Saturday 29 November 2014

The Dalek Invasion of Earth


Nick Mellish@nickmellish I do love this story. Intimate, cruel, terrifying. The DVD restoration worked wonders, helping it to shine brighter still.




The more I hear it, the more I feel the original version of the theme has never been bettered.

Lee Mahon@Lee_JM75 Agreed. The original theme is simply perfect.

It is forbidden to dump bodies into the river. 


A roboman wades out to drown himself in the river. 

TheTARDIS arrives silently, with wonky windows. 

The Doctor doesn't want to boast (yeah, right) but thinks he might have got Ian and Barbara home. 


It's probably Sunday. 

Lee Mahon@Lee_JM75 The TARDIS in this story looks like it's been through a Time War!

Feels really odd having the regulars on location/film. 





Luckily they quickly get back to the studio! 




Susan climbs a wall to get a better look at their surroundings, but falls and sprains her ankle. 


Worse, she's brought down a load of rubble on the TARDIS. 


Hartnell 101 that: separate the crew from the ship. 


The regulars are all on fantastic form in this, Hartnell and William Russell make such a great team. 


Kosmic Kris@KosmicKris Seriously, this version is so much more stripped down and bleaker than the film - I love the ‘feel’ of this London. And the idea that the Doctor cannot really control the ship is such a cool one - and one missing from the modern show.   


Yes, I would definitely bring that back. None of these part time companions hopping on and off.  


The Doctor tells Susan she needs a jolly good smacked bottom. Not a jolly bad one. 



The Doctor & Ian go off to look for some cutting equipment while Barbara bathes Susan's ankle. 

Lee Mahon@Lee_JM75 I hope Susan got stronger ankles with her future regenerations. 

Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakin Susan just said "Things have to stay as they are." If that stayed true this would've been the last story!

The Doctor and Ian find their way into a warehouse near Battersea power station. 


They find a calendar reading 2164, so it's later than that. "At least we know the century," says Doctor Who. 
Kosmic Kris@KosmicKris That is a proper Terry Nation trick - how can we explain the year without a lot of waffle :) 


Just as Barbara sees a dead body float by in the river... 

...Doctor Who & Ian find a dead roboman. 


Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakin A mysterious man pops out and asks Babrbara "Do you wanna get killed?" How are you supposed to answer that! 


This creepy organ music really puts you on edge. 


Lee Mahon@Lee_JM75 I love the first episodes of Hartnell stories like this where you wonder just what the heck is going on. Great atmosphere. 

The CGI saucers are fantastic; respectful of the period but in keeping with recent Dalek saucers too. 


Both versions of course inspired by the 60s comics. 


Bob McCow@BobMcCow CGI saucers better than the wobbly hubcap on strings. But that probably looked naff even at the time. 

"Can you cook? We need a cook." What strange priorities David has. 




∂³∑x²@dalekdudeguy "Can you do the dishes whilst you're at it?" 




The Cushing version has its place, but it's a cartoon version of the real deal.

Simon Pittman@LibraryPlayer I like both. With Cushing version its nice to know in a world occupied by Daleks you can still buy Sugar Puffs! :P 


The Doctor & Ian spot the sign by the river and are surrounded by robomen... 


The Robomen are almost like the earliest possible variation of the Cybermen. 

They're herded to the shore when they try to leg it... 

...and from the river there rises a nightmare... 




Great cliffhanger, iconic shot of the Dalek emerging from a swim, but oddly drawn out! 



End of part 1. 

Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakin I bet viewers at the time were just...... in fact I don't think there's a word to describe how shocked they were.

They'd've had a fair idea if they'd bought that week's Radio Times, though! 


Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakin So everyone knew the Daleks would be back then?!

Probably not everyone, but it'd been reported in the press they'd be back at some point. The episode title didn't give it away, but the Radio Times did.
James Cooray Smith@thejimsmith It was the front cover. There were complaints they were in World's End so little, in fact. 




Kosmic Kris@KosmicKris The Doctor/Ian relationship is really starting to flower now - they have a wonderful interplay. 


Not a fan of the massive dodgem bumpers on these Daleks.

Kosmic Kris@KosmicKris I like the little Radar dishes on the back though :) 



Love Hartnell's ridiculously patronising tone to the Dalek.  


He's the (grand)daddy. 


"I think we'd better pit our wits against them and defeat them!" 
Kosmic Kris@KosmicKris This episode is my favourite Hartnell performance. Lecture to the Daleks followed by “We are the Masters of Earth” - Gold! 

Susan and Barbara meet the rest of the rebels, including the bolshy Jenny, who's not really companion material at all.


Dortnum tells Tyler his new bomb is finished, though it has yet to be tested... 
How irritating is the way David Campbell says "Dall-eks"! 

The captured Doctor Who & Ian are taken to a Dalek ship... 


...where a would-be escapee is exterminated. 




Kosmic Kris@KosmicKris And this is a lovely simple, but brutal extermination effect :) 

"There aren't that many Daleks on Earth; they needed helpers..." 


Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakin Hopefully not pig slaves! 




I like to imagine the actual Dalek invasion coming shortly after the final series of Survivors. 
Kosmic Kris@KosmicKris Thats what I always thought as well! Shall we make it canon? ;) 
Lovely to hear that heartbeat sound effect on the Dalek ship. 



There's that oddly painted Saucer Commander Dalek. I love that they stuck that in half done. Makes for a neat variation. The all-black Supreme is ace, though. 

Kosmic Kris@KosmicKris This Dr Who/Ian/Craddock cell scene is wonderful in Terrance Dicks novelisation - the director handles this exposition well! 
Craddock's accent is really odd. 
The saucer commander gives it some Haw-Haw. 

"We call it Dalekenium."
"What do the Daleks call it?"
"Dalekenium." 

Dortnum responds in Churchill-ese. "One victory will set this country, the whole of Europe, alight." 



Doctor Who, Ian & Craddock have to solve this puzzle in the futuristic zone to win a crystal. 


Doctor Who is 51@atruedrwhofan YOU-HAVE-TWO-MINUTES-DOC-TOR-UNITL-DALEK O'BRIAN-LOCKS-YOU-IN! 

Craddock's contribution is to moo about great big pumpkins. Duggan he ain't.  
Kosmic Kris@KosmicKris “Please go away will you!” I love William Hartnell! At his impish best in this episode!

It was all a test to root out the most intelligent specimen for robotisation, though! 


"Take off his coat! The machine can't hypnotize him if he's wearing his coat!" 

The rebels launch their attack, but resistance really is useless. 

The Daleks gun most of them down. 

Tyler and a handful of others make it aboard. 

The Daleks' 1st ever attempt to make Robo-Billy ends part 2! 

(They have better luck in The Chase



Tyler arrives to bust Doctor Who out... 

 
...but the rebellion is being put down. 


Ah, that's better, proper Black Dalek now. 
Barbara & Tyler make it back... 
 ...but Ian is still in the clutches of the Daleks. 

They'll have to abandon the base...

...because in the wake of the failed raid, the Daleks are on the move to hunt down the last of the rebels. 

Tyler takes off, Barbara, Jenny & Dortmun will take it to the bridge. 


Ian meets an ally, Larry, who helps him overcome the robotised Craddock. 

Bit of a wobble as that Dalek goes past Susan & David. 


They hear Daleks slaughtering fleeing rebels nearby. Grim. 

One of the rebels has helped the stricken Doctor Who off the saucer and reunites him with Susan. 

Susan invites David aboard the TARDIS. 

The man who saved Doctor Who doesn't even last 5 seconds when he parts ways with them... 

Barbara, Jenny and Dortnum try to split across town by making a dash for it on film... 

Crazy bongos, man.



Daleks over the bridge, one of *the* iconic 60s classic Doctor Who images. 

It's this and the Cybermen on the steps of St. Paul's, isn't it?

In this one, the Daleks are like a subtle analogy of the Nazis, only not subtle. 


 "Jenny, go outside." Yeah, Jenny. 



Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakin Apparently Jenny was going to be the next companion I'm glad she didn't she's a bloody pessimist! 


Dortmun continues to work on his bombs, and gives Barbara & Jenny the slip to try one out. 

Although Dortmun finds some test subjects for his bomb, the Daleks blast him down before he can get close enough. 

Now he'll never know if he was right... 

Susan questions Doctor Who's authority. 


Ian & his new friend Larry hide under a table to hitch a sneaky lift on the Dalek saucer. 

A pair of robomen approach Doctor Who's hiding place, and plant a ticking bomb! Cliffhanger! 



In the face of deadly jeopardy, Doctor Who... collapses and has a lie down.

David uses the acid from Dortmun's bomb to eat through the casing and remove the trigger from the bomb. 

"This is my planet! I just can't run off and see what it's like on Venus!" Good. We don't want David any where near the TARDIS. 


Susan & David just take off while Doctor Who has his kip. Charmig. 



That is an impressively large gang of extras at the mine workings. 


Ian & Larry are saved from a Roboman patrol by Mr. Rumbold. 


Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakin Love how Ian says to the roboman "Get new orders!" and it literally does! :-) 

Barbara & Jenny decide to go for a joyride. Grim how we see Dortnum's corpse still lying in the road.

Susan & David take to the sewers. 

Barbara uses her carjacked dustcart to ram through a Dalek blockade. 

But they have to ditch it when the saucer turns up the heat. 

Watch out, there's a Slyther about! 
Ian & Larry find themselves at gunpoint, bargaining with black marketeer, Ashton. He's no Philip Madoc. 



The noise the Slyther makes is really freaky. Wierd combination of sounds. Very effective. 

Crocodiles with zebra stripes! As you do. 


Ian eats cold baked beans from a tin. He'll be fun when they get back to the TARDIS. 

Argh! The Slyther! 


End of part 4! 



The Slyther's mutated...

Ian & Larry jump for it, and manage to ditch the Slyther. The poor black Dalek just lost his pet. Aww. 

Poor black Dalek. 

When the sewer gang are beset by robomen, peace-loving Doctor Who beats a man to death with his stick. 

Barbara & Jenny meet a couple of women who've somehow managed to sit out the invasion in their shack. 

Nothing suspicious about these two at all.  

Ian & Larry descend into the mine. They've been going down for 20 minutes. Passes the time. 

The creepy shack women betray Barbara & Jenny for some cans of soup. 


Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakin And oranges and bread and sugar and shoes and ships and sealing wax and cabbages and kings! 

Kosmic Kris@KosmicKris You can see Terry Nation’s war influences (that permeate all his Dalek writing) in the shack woman scene.

When Ian & Larry descend into the mine, they're reunited with Wells... 

But more horribly, Larry recognises their roboman guard as his missing brother, Phil. 


Even worse, as the pair die, Phil finally recognizes Larry. 

Susan & David fumble about & share their first kiss when Doctor Who arrives to ensure there's no hanky panky during The Dalek Invasion Of Earth.
"They dare to tamper with the forces of creation?" 

"Yes, they dare. And we have got to dare to stop them."

Barbara & Jenny arrive in the mine, where Barbara squeals about the rebels! What's she playing at! 

She's tricked her way aboard the saucer by saying she has info for the black Dalek. 

Nasty scratch the Black Dalek's got on his dome there. 


The Daleks are planning to mine the planet's core to turn Earth into a Death-Star of sorts. 
Ian frantically tries to sabotage things as the Daleks prepare to drop their bomb down the shaft. 

Ian tries to shaft the Daleks as Barbara & Jenny are brought to Dalek command. 





Barbara gets her History on, telling the Daleks they face simultaneous uprisings... 

from the Indian Mutiny & Boston Tea Party with forces commanded by General Lee & Hannibal. 

Not sure she's such a great History teacher, you know...! 

Ian continues his efforts to scupper the plan by wedging tunnel support struts into the shaft to divert the bomb. 

Any time Doctor Who wants to chip in to foil The Dalek Invasion Of Earth will be fine. It's all Ian & Barbara so far! 

Cool Dalek's eye view shot. Hartnell lapel-clutch klaxon!

Barbara's Dalek impersonation is comedy gold. Who needs Nick Briggs? ;-P 

Great location scenes as the slaves spill out of the mine... 

I've obviously never paid much attention to this stock footage before, it's bizarre... 
Mushroom clouds, coasts falling into the sea, ravaged buildings collapsing... wow.

"Do you think any Daleks escaped?"
"In that, my dear? Impossible." 

Who exactly is ringing those bells? Wierd. 

Apparently the Doctor can mend shoes. Is he really... the Cobbler? 

Brace yourself for a masterclass from Hartnell...

Bek Hobbes@Greebobek Don't you mean missyclass? 

Kosmic Kris@KosmicKris another stunning speech ahoy! Not for nothing is this my favourite Hartnell story!  

Brings a tear to your eye. 

All together, now: "One day, I shall come back..."   

And makes you want to watch the Five Doctors, obviously. 


Kosmic Kris@KosmicKris it doesn't seem right without Peter Howell's brilliant theme music following it!

Curious melancholic organ refrain here to close on... 

"BYE BYE SUSAN!" 

TTFN! K.
Coming Soon... The Stones of Blood