DALEKS' INVASION EARTH: 2150 A.D.

DALEKS' INVASION EARTH: 2150 A.D.

Due to the resounding success Dr Who’s crusade against the Daleks’ in his first cinematic and Technicolor outing, it was no surprise that the following year brought forth a sequel. But any notion that the subsequent movie, DALEKS’ INVASION EARTH: 2150 A.D, was a follow up film in name only were positively quashed with a cast and crew that mirrored its predecessor.

Max Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky headed the production team, with the latter again on screenplay duties. Gordon Flemyng was back behind the clapperboard as director while Ted Samuels returned at the helm of the films special effects. To my delight, the man responsible for the striking and memorable imagery from the first movie, John Wilcox, retook his role as Director of Photography.

In front of the camera’s lens, fledgling right hand girl Roberta Tovey who lit up the screen as the child prodigy Susan returned. But most significantly, Peter Cushing reprised his role as the time travelling, but controversially human, Dr. Who.

The elder granddaughter from DR WHO AND THE DALEKS is effectively replaced by Jill Curzon who plays the Dr’s niece Louise. Due to scheduling problems Roy Castle was not available, but his jesting was replaced by the altogether more rugged and heroic endeavours of Bernard Cribbins as Tom Campbell, the gallant Policeman. And it’s with PC Campbell that the movie begins. Helpless to stop a heist on a jeweller’s during the dead of night, the dazed officer stumbles across a conveniently placed Police telephone box in order to whip up some back up. Needless to say, it is here he encounters a strange trio made up of Dr Who, his granddaughter Susan and his niece, Linda.

This time it’s Susan’s inadvertent clumsiness that whisks the group including PC Campbell away into another dimension. Their destination is London though it appears to have been reduced to rubble. Given the film was released in 1966, I pondered for a second whether the narrative would reveal that Dr Who’s time travel had indirectly caused Geoff Hurst’s ‘goal’ NOT to have crossed the line. The ensuing West German victory at Wembley therefore leading to an English soccer hooligan rampage that ripped the city apart!

But alas no... The year is 2150 and the mysterious demise of the Capital is due to a worldwide invasion by the Dr’s perpetual foes, the Daleks. Their re-acquaintance with the time traveller as one steel fiend menacingly surges out of the river Thames, chillingly enlightens him they are now a more advanced force to be reckoned with.

But humanity is fighting back. Pockets of furtive rebels have formed a resistance. These include Wyler played by Andrew Kier who looks notably leaner than his undertakings as Father Sandor when battling Hammers Prince of Darkness that same year. Ray Brooks also graces the picture as the fearless David along with Brockley (Phillip Madoc) and the feisty wheelchair bound brains behind the operation, Dortmun (Godfrey Quigley).

These more sophisticated Daleks are not simply content to "EXTERMINATE!" They have gradually built an army of Robomen out of lobotomised human beings and are alarmingly close to world domination. As the Dr and his crew join forces with the rebels they face an all-out battle to thwart the Dalek’s malicious plan of getting to the Earth’s core...

Ok first things first: If you thought Peter Cushing was ‘too cool for school’ even when attired in a brown velvet dinner jacket, wait till you see him take on the army of "bloodless fleshless metal monsters" rigged out in fetish gear! Yes folks that’s right - the uniform used by legion of ROBOMEN is a rather fetching black PVC boiler suit number!

So if the costume designs are set to kinky, what of the rest of the movie? Well for starters it certainly appeared to have healthy production values. Indeed the budget was significantly higher than the first movie which ultimately exposed the somewhat disappointing box office returns. The combination of poorly financed distribution overseas and a panning from the critics in dear old Blightly essentially withered the plans for a proposed third instalment in the series.

Nevertheless, some ambitious set pieces feature throughout 2150 A.D. With London reduced to smithereens there is always a handy brick laying about in which to induce a frenzy of exploding Daleks. Without the constrictions of filming in a studio some wonderful scenes peppered the movie. My favourite had to be when Wyler raced through the streets in a small van detonating any Daleks in his path on impact. Take that you "motorized dustbins"! (Dortmun’s words not mine!)

The Daleks themselves are obviously the centrepiece of the movie and these had been developed in capabilities and hierarchy. Even so, it was a little perplexing to witness indiscretions such as the arsenal of homemade bombs proving ineffective yet the odd lobbed rocks and strategically placed ramp having a truly devastating effect.

2150 is still rated "U" and maybe because of this innocuous certification I was surprised to observe fair smattering of violence within Flemyngs’ picture. Machetes are thrown, Robomen get stabbed while cosmic rays are no match for full blooded punches and knees to the face.

The flipside to the aggression was the humour. The movie does have its light-hearted moments such as when Cribbins brilliantly tries to infiltrate a band of Robomen with hilarious results. But even this was more subtle then Roy Castles palpable tomfoolery from the first episode.

My personal highlight from the first movie was the imaginative use of tints and lighting. Although John Wilcox returns as cinematographer, 2150 is a much more sober affair. In some ways this was understandable given the setting of the war torn planet Earth as oppose to the exotic climbs of planet Skaro. To be fair, Wilcox still managed to invoke some great landscapes. The interior scenes also had some unique imagery; none more so than the Dalek POV shot jerkily panning the inside of their base.

The disc itself upholds the standards of excellence attained in the DR WHO AND THE DALEKS. The audio comes via a LPCM 2.0 Mono track which proves apt for the swinging sixties soundtrack. Speech was extremely clear and consistent throughout while explosions did not suffer from any distortion making the audio nigh impossible to criticise.

Presented in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio the transfer is a vibrant 1080p AVC MPEG-4 format. Again the picture has almost flawless levels of clarity which in turn makes the aesthetic of this movie a visual treat in itself. OK it does brutally expose those pesky strings carrying the model flying saucers but that is surely all part of the fun when looking back at this antiquated slice of British Sci Fi isn’t it?.

Indeed it is the process that was used for the prints refurbishment that kicks off the discs EXTRAS segment. Although only 7 minutes long, RESTORING DALEKS’ INVASION EARH 2150 makes for intriguing viewing. It talks of the emergence of a new cinematic format called TECHNISCOPE that not only made for more lavish looking movies, but was also far cheaper to produce. We are then shown the painstaking lengths restorers go to when cleaning original 35mm prints frame by frame.

A disappointingly short interview with Bernard Cribbins follows. Even though only a paltry 4 minutes, he fondly recalls his experiences of filming the movie including some uplifting anecdotes about working with Peter Cushing. He talks of their first encounter on set with a Dalek whose ill-advised Australian accent had the pair in stitches much to the annoyance of the gruff director!

Another 4 minute interview, this time with Gareth Owen, author of the book The Shepperton Story explains the reason why the film was not a commercial success. He goes on to explain how a certain British breakfast cereal paved the way for J&B whiskey to feature in nearly EVERY giallo ever made when the Honey Monster struck a deal with the producers in the first example of ‘product placement’.

A short stills reel followed by the sensational original trailer completes the Bonus Material. Compared to the generosity of the DHATD disc, the EXTRAS included here seem a little threadbare. It does however add weight to the justification of getting both of the movies or indeed the proposed Limited Edition 2 disc set from CanalStudios.

Review by Marc Lissenburg


 
Released by Studiocanal
Region B
Rated U
Extras :
see main review
Back