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Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966)

A review by Damian Cannon.
Copyright © Movie Reviews UK 1997
Doctor Who returns with his trusty Tardis to engage the hostile forces of the Daleks, ably assisted by some stalwart humans. The scene is 2150 AD, like the present (remarkably so) except that the Earth has been devastated (or at least London has) and no life is visible. Venturing out of the Tardis the Doctor (Peter Cushing) is accompanied by his niece Louise (Jill Curzon), granddaughter Susan (Roberta Tovey) and Tom Campbell (Bernard Cribbins) - a policeman picked up by mistake. The fragile state of the ruined buildings reveals itself when one collapses and buries the Tardis in rubble, stranding the intrepid travellers. Soon the Doctor and Tom have been captured by the Daleks, to be transformed into mindless zombies, while Louise and Susan have been whisked to safety by the rebels.

From decrepit Underground stations the native resistance try to fight back against their implacable foes, all the while foraging to stay alive. One of the fighters, pragmatic Wyler (Andrew Keir), takes pity on the women while his buddy David (Ray Brooks) tries to rescue their companions. The rebels are exceedingly weak though, disorganised and vulnerable from repeated Dalek attacks. Their nominal leader attempts to rally his troops with a moral-boosting speech, keeping them occupied with bomb making and dreams of a victory for mankind. Inside the nearby flying saucer the Doctor and Tom have been placed in a cell, awaiting biological processing. Using his extensive knowledge of Daleks (not that great actually) they escape, only to be selected as Robomen candidates.

The prospect looks bleak on the alien ship, with the Doctor and Tom about to have their minds sucked out, making them slaves for the rest of their short lives. Fortunately Wyler and David are leading an assault on the detested Daleks, equipped with home-made grenades and raw courage. Sweeping through the ship they manage to overpower all resistance and free the helpless captives in the knick of time. Victory celebrations are premature though as the Daleks rally and commence picking off the human vermin. Wyler manages to make it back to the HQ and Susan, while Louise remains stranded on-board the saucer. In a separate move the Doctor flees with David (powerless under the Dalek onslaught). The prognosis is extremely bleak but surely the Doctor (Master of Space and Time) can come up with plan of genius?

From its very first scenes Daleks invokes a warm feeling of nostalgia, drawing the audience back to the Sixties even as the action heads for 2150 AD. It's strange how little London has supposedly changed in the intervening 200 years, especially some of the cutting-edge technology! Still, Doctor Who was more about creating a possible future with realistic characters. Unfortunately the sets are cheap, the special-effects cheesy and the acting marginal. Even better is the intrusive pseudo-classical score, which looms over every action of note. The roles are like ciphers, symbols of good and evil with echoes of World War II (the Daleks are Nazis while the plucky British resistance fights vainly, in a very wartime looking metropolis).

Luckily Daleks succeeds as an amusing, sometimes farcical, parade of wheeled dustbins and enterprising slaves because it doesn't take itself too seriously. Everyone seems to be having fun with the foam bricks and dry ice so it's only churlish not to join in. If only the title was "Invasion Earth 1950 AD", which it almost is, then nirvana would have been attained.

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