Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966)

Harry -
Not sure how I feel about this one. It was big and shiny and noisy, but I found myself checking the clock through most of it. That is, when the over-the-top musical score wasn't drowning out my own thoughts.


Sarah -
Sorry, I couldn't hear you over that groovy score.

I have to admit that I started nodding off about 20 minutes in. It's, well, a little dull whenever there isn't a red dalek on screen to distract one.


Harry -
I do love a Red Dalek.


Sarah -
I take back everything I said about this Susan being better. She causes just as much trouble as the other one -- crashing beams to the ground and all.


Harry -
You've hit upon the problem with these films. It's a bunch of slightly (or entirely new) characters doing familiar things (or things that are entirely new). The result is a loud, colourful mish-mashed jackalope of a thing.

Anyway, let's get to the good stuff:

PC Tom Campbell, what a joy. Bernard Cribbins plays an everyman caught up in the bizarro world of Doctor Who. And instead of playing it as a buffoon as was "Ian" in the previous film, he manages to lend some weight to the role. He's not just stumbling into things for laughs, he's stumbling into things whilst trying to survive a dire situation. I found a difference, anyway.


Sarah -
Who knew Wilf was holding out on us? Much better than the bumbling so-called Ian – and, as a bonus, quite dishy!


Harry -
The Gold Dalek. Wowwwww! (insert various drooling / bouncing / humping smileys here)


Sarah -
You need one for your collection.


Harry -
One performance that really stood out was Philip Madoc as the back-stabbing collaborator, Brockley. I love the way he speaks, and we have much to look forward to from him in real Who to come!


Sarah -
So much towards which we can look forward. He brought more to his role than most of the rest of the cast put together.


Harry -
That, unfortunately, sums up the good for me.


Sarah -
You were generous, My Dear.


Harry -
The bad, let's just get to it:

The music score was overwhelmingly intrusive. Too loud, too abrupt to shift gears in mid-scene, and generally annoying.


Sarah -
I’m sure I missed entire scenes of action because I couldn’t concentrate with all that racket going on. You know what I missed? That long, wacky chase around London. It would have at least worked with the clamorous music.


Harry -
The Doctor's niece? Louise?? What???


Sarah -
Apparently, the Who family tree has many branches.


Harry -
Generally, the story raced along without developing any of the characters we are familiar with. The newly created characters were barely given anything to do. Overall, it was loud and colourful, but I just didn't like this!

My biggest disappointment here was the attempt to re-create one of the most iconic moments in Who to that point (and we all knew it was coming): the emergence of a Dalek from the Thames. Instead of a slow reveal, this Dalek practically waterskiied out of the water, barely giving the Doctor any time to register a reaction. Augh. I'm just glad this is over and we can get back to the real goods.


Sarah -
Talk about a wasted opportunity! Actually, that describes most of this movie, so let’s move along. There’s nothing for us here!


Harry -
I miss the old Who!

Lasting image: the funky dual-rotation Dalek spaceship

Favourite moment: The end credits (bit harsh?)

Best line: Bernard Cribbins assigning himself an OBE, 45 years before it actually happened!

5/10


Sarah -
Lasting image: Cribbins on the bench with the Robomen

Favourite moment: The Robomen-fix-themselves-a-spot-of-tea scene was awkwardly amusing

Best line: Bernard Cribbins’ OBE line made me giggle!

4/10

 

Our proper marathon returns with Story #17 - The Time Meddler...

Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965)

Sarah -
I have to admit I wasn't entirely confident about our decision to take a break from the series to watch the non-canonical Peter Cushing films, but I'm glad we did. I've always meant to get around to watching them, and this was the perfect opportunity.


Harry -
If our Rob and Toby could do it, so can we. The last time I watched this film was over 15 years ago, on a VHS, still living in my parents' house (yoiks!).


Sarah -
It's not entirely successful, but this bizarro alternate Doctor Who universe is definitely colorful! I was slightly hypnotized by the end of the credit sequence, but managed to regain myself for the beginning of the story.


Harry -
"Alternate Universe" describes this Who to a tee. It's a familiar story, with familiar characters, but so strangely different. The opening credits were like something from a Blake Edwards movie.


Sarah -
Things that don't work:

The Doctor is human? What's the point of that? Also, his name is actually Dr. Who -- like the Whos down in Whoville? And he does so little; the character isn't very well-defined...or even interesting.

Barbara seems to be there just to hang around and look good. Whatever.

The character of "Ian" is a complete doofus. I wanted the Daleks to exterminate him as soon as possible.

The Thals may have been a tad dull in the series, but they did suggest a certain level of dishiness that just doesn't work in color. They looked like a traveling clown circus instead of pacifist survivors.


Harry -
Making the Doctor a human immediately erases so much of the mystique that enveloped the TV character. Here, he's just an absent-minded professor type, progenitor of a family of brainiacs it seems. I do like that baby blue scarf tho.

I didn't take to any of the other characters, to be honest. Barbara (the Doctor's other granddaughter!) was a stock character to put it kindly. Susan was spunky and brave, but lacking any kind of warmth or humour. Ian... good grief. A ridiculous clutz? Awful, just awful.

Ooh yeah, were those Thals campy or what? They were painted halfway to an all-git-out drag party.


Sarah -
Things that work:

Susan. I really liked this Susan! She's what I initially expected Susan Foreman to be -- smart, spunky, resourceful. Instead, we got a season of screaming, falling, and generally annoying behavior. The decision to make Susan an actual child, rather than a young adult referred to as a child, was a good one. No one would have made it off the Planet Skaro without her! Excellent work by Roberta Tovey. She owed this movie for me.


Harry -
We'll have to agree to disagree on this one.


Sarah -
I was trying desperately to be positive about something!

The Daleks. I admit, it's hard to go wrong with Daleks -- unless you create a Dalek-human hybrid, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Anywho, Daleks in screaming color = awesome! As cheesy as it was, I liked the long Dalek exposition conversations. They were straight out of a Scooby Doo cartoon, but long Dalek conversations are cool.


Harry -
Oh those Daleks. Full colour, shiny, candy-like Daleks. I loved them! Giant toys ready to whip the children of 60s Britain into a frenzy of want! Do you remember the one and only thing I zeroed in on at our first convention together?


Sarah -
How could I forget!


Harry -
Apart from that, my personal stars of this movie were the Three Gratuitous Lava Lamps -- each a different colour, and with no apparent function but to "groovify" the Daleks' awesome control room.


Sarah -
The lava lamps were undoubtedly the highlight of the entire film. Could Daleks possibly be cooler?


Harry -
Now I want some lava lamps.  Maybe three! 

I do have to hand it to the producers for upping the scale of Doctor Who. Big, bright sets, like nothing we've seen before. I did like that aspect of the movie. The brief scene that showed the Dalek rally - their own little "Nuremburg" moment - really grabbed me. Something about that many Daleks all massed together, it was another thing we've never seen on the TV show to this point.

Can't say much else about this, other than reiterating the weirdness of it all.

Lasting image - Black Dalek and Red Dalek scheming away.

Favourite moment - The couple of times when Peter Cushing winked at one of his friends. Those were the moments when he briefly made the character his own, and not just an echo of William Hartnell.

Best line - honestly, nothing really jumped out here, maybe because we've heard so much of it before. If anything, Cushing's affected accent kept grabbing my attention.

Oh, and I wouldn't have minded this Ian getting exterminated either. Awful!

6 / 10


Sarah -
Lasting image - Lava Lamps!!!!!

Favourite moment - The Dalek scheming.

Best line - I got nothing here.

5 / 10

Our marathon continues with the second Peter Cushing movie: Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D....