The Dalek Invasion of Earth [4.9]

The Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara land in post-apocalyptic London. They are being stalked by strange Robomen, the city is deserted and the TARDIS has been buried under a landslide. Just when they think things cannot get any worse, a Dalek emerges from the Thames and announces that the earth has been conquered.

So begins a struggle for survival, a struggle for revenge and a struggle for the future of the human race. Susan falls in love with a dapper revolutionary; Barbara leads a strike team; Ian sabotages the Dalek plans from the inside and the Doctor finds himself stuck down the sewers with some very hungry alligators.

The Majesty

This is Doctor Who as we have never seen it before. Up till this point in the series, the only location shots we have ever had, have been two or three wide cutaways of a body double walking through a field. Now we have chase sequences in the heart of London, run-and-gun sequences round an abandoned warehouse and a pitched battle at the mouth of a mine. It stretches out the canvas vastly. There are many jokes around the idea of “The Dalek Invasion of Earth” being “The Dalek Invasion of London (and parts of Bedfordshire)” but this is such a huge step up in terms of production values that it is quite jaw dropping for someone watching the series through in order. I can only guess the impact this had on the original viewers.

The story is also definitely big enough to fill this new size of canvas. We have fully believable characters, from the idealistic David to the cynical Tyler; from the callous Jenny to the despairing Dortmund; from the selfish ‘Women in the Wood’ to the conniving Ashton. We have the reintroduction of the Daleks, doing fascist salutes with their sucker arms in Trafalgar square and talking about the ‘Final Solution’. We have the best depiction of a romantic relationship in Classic Who, and then we have the spine-tingling finale as Susan leaves the TARDIS crew.

The Misery

The Daleks’ plan is woefully illogical. Hollow out the centre of the earth by hand, getting old women to carry baskets of rubble. Then blow it up with a nuclear bomb. Then pilot it around the galaxy like some sort of Death Star. And if we were in any doubt as to this plan, we are spoon fed every detail of it several times as the Daleks explain it to each other in their control room.

Somehow the Doctor and his pals survive a nuclear explosion about 200m away, while all the Daleks across the entire world (and in their motherships in orbit), are all wiped out. Someone was being a bit optimistic there.

The Doctor is missing for an episode. And you really notice it!

Magical Moments

• The first two shots demonstrate simply and powerfully the tone of the film. We open on a poster: “It is forbidden to dump bodies into the river”. A man walks up wearing a strange helmet and obviously in distress. He walks into the river. He drowns himself. Title: “World’s End”. Sheer cinema.
• The Doctor chides Susan in a cringeworthy put-down: “What you need, my girl, is a jolly good smacked bottom.”
• Barbara arrives in the rebel base. First question: “Can you cook?”. Clearly a woman has showed up!
• Shortly after, the rebels ask Susan “What do you do?”. - “I eat” she replies. Definitely her best one-liner in the whole show.
• For some obscure reason, a poster of an elephant has got a huge sticker over it saying “Vetoed”. What on earth can Daleks have against elephants?
• The end of the first episode, a Dalek surfaces from under the Thames. It is one of the iconic moments of Dr Who. But what was it doing underwater in the first place?
• The Doctor and Ian are being herded onto the Dalek spaceship when one other prisoner makes a lame attempt to escape. He realises within seconds that it is too late, but then the Daleks slowly... slowly... slowly line him up against a wall. He is screaming “Help me! Help me!” and they just watch him. Then they kill him. It’s a chilling scene – the Daleks are so much more cruel here than they are in their first outing.
• There are alligators in the sewers!
• The Doctor’s terrible puns, after Ian says he has studied Boyle’s Law. “We’ll have to Boyle this one down, won’t we – hee hee hee”
• In the old transport museum, a Dalek menaces a mannequin: “Who are you? Answer!”. Very fun.
• Dortmund’s demise. He knows his bombs don’t work; he knows that if he lives, he will slow the others down; he knows that nothing he can think of will combat the Daleks; he feels utter despair. And so he goes out against three Daleks, armed with a dud bomb; he stands out of his wheelchair, lets it roll away, and dies in a blaze of extermination. It’s an incredibly poignant moment.
• The little cut scenes with David and Susan are brilliant. Their discussions about identity and home and travelling, and David’s polite flattery of the Doctor are all handled very realistically. Though if the lads in the 60s were taking flirting lessons from David, they’d all be dangling slimy fish in front of their crushes!
• Remind me never to take a lift from Barbara – she is a menace behind the wheel. Rampaging through London in an old lorry, mowing down Daleks left, right and centre, being chased by a spaceship – she puts James Bond to shame! She even does a commando roll out of the cab just before the lorry is exploded into a million pieces. What a woman!
• The Doctor wallops a Roboman into submission with his walking stick. Once it's prone on the floor, he dusts himself down and tells his companions to hurry up: “Leave him to his own devices and salvation”
• The Slither. I'll be controversial and say I really liked this idea. The costume is dumb, but the idea of some mutated creature that has no explanation is both perfectly realistic and frighteningly alien. It's referred to as a Dalek's 'pet', which conjures up images of genetic manipulation, torture and mind-control. What does a Dalek do when it's not on duty? Grooms a Slither, apparently, just for fun. Sickening! 
• The overblown dialogue is completely corny but delivered with utter conviction. “They dare to tamper with the forces of creation?” “Yes – and we have got to dare... to stop them!”
• Ian hides, and discovers he has hidden inside the detonator of a planetary sized nuclear bomb... Typical!

In Summary

This is undoubtedly one of the best and most memorable of all the William Hartnell stories. If “The Aztecs” has been the high water mark so far, it was likely because the BBC knew how to do period costume dramas. It was something they often did in other situations. This is different. This is an archetypal Doctor Who story, and is the first time the series has managed a truly epic sci-fi adventure. It’s a shame to see Susan go, having had so little character development in the series, but few companions will ever get such a well-handled departure story, and she ends on a high. Even without the Daleks return or Susan’s departure, this would be an epic story. With these elements as well, it goes down as one of the all-time greats of Doctor Who. It’s the first milestone in the series.

Overall: 4.9