Season Two@60- The Dalek Invasion of Earth

 

Its sixty years since the second season of Doctor Who was first broadcast so I thought I’d take a look at these stories courtesy of the Collection box set, recently re-issued in standard packaging. To begin with, a story that brings back the Daleks at the height of Dalekmania and waves goodbye to a companion for the first time ever…

I originally knew of this story when it was called `World’s End` back in the days when the `official` titles of many First Doctor stories were actually those of the opening episode. Certainly most viewers in 1964 would not know the overall name with which we are now familiar so would have no idea till the end of part one that the Daleks were returning (unless the excitable press gave it away- these days there would be location shots on TikTok) and the suspense is well built. What I’ve noticed about these Sixties stories is how grounded they are from the travellers' perspective.  So, each predicament or puzzle is debated initially in the context of something every day- it could be this, it could be that- until those options are discounted slowly to unpeel the real problem.  The modern series rarely does that preferring to leap to the Doctor explaining something that he already knows.

Day of the Daleks

 

In 2011 Doctor Who fandom was divided about the merits of the Special Edition of `Day of the Daleks` but I loved it and over a decade later I still do. Fact is I actually-gasp- prefer it to the original. This is only because it really is the original as the production team and viewers would love to have seen it. I suspect many viewers actually think this is what they saw! The story hasn't been changed in any way simply enhanced visually to better support the narrative. Plus if you don't like it, the original transmitted version is still around of course. This story was an event and a half in 1972. The Daleks back for their first story in seven years, heralded by a stunning Radio Times cover from the pen of Frank Bellamy. Alongside the comic strip cover for the 1971 season the previous year it remains one of the best RT covers ever.

Mission to the Unknown (2019) review

Exactly 54 years after it was broadcast, `Mission to the Unknown` or `Dalek Cutaway` or  `The Beasts from UGH` is back, Back BACK!  The most stunning aspect of this faithful remounting of one of many missing episodes is that after less than a minute you believe you’re watching something from 1964. The tone of the picture, the way it is acted, the tight sets and most of all the odd tilt of those old heavy cameras all seem so authentic. Perhaps the only thing that betrays this as a product of 2019 is that the cast are younger than possibly anyone looked in the Sixties! The product of painstaking research courtesy of the University of Central Lancashire this is quite an achievement. 

Golden Mile Years - The Blackpool Doctor Who Exhibition #2

Blackpool’s Doctor Who Exhibition had a perfect entrance. Sitting just off the main road but visible from it, a TARDIS exterior even larger than the `real` thing sat enticingly open. Colourful signs on the wall to your left invited the eager fan- who really needed no encouragement - to “Defy the Daleks” while clips from the series wafted through the air like sirens attracting their next victims! Not even the warning metallic command “Humanoids will stand still for identification. The TARDIS is under Dalek control” could deter the eager fan. The only ordinary feature of any of this was a toll booth and the fact that the ticket was a generic one without any souvenir value at all as it doesn’t mention what you’ve paid for. However it did only cost 30p! Still that ticket is soon stuffed into a back pocket as you negotiate a descent into darkness. Quite a daring entrance for a public display- normally the sort of thing you’d expect from a ghost train. This long staircase and the fact that from the top you couldn’t see what was down there but you could hear all sorts of noises gave a sense that you really were descending into another world.