Doctor Who Story 010 The Dalek Invasion of Earth by Richard Martin (1964)
12 March 2008This is the earliest episode of Doctor Who I have ever seen, and the only one with the first Doctor and his granddaughter Susan, and the basic story was remade into the 2 movies Dr. Who and the Daleks and Saleks Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. which change the story and make it actually Doctor Who from Earth. This actually starts the second season of Doctor Who and while the quality of the black and white video is quite low, it is surprising how much of the original Who is still in the story (even if he didn’t become a Timelord until the second Doctor, and the third Doctor that talked about Gallifrey). And the Daleks improved, but these are the basic ones (actually there second appearance) that have not really changed till this day. Cool to see. Damn I would love to see the entire Doctor Who series.
The Doctor (William Hartnell) materializes the Tardis on Earth in London, though not quite sure of the time, though he is supposed to return Ian Chesterton (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill) to their home, and they get out with the Doctor’s niece Susan Foreman (Carol Anne Ford). London is curiously silent. Susan tries to climb a wall, but slips and twists her ankle, and causes the bridge to fall and cover the entrance to the Tardis. The Doctor and Ian head off to check out a warehouse across the way, and find a calendar marked 2164 and a dead body with a strange appliance attached to his head, a Roboman. Meanwhile Susuan and Barbara get taken by human freedom fighters to their hiding place. The Doctor and Ian decide to return to the Tardis when they see a flying saucer over the city, but they find the girls have gone, and then Robomen surround them, and a Dalek emerges from the water, as they have conquerd Earth. The Dalek orders them taken to the Landing area.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILER…
Among the underground Susan meets a young human named David (Peter Fraser) who tells them that he saw the Doctor and Ian captured.
Ian is confused because they had seen the Daleks destroyed at Skaro, but the Doctor tells him that was millions of years in the future. Ian and the Doctor are put in a cell with another prisoner, where they learn about how 10 years before meteorites brought a plague to Earth, and 6 months later the Daleks arrived. Some human survivors were turned into Robomen by the Daleks to help them subjugate the people so they can help in their dig.
The resistance is planning an attack on the Dalek’s and want to use a wheelchair bound scientist’s bombs. The man is named Dortmun (Alan Judd).
The Doctor figures out a way to escape from the cell, but it was a trap by the Dalek’s, an intelligence test, and the Doctor is taken to be Robotised. The underground attacks, having used Barbara’s suggestion to use Robomen helmets as a disguise, and they manage to get the Doctor out, and Dortmun’s bombs are ineffective against the Daleks, and Ian stay son the Saucer.
The Leading Black Dalek orders the desstruction of London with firebombs, and the saucer lifts off with Ian on board, and meats a man named Larry (Graham Rigby) who is trying to find his missing brother.
David and Susan hide from the Daleks and she tries to convince him to leave with her and her Grandfather on the Tardis, but he wants to stay and help save the Earth. They then run into the people with the drugged Doctor.
Barbara finds Dortmun who has a new formula for bombs, and gives her his notes, and he tries to destroy the Daleks and helps her escape before he is exterminated.
The Doctor awakens, and David wants to head North, while the Doctor wants to get to the Tardis. And the Doctor notices that Susan believes David more than him. Then two Robomen place a firebomb near the Doctor and Suan and it starts to tick down, and the Doctor passes out.
Ian and Larry figure out the Daleks want the Magnetic Core of the earth, and they escape the Saucer.
David uses acid to defuse the bomb, and David says they must leave the doctor and come back for him. Barbara with a woman named Jenny (Ann Davies) steal a fire truck from a museum and run for the countryside, even running straight through some Daleks.
Larry and Phil get to the mines, and get spotted, but get covered by a man called Wells (Nicholas Smith) who leads them to a black marketeer named Ashton (Patrick O’Connell) who tells them that London has been destroyed. A creature called a Slyther attacks, and Ashton is killed, and Larry and Ian get in a mining bucket, and Larry hurts his knee when they get out. They are confronted by Larry’s brother who is a Roboman, and Larry attacks his brother and they both die, but Ian hides in a penetration device the Daleks plan to use to blow up the Earth so they can use the explosion and use it as a ship to pilot anywhere in the universe. Susan and David kiss, while the Doctor realizes what is going on, and that he must get to the control room.
Jenny and Barbara end up captured by Daleks, and Barbara uses the plans she has from Dortmun to try to get into the main control of the Dalek’s ship.
Ian stops the decent device, and gets out, though he falls down the shaft. Barbara and Jenny get to the control room, and Barbara sees how they control the Robomen, an dshe tries tto stall the Daleks, until the humans mutiny and she can use the microphone, but the Daleks set the base to explode.
The Doctor heads into the mine. Ian puts something into the shaft so it will stop the bomb, and the Doctor stops the warning system. They free Jenny and Barbara, and they use the Robomen to help them escape, and they al get out and watch the volcanic eruption that ensues.
They head back to the Tardis as Mankind will start again. Susan wants David to leave with them, but he won’t so the Doctor locks the Tardis and leaves her to have a real life, not with her old grandfather, and he and Barbara and Ian leave. Susan fingers the Tardis key, but leaves with David.
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Quite an enjoyable Doctor Who adventure. Long and with quite a bit of story. Quite good. A classic.