Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD

Infobox Film
name = Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD


caption = DVD release cover
director = Gordon Flemyng
producer = Max J. Rosenberg
Milton Subotsky
writer = Terry Nation
Milton Subotsky
David Whitaker
starring = Peter Cushing
Bernard Cribbins
Ray Brooks
Andrew Keir
Jill Curzon
Roberta Tovey
music = Barry Gray
Bill McGuffie
cinematography = John Wilcox
editing = Ann Chegwidden
distributor =
released = 5 August 1966 (UK)cite web
url = http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060278/
title = Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D.
publisher = Internet Movie Database
date = 2008-08-18
accessdate = 2008-08-18]
runtime = 81 min.
country = United Kingdom
language = English
budget =
preceded_by = "Dr. Who and the Daleks"
imdb_id = 0060278

"Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD" (1966) is the second of two films based on the British science-fiction television series "Doctor Who". It was the sequel to "Dr. Who and the Daleks" (1965), and starred Peter Cushing in his return to the role of the eccentric inventor and time traveller "Dr. Who". It also featured Bernard Cribbins and Andrew Keir.

The film is also known by the titles "Dr. Who: Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 A.D." and "Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.". It was filmed in Technicolor.

The script is based on the television serial "The Dalek Invasion of Earth", although like the first film (which was also based on a serial in the original series) there are many structural differences. For example, in the television series, the Doctor is an alien who is simply called "the Doctor", while in the two films he is human and "Who" is his actual surname.

A third Dalek film, to be based on the serial "The Chase", was planned but never produced due to this film's underperformance at the box office.

Plot

Tom Campbell (Bernard Cribbins), a London police officer, is on patrol near a jewellery store. Men are burgling the shop and Tom is struck down by their getaway driver before he can stop them escaping. Running to what appears to be a police box to call for backup, Tom unwittingly enters "Tardis", a time machine inhabited by its creator, Dr. Who (Peter Cushing), along with his niece Louise (Jill Curzon) and his granddaughter Susan (Roberta Tovey).

The Doctor moves "Tardis" forward in time to the year 2150, when London has been reduced to a filthy, empty wreck. The Daleks, one-time adversaries of the Doctor, have invaded Earth and ravaged entire continents, while the remnants of human civilisation have formed underground resistance movements. Some captured humans have been turned into deadened, emotionless slaves called Robomen, but the majority have been taken to the Dalek mining complex in Bedfordshire, where the aliens' excavations extend to the core of the Earth.

Louise and Susan are taken in by a group of rebels based in the London Underground, led by Wyler (Andrew Keir), David (Ray Brooks), and the wheelchair-bound Dortmun (Godfrey Quigley). Meanwhile, Tom and the Doctor are captured by a squad of Robomen and taken onboard a Dalek spaceship, where they are placed in a cell with a man called Craddock (Kenneth Watson). The Doctor realises that the door is sealed by magnetism and breaks the connection with a plastic comb, but he is unaware that escaping from the cell is merely an "intelligence test" devised by the Daleks to determine which prisoners should be robotised. However, while the Doctor, Tom and Craddock are undergoing robotisation, the rebels launch an attack on the spaceship with hand-held bombs. During the battle, the Doctor flees with David while Tom and Louise, who is knocked unconscious by one of the bombs, stow away in a deserted part of the ship. The Daleks emerge victorious and take off for the Bedford mine with few prisoner losses.

Wyler, having lost virtually all his contingent, returns alone to the rebel hideout, where Dortmun and Susan are waiting. The group commandeer a van to rendezvous with any other survivors in Watford, but Dortmun is killed in an encounter with a Dalek patrol and Wyler and Susan are forced to abandon the vehicle before it is destroyed by the Dalek spaceship. Resolving that the Doctor would avoid the Daleks in Watford, Wyler and Susan set off for the Bedford mine. David and the Doctor are indeed heading for the same destination, but are confronted by Brockley (Philip Madoc), an unscrupulous contraband smuggler, who seizes their rifle in exchange for a promise to get them safely into the complex.

Eventually, the spaceship touches down at the mine. Tom and Louise exit the craft through a disposal chute and take refuge from the Daleks inside a tool shed. Meanwhile, Wyler and Susan shelter at a hut owned by a pair of spinsters (Eileen Way and Sheila Steafel) who repair slave workers' clothes in return for freedom and food. However, the women betray them to the Daleks out of desperation for extra provisions.

In the morning, David and the Doctor are brought into the mine by Brockley where they are reunited with Tom and Louise. One of the miners, Conway (Keith Marsh), reveals that the Daleks are planning to drop a bomb into their mineshaft to punch out the Earth's core, which will be replaced with a giant motor enabling the aliens to pilot Earth to their home world of Skaro. However, the Doctor learns that the old shaft leads to a point of convergence between the North and South Magnetic Poles and deduces that, if the bomb were deflected down this path, the magnetic energy unleashed by the explosion would be powerful enough to suck the metal Daleks into the core of the Earth while leaving humanity unscathed.

As Tom and Conway leave to alter the bomb's trajectory, the Doctor orders David and Louise to create a diversion while he chooses to remain in the tool shed. Brockley offers to help the Doctor and escorts him outside – where the scientist is unsurprised to discover a detachment of Daleks waiting to take him away. The treacherous Brockley then tries to evade capture himself, only for the Daleks to destroy the tool shed with him inside.

In the mineshaft, Tom and Conway run into Craddock who, having succumbed to the robotisation onboard the spaceship, is now a Roboman. Fighting to the death, Conway and Craddock fall into the shaft; Tom removes the timbers boarding up the entrance to the old shaft and then rushes back up to ground level.

Transferred to the Dalek command centre for extermination, the Doctor discovers Wyler and Susan. In the control room, the inventor seizes an opportunity to distract the Daleks and speaks into the Robomen's command circuit, ordering them to turn against their masters. As the Robomen fight the Daleks, the Doctor escapes with Wyler and Susan while the slave workers flee from the mine. The Daleks defeat the Robomen's revolt and release their bomb into the shaft. However, Tom has successfully altered the route: the device moves into the disused shaft and detonates at the pole convergence. The Daleks, overwhelmed by the resultant magnetism, are pulled into the Earth's core and destroyed. Meanwhile, the spaceship, having just taken off, is brought crashing down onto the complex in a massive explosion.

Later, the Doctor, Tom, Louise and Susan return to the past. The Doctor materialises "Tardis" a few seconds before the jewellery store raid, giving Tom enough time to knock out the burglars before they can get away with their loot. The Doctor, Louise and Susan wave Tom goodbye as he drives off to the police station with the unconscious criminals.

Daleks

Three Daleks lead the campaign to defeat and control Earth. A gold Dalek appears to be in charge of the bomb and the flying of the spaceship. It is destroyed when the Dalek spacecraft crashes into the mining facility. A black Dalek gives out orders and does the countdown to the bomb's detonation. It is killed when the magnetic field sucks it down the bomb shaft and is sizzled in the Earth's core. A red Dalek announces the black Dalek's orders to the Dalek army and is in charge of robotising the prisoners. It is dispatched when he falls from the upper platform of the control room and is sucked down the bomb shaft, snapping its eye stalk on the way down.

Production

Filming commenced at Shepperton Studios in England on January 31, 1966, and was completed on March 22, eleven days behind schedule.Citation|last=Pixley|first=Andrew|author-link=Andrew Pixley|title=DWM Archive Extra: Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD|journal=Doctor Who Magazine|issue=354|pages=50-57|date=March 2005|year=2005] The shoot was complicated by a number of accidents on set. For example, a Dalek prop caught fire during shooting of the rebel attack on the spaceship, while stuntman Eddie Powell, playing a human prisoner called Thompson, broke his ankle during a scene in which his character is killed by the Daleks after trying to escape from them.cite video|people=Davies, Kevin (Director)|year=1995|title=Dalekmania|medium=DVD|publisher=Amity Productions] Furthermore, Andrew Keir hurt his wrist when punching through the windscreen of the van during the sequence in which Wyler and Susan escape London.Citation|last=Pixley|first=Andrew|author-link=Andrew Pixley|title=DWM Archive Extra: Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD|journal=Doctor Who Magazine|issue=354|pages=50-57|date=March 2005|year=2005]

The breakfast cereal Sugar Puffs sponsored the film. In exchange for its funding, the company was allowed to run a special competition on its cereal packets (with a Dalek prop as the prize) and feature the Daleks in its television advertisements. In an example of product placement, Sugar Puffs signs and products can also be seen at certain points in the film.

Over £50,000 was spent on the film's promotion. It premiered in London on July 22, 1966.

Reception

The film was given a negative review in "The Times" newspaper in the United Kingdom, in a piece published on July 21 1966 and credited only to "Our Film Critic". "The second cinematic excursion of the Daleks shows little advance on the first," opened the review. "The filming of all this is technically elementary... and the cast, headed by the long-suffering, much ill-used Peter Cushing, seem able, unsurprisingly, to drum up no conviction whatever in anything they are called to do. Grown-ups may enjoy it, but most children have more sense." [cite news|title=Studio One (Tomorrow): Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.|publisher=The Times|pages=17|date=1966-07-21|accessdate=2007-01-14]

Cast

*Peter Cushing ... Dr. Who
*Bernard Cribbins ... Tom Campbell
*Ray Brooks ... David
*Andrew Keir ... Wyler
*Jill Curzon ... Louise
*Roberta Tovey ... Susan
*Roger Avon ... Wells
*Geoffrey Cheshire ... Roboman
*Keith Marsh ... Conway
*Philip Madoc ... Brockley
*Steve Peters ... Lead Roboman
*Eddie Powell ... Thompson
*Godfrey Quigley ... Dortmun
*Peter Reynolds ... Man on Bicycle
*Bernard Spear ... Man with Carrier bag
*Sheila Steafel ... Young Woman
*Eileen Way ... Old Woman
*Kenneth Watson ... Craddock
*John Wreford ... Robber
*Robert Jewell ... Lead Dalek Operator
*Peter Hawkins ... Dalek Voices
*David Graham ... Dalek Voices

Cast notes

The original trailer for the film describes actor Ray Brooks as "the boy with the knack". Brooks had recently starred in the 1965 Richard Lester comedy "The Knack …and How to Get It".

Bernard Cribbins appeared as a recurring character in the 2007 Christmas Special and the 2008 series of the "Doctor Who" television series as Wilfred Mott, a patriotic newspaper salesman who is the grandfather of the companion Donna Noble. The penultimate episode of the 2008 series, "The Stolen Earth", sees Wilfred meeting the Daleks as they once again invade Earth. Cribbins has thus appeared in two Dalek-related stories separated by a 42-year gap.

Philip Madoc became a distinguished actor in film, television and theatre. He later appeared in four "Doctor Who" television serials, including the controversial "The Brain of Morbius".

Radio adaptation

The soundtrack of the film was adapted by Gordon Gow for radio broadcast on the BBC Light Programme on 18 November 1966 as part of the "Movietime" series. [cite web |url= http://www.cuttingsarchive.org.uk/radiotim/cs-s04-06/season4/daleks181166.htm|title=Radio Times Listings: "MOVIETIME, Daleks - Invasion Earth - 2150 A.D." |accessdate=2008-06-10 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date= |work= Doctor Who Cuttings Archive|publisher=Roger Anderson]

References