Up until a few months ago, I never knew there were movies made based on the television series Doctor Who.  I knew of the long-running series, having become a fan of it when I caught the show on PBS in the early 1980's and whenever I could since then.  The DVDs have all been outstanding with plenty of extras that make even some of the worst stories from the series worth collecting.

The movies were a different story.  The two features that made it to the big screen are packaged together in this collection, each on its own DVD.  The third DVD contains an hour-long special on the Daleks and the mania that swept Britain once they were introduced as villains as well as a behind-the-scenes look at the movies.  The way these are packaged and the extras are something other studios should take note of.  Too often, studios just slap a set together to release it as fast as they can and make a quick buck.  Every Doctor Who DVD I've seen is put together quite well.

In 1964, the BBC sold the rights to Doctor Who on the big screen to Americus Productions.  At the time, the Daleks had recently been features in one of the serials on the television show, and the series fans not only loved them but were clamoring for more.  Producers Max J. Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky made the decision to use the popular Daleks as the villains in the film and based this first film on that serial, simply titled The Daleks.

There were changes to the basic premise of the series.  No longer was the Doctor a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey.  Instead, Peter Cushing was cast as a bumbling, very human inventor whose nickname was Doctor Who.  Susan was still his grand-daughter, but she shaved about ten years off of her age.  Barbara and Ian, teachers who discovered the Time Lord living in Britain in the television series, became another grand-daughter and her beau.

The movie was filmed in Technicolor, a first for the series which had been only in black and white on the small screen.  The production took on a new life now in color, and event he Daleks were jazzed up.

My review for that first film, Doctor Who and the Daleks, can be found here: Doctor Who and the Daleks
 
The film was a hit at the box office, and a sequel was in the works.  The characters of Barbara and Ian weren't going to be back, so a niece was added and a hitch-hiker picked up along the way.  This second film, Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. had a bigger budget than the first.  The result were some terrific sets and better special effects than series fans were used to.  However, the plot, based on the serial from the series, The Dalek Invasion of Earth, really didn't bring anything new to the table in terms of character development or story progression.

My review for Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. can be found here: Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.

The third disc has the Dalekmania special which is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the two films.  It's not really focused on the Daleks themselves, but titled that because of the frenzy that motivated the filmmakers to use the Daleks as the film's villains.

These films aren't considered canon in the Doctor Who universe, and there are many fans who don't even know they exist.  For those that do, most of them don't consider them.  While the production values are good, they've lost what made the series as good as it was.  I would have enjoyed an incarnation of the Doctor as the Time Lord from Gallifrey as portrayed by Peter Cushing, though.  It's a shame the filmmakers felt the need to change so much from the series to pander to an audience unfamiliar with the show.

The packaging of this collection is excellent, and I can't really find fault with it as a whole.  My issue is with the films themselves.  I think most fans will want to see them once out of curiosity, but will likely not feel the need to have this in their DVD library.  A Doctor Who collection can easily be complete without it.



Below I have transcribed slides in the special about the making of the two movies for anyone who's interested:


"In 1964, Americus Productions acquired the rights to bring Doctor Who to the big screen, and Producers Max J. Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky decided to base the film on the first BBC Daleks serial, The Dead Planet.  Subotsky adapted the screenplay; he and Rosenberg hired Hammer Films star Peter Cushing to play the lead and GOrdon Flemyng to direct.  At the time, Flemyng was in demand after his work on such popular TV series as The Saint and The Avengers

"The resulting film -- Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) -- made a significant and controversial change to the concept of the original show: the series' interplanetary Time Lord known as The Doctor became an elderly inventor named "Dr. Who."  In addition, while the TV series was then being broadcast in stark black-and-white, the feature was shot in spectacular Technicolor.

"The film's villains were also punched-up for their silver-screen debut.  For the first time, Daleks could be seen in their full-color glory -- with vivid reds, blues, and golds denoting different ranks.  The feature Daleks also brandished menacing metal pincers instead of the "toilet plungers" they used in the BBC series.

"Modestly budgeted at 180,000 pounds, Doctor Who and the Daleks required considerable behind-the-scenes ingenuity to achieve its spectacle.  'The hardest work on the film,' effects artist Allen Bryce recalled, 'was the destruction of the Daleks' command post at the end.  A lot of that was actually done with rubber bands.  We made eight copies of the big panels out of balsa wood and plaster.  Behind them we stretched a large rubber band which had wooden balls threaded onto it.'

"Bryce continued: 'We planted fireworks and little flashes onto the panels.  The rubber band was stretched back onto a hook.  When we wanted the control panels to explode, we pushed a button which lit the fireworks and released the rubber band.  The rubber band flew forward, hitting the back of the panel and knocking it out and breaking it up.'

"Doctor Who and the Daleks was a huge box office hit in England, and plans immediately got underway for a sequel, Daleks -- Invasion Easth 2150 A.D. (1966).  Director Gordon Flemyng and stars Peter Cushing and young Roberta Tovey were re-enlisted, joined by newcomers Bernard Cribbens, Jill Curzon, and Andrew Keir.

"With a budget nearly twice that of its predecessor, Daleks -- Invasion Easth 2150 A.D. (1966) made use of extensive location shooting and more elaborate special effects.  Fast-paced and exciting, the film is brimming with spectacular images of a futuristic London in ruins, and Man versus Dalek battles.

"One of the sequel's most impressive effects was the Daleks' flying saucer, a three-foot miniature designed by George Provis.  'It was shot both against the sky and against a backdrop, suspended from a crane,' Allen Bryce recalled.  'When it appeared over the bombed London street, it actually flew over the stage.  We brought it in and lowered it down as a hanging miniature.'

"Both Doctor Who and the Daleks and Daleks -- Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. were shot in Technicolor and Techniscope, a 35mm film technique that laid each frame horizontally end-to-end instead of vertically.  The Daleks films were two of only 600 or so features which were produced using this technology.




© 2009 Patti Aliventi

Recommended:
Yes

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