Stubs - Dr. Who and The Daleks

Dr. Who and The Daleks (1965) starring Peter Cushing, Roy Castle, Jennie Linden, Roberta Tovey. Directed by Gordon Flemyng. Screenplay by Milton Subotsky. Based on The Daleks by Terry Nation. Produced by Milton Subotsky, Max J. Rosenberg Run time: 82 minutes. Color. United Kingdom. Science Fiction

If you’re a devotee of Doctor Who, you’ve no doubt heard of the Daleks. They are almost as old as the franchise themselves. They made their first appearance in the second serial of the First Doctor (William Hartnell). In the serial, the Doctor, his granddaughter Susan Foreman (Carole Ann Ford), and her teachers Ian Chesterton (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill) land in an alien jungle and are captured by the Daleks, a race of mutated creatures who survive off the radiation that remains in the atmosphere after a nuclear war with their enemies. As the group attempt to escape the Daleks, they discover more about the planet and the ensuing war, and attempt to broker a peace.

Doctor Who, at this time, was still relatively new and many characteristics of the Doctor wouldn’t be recognizable to fans of the series today. The character hadn’t really been thoroughly established; not yet a Time Lord, as an example.

Amicus Productions bought an option to make the story and two sequels from Terry Nation, the writer of the story, and the BBC, which produced the series, for £500. With a budget of £180,000, the film went into production at Shepperton Studios in April 1965. It was released in the UK on August 23, 1965.

While his granddaughters read science text, Dr. Who is shown reading a comic book.

The film opens in the living room of Dr. Who (Peter Cushing). His granddaughters Susan (Roberta Tovey) and Barbara (Jennie Linden) are reading; the girls science books and him a comic adventure. They are waiting for Barbara's boyfriend Ian (Roy Castle) to show up for their date. While Barbara goes upstairs to change, the Dr. shows Ian the experiment he’s been working on in the backyard, which might look like a police call box, but is actually a time and space machine called Tardis (Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space). They step inside, and the box is definitely bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.

The inside of the TARDIS looks like an out of control science experiment. Dr. Who (Peter Cushing) is working on something while Susan (Roberta Tovey) and Ian (Roy Castle) look on.

Barbara steps in just before Ian accidentally causes the Tardis to fly across time and space, landing on an unknown planet. The environment has been ravaged. In the distance, they see there’s a city, which the Dr. wants to explore. Ian insists that they return to Earth, but the Tardis won’t go. The Dr. claims that it’s because one of the components, a fluid link required for operation, is leaking mercury. He wants to go to the city to see if they can find a supply. This turns out to be an excuse that the Dr. uses because he wants to explore the city.

The planet looks deserted when they disembark from the TARDIS.

Outside, they find a small container of drugs, which Susan takes back to the Tardis.

Once in the city, they are captured by cyborg creatures which refer to themselves as "Daleks", who seize the fluid link for examination. Dr. Who then realizes that the group have contracted radiation sickness, and that the drugs which they discovered earlier may be their only hope of survival.

The Daleks are in charge, but not formidable.

While covertly observing the captives, the Daleks discuss their own plight. They are trapped inside their metal casings, and within the city, by the radiation. They wish to leave so that they can destroy all other life and claim the planet for themselves. Hearing the captives discussing the drugs, the Daleks make a proposal to them. If the humans bring the drugs they found to them, they will allow them enough to treat themselves. Susan is sent, being the only one still strong enough to undertake the task.

Reaching Tardis, Susan collects the drugs and then encounters Alydon (Barrie Ingham), leader of the Thals, a species that fought the Daleks in an atomic war centuries prior. Alydon gives Susan a second container of anti-radiation drugs to use if the Daleks break their promise.

When Susan returns, the Daleks discover the second drug supply, but allow the humans to treat themselves with it. Susan explains to the others that, according to Alydon, the Thal crops have failed and they have come to the Dalek city, hoping to trade the anti-radiation drug formula for food.

Again, overhearing this conversation, the Daleks decide that they no longer need the Thals now that they have a sample of the drug. They get Susan to write a letter that they will leave for the Thals, stating that they will provide food, to be collected from the city, as an act of friendship. When Susan finishes the letter, the Daleks reveal that they plan to kill all of the Thals when they arrive.

Ian is reluctant to get into the Dalek shell.

When a Dalek enters their cell, the travelers manage to disable it, using food to blind it and then pull the creature driving it out. In his place, Ian crawls in. Pretending that he is taking them to be questioned, they manage to get past a real Dalek. However, they are momentarily trapped until they get the elevator to take them to the top floor. Ian, who hasn’t been able to get out of the Dalek armor, does manage to escape, too.

Once free, they are able to warn the Thals who are entering the city. One of the Thals is killed, but the rest manage to escape with the Dr. and his family into the jungle. The Daleks then test the Thal anti-radiation drug but find that it causes disastrous side effects. Thwarted, they decide to detonate a neutron bomb to increase the planet's radiation to a level which even the Thals cannot survive.

The Dr. works with the leader of the Thals, Alydon, on a plan.

Back at the Thal camp, Dr. Who realizes that the Daleks still have the fluid link, and he will need the Thals' help to recover it. He urges Alydon to fight the Daleks to save his species but he refuses, insisting that the Thals are now peaceful. In response, Dr. Who pretends to order Ian to take a Thal woman to the Daleks in exchange for the confiscated component. Horrified, Alydon attacks Ian. Dr. Who then uses it to show Alydon that he will fight for someone he loves.

Dr. Who plans the attack of the city. Alydon sends Ian and Barbara, along with three Thals, on a dangerous backway attack. One of the Thals is killed during the journey and another Thal wants to return home but can’t.

Meanwhile, Alydon, Dr. Who and Susan lead the Thals in an attack on the city, but the Daleks repel the assault; in the commotion, Dr. Who and Susan are recaptured.

The rear attack managed to infiltrate and once inside, they join the rest of the Thals, who have mounted a frontal assault to rescue Dr. Who and Susan. The Thals and humans enter the control room, where the Daleks have started the bomb countdown. During the ensuing struggle, the Daleks inadvertently destroy their main control console, which kills them by cutting their power and stops the bomb detonation.

Back in the jungle, with the fluid link recovered, the travelers depart in Tardis to return home, with some Thal capes as presents. However, when they land back on Earth, they end up at a different time than they started, and Ian panics.

The story is, of course, non-canon to the rest of the series. As Doctor Who the series evolved, the Doctor wasn’t someone’s grandfather, a doctor with the last name Who, tinkering in the shed but a Time Lord, capable of regenerating multiple times. Rather than being smarter than everyone in the room, and thinking five steps ahead, Peter Cushing’s Doctor knows as much as everyone else.

This film is a blip in Cushing’s career, even though he also appeared in the sequel, Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966). Cushing’s career lasted six decades and included more than 100 films. He will always be remembered for his Hammer horror films and for playing Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars (1977). Playing Dr. Who is far from his best performance, but again, an actor is only as good as his material.

Roy Castle plays Ian.

While the Doctor usually has a companion, they’re usually not quite as silly as Roy Castle’s Ian. One comment I’ve read stated that of the 82-minute run time, 10 of those are spent watching Roy Castle try and figure out how doors work. That, of course, is an exaggeration, but Ian is easily the silliest companion any Doctor has had. This is why Castle was cast for the film, to perform the role more comedically than it had been played by William Russell, who played Ian in the equivalent serial, but a schoolteacher and companion. Castle was a versatile performer, but gets a little tiresome here.

Neither of the supporting female characters have much to do in the film, but of the two, Susan (Roberta Tovey) perhaps stands out because she’s playing someone her age, but who is smarter than her years.

Even though the Daleks in this film are not as formidable as they are in the TV series, the film did have an effect on the show it was based on. The design of the film's Daleks, for instance, was very influential in creating the look of the Daleks in the New Paradigm Daleks story arc in 2010 during Matt Smith’s tenure.

Despite the short run time, 82 minutes, the story seems to drag from time to time, making it seem longer than it really is. Not a good characteristic.

This really shouldn’t be anyone’s first interaction with Doctor Who. This non-canon retelling is sort of a dumbed-down version of the experience. I’m not familiar with the First Doctor, so I can’t judge how that compares but by the time we’re to the Fourth Doctor, there is a mix of science fiction, adventure and humor that Dr. Who and The Daleks doesn’t possess.