Some of us are off to the cinema later to watch The Reality War so what better time to have a TV Club Movie Extra as we travel back to 1966 and the release of Daleks’ Invasion Earth: 2150 AD!
The film is available on DVD and Bluray and is even occasionally broadcast of Uk television - usually on Channel 4.
Rate and review below:
I was going to watch Peter Cushing movies after season 1 but then I forgot! I’ll come back here once I finish them
Really enjoyed watching this. I think I like it slightly more than the first one 
But not gonna lie, I was kinda pissed off when Dr. Who didn’t notice Susan’s message…
Watched both the Cushing movies in the cinema a few years ago, absolutely loved it but my cousin and sister both fell asleep during this one 
I think this is the best of the two Cushing movies, i love the Technicolour movies
In Space Babies, the Doctor has Ruby pick a random number for the year. The first 4 numbers she gives are 2, 1, 5, and 0, and the Doctor seems surprised when she gives a 5th digit, which means he was perfectly willing to have her first adventure be in 2150, which would have been an… interesting choice for a new companion who he wants to impress and keep around
(yes, I know the tv Daleks’ Invasion of Earth is technically set in 2164, but the Daleks have been on earth for a while when that story starts, so a 2150 invasion year is still plausible)
Like I already mentioned in the first TV Club Extra the first Film, I kinda wish it was more an alternative Take. This couldn’t be truer than here. While still oozing with Charm thanks to the charming Cushing as Dr. Who and of course Bernard Cribbins, who plays a lovely Companion, this one impresses me slightly less.
I still enjoyed it, but unlike the first Dalek Serial (which is great but drags really badly in one of its Episode), this one takes Inspiration from one of the most beloved Hartnell Serials. While the Film finds its own Identity, its Sets and especially Costumes are marvelous, I can’t lie that this one feels like a slight Letdown in some regard. There are some Storybeats, which I really didn’t like, such as when Dr. Who misses Susan’s Message, and then on the other hand there are some which I do really like.
It’s a weird one for me, I would be lying if I didn’t say I enjoyed both Cushing Films but the more I grew fondness for the Hartnell Era, the more I feel in two-minds about the Cushing World.
While I enjoy these films for their “camp”-ness, they are fairly bad.
They have the budget, and production design, to pull of the spectacle, but the “”“soul”“” of what makes Doctor Who work is missing. It’s hard to put my finger on what that is, but it’s there.
3/5
Oh this film lives on the film 4 4pm slot when they have no idea what else to air and I LIVE for it
It’s a hot mess, and I particularly don’t like how they swapped out not-Barbara for an even more passive not-Barbara, but… honestly, in the right mood, I could see myself rewatching this just for the trainwreck.
This is what I posted in the ‘What are you watching?’ thread right after finishing the film:
While Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. isn’t nearly as good as the TV version, it’s still the stronger of the two Cushing films, mainly due to them ditching Ian and Barbara in favor of Louise and Tom (Cribbins, yay!). I much prefer the light comedy exhibited by Tom to Ian’s buffoonery from the first film. Susan doesn’t have quite as much agency as in the first film, but she’s still fun. This one deserves 8.25/10.
To that I’ll add something that I feel illustrates some of my points in the ‘Does Doctor Who need to look expensive?’ thread, which is that, despite the bigger budget here, the scenes at the mine feel somehow smaller in this film than do the corresponding scenes in the TV story. To me, the fact that they weren’t able to show an entire mine in the show (I mean the scenes with the bucket and the rim of the crater stuff mainly) proves in no way a detriment to the story, as the required sense of scale is conveyed through the performances of the actors involved. The place feels huge in a way the film can’t match. Just something that occurred to me while watching the film a few days ago.
(Almost) Final tally:
‘The Dalek Invasion of Earth’: 10/10
Target Novel: ? (not yet reached it)
Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.: 8.25/10
Daleks, Invasion a la Tierra ano 2150: 6.25/10
A shame he didn’t. Maybe that way Fifteen would have got his Dalek story? And what an interesting story it could have been. A Dalek invasion he couldn’t interfere with because it could well have been a fixed point in time and would definitely have changed his own timeline catastrophically had he tried. Oh… what a missed opportunity on so many levels! Could have been a real crowd pleaser too!
Much better than the other Dalek film - Invasion Earth does a great job of adapting the base material, but also turning it into something original. It does a much better job of making a feature film out of a TV serial, and keeping the sense of time and danger that was present in the original
I agree. Since they have new companions in the form of the police officer and Dr. Who’s niece, I kinda wish they had done their own thing.
I did like it as a movie and I thought the characters were pretty neat. There were a few things I wish they had done different but it didn’t take away from the film for me. It was kinda campy, as a few already pointed out, but I didn’t really mind it. Nice way to spend a Saturday.
My favorite part was Cribbins pretending to be a roboman and missing all the cues of the rest due to not knowing but doing his best! Also when the guy apologizes for betraying Dr. Who and he responds with ‘oh don’t apologize, I expected it.’