The original 1965 theatrical trailer for Amicus/AARU’s Dr Who and the Daleks promised that the terrifying mechanical monsters made famous in the then-new BBC family adventure serial Doctor Who would not only be on the big screen in glorious, vivid Technicolor but would also be “so close you can feel their fire.” This remarkable new 4K release from StudioCanal, sourced from the film’s camera negatives, finally makes good on the trailer’s promise for the first time for an audience viewing at home. Dr Who and the Daleks has never looked better; the colours pop from the screen, the film’s often-lurid palette really brings the blasted, eerie surface of the planet Skaro (in reality a soundstage in Shepperton Studios) and the metallic city of the Daleks (in their own multi-coloured glory) to startling life. If not for the slightly quaint and naïve nature of its storytelling, it really looks as if it was made in the last few years. Not for one moment does this look like a film released onto a Dalek-fevered British public nearly six decades ago.
Doctor Who fans, bless ‘em, have always had a conflicted and uncomfortable relationship with the film (and its 1966 sequel, Daleks Invasion Earth 2150AD) and many have wasted long, irreplaceable hours trying to work the films into the TV series impossibly-twisted continuity. The simple fact is that these were two cash-grab low-budget British sci-fi movies that existed purely to capitalise on the Dalekmania craze sweeping the country at the time and need to be viewed and enjoyed as such. They are, however, both glorious, rollicking fun, short and snappy adventure movies that deliver all the large scale thrills and spills that the tinily-budgeted TV series could only dream of at the time. Here Dr Who (Peter Cushing) is an affable, slightly dotty scientist who has created his ramshackle TARDIS (its chaotic control room would give even Heath Robinson a migraine) in the shape of a Police Box. Accompanied by his granddaughters Barbara (Jennie Linden), Susan (Robert Tovey) and Barbara’s bumbling new boyfriend Ian (Roy Castle), Dr Who’s accidental maiden voyage takes the TARDIS to a petrified forest on a dead planet and when a strange, glittering city in the distance attracts his interest, Dr Who contrives a way to force the group to explore the lifeless buildings…leading to an encounter with the monstrous outer space robot people who are lying in wait.
Dr Who and the Daleks is great fun, a massive injection of pure nostalgia for those who remember the big screen thrill of seeing it at the cinema back in the 1960s and even those who have discovered it across the years and can set aside their critical faculties and enjoy it as a fast-paced, unpretentious romp aimed predominantly at children. The big, beefy Daleks have rarely looked better (or more numerous) and the film is packed with action, incidents, and imaginative spectacle thanks to a wonderfully-inventive production design that makes the Dalek city look cold and imposing and the petrified forest creepy and unwelcoming and Gordon Flemying’s punchy, zesty direction that makes the movie look far better-funded than it actually was. Dr Who and the Daleks is eighty minutes of unadulterated fun and this masterful 4K restoration is supported by familiar bonus material – the 1995 ‘Dalekmania’ documentary, commentary with Jennie Linden and Roberta Tovey, a Kim Newman/Mark Gatiss, Robert Shearman commentary previously only available on an American release and two brand new featurettes including a rather dry piece on the 4K restoration and Dalek Legacy in which Nick Briggs, Robert Shearman, and Mike Tucker are amongst those sharing their fond memories of these very special little movies. Die-hards will want the lavish collector’s edition that includes art cards, a booklet full of new essays, badges, posters etc. It’s a truly Dalek-table collection.
Dr Who and the Daleks is released on 4K on June 20th.
