Doctor Who: The Dalek Invasion of Earth
(6 episodes, s02e04-e09, 1964)
This was a great episode cover to cover, even with the dubious plot to steal an entire planet. Every one of the characters gets a chance to shine: The Doctor works through the puzzle in the Dalek jail cell, and helps Ian understand it as well; Barbara and Susan contribute to the fight at the Dalek saucer, which speaks volumes considering the lack of empowered women in 1960s science fiction; Barbara displays her intelligence and improv skills in stalling the Daleks by playing on their ignorance of human history; and Susan… oh, Susan.
Once again, Susan is yearning to grow, but is frustrated in trying to figure out how exactly to do so. David seems like a good mentor to help her find an identity and a place to thrive. The Doctor’s grudging respect for him points to this as well, and it was heart-wrenching to see him finally let his granddaughter go. It was interesting how much Susan grew on me in the short time she was on the show. After the credits rolled, I couldn’t press play to start the next serial because I felt like I needed time to say goodbye.
Even among the secondary characters, the development was great. Particularly, I point to the wheelchair-bound scientist’s sacrifice to test his Dalek killing grenade. It was very chilling, since he died in vain.
Some last notes on characters, it was good to see the Doctor back in his signature jacket. This episode also reinforced a couple of things with his character. First, he doesn’t kill unless under a direct threat, which will be interesting to track over this project. Second, he very clearly established that he prefers the name (title?) Doctor, and not the shortened form of Doc.
Finally, William Russell (Ian) sure does like testing the limits of the sets, doesn’t he? He keeps running headlong into set pieces that shouldn’t bend, but do under the power of his spirited no-holds-barred acting style.
Production-wise, this story has a lot of action and explosive effects. The location shoots make the story feel much more open, especially in the transit to the museum. The TARDIS looked rather beat up with the windows out of place. I loved seeing the Dalek coming out of the river at the end of the first episode. That innovative idea was so exciting to me, I can hardly imagine how kids felt when this serial first aired.
The one downside to me was the slyther. It is certainly an interesting creature, though it doesn’t make much sense that the Daleks would keep a pet given their desire to destroy everything not Dalek. But that is a minor quibble in this gem of an episode.
Rating: 5/5 – “Fantastic!”
UP NEXT – Doctor Who: The Rescue
The Timestamps Project is an adventure through the televised universe of Doctor Who, story by story, from the beginning of the franchise. For more reviews like this one, please visit the project’s page at Creative Criticality.
Creative Criticality 
Another thing that I liked about this story is you get more sense of scale even in the studio shots. The show was finally allowed to move to a bigger studio space with this one because they could already tell that they had a big success with the Daleks, so you get some nice shots from high up and get some angles and some sense of scope. The only problem is that now with the cleaned up DVD version you can tell that some of the city is a painted backdrop near where the Dalek saucer is parked in London. I’m glad that you liked that one and glad that you found Susan’s leaving to be a suitably emotional moment.
[…] me how little remorse The Doctor shows over Susan’s departure. It has bothered me since The Dalek Invasion of Earth how much better the Doctor interacts with Vicki than he did with his own granddaughter. Did Susan […]
[…] It will be sad to seem him go with only two serials to go. Before I start into Series Four, however, I plan to visit the Peter Cushing big screen interpretation one last time with the remake of Series Two’s The Dalek Invasion of Earth. […]
[…] the Dalek rising from the sand is cool, but not as much as the one that emerged from the water in The Dalek Invasion of Earth. Overall, I quite liked the story with the Aridians. It struck me as kind of the reverse of the […]
[…] of Giants – 4 The Dalek Invasion of Earth – 5 The Rescue – 4 The Romans – 4 The Web Planet – 1 The […]
[…] for The Dalek Invasion of Earth: 5/5 Rating for Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.: […]
[…] Time Lord: The same species as the Monk, Susan, and the Doctor. Oh, […]
[…] There was one brilliant pop culture moment (“What did you expect? Some kind of space rocket with Batman at the controls?”) and one missed moment that highlights another difference between the Doctors (Sutton repeatedly calls the Doctor “Doc”, which his first incarnation vehemently despised). […]
[…] that these events are a predestination paradox started by one of the rebel guerrillas setting a Dalekanium bomb in an attempt to stop the future of enslavement and death from coming to pass. At that point, […]
[…] a heart-touching introduction by the First Doctor, we find the Fifth Doctor – To save on confusion, I’m going to call […]
[…] a heart-touching introduction by the First Doctor, we find the Fifth Doctor – To save on confusion, I’m going to call […]
[…] Doctor’s task, and Tegan joins him. Amusingly, the First Doctor still has a great deal of resentment at being addressed as […]
[…] dislike of the nickname “Doc”. We’ve seen it at least four times before: The Dalek Invasion of Earth, The Time Meddler, The Five Doctors, and The Twin […]
[…] empty shells ready for experimentation and genetic splicing, and all they need is power. Enter the dalekanium plates on the building’s roof and a large solar […]
[…] potentially trained as a Time Lord. But the First Doctor was also comfortable leaving her behind on post-invasion Earth, circa 2164. Would he have left her behind, knowing that she could potentially regenerate in the […]
[…] time and space and formed into an engine. The Doctor recalls that someone tried to steal the Earth a long time ago, but it can’t […]
[…] and/or Resurrection of the Daleks, the disc-backed units in silver-and-black-striped livery from The Dalek Invasion of Earth, the gold-ringed versions from The Chase, the gold units from Day of the Daleks and Frontier in […]
[…] In the market near the pyramid, the Doctor introduces Clara to Pan-Babylonians, a Lugalirakush, some Eukanians, a Hooloovoo, and an Ultramanta. He does a ritual greeting with a Terraberserker of the Cadonian Belt, then mentions that he forgot how much he liked it there. After all, he’s been there once before while traveling with his granddaughter. […]
[…] Black Archive pinboards hold tons of photo references to the franchise’s history, including: Susan Foreman; Barbara Wright & Ian Chesterton; Vicki Pallister; Katarina & Sara Kingdom; Steven Taylor; […]
[…] the ending with the speech from The Dalek Invasion of Earth was the perfect place to end. It marks this film as a wonderful tribute to both William Hartnell […]
[…] the school. The Doctor may not recognize her name directly, but he should recognize Danny Pink and Susan Foreman. Just like Sunnydale High, Coal Hill acknowledges that there’s something strange in the […]
[…] stands darkly in the corner of the office, apparently out of order, and photos of River Song and Susan decorate the desk alongside a small jar of sonic screwdrivers. The Doctor makes his entrance with […]