Gordon Flemyng, 1965
Kindly old Inventor Dr. Who (Peter Cushing) travels across time and space with his family. They find themselves marooned on the planet Skaaro, stuck in the middle of an ancient war between the inherently peaceful Thals and the monstrous Daleks.Oh, man. This was really odd to watch. It's an adaptation of an old story from the TV series, but altered to work as a standalone story. Also, the producers of the movie were unable to use certain aspects of the program - thus, The Doctor, a timelord from the planet Gallifrey, becomes Dr. Who, a brilliant but doddering old man from the planet Earth. He still has the TARDIS, which is still bigger on the inside, but now the inside looks like a cheap warehouse office. Daleks still say "EXTERMINATE" and have gun arms, but now they shoot some sort of deadly smoke instead of lasers. Everything is the same, but different. Very disconcerting.
Other than that, how was the movie? Well, kind of terrible. It looks tremendously cheap, and not in that charming Doctor Who-ish way. More in that "we have money, we're just spending it badly" sort of way. The Dalek war room has lava lamps on the table. Not some sort of prop or decoration made out of a lava lamp. Just lava lamps, completely unaltered. It's kind of embarassing, frankly. The story kind of happens around our heroes, who don't do a whole lot to affect it (a problem with the source as well, granted), the dialogue is laughable, Roy Castle's "comic relief" isn't laughable, and it's pretty dull overall. Really, the only positive elements are Peter Cushing, who is watchable in anything, and the Daleks themselves, who maintain a residual creepiness no matter how misused. As a result, I do have to admit that there were moments that I enjoyed despite myself - but it really should have been much, much better.
3/10
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