Doctor Who-The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964)

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General		Extras
Category	Science Fiction	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation Trailer-BBC1 Audio Commentary Informational Subtitles Featurette-Future Vision Featurette-Making Of-Future Memories Featurette-Talking Daleks Featurette-Now and Then Featurette-Script to screen Featurette-Whatever happened to ...Susan? - BBC radio play Featurette-Rehearsal Film Featurette-Blue Peter - Dalek Cakes Gallery-Photo
Rating
Year Of Production	1964
Running Time	148:45 (Case: 239)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (75:14) Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Richard Martin
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	William Hartnell Carole Ann Ford Jacqueline Hill William Russell
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$49.95	Music	Francis Chagrin

    Doctor Who: The Dalek Invasion of Earth features the first Doctor, William Hartnell. It is the second story of the second season and was originally aired from November 21 - December 26, 1964. This was also the second time the Daleks had starred. The story is almost identical to that of the motion picture Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. which starred Peter Cushing.

    I saw this story on pay TV a couple of years ago and was very interested to see how successful the transfer restoration had been. The version I saw on TV was not very good.

    I was very impressed. The story holds up well, the restoration team have worked wonders, and no story that includes the Daleks can ever disappoint.

    The story has six episodes. At this stage of Doctor Who's development each episode had its own title. The story also incorporated some original Dalek Cam vision. I have not seen this used in any other episodes and wish they had used it more.

    We begin with the Tardis suddenly materializing. Out steps The Doctor (William Hartnell), Susan (Carole Ann Ford), Barbara (Jacqueline Hill) and Ian (William Russell). Where have they landed, and more importantly when? They immediately discover that they have landed in London and a short expedition reveals that it is some time in the future, when the world has drastically changed.

    After running into some of the local resistance, The Doctor learns that the Daleks have invaded Earth. They have enslaved the human race, using them in mines for some as yet unknown reason. Joining with different factions of the resistance, The Doctor, Susan, Barbara and Ian attempt to overthrow the Daleks and return control of the Earth to its rightful owners.

    Will the Doctor and the resistance succeed or will the Dakels 'exterminate' them all?

    As a bit of trivia, my Doctor Who-obsessed brother informs me that the final scene from this story, when the Doctor is talking to Susan from inside the Tardis, is also the first scene from the Five Doctors story.

Video

    The video transfer was better than expected, but nowhere near reference quality.

    The transfer is presented in the original aspect ratio of 1.33:1, full frame.

    Overall, the sharpness of the transfer is barely acceptable. However, on occasion it does degrade considerably, suffering from severe grain. Unfortunately, degradations occur regularly with major instances at 8:05, 20:43, 34:09, 55:47, 62:52, 75:54 and 81:02. These instances can last anywhere from 1 to 30 seconds and can be quite distracting. The amount of detail visible in the shadows was acceptable. All areas pertaining to the story were able to be seen and recognised. There was some noise to be found around the Daleks' feelers, with the best (worst) example occurring at 35:06.

    This feature is presented in Black and White, as when originally screened. The grey tones appeared constant with no obvious modulations.

    There were no MPEG artefacts present. However, on one occasion early in the first episode I thought I saw some pixelization, although it was hard to tell because of the severe grain present at the same time. Film-to-video artefacts were rare, with only minor aliasing occurring on the grille armour of the Daleks. The best example of this can be seen at 29:51. Considering the age of this Doctor Who story, I was expecting there to be a large number of film artefacts present. I was pleasantly proven incorrect. There were very few and those that did occur were minor and did not distract from the viewing pleasure.

    There are three subtitle tracks available. These include English, English Audio Commentary, and English Information. I sampled all three and they appeared accurate, with the English Information subtitles providing some particularly interesting details.

    This is an RSDL disc and the layer change is totally invisible, occurring at 75:14 between episodes three and four.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio was also better than I expected, but 5.1 channels would have been better.

    There is only one audio track offered with this feature. It is an English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono 192kbps track. There is, however, also a commentary track on offer.

    The dialogue for the most part was clear and easily understood. Occasionally a line from one of the minor characters was a little hard to understand, but this was very infrequent. Audio sync was not an issue with this disc.

    The theme musical score was written by Ron Grainer and The BBC Radiophonic Workshop. The incidental music was written and performed by Francis Chagrin. The music matched the on-screen action and helped set the mood and tell the story. At times the music telegraphed what action was about to take place. The music could best be described as stereotypical for these early Doctor Who stories.

    As only a 2.0 channel mono track is present, the surround speakers and subwoofer remained silent.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    A good array of interesting extras are included in this 2 Disc set.

Main Menu Introduction

    The menu system is preceded by a section of a Doctor Who episode introduction taken from a more recent series.

Main Menu Audio & Animation

    The menu system is accompanied by scene snippets from the story, containing both video and audio. Different snippets are shown on the two discs.

Trailer-BBC1 (1:43)

    Television ad from 1964 promoting the program.

Audio Commentary

    The audio commentary includes William Russell, Carole Ann Ford, Richard Martin and Verity Lambert, and is moderated by Gary Russell, a Doctor Who expert. This is the first time I have seen a moderator used in any audio commentary. I think the expert moderator added considerably to the quality of the commentary.

Informational Subtitles

    The informational subtitles will be of great interest to those who are interested in Doctor Who trivia. They provide minute details which only a real fan will find interesting.

Future Vision (17:48)

    This featurette is an interview with Spencer Chapman, the chief designer on this story. He discusses the problems encountered in producing the story and the innovations that were made on a very limited budget.

Future Memories (45:20)

    This featurette is essentially a making of Doctor Who: The Dalek Invasions of Earth. Many of the surviving actors are interviewed. They describe their characters and experiences whilst filming the story.

Talking Daleks (10:30)

    This featurette is an interview with David Graham who was the voice of the Daleks. He describes the process of developing the all-too-familiar Dalek sound.

Now and Then (6:58)

    The Now and Then featurette compares the location shots from the story in 1964 to how the locations look now.

Script to Screen (6:02)

    This featurette show how the camera men used scripts and floor plans to follow the actors and story. It compares the script to how it actually turned out.

Whatever happened to ...Susan? - BBC radio play (21:49)

    Whatever happened to ...Susan? is a radio play that describes the character Susan. It details her history and how one day she just disappeared, and the stories she returned to tell.

Rehearsal Film (1:41)

    This is a short homemade-looking film that shows some of the main characters rehearsing a scene. The film has been double exposed and also shows a family outing in the background.

Blue Peter - Dalek Cakes (7:02)

    This featurette is a small scene from a children's show of the 60s, 'Blue Peter'. This scene demonstrates exactly how popular the Doctor Who series had become by this time. The host is showing children how to make their own Daleks, firstly with cake and secondly with sandwiches. I could not believe what I was seeing.

Gallery-Photo (3:40)

    This small gallery of photos shows the different actors in various locations from the story.

    This DVD is not available in Region 1 and the Region 2 offering appears to be identical to this release.

    Doctor Who: The Dalek Invasion of Earth is one of the better early stories of the Doctor Who series. It includes everyone's favourite megalomaniacal aliens, and has the Doctor and his friends saving the world yet again. The video transfer has been restored considerably but is still only adequate. The audio is acceptable and there are a large range of very entertaining extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall