a_chinn Weird non-cannon Dr. Who film had potential with the casting of Peter Cushing as The Doctor. However, the film strays so much from it's source material that it becomes more of a Jules Verne type of Victorian adventure tale than a piece of contemporary science fiction, which Whovians would come to expect. The Doctor is no longer an alien Time Lord and is now a human doctor named Dr. Who, who invents the Tardis. Cushing travels to an alien planet and must battle Daleks, which do look the same as in the TV series. If you'd never seen the TV series, this would probably be a pretty entertaining film, but anyone hoping to see something similar or even remotely like the TV series is going to be sadly disappointed.

Popinjay37 I really don't understand the numerous defenses of this film. It must be pure nostalgia.It is horrible.Terrible plot. Horrible acting. Nonsensical behavior. Inappropriate interjection of humor.And the slow, slow talking of the Daleks in the Dalek voice is intolerable for plot reveal (the modern Dr. Who doesn't rely on this nearly so much--it is just ridiculous here.)But worth watching with Rifftrax soundtrack as it is indeed so bad it is funny.

SnakesOnAnAfricanPlain In order for a Dr. Who fan to enjoy this, they must first come to terms with the fact that the Doctor is made a human with the surname of Who. He also invented the TARDIS himself. It's not that hard to ignore, as once they leave Earth, the plot is pretty much exactly what one should expect from Who. He travels into space with a number of companions and must help a peaceful race stop those damn pesky Daleks. Cushing gives a rather decent performance, being absent minded but clever at the same time. Roy Castle is overused as a mumbling fool. He falls over when doors open, sits on things, runs into walls etc. But at least he has a slight arc as he overcomes his fears and becomes heroic. Linden is more of an excuse to have Castle come along, as she doesn't do much. Perhaps two guys and a little girl travelling in space together would have seemed too weird to some. Some of the writing is a bit rough, as it basically just wants to hurry along. When meeting his granddaughter's new boyfriend the first thing Who does is show him the time machine. Good score, decent enough effects, result in a movie that doesn't betray its television roots. With some clever writing this could easily be placed into The Doctor's timeline, but as it stands it is some cheesy sci-fi fun.

DigitalRevenantX7 PLOT OUTLINE: While demonstrating his latest invention, a time machine, to his granddaughter's boyfriend, Dr. Who accidentally activates the machine, causing them to teleport to a distant planet where they battle radiation sickness & the Daleks.This is the first of two feature films to have been made from the groundbreaking classic TV series DOCTOR WHO. The show, originally designed to teach Britain's young audiences about history, morphed into some kind of space opera, with its main cast travelling across time & space, encountering numerous aliens & monsters & defending Earth from countless evil schemes & invasions. There have been comparisons with the series STAR TREK, but what sets them apart is the fact that while Star Trek, while bigger-budgeted than Doctor Who, was nothing more than lightweight sci-fi that was a bit low on ideas (all it did was visit a new civilisation each week & change it so they turn out like Earth), Doctor Who was an incredibly sophisticated science fiction series that had some truly mind-blowing concepts (the TARDIS, an alien spaceship / time machine that could take on any form, but ultimately ending up looking like a police telephone booth, is without doubt the most iconic time-travel machine ever) & having some memorable creatures.Which brings us to the Daleks. Appearing in the show's second adventure, a seven-part serial written by Terry Nation, the Daleks were a race of mutants that live inside tank-like cyborg bodies & whose nefarious schemes involve taking over every planet in the galaxy (or at least they did from their second appearance onwards). Here, Nation uses the alien race as a metaphor for the Nazis, with the peaceful Thals a stand-in for the Jews (the Thals don't make any return appearances for the rest of the series, except for the prequel adventure Genesis of the Daleks in the early 1970s).While the original adventure was a low-budget masterpiece, Dr Who and the Daleks is nothing more than a dumbed-down sci-fi flick that has wasted a novel concept & turned it into a lightweight children's film (to be fair, the show itself was aimed at children but it also catered for the adults), with Nation's script re-written so that the anti-war paranoia that the story had was removed & replaced with a militant pro-war stance. As a result, the film negates any cleverness that the original story had.That said, the film, while not as good as the original story, does work somewhat as a kid's film. The production values are top-notch but ultimately lapse into being pointlessly flashy – the show had values that would make Ed Wood blush but compensated by having a script that was very intelligent – here the film is reduced to resembling one of Irwin Allen's TV shows (for the uninitiated, Irwin Allen was a producer who made shows that claimed to be sci-fi but which were so lacking in basic science that they ended up insulting the viewer – LOST IN SPACE was one example). Even with this in mind, the film does manage to entertain, with the Daleks looking fearsome, moving around their (poorly designed) metal city & squawking "EXTERMINATE" while firing lethal smoke at their victims.The acting is very mixed. Peter Cushing, who has made a career out of playing gentlemen scientists, is right at home here playing the titular hero (which has been changed from an alien exile to a human scientist). He makes a valiant effort to give life to the role but ultimately loses due to Subotsky's poorly written script. On the other side of the coin is Roy Castle, who is a real pain to watch – his clowning skills might make children laugh but it proves to be so irritating that his performance really drags the film down the gurgler. The supporting cast, most notably young Roberta Tovey, is passable.