An Unsung Doctor Who

[Diamond Cross]

So I was perusing Hulu last night and I came across an old Doctor Who movie. It's called "Doctor Who And The Daleks". And it had a few surprises. But I only watched about the first five minutes of it or so because I couldn't stand the video quality.

The first and biggest surprise, is that Peter Cushing played The Doctor. Yes, that's right. Peter Cushing. The guy who played Tarkin in Star Wars Ep IV and Helsing in the Hammer Dracula films.

He had invented the Tardis in this movie.

He had a daughter and a granddaughter.

And to my surprise, the design of these Daleks.....

Are the design for the new Daleks in the third Doctor Who episode. Or at least are very close. If you want evidence, here's the link:

Dr. Who And The Daleks - Hulu

If the link doesn't work you can find the movie in the D section of the movies page titled "Dr. Who And The Daleks".

And this movie was made in 1985

Mind you, I am not complaining except for the poor video quality. I find it hilarious. BUT.....

It just seems to me that fans have forgotten this movie and have forgotten that Peter Cushing once played the Doctor. I'm just not sure what to make of it.

 

[Felon]

It's not forgotten. Last week someone posted a pic of the movie poster over in the other Doctor Who thread. There just isn't a great deal of reason to bring it up, because it kicks itself out of canon, notably by making the character an earthling scientist whose surname is actually "Who". That tends to put a big, fat "that doesn't count" label on the whole thing.

 

[Diamond Cross]

Ah, I hadn't seen it since I just looked at that on Hulu last night.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

It just seems to me that fans have forgotten this movie and have forgotten that Peter Cushing once played the Doctor. I'm just not sure what to make of it.

Twice, actually. He made another Who vs. the Daleks movie. As has been said, the reason he isn't mentioned in canon is because they made him an earthling instead of a Time Lord. Why is anyone's guess.

 

[Mark]

The first Cushing Dr Who movie was made in 1965 -

Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965)

For a good read on earlier Dr Who stuff, pick up this large coffee table book -

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Doctor-Who-Celebration-Decades-Through/dp/0491033516/ref=sr_1_103?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273003378&sr=1-103]Amazon.com: Doctor Who: A Celebration; Two Decades Through Time and Space (9780491033510): Peter Haining: Books[/ame]

 

[Morrus]

It's not unsung, but it's not regarded as canon. And, as Mark pointed out, it was made in 1965, not 1985.

The Doctor has always had a grandaughter - Susan appeared in the very first series of Doctor Who ever with William Hartnell. If I recall the Cushing movie, was he not a human inventor rather than a Time Lord? And his actual name was "Doctor Who"? It's been many years since I've seen it. It's very, very old and pretty bad.

There was also Dalek Invasion of Earth in 1966, again starring Cushing.

They were both movie retellings of already shown TV stories with William Hartnell as the Doctor.

 

[Felon]

The Doctor has always had a grandaughter - Susan appeared in the very first series of Doctor Who ever with William Hartnell. If I recall the Cushing movie, was he not a human inventor rather than a Time Lord? And his actual name was "Doctor Who"?

What am I, Claude Rains?

 

[Plane Sailing]

I never liked "Doctor Who and the Daleks" much, apart from Roy Castle who was a favourite of mine as a kid.

On the other hand I still rather rate "Daleks, invasion earth" which included Bernard Cribbins as an accidental 'assistant' (which the recent involvement of Cribbins has always been a nice nod to IMO). The basic idea of human resistance fighters against the daleks worked well, and some of the scenes with the dalek spaceship were excellent, with a real sense of scale.

 

[Mark]

It's not unsung, but it's not regarded as canon. And, as Mark pointed out, it was made in 1965, not 1985.

The Doctor has always had a grandaughter - Susan appeared in the very first series of Doctor Who ever with William Hartnell. If I recall the Cushing movie, was he not a human inventor rather than a Time Lord? And his actual name was "Doctor Who"? It's been many years since I've seen it. It's very, very old and pretty bad.

There was also Dalek Invasion of Earth in 1966, again starring Cushing.

They were both movie retellings of already shown TV stories with William Hartnell as the Doctor.

That's it exactly. I can only imagine that when they found money for the movies, they thought adjusting the character by making him actually human from Earth might draw a wider audience. In retrospect, it was a bad decision.

 

[Rykion]

That's it exactly. I can only imagine that when they found money for the movies, they thought adjusting the character by making him actually human from Earth might draw a wider audience. In retrospect, it was a bad decision.

The Doctor really hadn't been defined in the TV series though. While making him Doctor Who instead of just the Doctor was a movie change, a lot of the movie background didn't conflict with the series at the time. The Time Lords didn't appear by name until the season 6 story The War Games. I believe it was the same story that revealed that the Doctor stole the TARDIS. So the TV series didn't get around to filling in some of the blanks until 1969.