DALEKS' INVASION EARTH 2150 A.D.
BLU-RAY
RRP: £19.99
BBFC: U
Released by: StudioCanal
Release date: 27 May 2013
Click on the screenshot thumbnails below to access full HD images.
"They've bombarded us with meteorites, subjected us to cosmic rays, smashed our cities, destroyed whole continents of people – and some of us they've turned into living dead"
Doctor Who’s second (and, to date,
final) outing on the big screen came in 1966, with the release of Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. Again
starring Peter Cushing as Dr Who, this sequel to the previous year’s Dr Who and the Daleks is even more
ambitious than its predecessor. The Daleks are back with a deadly plot, and this
time around, the action is coming to Earth…
Unlike the
first film, Invasion Earth makes use
of a pre-titles sequence (in the correct place – at least one prior DVD release
has moved the scene to after the opening credits), depicting London Special
Constable Tom Campbell (Bernard Cribbins) trying and failing to stop a burglary
at a jewellery shop. Right from the off, this scene demonstrates a key fact
about Invasion Earth: it is considerably
more action-oriented than the first film. There are explosions, fights and
stunts, and while they were present in the preceding film, there is a greater
quantity of them here, meaning that Invasion
Earth doesn’t feel as ‘talky’ as the film that came before it. Indeed, one
stunt proved to be dramatic on- and off-screen, as stuntman Eddie Powell broke
his ankle while performing a fall.
Just as Dr Who and the Daleks was based on the
BBC serial The Daleks, this film is
based on the Daleks’ second appearance on the small screen, 1964’s The Dalek Invasion of Earth. In my
review of the first film, I discussed the differences between the universes of
the film and television versions in general, and Invasion Earth also differs in some ways from the specific serial
it is based upon. Whereas the original story features the Doctor, Susan, Ian
and Barbara, the film replaces the latter two with Tom and Dr Who’s niece
Louise (Jill Curzon), who appear alongside Dr Who and his granddaughter Susan
(Roberta Tovey). Additionally, the monstrous Slyther from the TV story is
absent from the film (many would say that this is a good thing), though the
fundamental story remains very similar, albeit with a different take on the
conclusion. The time travellers lose access to TARDIS in exactly the same way
as they do on TV, a classic plot device of Terry Nation – who wrote the original
story – and the iconic cliffhanger moment of a Dalek emerging from beneath the
water of the Thames is also repeated for the film. Although, the question remains
of what exactly it was doing down there!
This is
altogether a more impressive spectacle than the first film, with TARDIS
bringing the travellers to London in the year 2150, but it’s a very different city
to the one we recognise. Much of it lies in ruins, and there is a great deal of
mystery about what has happened and why London is so deserted. Whereas the
first film was largely limited to a few locations, Invasion Earth takes place on a massively larger stage, as the time
travellers and a group of resistance fighters have to make the perilous journey
from London to Bedfordshire, where the Daleks’ mysterious plan is unfolding.
All of the principal cast get something to do (certainly more so than in the
first film) and it’s great to see a lot of location work here, something which
was almost entirely absent from the previous film. The cinematography is
excellent, with amazing use being made of the widescreen Techniscope format by
director Gordon Flemyng and cinematographer John Wilcox. Dr Who and Tom’s
search through a warehouse is very atmospheric, with Flemyng and Wilcox making the most of
the set. Another notable scene is one in which we explore the Daleks’
control centre – you can really get a sense of depth, as the shaky camera moves
around the large space. At one point it focuses on a Dalek on the other side of
the room and follows its movement; while this sequence stands
out as being quite unusual in the wider context of the film’s cinematography,
it is a very creative idea and one of the film’s most memorable moments.
The music in
Invasion Earth is composed by Bill
McGuffie, with electronic elements provided by Barry Gray. It really evokes the
period in which the film was made, and also sounds a bit similar in places to
the score of the original TV story, with its percussion sounds underlining
certain scenes within London. The main theme music is a different composition
to that in Dr Who and the Daleks, and
it has a drastically faster pace. This is appropriate given how much more
exciting and set-piece oriented this film is. Although primarily orchestral, the
electronic elements are a nice touch. Overall, the music
represents what this film is: science fiction, sixties style.
Cushing’s
portrayal of Dr Who (a human alternative to the TV series’ Time Lord) is much
along the same lines as in the previous film, with all of the same values and
characteristics present here. An eccentric, kind and extremely clever inventor,
he has all of the principles of the small screen Doctor, even though he is
essentially a different character. There’s something about Cushing which just
seems right for the role, as he works on every level in the part. It’s amusing how readily Dr Who allows Tom, a
complete stranger, on-board TARDIS (although he did enter by accident) –
they swiftly become friends, and Cribbins is absolutely wonderful throughout
the film as Tom’s disbelief soon turns to wonder and then curiosity. In my
review of Dr Who and the Daleks, I
said that Cushing is the person who made that film so special. In this case,
I’d suggest that it is Cribbins, as he is just a joy to watch. One very
memorable scene features him having to pretend to be one of the Daleks’
robotised slaves, and Cribbins really goes for it.
Tovey
returns to her role as Susan, and she is as fantastic here as she was in the
first film. Again, the relationship between Susan and her grandfather is
lovely, and it really shows through in the actors’ performances. In fact,
Cushing apparently said that he would only return for a second film if Tovey
came back as well, which is a really touching story. Although, Susan is
separated from Dr Who for a large amount of the running time, as she has to
make her own journey with rebel leader Wyler (Andrew Keir). This builds on Dr Who and the Daleks, in which Susan
bravely volunteers to make a dangerous journey on her own, and Tovey’s scenes
with Keir in this film are a highlight. Curzon works well alongside Cribbins,
and for a while the pair must face danger in their own part of the plot. Invasion Earth is arguably skewed more
towards Dr Who, Tom and Susan, but as Louise, Curzon gets more to do than Jennie Linden did in the first film.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Restoring
Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (HD 1080/50i) is a short featurette
about the film’s restoration for this Blu-ray. The beginning is very similar to
the start of the equivalent feature on the Dr
Who and the Daleks Blu-ray, with an explanation of the advantages and
disadvantages of Techniscope. This time though, the topic is expanded slightly,
with discussion of Flemyng’s skilled use of the format. This is followed by
interviews with some of those responsible for the restoration at Deluxe, with a
quick glimpse at how the clean-up and grading was dealt with. This is a highly
interesting (albeit brief) item, and it’s great that the people who made the
film look and sound as good as it does have had a chance to appear on-screen
and talk about their work.
A new interview with Bernard Cribbins (HD
1080/50i) appears. At just over four minutes long, it’s a shame that this item
isn’t a bit longer, but it’s still great to hear Cribbins’ memories of the
production. He explains that he had worked with Cushing before, and shares some
memories of the late actor (whose centenary is this year). My favourite of the
stories he recalls involves the cast ending up giggling uncontrollably,
resulting in a stern telling off from Flemyng. Cribbins also talks about his
audition for the part of the Fourth Doctor on TV (which eventually went to Tom
Baker) – this is a nice reminder that while the films inhabit a different
universe to the one we are used to, it’s all ultimately part of the same thing.
The sound on this interview is somewhat on the quiet side (which is also the
case with Gareth Owen’s interviews on both this release and that of the
previous film), but that doesn’t spoil a lovely little interview with a legend
of the industry.
The new interview with Gareth Owen (HD
1080/50i) is around the same length as the Cribbins feature, and it is a bit
stronger than the corresponding item on the Dr
Who and the Daleks Blu-ray. The author of the book The Shepperton Story explains that this film was created in an
attempt to capitalise upon the success of the previous one, although it ran
into some problems during production; Owen expresses his belief that Cushing
was “slightly underused” in the finished film due to the actor being written
out of some scenes because he was unwell. The feature concludes with Owen
discussing some of the reasons why a third film didn’t happen, and he reads a
“favourable” tabloid review which really isn’t very favourable at all,
demonstrating how vitriolic the critical reaction was at the time.
A new Stills Gallery (HD 1080/24p) shows some
images relating to the film. This is by no means the most comprehensive gallery
ever, but it does show some interesting shots (of the model Dalek saucer, for
example), in addition to a variety of promotional publications. Finally, the
original theatrical trailer (SD
576/50i) is included. It shares one of the oddities seen in the Dr Who and the Daleks trailer, namely
referring to the Daleks as “men of steel”, but it is nevertheless fun to watch.
The audio leaves something to be desired, as there are no less than four
dropouts in the soundtrack, but this does at least allow for comparison with
the HD restoration – something which is also true of the picture quality.
AUDIO/VIDEO
Invasion Earth’s mono audio is presented
as a lossless LPCM 2.0 soundtrack. Generally, the audio is very satisfying
considering the age of the source material, with clear dialogue and strong,
immersive music. There is one scene in which I noticed that the audio becomes
more muffled, quite noticeably so compared to the surrounding material. But
luckily, things get back to normal pretty quickly. Compared to the unrestored
audio which can be heard on the trailer (which is plagued with dropouts), the
restored audio on the main feature really is a revelation.
The source
for the video is a 35mm interpositive produced from the original Techniscope
negatives. This is presented at 1080/24p in its correct aspect ratio of 2.35:1,
encoded with MPEG-4 AVC. The technical advantages of shooting with Techniscope
come at the expense of picture quality. Whereas an ordinary 35mm film frame
occupies four perforations on the film, Techniscope pictures only use two. This
means that when the film is blown up to any significant size (either a cinema
screen, or as in this case, a 1080p HD transfer), it becomes quite grainy.
Thankfully, this grainy aesthetic that is a part of the Techniscope process is
preserved on this Blu-ray, without any overzealous attempts to ‘improve’ the
picture. Because of the limitations of the Techniscope process, the picture
quality of this Blu-ray isn’t comparable to a lot of 4-perf 35mm film transfers
that are available on the format, but nevertheless, the benefits of HD are very
apparent. Something which seems to be inherent in Techniscope footage is that
scenes with high-key lighting look quite a lot better than those with low-key
lighting, so daytime scenes in Invasion
Earth are where the most impressive shots can be found. The darker scenes
occasionally have a blue or green tint to them, and the black levels are
variable. Sometimes blacks are very deep, while other times dark scenes have a murky grey feel to them. So, the darker
shots are quite inconsistent (which is almost certainly because the Techniscope
process itself isn’t as well-suited to that sort of material), but it is the
daytime scenes which truly shine on this Blu-ray. I’d say that this release
looks better in this regard than the Blu-ray of Dr Who and the Daleks – perhaps that’s because of the naturalness
of the location filming, rather than the more artificial nature of the
studio-bound scenes which prevailed in the first film. But whatever the reason, more brightly-lit material has a
stunning vibrancy to it considering the source materials, and is more
consistent in its clarity than Dr Who and
the Daleks, which varies more on a shot-by-shot basis. The colour grading
is accurate to the original intentions of the filmmakers (the interpositive
used for this transfer already had colour grading applied to it), and it has a
very naturalistic feel to it while still conveying the bold, Technicolor
selling point of the film. The restoration has resulted in a very clean, stable
presentation; of course, there is a blemish in the film every now and again,
but this doesn’t detract from how lovely the film looks overall.
Below are
comparisons between the 2006 Optimum DVD and the 2013 Blu-ray – above is the
DVD release and below is the Blu-ray. For the best comparison, open each image
in its own tab and flick between the two.
Please note that this Blu-ray is locked to Region B. Anyone who imports it to another region should ensure that their region-free equipment supports 50i content, as this is the format the menu and certain extras are presented in.
SUMMARY
SUMMARY
After this one, no further big-screen films based on Doctor Who were made. The critical reception was dire, and unlike the first film (which still managed to be a roaring commercial success), the press reaction probably put a dent into the box office takings of Invasion Earth. Maybe the novelty had worn off – whereas Dr Who and the Daleks sold itself primarily through being in colour and widescreen, perhaps this was a trick that only worked once. It’s a huge shame that the films didn’t continue – if the first film was great then this one is amazing. The narrative is far grander, and we can only guess at what might have been forthcoming had the idea continued. It would have been interesting to see a film starring Cushing as Dr Who which didn’t have Daleks in, although the box office prospects might not have been spectacular. But now we’re entering the realm of infinite what-ifs. Looking at Invasion Earth as a whole, it is largely a thrilling viewing experience, head and shoulders above the first film with fine performances from the cast and amazing direction and cinematography. Where the extras are concerned, it would have been better if they were a little longer (especially the Cribbins interview), but they are still enjoyable and complement the film nicely. The restoration does the best it can with the source material, and while the darker scenes aren’t brilliant, the daytime ones are absolutely worth the price of the Blu-ray. All in all, Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. is a stunning conclusion to an alternative world of Doctor Who, and it’s never looked as good as this.
8 OUT OF 10
Thanks to StudioCanal
