“We'll have to bypass Watford. The place is full of Daleks!”
Peter Cushing's second (and final) adventure as Dr. Who is bigger and more cinematic outing than its predecessor, escaping the confines of the studio for a hectic runaround the backlot.
After being attacked by a gang of thieves robbing a jewellers, policeman Tom Campbell stumbles into the TARDIS thinking it's an actual police box (they really need to lock that door), and naturally the Doctor and co decide that they'll have to take him with them for no clear reason. Their next stop is 2150 where they soon discover that the Daleks have invaded the Earth. Since the first film, they've somehow survived being completely destroyed, learned how to move around on other surfaces, built space ships, and invaded other planets. The Doctor questions how any of this is possible, but the film never bothers itself with providing him with any answers. The Daleks' conquest has reduced most of the planet to rubble, this has also sent human technology and fashion back to the early 1960s and wiped out London's entire non-white population.
Basically the future Brexiters want.
Naturally, there's a human resistance, but as is so often the case they're an ineffective bunch so that the plot doesn't get resolved before the real hero arrives. Even after the Doctor shows up they're little more than cannon fodder for the Daleks. They're the type of rebels who have a lot of drive, but lack decent strategies and tactics or even just basic smarts. For example, the Robomen are armed with some kind of heat ray, but for no clear reason the rebels never think to take those weapons and use them against the Daleks. Hell, even when the Robomen are freed they attack the Daleks with their bare hands rather than use their weapons. A century of social media use has clearly taken its toll on the human mind.
Despite being bigger in scope than the last film, Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. somehow manages to feel smaller than the TV version. There are no scenes of Daleks roaming around deserted London landmarks. The majority of the action is confined to generic streets and the countryside. The plot is fairly faithful to original, with a few notable alterations to accommodate cast changes and budget limitations (Slyther fans are going to be disappointed). Roy Castle and Jennie Linden were both unavailable to return as Ian and Barbara so they've been replaced by Jill Curzon as Louise and Bernard Cribbins as Wilfred Mott, sorry, Tom Campbell. Seriously, watching this from a post-2008 perspective is just weird because that's Donna's grandfather! That's our beloved Wilf having an earlier adventure with the Doctor, yet also isn't.
That's these films in a nutshell. Doctor Who, but not really.
While Tom basically takes Ian's place in the story, the same can't really be said for Louise, the obvious Barbara stand-in. She's introduced as the Doctor's niece and that is pretty much it. No effort at all was made into developing her or use her effectively. Louise is here to just be “other girl on the team”. She doesn't even get the famous bit of ramming the Daleks with a truck. That ends up going to a male character. These movies were just very bad for Barbara and Barbara proxies.
--The ending does create a timey whimy headache since the Doctor returns Tom to just before the robbery so he can capture the thieves, but what happened to the original Tom? He's nowhere to be seen. Was he erased by his future self arriving in before he actually left? Are there now two Toms in this timeline? And if Tom never stumbles in the TARDIS how does this movie even happen?
--Tom stays on the Dalek ship to find Louise, but is never told Louise is even on the ship. One second he's escaping with the others, the next he's frantically searching for Louise.
--There were plans for a third film based on 'The Chase', but they were scrapped when this film underperformed at the box office.
--Since Susan is much younger in these films there's thankfully no romance with David and she isn't locked out of the TARDIS in the end.
--First time that Daleks use rels as a measurement of time.
--Philip Madoc, Eileen Way, and Roger Avon all appeared in the TV series.
--Since the Doctor's last name is literally Who, does that mean it is Louise Who and Susan Who?
--That jewelers must've had one hell of a safe for the robbers to use that much explosive. How did they even survive that explosion?
Daleks: “Surrender now and you will live. Resist - and you will be exterminated! Show yourselves in the streets immediately and obey the orders of your Masters - the Daleks.”
Dortmun: “Obey motorized dust bins? We'll see about that.”
Dr. Who: “Quite remarkable!”
Tom Campbell: “It's a flying saucer.”
Dr. Who: “Yes. It's a very apt description.”
When it comes right down to it, the Peter Cushing movies are a pair of colourful, disposable b-movies, a decent way to kill a few hours, but nothing really worthwhile. I sometimes wonder how they would be regarded if they weren't forever linked to such an enduring franchise. Would they be forgotten like so many of the b-movies of yesteryear or hailed as cult classics? The same could easily be said of the original show, which might never have survived without that original burst of Dalekmania. But these movies came out a little too late to ride that wave to success, so they ultimately remain little more than fun curiosities showing what Doctor Who would've been like as a low-budget film series instead of a long running low budget TV series. ⭐⭐
Finally, when I first started work on this review the future of the show wasn't exactly looking rosy, but it still seemed like it had a future, even if it was just one more Christmas special. Now we know we're not even getting that so there's a very good chance that this will be the last Doctor Who review any of us here do for a long time, bringing to an end almost 17 years of coverage, which is an incredible achievement in itself. Excluding the wilderness years, the team here (me, Billie, Paul, John, Samantha and Mikey) have reviewed 46 years worthy of TV and movies and I think we should all be very proud of what we've achieved and deserve a round of applause.
Mark Greig has been writing for Doux Reviews since 2011 More Mark Greig
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