Dr. Who and the Daleks by Milton Subotsky
25 June 1965
The attentive reader will remember that I originally intended to place the first Peter Cushing movie between Seasons Two and Three, in keeping with its chronological release. My little hiatus thwarted that, so instead I've been forced to time-travel back to visit this particular curiosity. Even if I had reviewed it in its intended slot, this would have already felt like a curious hangover of the earliest days of the program. Little quirks like Dr. Who's name and the lack of a definite article for Tardis mean that for a long-time fan, watching this makes it feel as though everything has been shifted a foot to the left. It's also a little uncanny seeing Cushing in such a professorial, grandfatherly role, as I'm only really familiar with him for his turn as Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars. It's still a charming performance, which makes the fact that Ian and Barbara are reduced to such non-entities rather more painful by contrast.
The chief justification for this exercise (except for making oodles of cash on the Daleks' likeness) seems to be the eye candy, and there is plenty of that. The eye-popping set design, more flexible camerawork, and genuine pyrotechnics all show off the power of having a real budget. That said, there are more than a few confusing design decisions. The Dalek city being cast mostly in shades of pink doesn't make it feel much like the abode of a bunch of tinpot fascists, and I can't say I can understand why the Daleks would have need of so many lava lamps... The omnipresence of the cameras that did briefly appear in the TV version is cool, though, and the scene where Barbara is followed by dozens of cameras as she walks down a hall is brilliant. On the topic of shocking design decisions, the Thals are absolutely overpowering in their glam-itude. I just about choked with laughter when we got our first glimpse of one.
Tonally, it preserves most of the central themes of the original while losing some of the edge - see Antodus surviving his drop where he did not in the TV serial. Otherwise, after the initial shock of the obvious differences wore off, I found myself with very little to seize upon, as it is a very close adaptation of the original script. I have to say, it is most certainly a triumph for Doctor Who that it obtained the sort of star power necessary to make a big-budget film adaptation like this happen to start with, but as the contemporary advertising for this feature would suggest, it isn't on Dr. Who's merits that the film is marketed, but rather its main enemy. This is even more obvious in the sequel. As good as it was to watch, I mostly just found myself wishing to watch the original serial again, as some of the magic is just missing from this. Like his ship, Tardis, Dr. Who is not the Doctor; he is missing the definite article... Not the original, you might say.
Next, a brief look at Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.
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