Okay... What the hell is this?
- Thread starter Technobuilder
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Oh thats just one of the freakin' Dalek movies. Terry Nations attempt to milk the Dalek cash cow back in the 60's. There's also a Dalek Invasion of Earth movie w/ Peter Cushing and Bernard Cribbins, as companion Tom who would play Wilf decades later.
I'm sure someone here has all the details. Anyway, it has nothing at all to do with the tv continuity.
I'm sure someone here has all the details. Anyway, it has nothing at all to do with the tv continuity.
Can't play Hulu videos here, but it would appear to be the first of the two 1960s Dalek movies starring Peter Cushing as "Dr Who". These were really just for the kids; released during the Easter school breaks, I think. They're terrible by any reasonable critical standard, but have novelty value for existing fans.
Okay...
I TRIED to watch for more than 5 minutes, but it's just terrible.
Thanks.
I TRIED to watch for more than 5 minutes, but it's just terrible.
Thanks.
They just take some getting used to. Both of these movies were rewrites of Terry Nation scripts for Dalek stories. Barbara and Susan are sisters (or cousins), Ian is Barbara's boyfriend, and Dr Who is a human scientist who creates a time machine in his backyard. In the first movie, they visit the planet Skaro. In the second, there's no Ian. Instead, it's Tom as the male companion along for the ride, and that's when the Daleks invade Earth.
This was the first time anything related to Doctor Who had been filmed - and shown - in color, and that was a big marketing tool they used. There were plans for a third one to complete out Nation's trilogy idea, but it didn't end up getting filmed.
While unconnected to the continuity with our series, shortly after the first movie was filmed, the tv series producers bought several of the Daleks and began using them in the series with minor (if any) alterations.
Because of the way contracts work in the UK, writers own the characters they create. Since Nation created the Daleks, he owned - and his family still does - the rights to them. Every time they wanted to do a Dalek story, they had to negotiate with Nation (or his estate). That's why we keep seeing them now, cuz the BBC is paying one way or another.
Back in the 60s, he tried to do an American series based on the Daleks. The one-episode "Mission to the Unknown" was sort of his test for this. A Doctor Who episode with none of the Who characters, only the Daleks with new people. It didn't succeed, but the movies did. And since it wasn't the BBC who filmed them, 2entertain has nothing to do with those dvds.
They are harder to find, but worth it.
This was the first time anything related to Doctor Who had been filmed - and shown - in color, and that was a big marketing tool they used. There were plans for a third one to complete out Nation's trilogy idea, but it didn't end up getting filmed.
While unconnected to the continuity with our series, shortly after the first movie was filmed, the tv series producers bought several of the Daleks and began using them in the series with minor (if any) alterations.
Because of the way contracts work in the UK, writers own the characters they create. Since Nation created the Daleks, he owned - and his family still does - the rights to them. Every time they wanted to do a Dalek story, they had to negotiate with Nation (or his estate). That's why we keep seeing them now, cuz the BBC is paying one way or another.
Back in the 60s, he tried to do an American series based on the Daleks. The one-episode "Mission to the Unknown" was sort of his test for this. A Doctor Who episode with none of the Who characters, only the Daleks with new people. It didn't succeed, but the movies did. And since it wasn't the BBC who filmed them, 2entertain has nothing to do with those dvds.
They are harder to find, but worth it.
It wasn't his idea to do the movies; he'd have had no rights to the Doctor etc anyway. Disney thought about adapting Marco Polo at one point.
I think most classic fans have a certain fondness for the movies; as much a part of my childhood as the series.
I think that was largely a coincidence. They had an additional episode to film as a result of cutting Planet Of Giants from 4 episodes to 3 a year earlier, but no regulars to film with. His spin off Destroyers story, with Jean Marsh reprising Sara Kingdom has just been released as an Audio by Big Finish
I've been wanting to go and watch the original stories of the First Doctor through the Seventh Doctor for years now, but I'm not really sure what's available and what I should focus on seeing.
I know certain stories and episodes of arcs are just missing, but if someone could point me to a complete list of episodes per Doctor and what the "best" stories of each are, I'd really appreciate it.
Need to fill in the gaps in my Who knowledge.
I know certain stories and episodes of arcs are just missing, but if someone could point me to a complete list of episodes per Doctor and what the "best" stories of each are, I'd really appreciate it.
Need to fill in the gaps in my Who knowledge.
I'd point to you to the Thread Classic Who Day by Day, it's a fun ride through the first 4 doctors. More DVD releases have occurred since the thread was started, so you want to check availability before skipping.
Start reading the thread from the beginning to get a pretty good sampling of what's available in order for the first two Doctors.
Oh, and the opening replies, suggest Episode recreations, partial stories and other mediums that you might want to work in, other than DVD (For example, VHS, Audio, Internet...)
There's something about those movies that I've always liked.
They are an interesting take on the character of The Doctor.
The only thing that really bothered me about them is the fact that his name is actually "Dr. Who".
If that's your reaction to the Cushing movies, I would love to see what you think of "Abducted By Daleks".
They are an interesting take on the character of The Doctor.
The only thing that really bothered me about them is the fact that his name is actually "Dr. Who".
If that's your reaction to the Cushing movies, I would love to see what you think of "Abducted By Daleks".
Cushings Doctor was kind of interesting. Sort of a mix of the first and second. And it was kinda neet seeing Daleks in color for the first time.
I can't understand the criticism of the two Cushing movies: they're terrific. They're just so much fun. They don't detract from the tv versions, both of which mercifully still exist so we can still watch them. But the world would be a sadder place without the Dalek movies, and I for one am glad that they exist.
Opening credits say:
Based on the BBC television serial
by Terry Nation
Based on the BBC television serial
by Terry Nation
When I first got into Doctor Who via the 9th, I went back and watched the 8th, but, discovering that anything made for TV which was older than that was pretty much unwatchable to me, I got the Dalek movies, as a relatively high-budget alternative to watching the series premiere. I actually liked the first one, whereas the second held little interest for me.
Has there ever been an attempt to tie the Cushing movies into the main DW universe? At first glance it may seem impossible but I think they'd find a way.
Which is why some reference books erroneously credit Nation with creating Doctor Who. It's a consequence of American productions requiring some sort of "creator credit" and being unable to provide one for Doctor Who as the BBC never credited anyone as the show's creator. So crediting the writer was the next best thing. If the film had been based on An Unearthly Child, then Anthony Coburn would have gotten the credit.
I'm actually amazed to find someone who is totally unaware of the Cushing films. A bit of history on this: the BBC wanted to make inroads into the American market. However in 1964 the series had yet to air in the US - the only Americans who had seen the original were those who lived close enough to Canada to pick up the 25 or so CBC broadcasts before it cancelled the series after The Keys of Marinus.
So it was decided to make a new version of the story. Exactly why and how "The Doctor" turned into "Dr. Who" and all that, I couldn't say. I believe there's a documentary on DVD called Dalekmania that covers all of that (it was a bonus feature when the 2 films were issued to DVD about 10 years ago).
The first film was a huge success, and a sequel was ordered. A third film was supposed to be made adapting The Chase, but it never got done.
For someone expecting the BBC version of Doctor Who, the films can be a bit of a shock. But I for one think they're quite charming. Cushing was a perfect choice to play the Doctor (though I might have preferred he played him more like his Van Helsing) and you can't go wrong with Bernard Cribbins. I also appreciated the fact the films remained British. They could have been totally Americanized. In fact, I've seen mentioned in one of the forums that, at their heart, the Cushing films were more successful as Doctor Who stories than the Paul McGann film.
There was give-and-take between the films and the TV series, as well, with several of the Daleks made for the films later used on the TV show.
It's also been interesting to see how the "expanded universe" has attempted to work "Dr. Who" into the canon. I believe one of the New Adventures novels took this on once (or was that the comic strip First Doctor with his grandchildren John and Gillian?). John Peel (who wrote original novels for both Doctor Who and Star Trek) wrote a book a few years ago called I Am the Doctor which suggested that the original Dr. Who and the Daleks novelization (which takes just as many liberties with the story as the Cushing film) and, by extension, the Cushing films, were based upon the memoirs of Barbara Wright after she returned to Earth. Maybe one of these days we'll see a Moffat episode in which Amy and Rory are seen watching the Cushing film on telly....
Alex
Of course, at the time the films were made, the Doctor wasn't a Time Lord from Gallifrey - none of that had yet been invented.
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