Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.

I am a fan of the Doctor Who TV show, both in its original incarnation and in modern dress. I've also seen the two earlier movies and thought them odd and sad. I was therefore shocked and pleased to find this movie version of "The Dalek Invasion of the Earth" serial to be excellent. The pacing is better, the color photography by John Wilcox has its moments of beauty -- even the Technicolor Daleks have a peculiar beauty.

Working with only minor variations from the television serial, this demonstrates something I have long maintained: the writing on the TV DOCTOR WHO was often first rate. It was the cripplingly tiny budgets that often made it seem ridiculous, with its impossible shooting schedules, cardboard sets and monsters that frequently seemed to be a man lurking under a cast-off shag rug.

The memories of children often play them false in later years. People report on seeing a particular favorite DOCTOR WHO serial from childhood and being shocked at how much better it is in memory than looking at it as adults. Children assume the lovely details that the adult mind demands. How very pleasant for this adult to see them filled in here!

If I'd seen this film for the first time now, having seen most of the TV series that inspired it, I'm not sure I'd be fantastically keen on it. But I'd like to think that I'd still enjoy it for it's superficial scariness and complete indifference towards any aspect of a plot that might get in the way of the oh-so-colourful set-pieces.

I remember first seeing this film one Saturday morning, after all of the other childrens' programmes had finished and in retrospect, that's probably when it works best - the music's loud and harsh enough to wake you up, but the story's not too taxing if you're not completely with it yet.

Fantastic stuff, if you're prepared to leave your brain at home for 90 minutes.

When I first saw this on TV as a kid, I was really taken with the fanciful far-out concepts of a conquered Earth. For a 12 year-old boy into sci-fi, this was and is the ultimate escapist fare. I had no knowledge of the British TV series at the time so my intro to Dr.Who was Peter Cushing (playing older than he is), the movie version of the old-time traditional Doctor. I probably saw this film before the previous one "Dr. Who and the Daleks" as I was puzzled by the Doctor's recognition of his old foes, the unforgettable Daleks. Yes, who can forget those frog-like voices, warped by metallics, usually screaming for the death of humans. The British cast is really keen, especially Cribbins as an out-of-place copper and Andrew Keir as a hobbled resistance fighter. They bring a curious reality to the fantastic setting.

The picture has a decidedly British flavor and, of course, is filmed in the British countryside. Though I didn't reason this out at the time when I was a kid, it had an obviously different taste to it; I was mostly familiar with U.S. low budget sci-fi pics of the '50s and '60s at the time. The scope of the picture seemed really huge back then: London in a destroyed state, humanity decimated. There was that really cool flying saucer, looking fully functional and detailed. And there were the creepy Robo-men, in their slick black bodysuits and far-out helmets, like some futuristic Nazis or space zombies. All of this stuff really just took me over and I couldn't wait for the next time the local TV channels would run it again (not very often, as it happened). Some years later, I realized the title, 2150 AD, sounded cool, but the invasion by the Daleks must have occurred only a few years before the events of this movie, and the dilapidated buildings all looked like they'd been wrecked in the sixties. Ah, no matter. Many years later, I got the DVD and the thrill, tho muted by the long passage of experience and adulthood, is still there. They really knew how to make 'em back then.

Hurrah. Here come the daleks. Again.

But don't be scared. They're in fine fettle this time and while this film is just as daft as its predecessor it's far better-paced and the good guys don't have stupid eye make-up, instead resembling good old London Council Workers, circa 1955. It's a slight anachronism, but I like the idea of a sci-fi setting where the heroes are all unshaven working class 'Uncle Fred, Friend of Your Dad' types who wear jackets and caps that make them look like bin men. I suppose actually, given that the Daleks do resemble (and are referred to as) motorised dustbins, there's probably some poetry in this. Anyway, forget the title, this might as well be set in 1950 AD - it certainly feels a bit Ealing at times.

So, how is this rather entertaining nonsense an improvement on the cinematic war-crime that was the first film? Well, just that, it's entertaining. The Daleks are still quite funky, despite their ongoing choice of fire-extinguisher weaponry. They're also much more enthusiastic these days - we even see one going for a swim at one point (I can't think of a better explanation! You'll see what I mean...).

Anyway - the plot? Well, I suspect the title might give it away. In fact, I'm not sure it even IS the title. Maybe they just wrote the plot-summary in the wrong box. Whatever, I don't feel I'll be spoiling anything if I give you the following outline: Daleks have invaded Earth because they felt like it, and are now constructing a large Roller Disco/Cinema Multiplex/Dodgem park in Bedfordshire.

Okay, they're not, but it's entirely as likely and sensible as what they ARE doing there (or as the swimming Dalek). There are some great British actors having fun in this - Philip Madoc from Wales, Andrew Keir from Scotland, Peter Cushing from England. A truly unified effort - all silly together.

People who smashed their television set in an effort to survive the first film will be pleased to see that Roy Castle is not reprising his role as Ian (for those who didn't see it, I rather suspect George Lucas got his idea for Jar Jar Binks from Castle's performance), and has been replaced in the light relief stakes by the altogether defter and more endearing Bernard Cribbins (for non-British readers, Cribbins is one of the most highly regarded and acclaimed English actors of the last forty years, and his profound performance in The Wombles is still remembered by many people of my generation today).

For that matter, even Peter Cushing's mad professor is rather good this time round, and provided one doesn't expect more than robot monsters, rubbish flying saucers, and huge armies of (toy miniature) Daleks, not to mention quite a few laughs, then this will pass 80-odd minutes in quite an agreeable manner. Not as effectively as becoming an alcoholic, but more so than banging your head against concrete. I suppose this is the bottom line really - watch this film too many times and it remains preferable to headbutting a concrete wall, which is painful. Watch the first film too many times and you'll find the experience of headbutting a wall strangely comfy on account of all the padding it will have acquired.

In this British science fiction adventure, London policeman Tom Campbell (Bernard Cribbens) enters what he thinks is a police call-box only to discover that it's the TARDIS, the physics-defying home/ship of Doctor Who (Peter Cushing). Campbell is brought along as the Doctor, along with his granddaughter Susan (Roberta Tovey) and assistant Louise (Jill Curzon), travel through time to the year 2150, only to discover a London in ruins. The nefarious alien race known as the Daleks have conquered the Earth, and is rounding up the few surviving people to work as either slave labor, or even worse, as mind-controlled Robo-Men. It's up to the Doctor and his companions to free the human race from bondage.

This is the sequel to 1965's Dr. Who and the Daleks, which had also starred Cushing in the title role, although neither of these films are considered part of the ongoing Dr. Who canon. From what I've read, most true-blue Who fans detest these movies, although I don't have any special feeling toward the series so these movies didn't bother me in that respect. They are both slightly dopey, with a comical undertone and definite targeting of the younger members of the audience. I've always found the Daleks to be quite silly, and their accented, screamed statements ("Exterminate!") a source of much amusement. However, the movie is generally entertaining, and it doesn't overstay its welcome. Plus, I always like to see something I haven't seen before with Peter Cushing.