Very well executed

Such a frustrating disappointment

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

An elderly scientist named Doctor Who invents a machine that can travel through time and space called the TARDIS. He lives with his two granddaughters, Barbara and Susan. Barbara has a bumbling boyfriend named Ian who accidentally turns the TARDIS on and transports the four of them to an alien planet inhabited by the peaceful Thals and the destructive Daleks. Doctor Who tries to convince the Thals to reclaim their planet before the Daleks detonate a neutron bomb.First things first, we have to put aside comparisons to the TV Doctor Who. There's very little that's similar between the two, even though this movie is based off of one of the earliest stories from the show. The Doctor is human not an alien time lord and his name is literally Doctor Who here, not The Doctor. Judging this by its own merits, I thought it was watchable and sometimes even good. Peter Cushing is enjoyable, as are Jennie Linden and Robert Tovey as his granddaughters. Linden looks quite good in her pink capris. I wasn't crazy about Roy Castle, particularly when he's trying to be funny. It's filmed in a lovely Technicolor, which I always appreciate. The effects and sets may appear cheesy to some today but I think they're very creative and fun, as sci-fi designs usually were back in the day. The music's pretty good, too. This isn't likely to appeal to many modern Who fans but I think people who like Peter Cushing and Amicus will find something to enjoy about this.

Peter Cushing is one of my favorite actors, a veteran of many classic horror films, from Hammer Films and Amicus, which produced this theatrical version of my favorite series, an adaptation of the second story, but first Dalek adventure from the TV show, called 'The Daleks', which starred William Hartnell as the Doctor, William Russell as Ian, Jaqueline Hill as Barbara, and Carole Ann Ford as Susan.Here, all the parts are recast, since this does not share the same continuity as the series. How could it? Despite Cushing's likable performance, this film is a pointless and dumbed down version of the brilliant and atmospheric TV original, superior in every way possible. The F/X to this film look more dated than the series, which has aged quite well.Finally saw it on DVD, with a double feature of the sequel.

This was quite different to the Doctor Who television series. It is not part of the mainstream canon of Doctor Who and it's a bit childish. However as a Whovian, I quite enjoyed it. It's very good quality on Blu-Ray (which was what I watched it on). Peter Cushing portrayed the Doctor (or Dr. Who, as he's referred to in this film) as a kinder person than William Hartnell did. This is, as you may know, based on the second episode of Doctor Who, "The Daleks", which I found more entertaining despite the fact that the special effects and picture quality wasn't quite as good. The Daleks themselves talked strangely but looked superb. The Thals looked weird due to the fact that their makeup was overdone. The storyline for the film is good and it has a nice and the film as a whole is enjoyable. I recommend this to fans of the classic Doctor Who series, and I also recommend it on Blu-Ray, it is remastered fantastically! On another note that may upset many, Dr. Who is human (as far as we know) in this film and they have a different theme- tune.

As this film opens it quickly becomes apparent that this incarnation of the doctor is very different from the television version; he is not a Time Lord but an elderly, human inventor living with his niece Barbara and his granddaughter Susan and his name is Dr. Who; not The Doctor. When Susan's new boyfriend, Ian, visits he is shown the latest invention; TARDIS; a machine capable of transporting to any time or place. Ian accidentally activates the machine and they fine themselves on a strange alien world. It appears to be long dead but as they look around they find a city. They return to TARDIS but it doesn't work; Dr. Who explains that a part is broken so they will have to go to the city to find the mercury it needs to work. Here they run into the Daleks and learn that there was a war between the Daleks and the Thals which left the planet a radioactive wasteland; the Thals have found an antidote to the radiation but the Daleks can't leave the city and must live in special protective machines. They hope to use the doctor and his travelling companions to lure the remaining Thals into the city so they can eliminate them once and for all.It took a while to accept this version of Dr. Who as he is so different to the television version; Peter Cushing did a good job in the role and Roy Castle was fun as comedy relief Ian; of the girls young Roberta Tovey seemed to perform better as Susan although Jennie Linden's Barbara didn't really have much to work with in her underwritten roll. The opening scene made it clear that this would be fairly tongue in cheek when we see the two girls reading science books and the elderly doctor is reading The Eagle (a comic). In common with most sci-fi of its time there is no explanation as to why creatures on an alien world would be speaking English just as there is no surprise on the part of the characters when this happens. Taking advantage of the fact that the film is in colour, unlike the TV show at the time, the Daleks come in a wide variety of colours; they weren't a particularly formidable opponent once the final battle came unfortunately; all the heroes had to do was grab the and turn them to face each other and let them kill each other! The Thal where aliens of the 'almost human' variety with little charisma; this meant they weren't interesting characters. Overall I was a bit disappointed with this; possibly because I was expecting something closer to the television version; it wasn't bad though and a laughed a few more times than I'd expected.