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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Two Curiousities..., 22 Jul 2002
I remember seeing these films as a kid with my dad in the sixties and they haven't lost their appeal. The first - "Dr Who and The Daleks" is almost a psychedelic romp, with garishly coloured Daleks and even more garishly made up Thals (the humanoid inhabitants of Skaro, the planet of the Daleks). The colours are sometimes overpowering, but compliment the high camp feel of the film. Peter Cushing makes a cracking Dr Who, playing the part as an absent minded inventor, rather than a Time Lord, and one wonders what he might have brought to the TV role, given the chance. Basically the story covers the Thals' attempt to make peace with the Daleks, the Daleks' attempt to exterminate the Thals, and Dr Who's attempt to recover a vital component to his Tardis (time/space ship - you know the routine) from the Dalek city. Peter Cushing is ably assisted by his grand daughters, Susan and Barbara, and Barbara's boyfriend Ian, played for laughs by Roy Castle. The Daleks are terrific, and have never looked better, but you could drive a bus through most of the cliches, dodgy props and plot holes - during the fights, all the Thals have to do is spin two Daleks around to face each other and they obligingly blast each other with their guns, one Thal stays behind in the mutant-infested swamp on his own to fill the water bottles (take a wild guess what happens to him?!), the Daleks decorate their control room with 60's lava lamps(!), our heroes cut the power to one of the Daleks by insulating him from the metal floor using a cloak but when they remove the cloak, his power stays off, and so on...but who cares? This is a romp, and darned good fun.The second film, "Daleks Invasion of Earth 2150AD" is a little more intellectually challenging. Taking place on Earth with slightly more pastel coloured Daleks, the plot revolves around the Daleks' attempt to extract the Earth's' magnetic core and pilot the planet back to Skaro. To aid them in this endeavour, they have conquered Earth and enslaved the survivors, employing them as miners at the pit down which they will drop their fiendish device. Those they don't use for slave labour are turned into Robomen - black leathered zombies who can do all the stuff Daleks can't - climb over rubble, go up stairs etc. The science is absolutely hysterical, with Earth's magnetic field being at its most powerful somewhere near Watford, which is where the Daleks have decided to drill, and as you can guess, this plays a key role in the outcome. Peter Cushing reprises his role as Dr Who, and this time the comic relief is provided by Bernard Cribbins (who knows, if they'd have kept the film cycle going, we might have seen Frankie Howerd hamming it with the Cybermen...). The Daleks are great as usual, but look out for the absolutely cool Dalek spaceship, still looking fantastic when compared with the effects available today. There are plenty of explosions and fights, and this second film has a grittier feel than the first. Setting it in 2150 is really ropy though - everything looks very sixties (I suppose we could assume that the Earth here has been under Dalek rule for 200 years...?!!), and the film is very much a sixties time capsule. Still, as with the first film, it's a bit of a romp, best viewed on a Sunday afternoon with your friends so you can play spot the gaff and have a good laugh. Great value video and a curiosity for the non-Dr Who aficionados.
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