Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966)
- Andrew Smith
- 10 hours ago
- 5 min read
Plot
Dr Who and his accomplices arrive on Earth in 2150 to find that the population has been enslaved by the evil Daleks who are using humans to mine the Earth's core. Can Dr Who and the human resistance groups stop the Daleks before Earth is destroyed?
Review
Doctor Who is a British institution. First broadcast back in 1963, the series has become one of the longest-running and most popular science fiction programmes not only in the UK but across the world. Though it has seen its fair share of ups and downs, Doctor Who has become part of popular culture for its imaginative stories and creative low budget special effects, bringing to life a variety of aliens, planets and situations that science fiction literature has come to recognise as some of the most iconic images in the genre. One such iconic image is that of the Dalek, a mutant alien race who live inside rather unique pepper pot-shaped tank-like machines and are bent on universal conquest and domination by exterminating all other forms of life. First seen in the Doctor Who's second serial, 1963's The Daleks, they quickly became his most famous and longest-running adversaries, causing a generation of children to hide behind their sofas whenever they came on screen back in the 1960s.
A pair of non-canon Doctor Who films were made by Amicus Productions in the 60s to capitalise on the phenomenal success of the TV series, with bigger budgets and production values that the TV episodes could only dream of. Both starred legendary actor Peter Cushing as The Doctor and both featured the Daleks - this was the height of a cultural phenomenon in the UK known as Dalekmania (sort of like Beetlemania but only about killer alien pepper pots instead of four Liverpudlian lads singing songs). People went nuts. It sparked an unprecedented cultural craze - we are talking comic strips, toys, pop songs, the works. Amicus wanted a piece of that pie. Their first film, Dr Who and the Daleks, based itself around the story for the TV serial The Daleks. The second of the films, Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D., sees the producers return to the TV series once more, this time basing their script around the more iconic serial of The Dalek Invasion of Earth. It was the first of the TV serials to utilise location shooting and the sight of the Daleks emerging from the Thames and powering across a devastated London have become iconic scenes engrained in UK TV history.
The better of the two big screen Doctor Who adventures, Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. sees the campy and garish nature of the previous film being ramped up a couple of notches. It's definitely a product of the swinging 60s and unquestionably both looks and sounds dated. Visually, the film was head and shoulders above the TV series for the time. You can only imagine how much more vibrant and innovative the skilled artists at the BBC would have been able to make the series had they had this sort of budget. But not only that, this film manages to hold its own really well against any other 60s science fiction films. The production team have really gone to town on this one, delivering a futuristic vision of a destroyed London on a low budget in stunning, colourful detail. The effects work is a mixed bag - some decent model work, some not so good. Shots of Dalek spaceships flying over London look good but then the miniature sets don't look all that good.
Director Gordon Flemyng was back on board and, seeing where the faults lay in the first film, manages a better all-round pace, cramming in plenty of action set pieces and lots more Dalek action, as well as holding back on some of the sillier escapades. It's still kitsch as anything and the Daleks will never really convince you of their evil intentions due to their absurd design (I always preferred the Cybermen anyway). They get way more screen time than they really should. After all, the TV series scrimped and saved on them because they were just too costly to make and so you only ever saw a few Daleks on screen at once. The bright and gaudy look of the Daleks in the film here is a bit of a surprise, turning them into fashion hazards from an era of hippies. They come off looking like they've lost a battle with a couple of toddlers and a few cans of spray paint. The primary selling point for cinema in 1966, especially when competing with black and white television, was Technicolour. If Amicus wanted audiences to get off their couches and pay for a ticket, they had to offer something television physically couldn't: colour. Whilst they might look like giant Easter eggs, the Daleks are at least in the film a lot and there are some entertaining battles between them and the human resistance to keep things ticking over. The budget gets fairly well spent with all manner of explosions and disintegrating sets.
Peter Cushing makes for an interesting selection as the Doctor. Just like in the previous film, the character is not written as a mysterious alien but rather a kindly man who has managed to build a time machine (as you do). Cushing plays him as a doddery old gent, very grandfatherly and without any hint of malice or hidden intentions. The studio executives likely believe that a mainstream international movie-going audience needed an immediate, relatable human grounding point. An eccentric British grandfather is a recognisable, very safe archetype and sanitises the character for mass consumption. It's like adapting Batman for the big screen, but deciding audiences won't relate to a brooding billionaire ninja, so you rewrite Bruce Wayne as a friendly neighbourhood mechanic who fights crime in a bright blue tracksuit just because he likes helping out! It's an eccentric performance which shows the great range that Cushing had and would have been good to see Cushing get the chance to play him on a regular basis in the TV series. Strangely, despite his iconic status as a veteran British actor who regularly played villains or scientists, Cushing never appeared in the TV series. Whilst I genuinely loved Cushing as a performer, his take on the Doctor isn’t great and whether it was his own doing or the script, but he comes off a bit too goofy at times.
Bernard Cribbins takes over from Roy Castle who was unavailable to return and, though there's an ill-advised and overlong sequence of him trying to be one of the robo-men with various slapstick moments, he stops the character from becoming too bumbling and farcical. Cribbins would go on to appear in the TV series in 2007 - a massive gap of forty-one years! Long-time British film stalwart Andrew Keir is on hand to add some credibility and grit as one of the human resistance.
Final Verdict
Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. is cheap and cheerful, silly and fun. Made for kids who were fascinated with the Daleks back in the 60s, the film does what it sets out to do. If you grew up on a diet of barnstorming sci-fi films like Aliens, this may be a bit too childish and quaint for your tastes. But fans of the series will find plenty to enjoy.
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Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. Director(s): Gordon Flemyng Writer(s): Terry Nation (from the B.B.C. television serial), Milton Subotsky (screenplay), David Whitaker (additional material) Actor(s): Peter Cushing, Bernard Cribbins, Ray Brooks, Andrew Keir, Roberta Tovey, Jill Curzon, Godfrey Quigley, Roger Avon Duration: 87 mins |  |
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