Dr. Who and the Daleks
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| Dr. Who and the Daleks | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Gordon Flemyng |
| Produced by | Max J. Rosenberg Milton Subotsky |
| Written by | Terry Nation Max J. Rosenberg (uncredited) Milton Subotsky David Whitaker (uncredited) |
| Starring | Peter Cushing Roy Castle Jennie Linden Roberta Tovey Barrie Ingham |
| Music by | Barry Gray Malcolm Lockyer |
| Cinematography | John Wilcox |
| Editing by | Oswald Hafenrichter |
| Release date(s) | 25 June 1965 |
| Running time | 79 min. |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Followed by | Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD |
| IMDb profile | |
Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) was the first of two Doctor Who films made in the 1960s, and was followed by Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD.
The film features Peter Cushing as Dr. Who, Roberta Tovey as Susan, Jennie Linden as Barbara, and noted Carry On star Roy Castle as Ian.
It is based on The Daleks, the second Doctor Who serial (and the first to feature the Daleks). Filmed in Technicolor, it is the first Doctor Who story to be made in colour. The television series continued to be made in black-and-white until 1969.
The film is generally not considered canon.
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[edit] Plot
Dr. Who (Cushing) and his granddaughters, Susan (Tovey) and Barbara (Linden), show Barbara's boyfriend Ian (Castle) the Doctor's latest invention, a time machine called TARDIS. When Ian accidentally activates the machine, it takes them to a petrified jungle on a world devastated by an ancient nuclear war fought between the Daleks and the Thals (It should be noted that this planet is never named in the film, although in its sequel it retroactively revealed to be called Skaro), as in the television serial. At the conclusion of the war, the Daleks, heavily mutated by radiation, encased themselves in protective machines and retreated into their city, while the humanoid Thals survived the fallout through the use of an anti-radiation drug and became a peaceful race of farmers. However, the Thals' crops have recently failed and they have journeyed to the petrified jungle to seek help from their former enemies. The Daleks, meanwhile, although determined to become the dominant race on Skaro, are unable to leave the city due to their vulnerability to radiation and their reliance on static electricity to power their machines.
Ian and Barbara are unnerved by the jungle and demand to return to London, but the Doctor, eager to investigate the city, fakes a leak in one of the vital Tardis fluid links to trap them on Skaro. The group decide to search the city for the mercury needed to refill the link but stumble across a case of Thal drug vials as they leave. In the city, the Doctor learns from a Geiger counter that the planet is radioactive, and, in view of the fact that they are feeling unwell, deduces that they are developing radiation sickness. Suddenly, the Daleks appear and capture the travellers, confining them to a cell and seizing the Doctor's fluid link for inspection.
The Daleks know of the Thal drug and want to reproduce it in large quantities so that they can leave the city and exterminate other races. They offer to let the humans use some of the drug to cure their sickness if the vials abandoned outside Tardis are brought to the city. While carrying out the task, Susan encounters Alydon, the Thal leader who left the vials. Alydon gives Susan a secondary drug supply to use in case the Daleks deviate from their promise and also lends her his plastic cape.
The Daleks discover Susan's secret drug supply but allow the humans to treat themselves with it. They then summon Susan to write a letter to the Thals, informing them that they wish to end post-war hostilities and will leave food in their control room as an act of friendship. However, the adventurers find out that when the Thals come, they will actually be ambushed and exterminated.
When a Dalek comes to the cell to deliver food and water, the Doctor and his companions immobilise it by forcing it onto Susan's cape, thus insulating it from the charged metal floor. Ian takes the place of the creature inside the casing and notifies another Dalek that he is taking the Doctor, Barbara and Susan to the control room for questioning. Now free, the travellers shout a warning to the Thals who are entering the city and escape with them into the jungle, but an elderly man, Temmosus, is killed by the Daleks.
Later, the Daleks test the Thal drug on a number of themselves but find that it causes disastrous side effects. With no way of leaving the city, they decide to detonate a neutron bomb to increase the radiation on Skaro to a point at which not even the Thals can survive.
At the Thal camp, the Doctor urges Alydon to fight the Daleks for a safe future. Alydon insists that the Thals are pacifist, but the Doctor tests this claim by ordering Ian to take Dyoni, Alydon's love, to the Daleks in exchange for the confiscated fluid link: Alydon punches Ian to the ground, proving that Thals will fight for some things. Alydon, Susan and the Doctor lead the tribe to the front entrance of the city, where they attempt to confuse the enemy's scanners by reflecting light off small mirrors to give the impression of greater numbers. However, when the Daleks appear, the Thals scatter and Susan and the Doctor are captured.
Meanwhile, Ian and Barbara, guided by Ganatus, Antodus and Elyon, set out to infiltrate the city from behind. However, while navigating a swamp, Elyon is plucked to his death by marsh-dwelling mutations and the party is eventually forced to jump a chasm to proceed any further. Antodus falls short and plunges into the void, but manages to cling to the uneven rock face and is pulled up by the others.
In the city control room, the Daleks ignore the Doctor's appeals as they start the bomb countdown. Ian, Barbara, Ganatus and Antodus penetrate the city and join Alydon and the rest of the Thals, who returned in their determination to rescue Susan and the Doctor. The Thals and humans enter the control room and struggle with the Daleks while Doctor yells for someone to stop the bomb detonation. Ian calls out his presence, but dives for cover as the Daleks fire towards him in unison. The aliens inadvertently destroy their own control panel, disabling themselves as well as freezing the countdown. The Doctor retrieves the Tardis fluid link.
In the jungle, the Thals bid farewell to the Doctor and his companions and express their gratitude with special gifts. However, when the travellers depart in Tardis, they materialise not in London but on an ancient battlefield in front of an advancing army.
[edit] Changes from the television series
Several changes were made to the main characters. Cushing's Dr. Who is an Earth-born scientist and inventor who built Tardis (not the TARDIS as in the television show), his time travelling ship. Cushing plays the Doctor as an amiable and absent-minded inventor, in contrast to William Hartnell's more prickly and mysterious persona. Barbara and Susan are now both his granddaughters. Ian Chesterton is now Barbara's bumbling boyfriend, and the entire subplot of them being Susan's teachers is dropped. Ian is the comic relief in the film, rather than the heroic version seen in The Daleks.
Because of this departure from the established continuity of the television series, this film is generally not considered canon, although attempts have been made in various spin-off media to fit it in.
[edit] Cast
- Dr. Who - Peter Cushing
- Ian - Roy Castle
- Barbara - Jennie Linden
- Susan - Roberta Tovey
- Alydon - Barrie Ingham
- Temmosus - Geoffrey Toone
- Ganatus - Michael Coles
- Antodus - John Bown
- Dyoni - Yvonne Antrobus
- Elyon - Mark Petersen
- Thals (all uncredited) - Ken Garady, Nicholas Head, Mike Lennox, Jack Waters, Virginia Tyler, Jane Lumb, Bruce Wells, Martin Grace, Sharon Young, Gary Wyler
- Daleks - Bruno Castagnoli, Michael Dillon, Brian Hands, Robert Jewell, Kevin Manser, Eric McKay, Len Saunders, Gerald Taylor, Mick Dillon (uncredited)
- Dalek Voices - David Graham (uncredited), Peter Hawkins (uncredited)
- Thal Child - Michelle Scott (uncredited)
[edit] Notes
- Originally, the Daleks were going to be armed with flamethrowers, but these were vetoed (for fear of being too frightening, and also for health and safety reasons) and replaced with smoke projectors. Flamethrowers were, however, later incorporated into the Daleks seen in the TV serial The Daleks' Master Plan broadcast later in 1965.
- The Daleks were slightly redesigned from their appearance in the television series. Several of the movie Dalek models were purchased by the BBC and used in the serial The Chase. As the film was not released until after The Chase, this film actually marks the movie Daleks' second appearance.
- David Whitaker novelised the original television serial in 1964 as Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks (later retitled Doctor Who and the Daleks). Although not strictly a novelisation of the film, there are some similiaries in that the book has Ian joining the TARDIS crew for the first time as he does here (even though he actually joined the Doctor in a previous serial in the television version).
- Unlike Daleks-Invasion of Earth 2150 AD and the 1996 Doctor Who Movie, Doctor Who and the Daleks is the only Doctor Who movie serial that was quite sucsessful.
- The Daleks also seemed a lot taller than the TV Daleks, as they had some sort of bumpers at the bottom (Possibly to make them more menacing because the TV Daleks were small in height).
- A number of Daleks also had Claws instead of a plunger.
[edit] Popular Culture
- In the film Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (co-written by long-time Doctor Who contributor Bob Baker), a marquee is briefly seen advertising "Dr. Hoe and the Garlics", a reference to this film.
[edit] External links
- Doctor Who Reference Guide entry for the film
- Dr. Who and the Daleks at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
