Review of Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) by Stephen R — 20 Nov 2018

I love bad movies and I also love Doctor Who, so I thought this was a good purchase. That was until I watched the first five minutes where they say the doctor is a human inventor who had just finished his latest invention: a big blue phone box called the T.A.R.D.I.S. (stands for "Time And Relative Dimensions In Space", pretty much a go anywhere/any when machine).

Ok, for those of you who have never come across Doctor Who before, here is a little explanation. The doctor is an alien with two hearts. He is from a race of beings called the Time Lords from the planet Gallifrey. The reason the T.A.R.D.I.S looks like a phone box is its camouflage unit malfunctioned while on earth in the 50's and the doctor has never repaired it.

Other than the bad attempt to change the doctor into a human, what else can I say about the movie? Firstly, Peter Cushing was not terrible as the doctor; since he was playing a human instead of a strange alien, admittedly, it was not his fault but the script's. However, he played the doctor as oddly as you could expect.

The rest of the crew who travel with the doctor are Barbara, the doctor's niece; Ian, her boyfriend; and Susan, his granddaughter. After the T.A.R.D.I.S is accidentally turned on they find themselves on the planet Skaro, home of two races - the evil Daleks and the peaceful Tharls.

The Daleks are what I always remember them to be - giant armored suits that cannot go up stairs or on unleveled ground. They are obsessed with destroying the Tharls and taking over the galaxy.

This movie, if not for the fact it goes completely against the known Doctor Who story, would be watch-able. But since they changed the doctor's character, I felt myself through the whole movie thinking that it was just so wrong I could not enjoy it that much.