DR. WHO AND THE DALEKS (1965)

DIRECTED by Gordon Flemyng.

SCREENPLAY by Milton Subotsky based on the BBC television serial "The Daleks" by Terry Nation.

STARRING  - Peter Cushing as Dr. Who,  Roy Castle as Ian Chesterton,  Jennie Linden as Barbara Who,  Roberta Tovey as Susan Who, Barrie Ingham as Alydon,  Geoffrey Toone as Temmosus,  John Brown as Antodus,  David Graham & Peter Hawkins as Dalek voices.

PLOT  - Dr. Who,  an eccentric scientist has built a time machine - Tardis - in his back garden. On the outside it looks like an old fashioned Police Box, on the inside it is a large, futuristic looking space ship. 

The Tardis embarks upon its maiden voyage by accident and Dr. Who, accompanied by his two granddaughters, Susan and Barbara, and Barbara's well meaning but accident prone new boyfriend, Ian, arrive on the planet Skaro.

They find a dead world, devastated by an atomic war that took place centuries before. They arrive in a futuristic city and find themselves prisoners of the Daleks. The Daleks are robotic battle machines which are driven by mutated deformed creatures. These Dalek creatures use the machines as both protection from the planet's deadly radioactive atmosphere and as weapons - primarily against the other race that inhabits the planet, the peaceful pacifist forest people known as the Thals. Very soon Dr. Who and his companions are drawn into a frantic battle for survival as they attempt to escape from the Dalek city and warn the Thals of the deadly trap that the Daleks have in store for them...

DIALOUGE  - Dr. Who - "You are privileged, young man, to be the first visitor to our time and space machine."

PERFORMANCES  -  The character of Doctor Who has been played by many different actors (and now actresses) over the past sixty years. The Doctor is an alien from the planet Gallifrey, a Time Lord, and when The Doctor is injured, ill or killed, he or she can trade in thier body for a new one. Hence the amount of different actors to have played the role. This film represents the first time a new actor was to play the part, however, as we shall see, this time was to prove to be very different from all the recastings that where to follow.

Here the Doctor is played by Peter Cushing. As this films story exists in a separate continuity to the TV series and is a cinematic remake of a TV story, the origins of the Doctor have been changed accordingly. Rather than being an alien Time Lord, the Doctor is instead a plain ordinary (albeit super smart) human being. An eccentric inventor who just happens to have built a time machine in his backyard. At this point in the TV show, The Doctor was still in his first incarnation played by William Hartnell. Hartnell's Doctor was a much harsher character than what Cushing gives us here. Hartnell was mysterious, arrogant, argumentative and moraly ambiguous to boot. You where never entirely sure whether he would fight the alien monsters or run away and leave everyone else to die horribly, especially his human companions (he did lighten up a bit and become more of a hero as the first couple of series progressed). 

Cushing on the other hand, tones down the original character's darker edges and makes him into a softer, friendlier, more bumbling figure. Cushing has been criticised for this but its really not much different to what eventually happened to the character anyway. When Hartnell was recast and Patrick Troughton came onto the scene as the second TV Doctor, he too was a much more user friendly and avuncular character. Cushing has a twinkle in his eye and you can't help but like the old fellow as you accompany him on his adventures. Whilst Dr. Who is by no means Cushing's best performance, he does bring a sense of magic and mischief to the part.

Another character who differs considerably to his TV counterpart is Ian. In the TV version Ian was played by William Russell as a straightforward hero (Indeed, its pretty much Ian who teaches the Doctor how to be one of the good guys in the first place). Roy Castle's depiction of Ian is a lot more comedic in tone. He's awkward, he's nervous and ridiculously clumsy. Ian pretty much messes up everything that he touches and yet still manages to dig deep down and become more resourceful and heroic as the story progresses. Its a nice performance but they do tend to over egg the comedic angle at points.

The other main characters differ from the TV original as well. Roberta Tovey as Susan is a lot younger than Susan was in the show. Normally kids who appeared in films at this point in time where as a rule bloody awful. Not so with Tovey, she was a good little actress and manages to put across the impression that even though she's only 12 years old, she's smarter than all of the adults put together, without seeming smug about it. She's slightly 'stage school' but this fits in with Susan's precocious nature and isn't as distracting or annoying as it usually is with child actors from this era of film history.

Jennie Linden as Barbara is a bit of a letdown. The TV version of Barbara was quite a strong, formidable character, whereas Linden doesn't really get to do much. She's a perfectly capable actress and does what she can with the role. its just that the character she's playing is very bland and underused. A shame.

Barrie Ingham as Alydon, leader of the Thals, does a very good job of giving his character a sense of inner strength and dignity despite being saddled with a terrible look. He's forced to wear a basin cut hairstyle, eye makeup that would make even the most flamboyant drag queen think twice and bright orange lipstick. They really do make him look ridiculous but somehow he manages to pull it off and come out of it all with his head held high. The Thals really are the campest looking race of aliens in the entire universe...

SFX - The main effects in this film are The Daleks themselves. Much bigger in size than thier TV counterparts and, of course, in glorious technicolour rather than the then black and white telly versions. The Daleks are a true visual treat and must have looked amazing on the big screen.

The Daleks dont shoot laser beams when they exterminate people in this film. Instead they spray thier victims with a fire extinguisher style vapour. Some have bemoaned this fact, but I think it works well. Think about it - the Daleks consider other life forms to be mere pests, so they kill them like we would kill a maddening insect. What is one of the most effective ways of killing a fly ? With fly spray of course. That's what the Daleks spray guns remind me of - fly spray. Imagine one of these things coming up to you, screaming "EXTERMINATE" at you and then dousing you with a chemical spray that gets in your eyes...your lungs...causing you to choke and splutter whilst paralysing you on the spot. Your limbs and internal organs seizing up with this poison coursing through your system... until you fall, dead, to the floor...horrible isn't it ?

SEX & VIOLENCE  - It's a family film, what where you expecting ? There are a few exterminations in this, which while not being graphic, do have a darker significance to them if you put your mind to it...(see above).

RATING  - Dr. Who and the Daleks is a fun little movie. It's fast paced, brightly coloured, beautiful to look at and has bag loads of charm. What it lacks by missing out on the TV version's darker elements, it makes up for by trimming the fat. Resulting in a brisker, better paced story that doesn't outstay its welcome. Whilst it may not be the best thing to have come out of the Doctor Who stable in the past sixty years, it is by no means the worst either. Not by a long shot.

I'm giving it 3 and a half Kaled mutants out of 5. Pop it in the DVD player on a rainy Bank Holiday Sunday afternoon and be transported back to a time when everything was simpler and more fun.