provided for pretty much all of the detailed movie projects in this book, which is absolutely invaluable. What it did, however, make me realise is that, as much as I’d love to see another new Doctor Who movie at some point in the future (and, call it a hunch, but I suspect we’re all a lot closer to that prospect than we are possibly aware of until the marketing machine gets into high gear) is that I’m really thankful, in some ways, that none of the stories summarised here never made it anywhere near the big screen because, honestly, they do mostly sound quite awful (although there’s surely still time for Caroline Munro to be offered a big part in the regular TV show, perhaps?).

After the main book has concluded, with a little on the background politics of the BBC that ushered in the new Russell T. Davies era of The Doctor’s adventures in televisionland, we also get another invaluable, much smaller section telling a little bit about the various, unauthorised, straight to home video spin offs featuring some of the actors, actresses and characters from the series... some of which are written by people who work on the show these days, such as Mark Gatiss. So this is a good little guide for further, non-Doctor adventures with characters like Sergeant Benton, Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge Stewart, Sarah Jane Smith, Liz Shaw and even the likes of Professor Travers and Victoria Waterfield, it would seem.

All in all, the information contained in this tome is of great interest to fans of Doctor Who and I’m really glad to have Now On The Big Screen on my book shelves (such as they are... might be the floor at this point). Charles Norton has done a great service to fandom when pulling this research all together here and its an absolutely invaluable addition to any Whovian’s library. So glad to have this one.