Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. DVD NTSC Region 1 in a 3 feature boxed set DVD PAL Region 2 3 feature boxed set VHS Video NTSC A NTSC B PAL (See bottom of page for more options)

(Theatrical remake of Doctor Who Story No. 10, starring Peter Cushing) screenplay by Milton Subotsky, with additional material by David Whitaker. From the original BBC-TV serial by Terry Nation directed by Gordon Flemyng produced by Milton Subotsky and Max J. Rosenberg music by Bill McGuffie and Barry Gray approximately 90 minutes, colour Story: A policeman in an emergency discovers Dr. Who's time machine - TARDIS - and is transported along with Dr. Who, his granddaughter Susan, and his niece Louise to London, 2150 A.D. The city has been devastated by bombs, and the Daleks are enslaving mankind. What is their real purpose in coming to planet Earth? And what secret project are they undertaking in the mines of Bedfordshire?

DVD Extras include:

• "Dalekmania" documentary chronicling the making of this film and its predecessor (box sets only!)
• French language track (NTSC Region 1 discs only!)
• Photo Gallery
• Trailer
• Peter Cushing biography

As with the previous Dalek story, two versions exist of this tale thanks to yet another bigger budget feature film, and one version generally works while the other generally doesn't. This indicates that the story itself has great potential, but requires good dialogue, a strong cast, a fair standard of production values, and most importantly a competent and creative director. In terms of the writing, like "The Chase" (story no. 16) and "The Dalek Masterplan" (story no. 21) which follow, and "The Keys of Marinus" (story no. 5) which preceded it, the story is a bit of a collection of separate little tales and scenes, however there is greater unity among them here because they are tied together in theme and in situational origin: humanity is suffering global hardship and subjugation, and there are as many ways of dealing with that as there are people on the planet. Writer Terry Nation then shows us some of the characters that he finds most interesting, all the while stringing them into a cohesive plot concerning our four time travellers and their first returning enemies. How well does this work in a cinematic format? Let's continue to compare the two versions:

Thankfully, this film is an improvement both on the previous film made by the same people, and the television version of this story. Let us count the ways.....

In terms of prop design, set design, effects design, and dramatic design, the film offers us the definitive version of this story's most famous elements. The Robomen both look and act exactly the way they should: they are menacing, while still being a bit zombie-like, and they are believable high-tech conversions of normal people. The spaceship is no longer a dinky pie plate on a string, but a decent looking model that flies realistically and gets composited with footage of the main characters in several inlay shots, not to mention a few well-done wide angle establishing shots of the ship on the ground for the "heliport" scenes. All of the major Dalek colour ranks are definitively introduced, and the flashing on their brilliant, large head-lights is solely and rightly reserved to indicate speech. The still uncredited voice artists provide the best Dalek voices of the entire 60's era, allowing one to believe that while the Daleks' prime motivation in life is their fear of being out of control and at the mercy of inferior creatures, they channel this fear into aggression and bulliness, and deliver a true sense of menace, threat and danger to the proceedings. Their foam-gas weaponry looks decidedly poisonous, and the stuntman who becomes their first on-screen victim in the film really sells the effect in a dramatic action sequence which was designed to highlight the Dalek menace, and finally does so in this version.

This is the story that really promotes their favourite battlecry of "exterminate", which alongside their bug and garden gas spray, highlights their callous attitude in eliminating all the "lower" life forms of the universe as if they were simply going about their house-cleaning duties. After all, what would the universe be coming to if they let hordes of humanoids over-run it?

The dialogue introducing the word definitively occurs during the first Dalek radio broadcast, and its importance is reinforced as the Daleks surround the fallen stuntman, and repeat their battle-cry. Compare the voice performances of the movie and the TV episodes in these two scenes, and see which ones you like best. Is the difference a matter of time and budget, or one of proficiency of actors and directors?

The TARDIS is introduced well, even though it is hardly used in this story. The sound effect during its one disappearance isn't bad, especially considering that a lot of dialogue needs to be spoken at the same time, but it's just not as satisfying as the standard effect we all know and love.

The "magnetism" concept is more prolific in this version, and more believably done as well. There is mention of magnetic doors operating in Peter Cushing's TARDIS. Magnetism is discussed once more in the cell on the Dalek saucer - and the explanation makes sense this time, as does the idea of the Dalek test (not to mention the fact that these scenes are now MUCH more dramatic). Delving into this more would involve spoilers, so I'll save that for the In-depth Analysis version of this review, but suffice it to say that those examples are further emphasis that the movie is the definitive version of this story.

Perhaps the best proof of the movie's reign in the definitiveness department is on the cover illustration of the 1984 edition of the novelization. Although Terrance Dicks quite rightly novelized the television version to detail the events occurring to the series' regular characters, the cover shows the movie's Robomen, the movie's Dalek flying saucer, and a red Dalek with large dome-lights that features only in the movies. The best of both worlds. The movie is also much better at involving the Doctor and giving him the most interesting and heroic role. The whole robotizing process is believable and dramatically demonstrated, and the story beats surrounding the process are realized much more believably and tensely. Where William Hartnell's Doctor had little of anything to do in the middle of the story, Peter Cushing's Doctor remains alert and quite active throughout the mid-sections, gets to confront and pit his wits against Philip Madoc (in his first and possibly best creepy villain role in Doctor Who), plan the entire organized attack by the good-guys, confront the Daleks face to face for the finale, and do much of what was left to Barbara in the TV version. Well, right on! And if certain last-minute rewrites hadn't happened to the TV version, you could bet Peter Cushing would have had yet another heroic beat to busy himself with too.

Sadly missing is the classic sequence of Daleks patrolling London's famous landmarks, but there is a good reason for leaving this out - nothing really happens in the sequence, and it has no impact on the plot whatsoever. It just looked cool. In the movie, one is tempted to believe that London's landmarks are so badly bombed and scorched, that maybe we are looking at what's left of them anyway, and not recognizing anything at all.

Something that does work much better are outdoor Daleks versus the speeding van. The way it was shot, one can believe that fancy maneuvering was required as the Daleks responded to the van, and having a Dalek move and talk after the incident also keeps the sequence believable in terms of Dalek character.

Musically, the film is okay - most of the music works, and is lively enough to be a big improvement on the previous feature film. The orchestral portions convey action and suspense well, while the montage of saucer sounds and electronic "whine" music lend a nice atmospheric touch of creepy-alienness to many scenes. The orchestra goes a bit over the top on a few occasions, practically hitting the audience over the head with harsh sounds as the mine is introduced, and of course the beloved theme song is once again missing, so there is still room for improvement.

Music by Bill McGuffie and Barry Gray has been made available on: Audio CD Doctor Who - Music from the Peter Cushing Dalek Feature Films More info & buying options

All in all, I will probably always prefer the movie version of this story to the television one. Having a familiarity only with the Key To Time stories and early eighties Doctor Who, this movie gave me my first view of Daleks, not to mention Doctor Who from the 60's, so the nostalgia factor is high for me. Also, Richard Martin's television directing techniques (seen in the TV version of this story) often make me cringe, so my mind is set. This movie is THE Dalek Invasion of Earth, and one of the best Dalek stories.

Single Story versions:
DVD NTSC Region 1 single feature for the North American market: in the U.S. in Canada	DVD PAL Region 2 for the U.K. see box set below	VHS Video NTSC A U.S./Canada NTSC B U.S./Canada PAL for the U.K.
Peter Cushing feature film box sets: (remakes of story nos. 2 & 10, plus "Dalekmania" documentary)
DVD NTSC Region 1 3 feature boxed set for the North American market: in the U.S. in Canada	DVD PAL Region 2 3 feature boxed set for the U.K.

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