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| THE DALEK INVASION OF EARTH :: DVD REVIEW
by Stephen Mills
Added Sunday,
September 7
2003
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However, the Daleks were also a short-term success and after the ratings doubled overnight, Terry Nation was commissioned to write a second Dalek script by producer Verity Lambert and script editor David Whitaker. Hence, we have The Dalek Invasion of Earth. |
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» THE PLOT ... |
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| Arriving in a devastated London in the middle of the 21st century, the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan discover the Daleks have invaded Earth. Will the human race be enslaved by the evil Daleks, or can the Doctor stop their audacious plans and save mankind from extermination…? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| » THE MENU'S ... | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Following the trend of all the previous black and white stories, the menu on the first disc retains the monochrome feel. This comes complete with a selection of clips animated from the background. The first disc contains the actual episodes along with the commentary track, the new CGI effects, the production subtitles and the two new BBC trailers. The menu for the 2nd disc is similar to the layout for the extras on all the previous Doctor Who discs, with the rest of the extra features on the right hand side with animated clips on the left. There are two pages worth of extras.
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| » THE PICTURE / SOUND ... | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The picture quality is again superb, with the VIDFIRE restoration proving very effective. Indeed, part 5 looks particularly stunning. The sound quality is again excellent, very clear and very effective. The painstaking work that the RT had to perform on this story makes you appreciate the clear up far more. |
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| » WHAT ABOUT THOSE EXTRA'S ONLY DVD CAN PROVIDE? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Like
the previous two releases, this episode retains the mix and match
approach used successfully before. This came as a slight surprise
considering that it wasn’t previously noted, but just to give
a quick run down, Gary Russell is the moderator who is on all six
episodes. Episode 1 sees Gary with Verity Lambert and Richard Martin,
Carole Ann Ford and William Russell join half way through. Episode
2, sees Verity, Richard and William. Episode 3 features Verity, Richard
and Carole. Episode 4 has Verity, Richard, Carole and William. Episode
5 has Richard, Carole and William with Verity returning to make a
full house for Episode 6.
I seem to remember when reviewing The Aztecs, calling for a moderator when these particular participants got together for another commentary, and this job goes to Big Finish producer and ex-Doctor Who Magazine editor Gary Russell. I’d just like to say, it was a wise move. He makes an excellent job, managing an informative style in a gently probing way. This is actually one of the best commentaries with some useful stories and comments coming from all the cast. I worried when it was announced that Richard Martin was taking to the box that he might use the commentary to settle a few old scores. Thankfully, Martin is informative, entertaining and talks about some of his regrets and locations used in the story. Verity Lambert makes an excellent informer, where she remembers a lot from the making of this story. Carole Ann Ford and William Russell’s role is again limited, however, there are some wonderfully moments where they manage to bring up some memories. Particularly of Terry Nation’s swimming pool. The other contentious extra on the disc are the new CGI effects. Personally, I think it was a terrific idea considering that the scope of the story is rather let down by the rather poor special effects. They all look good, and they manage to retain a retro feel, which is an excellent touch. There is the choice to incorporate the CGI effects within the story or to view them separately.
Other extras include;
There are also some Easter Eggs, which are rather smashing in their own way. Highlight below to find out what they are and how to find them; [Easter Egg 1] >>On the 1st extra menu of the second disc, press left on the `Talking Daleks1 featurette to see the Slyther in all it’s fine glory.<< [End of Easter Egg 1] [Easter Egg 2] >The 2nd Easter egg is on the 2nd extra menu on the second disc, press left on the photo gallery option, to see Sid the Slyther’s date.<< [End of Easter Egg 2]
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| » THE STORY ... | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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I don’t think I’ll win an award for the most original observation, but it’s fair to say that Terry Nation’s Daleks seem to be based solely on the Nazi’s. The Daleks (the TV serial) seemed to start this idea but this is arguably the story where Nation’s war like commentary reinforces the Nazi ideas.
Nation also uses the idea of suppression when they use concentration camps to be able to suppress the humans. Nation’s story is at times completely borrowed from the ideas of World War 2. With Dortmunn’s speeches after the threats made by the Daleks are very reminiscent of the defiant speeches of Winston Churchill during the 2nd World War. Nation at times fails to tell a story, and turns it into a commentary on war. It shows the differing effects that war can have on humanity. We see the obvious idea of the resistance group led by Dortmunn, but it shows us other ideas. The character of Ashton who only helps people for fiscal benefit and the women in the wood sacrificing Barbara and Jenny’s anonymity for the benefit of more food from the Daleks shows that at times of desperation, we can be just as bad as the Daleks.
Richard Martin, arguably a man never really suited to this type of ambitious direction, considering his training in the theatre, gets the job of handling the production on his own rather than being helped by Christopher Barry. Martin makes a rather excellent job of producing the story, managing just about to get shots of the desolate landmarks of London, while also managing to execute some of the tricky shots on this story with considerable panache. Indeed, Barbara driving through the Dalek barricade is the very height of tension in part 4, and excellently shot considering the limitations of 1960s television. It’s arguably only really the limitations of television in the 1960s that stop this story being regarded as an absolute classic of the series. For instance, take the rebels attack on the Dalek saucer. Due to editing not being as sophisticated as it was, it could have looked brilliant, with lots of close up and bombs going off everywhere, but sadly it looks clumsily shot because Martin decides to use high shots more or less throughout the sequence. It’s easy to criticise Martin for the production, but considering what he had to put up with, it could be said that Martin is the best director of the 1960s. Martin also manages to employ an excellent guest cast, while only Nicholas Smith playing the insignificant role of Wells is the only actor that is recognisably famous (if only for those ears), there are some excellent performances. Peter Fraser plays the Romeo style role excellently, adding several delightful touches to the performances, Bernard Kay plays Tyler with an unattached presence and Ann Davies puts in an excellent performance as the older than she appears Jenny.
However, the one regular is crucial to the story is Susan, considering that is the final time that Carole Ann Ford appears regularly in the series. The script manages to bring the best out of Ford, considering that she admits on the commentary track that she is a touchy-feely actress, she gets lots of scenes with her soon to be husband David Campbell. The fish scene finally shows that she is no longer the young child that we saw in An Unearthly Child, but is now a young woman, and not afraid to show that in the time she spends with David Campbell. The scene with them both on the cliff top where they are interrupted from getting to know each other better by the Doctor and Tyler coming back. The final scene where the Doctor and Susan say goodbye to each other is full of emotion and you can almost feel the pained expression on William Hartnell’s face as he dematerialises, leaving his granddaughter on Earth. Overall, I’d like to see The Dalek Invasion of Earth remade (not as a film), so that we can overcome some of the production failings and then people might realize what a wonderful story this is. |
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| » SUMMARY ... | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Overall Score : 10/10
An excellent story combined with an excellent extras package is always going to stand a chance. Considering that the story was made in 1964, you would imagine that the extras would be quite limited, but the fact that it isn’t, the excellent clean up job might well make this the best DVD that the BBC produce for the 40th anniversary. Earthshock, The Two Doctors, The Curse of Fenric and The Three Doctors will have a hard job living up to the standard. You can order The Dalek Invasion of Earth from Blackstar by clicking here. |
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| » TECHNICAL DETAILS ... | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All screen grabs and images appearing
in the above review are Copyright (C) BBC Worldwide Ltd 2003 |
The
Daleks are the ultimate conformists, with their absolute hatred
for anything that doesn’t vaguely resemble Dalek life. Look
how they dehumanise the eventual robomen, forcing the humans to
conform to the Dalek way of life. Nation’s script sees the
Daleks using a Nazi style salute and the idea of a Supreme Dalek
bring the idea of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. Baring in mind that
the remit of the series was to produce a family style program which
the children could most easily identify with, the idea of producing
a war style story which equated the bad guys with the Nazis must
have struck a core within the parents mind, considering that World
War 2 had only been over 20 years after this was broadcast.
However,
where Nation scripts fails to be successful is that it is very ambitious.
Apart from a small segment of The Reign of Terror,
Doctor Who had never been on location and in the script, Nation
demands shot of the Daleks (notoriously excellent on location) in
some of London’s most recognisable landmarks. Add this to
a giant quarry in Bedfordshire, a Dalek coming out of the water,
a number of action sequences which would look terrific today and
appalling in 1964 and numerate amount of sets. One has to say that
it’s a relief that they didn’t try and produce this
story in the smaller Lime Grove studios, rather than Riverside studios
where it was shot.
However,
it the regular cast that are always impressive. William Hartnell
is arguably at his worst, winning an award for fluffing his lines,
but in every scene that he is in, he makes an impact. He has considerable
authority in his tone of voice and commands every scene that he’s
in. He instantly has the respect of David Campbell and manages to
play the scenes in the Dalek ship, where him and Ian are trying
to escape with great ingenuity and eccentricity in a light way,
which makes them a delight to watch. Barbara, who is partnered up
with Jenny for the most of the story gets some excellent scenes,
which Jacqueline Hill plays with a great sense of power and rationality
which she always managed to put into her performance. Her scenes
with Jenny where she tries to justify Dortmunn’s sacrifice
show her at her powerful best. William Russell plays the role of
action hero Ian in his consistently superb way. Noticing how he
still manages to look very dashing, and is the last one to actually
get his clothes torn, whereas everyone else manages it before the
end of episode 3. » All reviews are © to their respective authors and may not be reproduced elsewhere without prior permission