Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. starts late one night in London as constable Tom Campbell (Bernard Cribbins) witnesses a theft at a jewellery store, he rushes to find help & stumbles across a police box. He ventures inside & finds it much bigger on the inside than the outside, inside he is greeted by an old scientist named Dr. Who (Peter Cushing), his niece Lousie (Jill Curzon) & his young granddaughter Susan (Roberta Tovey). The police box turns out to be a machine which can travel through time & space & Dr. Who decides to take Tom with them as they travel to the year 2150, just because they can I suppose. Once there they find London in ruins, they quickly discover that the evil Daleks have invaded Earth & plan to turn it into a giant Dalek spaceship. Dr. Who & his companions join a resistance group on Earth in an effort to defeat the Daleks & save the planet...
This British production was directed by Gordon Flemyng & is an improvement on it's predecessor Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) if nothing else. The script is credited to producer & Amicus founder Milton Subotsky with an 'additional material' credit to David Whitaker & is a pretty fun sci-fi adventure that is both different & similar enough to the BBC TV series to be enjoyable, this was actually a remake of the black and white six part Doctor Who story The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964) staring William Hartnell. First off I have to say the comedy sequence where Tom tries to impersonate some Robomen is just plain embarrassing & frankly stupid although I'm glad the makers decided to have everyone call the Doctor simply 'Doctor' rather than the annoying 'Dr. Who' as in the first film, the film certainly moves along at a nice pace & is never boring, the Daleks themselves make for very colourful villains although there are several plot holes. First if the Daleks can control people's minds & make them into guards why couldn't they control the miners minds? Surely that would have been safer than trying to force them to do their bidding? Then there's the notion that they want to take control of Earth & fly it across the galaxy to their home planet so they can occupy it, right well why don't they just occupy Earth where it is at the moment? If this is indeed set during the year 2150 why does a rebel have to try & escape London in what looks like a van from the 1940's? Wouldn't have technology moved on in 200 odd years? Having said that the plot holes don't really matter that much as this is a fun romp that makes for perfect Saturday afternoon viewing with the kids of all ages...
Having directed the original Dr. Who and the Daleks the previous year returning director Flemyng does OK here although I'd have liked him to have tried to make the Daleks themselves a bit more menacing, they are OK & no worse than their TV incarnations but they are a little slow & cumbersome looking. The special effects are OK actually, the shots of a half destroyed London are very effective, the Dalek spaceship looks a bit naff though. The sets are very colourful in the Irwin Allen tradition of banks of flashing lights & computer equipment with huge dials & buttons that look horribly dated these days, personally I think they give the film some charm & add to the fun. There are some decent action scenes as well. This film was apparently part financed by a British company who made a breakfast cereal named 'Sugar Puffs' (yeah, I remember the adverts with the Honey Monster! I never liked the actual cereal though, I was more of a Coco-Pops man...) & as such there is a long lingering shot of a poster advertising them in what must be one of the earliest examples of product placement!
Technically the film is fine, it has brightly coloured garish sets which look dated but are fun to look at. Shot at Shepperton Studios in Surrey here in England & on location. The acting is OK, Cushing is always watchable, Cribbins is better known for his roles in the Carry On films while Tovey as Susan isn't as annoying as I'd thought she would be.
Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. is a fun 60's sci-fi romp which isn't the best film ever made but is entertaining none the less. I've certainly seen worse, worth watching if you like the TV series or just want some light hearted sci-fi fun. A third film in the series based on the six part Doctor Who story The Chase (1965) was planned but never got made.
This British production was directed by Gordon Flemyng & is an improvement on it's predecessor Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) if nothing else. The script is credited to producer & Amicus founder Milton Subotsky with an 'additional material' credit to David Whitaker & is a pretty fun sci-fi adventure that is both different & similar enough to the BBC TV series to be enjoyable, this was actually a remake of the black and white six part Doctor Who story The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964) staring William Hartnell. First off I have to say the comedy sequence where Tom tries to impersonate some Robomen is just plain embarrassing & frankly stupid although I'm glad the makers decided to have everyone call the Doctor simply 'Doctor' rather than the annoying 'Dr. Who' as in the first film, the film certainly moves along at a nice pace & is never boring, the Daleks themselves make for very colourful villains although there are several plot holes. First if the Daleks can control people's minds & make them into guards why couldn't they control the miners minds? Surely that would have been safer than trying to force them to do their bidding? Then there's the notion that they want to take control of Earth & fly it across the galaxy to their home planet so they can occupy it, right well why don't they just occupy Earth where it is at the moment? If this is indeed set during the year 2150 why does a rebel have to try & escape London in what looks like a van from the 1940's? Wouldn't have technology moved on in 200 odd years? Having said that the plot holes don't really matter that much as this is a fun romp that makes for perfect Saturday afternoon viewing with the kids of all ages...
Having directed the original Dr. Who and the Daleks the previous year returning director Flemyng does OK here although I'd have liked him to have tried to make the Daleks themselves a bit more menacing, they are OK & no worse than their TV incarnations but they are a little slow & cumbersome looking. The special effects are OK actually, the shots of a half destroyed London are very effective, the Dalek spaceship looks a bit naff though. The sets are very colourful in the Irwin Allen tradition of banks of flashing lights & computer equipment with huge dials & buttons that look horribly dated these days, personally I think they give the film some charm & add to the fun. There are some decent action scenes as well. This film was apparently part financed by a British company who made a breakfast cereal named 'Sugar Puffs' (yeah, I remember the adverts with the Honey Monster! I never liked the actual cereal though, I was more of a Coco-Pops man...) & as such there is a long lingering shot of a poster advertising them in what must be one of the earliest examples of product placement!
Technically the film is fine, it has brightly coloured garish sets which look dated but are fun to look at. Shot at Shepperton Studios in Surrey here in England & on location. The acting is OK, Cushing is always watchable, Cribbins is better known for his roles in the Carry On films while Tovey as Susan isn't as annoying as I'd thought she would be.
Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. is a fun 60's sci-fi romp which isn't the best film ever made but is entertaining none the less. I've certainly seen worse, worth watching if you like the TV series or just want some light hearted sci-fi fun. A third film in the series based on the six part Doctor Who story The Chase (1965) was planned but never got made.