Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 AD (1966)

 

Yep, they made another one of these. Not that the first one was so needed, but since when has that ever stopped someone, right? 

Just as with the first iteration of Doctor Who in cinemas, this one is based on the serials and they decided to go for the more action driven 'Invasion Earth' storyline. Well, I do say 'action', but keep in mind that this will always be relatively low key thanks to the budget constraints. However, they did manage a fairly impressive depiction of a London completely destroyed by war as the Daleks have now taken over Earth. Sort of. 

Without any buildup, a police officer runs into the Tardis and immediately everyone's off to the year 2150. The police officer is taking it all pretty well, considering the circumstances. They all discover that the Earth is now under the iron rule of the Daleks, who have made their base close to London. They have also managed to either kill most people of turn them into Robo-Men, soulless slave soldiers. 

Is this rather akin to the Cybermen from the same franchise? Why yes. 

In any case, Doctor Who now has to try and figure out how to stop the nefarious Daleks and their plot to do something to the Earth's core, which is why they're drilling a massive mineshaft straight into the Earth.

No, the plot doesn't make a lot of sense. 

This one tries to do a lot more than the first one, as that one kept things rather low key in a studio. Here, you even get outside locales. But this one is so erratic and full of plotholes it becomes unnerving. Things just happen and they are then stitched together in order to create the sense of a story, but there is so much missing it is not even funny. Again: the serials build up the story a lot better with more time. They even try to recreate the shot of Daleks rising from the Thames, which (despite its technical shortcomings) was a very strong image on tv. Here, the Dalek just quickly pops up and that's it. Talk about anticlimactic. 

It is also rather infuriating that this film either gives us too much exposition, or too little. Plot points that needn't be explained get a lot of attention, but why some characters do certain things that need explaining, get none. In the end, the whole film just feels quickly cobbled together and absolutely messy. 

Stuff for the hardcore fans? Perhaps, but even they will agree that this one doesn't work.