Dr Who and the Daleks

Dr Who and the Daleks (1965) starring Peter Cushing

In Dr Who and the Daleks, an eccentric inventor and his companions travel in his TARDIS to the Planet Skaro. Once there, they battle the evil menace of the Daleks.

Review

It should be said that Dr Who and the Daleks is a spin-off of the very popular BBC science fiction TV series, Dr Who. It’s spun off from the first Doctor, William Hartnell. However, there are quite a few differences. For example, in the TV series, the Doctor is a human-looking alien. He’s very long-lived. He’s hiding from his people with his granddaughter, Susan. He adventures across time and space.

Instead, here, he is a human inventor. And so, he travels with his granddaughters (and one of their boyfriends) in his invention – the TARDIS. Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. They travel anywhere, and any when, in the universe. However, they accidentally take off and land on a distant planet.

The planet is strange and dangerous. The seemingly-robotic Daleks are warring with organic humanoids. In other words, the humans from Earth are caught in the middle. In addition, the planet has high radiation levels. And escapes, recaptures, and …

Editorial review of Dr. Who and the Daleks courtesy of Amazon.com

Screen legend Peter Cushing (The Skull, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Madhouse) plays everyone’s favorite Timelord, and having invented the TARDIS, a strange machine capable of traveling into other dimensions, the Doctor and his three young accomplices set forth on a quest through time and space. Their journey takes them into the dark, undiscovered depths of the universe and to the planet of Skaro, a primitive world devastated by nuclear war and populated by two warring species: a peaceful tribe known as the Thals and a life form heavily mutated by radiation, encased in protective machines… a merciless force of destruction known as the Daleks!

Now fully restored, Dr. Who and the Daleks, directed by Gordon Flemyng (The Split, Great Catherine), was the first big-screen film adaptation of British TV’s most iconic sci-fi hero, and was the first time Doctor Who was ever seen in color! Screenplay by Milton Subotsky (They Came from Beyond Space), based on the original BBC TV serial by Terry Nation (The Avengers).

Cast of characters

• Peter Cushing (The Mummy (1959), Star Wars IV A New Hope) … Dr. Who
• Roy Castle (Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors) … Ian
• Jennie Linden (Lilliee) … Barbara
• Roberta Tovey (Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.) … Susan
• Barrie Ingham (The Great Mouse Detective) … Alydon
• Geoffrey Toone (Doctor Who: The Curse of Peladon) … Temmosus
• Michael Coles (Dracula A.D. 1972) … Ganatus
• John Bown (Quatermass and the Pit) … Antodus
• Yvonne Antrobus (Mr. Quilp) … Dyoni
• Mark Petersen … Elyon

[Updated October 5, 2022]