Dr. Who & The Daleks with Peter Cushing

[Earth 2 Chris]

This is another of those "heard of it, never seen it" films. TCM ran it last week, so I set up the DVR, and the boy and I watched it this weekend. I knew this was not considered part of the Doctor Who canon, but there were LOTS about this movie that really surprised me. The Doctor is named "Dr. Who"...that's his name! He's not an alien from Galifrey who stole a time machine, he's an old earth man who built one! His granddaughter Susan is a young girl of about 10-12, and Barbara is now his granddaughter as well, and she's dating Ian!

I haven't been into Who long, but my family took something of a crash course in the year leading up to, and during the 50th anniversary, so we absorbed a lot of Who knowledge in a short amount of time. But this one blew my mind.

I was expecting Cushing to play...well, Peter Cushing! The old man wig and mustache took me aback, but then I had to remember, the Doctor was an old man to everyone at the time, as Hartnell was still playing the role on TV. I thought we'd get a Van Helsing-like Doctor who was a man of action. Not so much.

Once I got used to it, the film was fairly enjoyable. We MST3Ked it a bit while watching it, so we had fun with it. I recognized one of the Thalls, and IMDBed the name Michael Coles, which sounded familiar. Turns out he played alongside Cushing in Dracula A.D. 1972 and the Satanic Rites of Dracula, as the police inspector turned vampire hunter that helps Van Helsing. So some more Hammer connections there.

All in all, it reads like a strange alternate reality version of the Doctor. I wouldn't mind seeing the sequel. Was any reference ever made to this in any episode, book or audio drama?

Chris

[palitoy]

It's specifically non canon although some theories float about.

In the sequel, Bernard Cribbins plays the sidekick, which of course, he does again much later when he plays Wilfred.

As for MST3King it, the rifftrax guys got into that.

[Mikey]

It's specifically non canon although some theories float about.

My fav is Dr Who and the Daleks was a fictional book/movie written by Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton about their experiences with the Doctor.

Of course MANY things were changed to protect the real Doctor's identity etc

[SentientApe]

Regarding references made to the first movie, yes -- in both print form and within the series itself, but the second only through the miracle of time travel...

There was a coloring book with illustrations based directly o the movie, and the story was serialized in a comic book line.

Of course, elements (characters, places, etc.) used in the movie were adopted/adapted from the series, but most were modified somewhat for the movie -- even the script was a modified version of a previous Doctor Who storyline. The major change is the appearance of the Daleks which were morphologically different, most notably in their height.

What is interesting is that some of the Daleks made specifically for the movie were recycled for a particular Doctor Who episode -- but because of the movie's post-production time, the television episode creating the recycled Daleks appeared BEFORE the movie was released. So that mean the second appearance of these specific Daleks occurred before their first appearance. Only in a time-travel franchise.

The movie was notable in being the first color Doctor Who adventure, as the television series continued in black and white for a few years.

I also (re)watched the movie broadcast last week (insomnia). I was struck that Cushing' s physical appearance, based on that of William Hartnell, more closely resembles that of the current Doctor: Peter Capaldi.

[Bruce Banner]

Both that movie and the sequel 2150 AD were colourful, entertaining adaptations of the first two Dalek stories.
Not canon, but really fun movies to watch.

[zeedox]

Could somebody explain why the movies are not canon in Dr. Who lore? Or why Cushing isn't counted as one of the Doctors? Is it like a Never Say Never again bond movie?

[Mikey]

Could somebody explain why the movies are not canon in Dr. Who lore? Or why Cushing isn't counted as one of the Doctors? Is it like a Never Say Never again bond movie?

Both were kid's movies.

In the James Bond universe it would be more like comparing James Bond movies to the James Bond Jr cartoon

[SentientApe]

Could somebody explain why the movies are not canon in Dr. Who lore? Or why Cushing isn't counted as one of the Doctors? Is it like a Never Say Never again bond movie?

Largely because they were retellings of previous stories that had already appeared within the television series, almost EXACTLY like your example: we told this story once, so let's tell it again. The obvious difference is that unlike a movie remake of an earlier movie, these (Cushing) were movies of previous television serials. You would think that the main character would remember having already lived through -- and solved -- these specific series of events.

Mainly, however, because they took major liberties in the "new" stories, and were never intended to be part of the franchise canon. The television series character is an alien being known only as "The Doctor," and is a humanoid non-human from the planet Gallifrey. The movie character is an Earthling with the family name "Who" that holds a doctoral degree, and happens to have a time machine. There would need to be far too much retconning ("It was all a dream"?) to include the stories within actual Canon, as far too many liberties were taken to avoid expositing a needed origin story for the worldwide (I.e. non-British) audience.

[johnnystorm]

The producers licensed only the name, basic theme, and the Daleks from the BBC for three movies, of which they only made two. It was specifically a movie for kids. They did not buy the rights to things like the tardis interior (thus the weird look) or the name Skaro, although the exterior police box wasn't owned by the BBC so that was a freebie. There is a lot of info on the backs of the card sets released a couple years ago.
I'd never seen the film before, and pretty much enjoyed it. Taken in the context of an early 1960s scifi film, and watching without the tv show in mind, it's not bad, I would have gone to see it on a saturday afternoon. Truthfully, I'd prefer more of this Doctor than what's currently running.

[Earth 2 Chris]

^Since young Susan kept saving the day, and taking the spotlight, my son and I joked she was Clara 1.0.

Chris

[Mikey]

A bit of classic series trivia, in the William Hartnell Doctor Who story The War Machines, WOTAN (the master computer) calls the Doctor "Doctor Who"

[SentientApe]

A bit of classic series trivia, in the William Hartnell Doctor Who story The War Machines, WOTAN (the master computer) calls the Doctor "Doctor Who"

Apparently, it was already familiar with the Ultimate Question.

[jwyblejr]

A bit of classic series trivia, in the William Hartnell Doctor Who story The War Machines, WOTAN (the master computer) calls the Doctor "Doctor Who"

Plus the one from the first episode where they mistakenly call him Doctor Foreman and The Doctor replies "Doctor Who?"