Dr Who and the Daleks

[Graham Ritchie]

Who remembers watching Dr Who back in the 1960s?, I do on our we B/W TV, if I remember right it was broadcasted around the 5 to 6pm mark on the BBC Saturday night. Well I cant recall going to the cinema to watch the feature films that came out at the time, but this week I bought new, the very first film "Dr Who and the Daleks" from 1965. I enjoyed watching that one so much, later bought 1966 film Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. also.

Both films have been restored for there blu-ray release, and I must say, they look great, so full marks to those involved in there restoration. Also I should again mention "Studiocanal" for as always, releasing a quality product. Regarding the cast of Peter Cushing plus the excellent cast, in particular the we girl Susan played by Roberta Tovey, her clear and well spoken dialogue was well done. Regarding "Invasion Earth" we have Bernard Cribbins in this one, who you will remember featured in another excellent Studiocanal release being "The Railway Children".

For any Dr Who fans the blu-ray are a must have, in particular if you have a VP to screen them. Another thing that stands out is the colour, it looks great just the way I like it. I have included a couple of screen shots below, I must say it was nice to step back to the 1960s my era .

From the 1965 film

[Brian Fretwell]

They have also made a 4k disc of this, not bad for 2 perf pull-down Techniscope!!

[Rob Young]

Graham, I first saw Dr. Who & The Daleks in the cinema when I was about 5 years old! (about 1976).

I've since owned it on just about every release, including Walton's 4 x 400ft super 8 version.

Last summer, Studio Canal had a limited run of the new 4K versions in cinemas.

I went to see the double bill at an Odeon Lux and the image and sound were spectacular.

I never believed I'd be back at the cinema (in my 50's!!) to watch the best version of these movies ever.

[Phil Moors]

This is a film I enjoyed as a child, but seeing in screened recently on Talking Pictures TV it has dated badly. I can never understand Peter Cushing's portrayal. He seems like a doddering old fool throughout and yet we are to believe he built tardis. It is one of his worst films. If he is such an accomplished scientist how come tardis has great loops if cables hanging down all over the place. His support actors are good and some of the set design but his portrayal is just awful. One that belongs back in the 60’s. Or in a skip!

[Rob Young]

My understanding is that he was playing it like William Hartnell, who was the original Dr. Who on television at the time.

As Aaru needed an international star, they wanted Peter Cushing. Even though the character is re-written into a fuddy duddy Grandfather instead of a Time Lord, Peter Cushing felt that he needed to portray the character close to the William Hartnell version, so as not to disappoint the audience.

They are definitely locked in the 60's Phil, but that's part of the charm!? A skip is a bit harsh...lol. Especially given how much I've spent on various versions of this over the years...maybe it's not too late to rethink my life...🙄

[Graham Ritchie]

Notice the "Lava Lamps" from the 1965 screen shot above you can still buy them locally here in NZ

I can't but feel, that later films like Star Wars, Logan Run and the like that some of the ideas used in them came from those early Dr Who films

[Mike Newell]

Lava lamps were all the rage for awhile until people started getting burnt by them. I remember seeing the movies and in particular the one set in London and being impressed. Well it was miles better than black & white tv series with paper mache monsters and bits of wires. Have to Phil point about state of Tardis. What would health and safety think? Does remind me of roof space above my cinema but even it is tidier LOL. Did love my 2x200 Walton releases and eventually my 4x400 version. I see the restored Blu rays are at silly prices on Amazon and EBay at present but will look for a copy soon. I actually like Peter Cushing’s version mind you Patrick Troughton would have been cool.



What’s with the black PVC plastic bin liner look. Bound to have a few sweat issues there.

[Rob Young]

Lava lamps...now that bulbs have gone LED ours won't work as it doesn't get hot enough...anyway...

When I first bought the DVD release about, crikey, 20 years ago, I thought that would best quality I'd see these at home.

Then they brought out the fancy packaging versions with 2 full size replica quad posters to send off for. £50.00 was a bit steep back then for DVDs I already owned, but sucker here couldn't resist. And the posters are great!

Next the Blu-ray versions about 7 years ago. Well, I thought, that's definitely it now, they can't look any better. And they do look spectacular.

But credit to Studio Canal for now restoring them again (this time from camera negatives as opposed to inter-positives) and giving us the 4K releases.

Went I went to the cinema last July to see them, I noticed that the seats were already half full, despite being 11am on a Sunday morning. I was intrigued to know what sort of audience these films still had and when we got there the foyer was full of parents and grandparents with kids. Ah, that's nice, I thought.

Anyway, the screenings opened and all the kids and parents went left to the big screen to see the latest marvel movie and all the lonely middle aged blokes turned right to see Dr. Who...

[Graham Ritchie]

What is middle age these days? Scottish comedian Billy Connolly once said, he does not use the term "mid life" as it reminds people what's coming next