Leon E. Bender life

…‘We are the Masters
of Earth! We are the Masters of
Earth! We are the Masters of Earth! Didn’t
your mother - erm, I mean Davros - ever tell you it’s not big or clever to
brag, it’s…

The Dalek Invasion of Earth

In which Barbara
becomes an urban guerrilla; Susan cops off; the Doctor changes the locks; and
Ian slides down an enormous shaft…

X.

(Just a quick word or two before I move on to the review
itself. Regular followers of this blog will realise that this current
instalment is late. Very late. In the second week of July, my partner, William
MacLachlan, was taken ill and died on 3rd August after a mercifully
short illness at the ridiculously young age of fifty. I’m afraid I’ve not seen much humour in the world over the past
few weeks. But life moves on and, having known only too well what a big old
anorak I am, Will would’ve wanted me to continue with this. He never really
“got” the whole Doctor Who thing, but
because he loved me, he attempted to love the show. He watched the New Series with me religiously every
Saturday and was even reduced to tears on more than one occasion (Vincent and the Doctor and The Girl Who Waited spring immediately
to mind). As for the Classic Series…well,
he tried his best bless him. We got all the way through The Green Death and he even managed a couple of episodes of The Time Meddler. However, we only made
it part way through Episode One of The
Brain of Morbius before I took offence at him laughing his head off at
Elisabeth Sladen’s “pretending to fall unconscious” acting and switched the DVD
off in a right old huff. Mind you, that was better than Horror of Fang Rock which lasted all of five seconds…this time it
was his pointing out the not so special effect of the Rutan ship crashing into the sea
that saw me take umbrage. Will was the love of my life and I shall never, ever
forget him. Therefore, I dedicate this blog to his memory. I only wish we
could’ve had even more laughs together…)

While Ian and the Doctor

argue the toss with each

other, as usual, Barbara

gives her bush a good

going over!

- a couple of the TARDIS’s window panels appear to be open as
the ship materialises (again silently), which surely can’t be very healthy for
those inside when it’s travelling through the vortex. Maybe it’s a bit stuffy
inside - perhaps the Doctor should try hanging a Glade
car air freshener over the dashboard. In the previous story its passengers
ended up shit creek because the doors opened whilst in flight, but it would
seem that a window or two slightly ajar isn’t such a big problem.

- Robomen - they’re so slow. Couldn’t the Daleks have given
them bicycles to help them get around a bit quicker. We’re being asked to
perceive them as the living dead, human turned zombie through Dalek
interference - still doesn’t alter the fact that they must be the only beings
on Earth to take about eight months to get through a Quick Reads book though. And speed dating would be completely out
of the question. One thing that niggles - if the Daleks test all future Robomen
for intelligence in the same way they do the Doctor, why in that case does the
transference process seem to knock all such acumen out of them? Perhaps that’s
the point. Convert the clever ones as they’re the greatest danger, they become
pacified, and the thick ones, who aren’t perceived to be a threat, are put to
work in the mines. One of the Robomen is played by Peter Badger…I’d just like
to say I think that’s a bloody fantastic surname.

Ian wondered whether the

authorities would be

prepared to make an

exception for one small,

white-haired old man who

didn't belong on this

planet anyway...

- as the Doctor and Ian look around the warehouse, the
incidental music sounds as though it’s being provided by “The Abominable” Dr. Phibes
on his Hammond organ.

- how marvellous that the art of calendar making didn’t
suffer because of the invasion and that the supplies of Brylcream for David’s hair didn’t dry up.

- in the rebels hidey-hole Susan holds David’s weapon while
he gives it a jolly good rub. Aw, it must be love!

(Fanny) Craddock,

pictured yesterday.

Jesus, it's enough to

scare any Dalek back

to Skaro!

- as Craddock relates the story of the invasion to Ian and
the Doctor in their cell aboard the Dalek saucer, there’s an horrendous amount
of noise going on in the background. It’s like someone smashing their best
China tea service against a wall before going on to operate a lathe. Plus that bloody organ
decides to put in another (aural) appearance!

- the scale of what’s going on in this story is big for Doctor Who - very big - yet the scope of
what we see on screen is somewhat restricted for such a supposedly cataclysmic and all-encompassing world event. It’s all
very well for a Dalek to announce in the second episode that India has been
conquered at who can guess what cost to human life, but when it comes to
actually presenting us with evidence of the international effects of the
invasion it’s a completely different matter. The action never strays any
further afield than London and its immediate environs, and even then it would
seem as if the city got off quite lightly - the extent of the damage done
appears to be limited to Battersea Power Station just losing a couple of
chimneys. Aside from this only brief glimpses of minor damage and general decay
and abandonment are shown - the exterior to Elephant and Castle tube station is
overgrown and its underground concourse is strewn with litter (nothing new
there then!) Mind you, we do get the montage of the Dalek infested, yet
otherwise eerily deserted, streets of the capital itself. Most of the after
effects of the invasion are described verbally, Greek Chorus style, via
dialogue spoken by various characters. Sporadic mentions of such things as an
African rebel group are included in the script to remind us that the fight for
survival the humans we encounter in London are facing is something that is in
fact happening on an unseen scale to survivors all around the world. In a
similar vein references to moonbases, moving pavements and an Astronaut’s Fair are
prompt reminders that we are not in our own time regardless of the fact that
what is seen of Twenty-Second Century Earth is astonishingly similar to what
viewers at the time of the story’s original broadcast would have been used to
in 1964. Not that this is meant as any great criticism. Even in the show today
the spoken word and certain artificial devices are used to scale-up epic
storylines as budgetary restrictions still place limits on what’s achievable.
In a global invasion the like of which we’re witness to in Army of Ghosts / Doomsday
money saving shortcuts such as stock-footage and the use of the media both
contribute towards creating a much bigger picture whilst helping to keep
expenditure down. Nevertheless, the sense of destruction in such stories always
feels a bit small scale to me, but maybe that’s because being such a sad old
fanboy I’m more aware of the lack of time and money and consequently see these
limitations translated to the screen whereas others wouldn’t.

Dortmun, pictured

yesterday. "Yeah,

I know."

- the torn look of Dortmun’s jacket is actually quite trendy.
I’m sure I’ve seen the likes on sale in Top
Man whenever I’ve popped in to try something on that doesn’t fit because I’m
not a fucking size xxxx-small!

- The Daleks - yes,
they’re back! This time they have satellite dishes welded onto their backs,
which, even by the early twenty-first century, seem a bit outdated. Surely
being so advanced they’d have gone Freeview
by now? They also have big bumpers, although it’s just an ordinary sized Dalek
from The Daleks glued onto a thick
rubber base (it looks as if they’re wearing just the one, giant, platform shoe).
What else? Oh yes, their voices are a bit shit this time round…they could’ve
done with a bit of extra modulation - I bet Nick Briggs is just itching to do a
special edition. And we’re also introduced to the very first two-tone Dalek.
Presumably it likes listening to The
Specials.

- the Daleks seen trundling around Trafalgar Square will no
doubt have to scrape a load of pigeon shit off each other’s outer casings when
they finally get back to base.

It had been quit some time

since Ian had been down

his local discotheque and

he was finding the dry ice

a little overwhelming. If

they started the strobe

lighting there was

nothing else for it...

it'd be home for cocoa -

shag or no shag.

- the rebels attack the Daleks’ saucer, which is parked in a
small cupboard underneath somebody’s stairs (well that’s what it feels like -
honestly - there’s not even room to swing a Slyther). Inside, meanwhile, the Doctor is placed on what would appear to
be a Dalek ironing board with a hairdryer attachment at one end. He’s about to
be “robotised”, a process which, upon completion, will see him become slow,
stiff and pretty much incoherent. Hmm, I wonder if we’d even be able to tell
the difference. Heck, it might even help!

- so, after Day of Reckoning aired, we can
presume that Verity was straight on the phone to Edmund Warwick, telling him
not to bother signing on next week as Bill H had been injured after some butter-fingered
actor dropped him on his head as he was being carried out of the Dalek saucer
and consequently had to spend a few days on the sofa in slippers - with Heather
on hand to change the television channels as directed. Consequently, in The
End of Tomorrow we get a lovely close-up of the back of Mr Warwick’s
head, which, after having to sit through him play a full part in The Keys of Marinus (something which
should only be attempted by young children after copious amounts of gin and a
couple of junior aspirin) is about as much as I ever want to see of him ever again.
It’s a pity that events conspired against Billy. After his return he doesn’t
quite regain the forcefulness and authority he had in the earlier episodes
although generally he still shines in this story. And of course this is the
first time the Doctor has come to the rescue of our planet, although it’s a
fairly innocuous start. It’s not something he purposefully sets out to do.
Rather, as is usually the case in the early years, he gets swept up by events
as they unfold and these eventually lead to him almost inadvertently to saving
the day. He’s a very reluctant hero here, but this story does see him take the
first steps on the road to becoming Earth’s champion.

- why do we see a cut-away of Daleks swarming around the
Albert Memorial as Barbara, Jenny and Dortmun attempt to cross Westminster
Bridge? It’s nowhere near the route they take.

- the way David goes about tackling a firebomb (the ticking
of which puts me in mind of Windy Miller’s windmill in Camberwick Green) in The End of Tomorrow is rather
questionable - first he pours acid on it (actually, from the angle at which
it’s shot it looks as if he’s weeing on it) before stabbing its innards with a
bloody big stick. During all this the sodding thing is rocking about like an
apple in a tub of water.

- down in the sewers, Tyler tells David to come up Susan’s
rear. Honestly! There’ll be plenty of time for such things once the Daleks have
been defeated and she’s left the TARDIS crew thank you very much indeed!

- let’s all try and ignore the *ahem* “ferocious” alligator that terrorises Susan shall we. Though,
I would like to point out it’s got no teeth and generally looks as though it’s
just left its egg.

The Daleks were momentarily

thrown...wasn't Davros

supposed to have an electric

wheelchair?

- Ian and Larry are attacked by the Black Dalek’s pet - the
Slyther…a creature which resembles a cross between a large sprout and an even
larger bogey. ‘ROAR’ it kindly announces so that we all know it’s supposed to
be taken as a threat and not something to wet ourselves laughing over as it
approaches the pair…erm, menacingly, waving its front appendage about
furiously. Bless it! 10/10 for effort, 0/10 for effect.

- Ian takes a journey to the centre of the Earth first in a
bucket and then in a bomb! I bet getting to work was never dull during his
teaching days.

- the Dalek’s say they’re looking for the main shaft. I
wonder if this could be a remnant from the drilling seen in Inferno. We’re also told that the
Dalek’s mining down to the core of the planet won’t cause an eruption as they
know how to ‘control the flow of living energy’ (cocky sods). Ha! I bet
Professor Stahlman wishes he could say the same thing. I wonder if there’s any
Primord activity in Bedfordshire…hairy Daleks, eurgh!

Barbara was furious...cold callers on a Sunday! Grrr...

- when the Daleks communicate over long distances their
eyestalks go up. I’ve always found this very funny. It looks as if they’re
rolling their eyes.

- it’s nice of the Daleks to announce their plans over the
loudspeaker system in The Waking Ally. Project:
De-gravitate? More like Project: Put Your Foot in It. The plan is unusual to
say the least. Basically they’re going to treat the planet like a large Walnut Whip…lob off the top and
scoop out the middle (using a bomb rather than their tongues I hasten to
add. Not that they have tongues. Oh, and don’t try using a bomb on a Walnut Whip at home for heaven’s sake!)
They then plan to replace the Earth’s core with a big remote control drive
device thingy and guide it around the universe like, well…like a remote control
Dalek to be honest (although hopefully they won’t ram the Earth into the leg of
the coffee table as often as I do my twelve inch radio controlled). Is that
really the best reason for their presence you could come up with Terry? Really?

- oh look…a big “Earth Mover”. I wonder if that’s also
Barbara’s nickname for Ian?

Utter bloody filth I'm telling

you. Don't these programme

makers realise there are

sensitive anorak types

watching who don't stand

a hope in hell of ever

getting their ends away?

It's just cruel taunting!

YOU BASTARDS!

- Ian finds himself trapped in a ‘penetration device’! Some
gentlemen would pay good money for that. Fancy taking refuge in a bloody great
bomb that’s about to be dropped into the centre of the Earth! Hell…I bet hide-and-seek with Coal Hill’s finest would be a risky business if ever you
were to join in a game with him. I can imagine that as a child he was always
squeezing himself into a boiling hot immersion-heater tank or cramming himself
into his parent’s gas oven in order to outwit his playmates.

- in writing this story, it’s plain to see that Terry Nation
drew heavily on the feelings of isolation and anxiety he experienced as a child
during the Second World War when sitting alone in an air-raid shelter while his
parents were off doing their own individual bits for the war effort. Analogies
to the conflict are numerous throughout, the foremost of them being the Daleks
themselves, of course, who, just like the Nazis that threatened to take away
all that was dear to young Terry, are driven by their quest for attaining the
ultimate goal of purity, uniformity and total suppression of free-will. Mr
Nation here gives vent to his darkest boyhood fears of "alien" invaders
patrolling the streets of Britain - insecurities which are made manifest when
we witness the pepperpots from Skaro doing their equivalent of goose-stepping
around familiar landmarks in the capital. We’re also introduced to a bunch of
rebels who are barely disguised counterparts to the Resistance movement that
was active throughout Northern Europe at the time of his formative years, while
the Robomen are representative of the ordinary men and women whose lives were
literally snatched away from them overnight in the face of the irrepressible
Nazi war-machine, and who found themselves having to literally exist under a
different set of ideals and rules. The women Barbara and Jenny encounter in the
woods are collaborators who will no doubt be ostracised in a similar way to
their World War Two counterparts once the invasion has been overthrown, while
we get to see the equivalent of a concentration camp when we finally arrive at
the mine workings in Bedfordshire. References to fire-bombs bring to mind
images of the doodlebug attacks that caused so much devastation to London in
the early 1940’s, whereas the Daleks’ announcement of their plans to kill all
humans being referred to as ‘the final solution’ is a deliberate harkening back
to Hitler’s long term plan for the Jews. There are even scenes in the final
episode where we see the allied forces of the once submissive and downtrodden
attacking the bunker and crushing the might of their oppressor’s evil regime.

- Cry Watch - well, yes,
the ending. It had to be really didn’t it? The awkwardness in the final scene
between the Doctor and Susan is absolutely gut-wrenching, and it’s so
beautifully played (and written) that we instinctively know exactly what’s
going through each of their minds as the final moment approaches. The way they
talk about the hole in her shoe is not only utterly realistic - as both
desperately try to avoid broaching the subject in hand - but also one of the
rare moments where the performances step over into the realms of total naturalism.
And as the Doctor enters the TARDIS and takes one last look back at his beloved
grandchild we can see in his face that he knows this will probably be the last
time he will ever see her, although it’s not until he forces himself to make
the ultimate decision to shut and lock the doors that her fate is finally
sealed. It’s an astonishingly emotional scene, given a much needed lightness of
touch with Ian not getting the message that Susan and David want to be alone
and Barbara practically having to drag him away (no wonder they never seem to
get anywhere with each other). Once they have been given some space, Susan and
David can’t even bring themselves to look at each other as they talk, so
strongly does the emotion of the situation affect them both…in fact at one
point Susan does that thing she did way back in her first story of flinging
herself about whenever things overwhelm her and she can’t cope (which I’ve
always thought is a fascinating character trait and conveys just how alien and
highly-strung she is). The Doctor’s speech over the communications system is
magnificent and William Hartnell delivers it superbly. It’s terribly moving.
What a sacrifice the Doctor has made. And as if things weren’t poignant enough,
we then get a veritable funeral march played once the TARDIS has departed, and
a gorgeous shot of Susan’s discarded key - which has fallen out of her deadened
grasp - against a photograph of the stars that were once her home. The choice
she faces is agonising and we feel every moment of it with her. Even Peter
Fraser as David rises to the challenge and plays the departure scene incredibly well - his whispered ‘Susan’ as he holds out his hand for her to
take is haunting. ‘He knew, he knew you could never leave him’. Completely
stunning.

- Death-O-Meter: 50. Roboman - commits suicide by
chucking himself in the Thames. I suppose what with there being no telephone
service due to the invasion and all that, calling the Samaritans for help was
always going to be out of the question; 51.
Thomson - exterminated at Chelsea heliport. What did he do? Complain
about there being a lack of first class passenger lounge? 52 - 57. Rebels - exterminated during the raid on the Dalek
saucer (one as he’s trying to escape down a manhole, although the Dalek operator
who kills him isn’t quite in control of his machine and appears to exterminate
a brick wall instead). Tyler says all of the men were killed during the attack,
while Baker thinks four or five got away. Look chaps, this is no good to me at
all! In order to keep an accurate tally I need facts for god’s sake; 58. Dalek - exterminated by a
fellow Dalek whilst being attacked by two rebels. So a victim of friendly
fire…if you can ever call a Dalek “friendly”; 59. Jack Craddock - robotised, set upon by Ian and Larry,
then walks into the Dalek’s transference device and electrocutes himself. Tut -
clumsy; 60. Man -
exterminated in the street in the Dalek equivalent of happy-slapping; 61. Baker - exterminated as he
sets off for Cornwall. So much for holidaying in Britain; 62. Dortmun - exterminated whilst trying to prove a point.
Twat; 63. Dalek - squished by
Babs in a dustcart (bet the street leading up to her apartment was awash with
flat hedgehogs); 64. Ashton -
killed by the Slyther. Still, no great loss. He was, after all, rather a bad
egg (you could tell that from the fact he was wearing a sports jacket); 65. Slyther - it jumps, it
misses, it’s hit on the head with a rock by Ian, it falls down a ruddy great
chasm (Terry Nation is completely obsessed with big gaping holes…he really
should have tried to get that sorted out); 66.
Roboman - shot down the sewer by Tyler (wonder if he’s a future
relation of the Powell Estate Tyler’s?); 67.
Larry Madison - shot by his robotised brother, Phil; 68. Phil Madison - strangled by
his un-robotised brother, Larry. Still, nothing like keeping it in the family,
is there; 69 - 74. Daleks -
we see at least six croak either because their power is turned off or because
they’re attacked by revolting slaves.

(We also see an already dead Roboman fall out of a
cardboard box in World’s End - he’d been stabbed by David Tennant…erm…Campbell;
a big busty blonde is chopped down by a Roboman in a flashback sequence in
Episode Two but whether or not she dies is unclear. Interestingly, a Dalek
fondles her right tit with its sucker just before the blow is dealt [the same
woman would appear to pop up in Episode Three, although she’s probably supposed
to be a different character]; Tyler shoots the alligator - awww, poor thing was
probably only looking for its mummy; finally, all the Daleks on Earth are
killed in the upwards rush of the explosion as they hover over the mine
workings in their spaceships.)



- the tone of this story is unremittingly grim for the most
part. From the opening scene of the Roboman whose conditioning has broken down
chucking himself into the river to end his pain - a completely shocking act
which sets the mood perfectly for what is to follow (we’re used to the odd
instances of self-sacrifice in the show, but deliberate suicide is something
altogether different) - through to Larry discovering his brother has been
converted into a servant of the Dalek’s and then killing him and vice-versa, we
are presented with a series of random acts and past recollections which wholly
capture what a tragedy the invasion has been for humanity as a whole. It’s only
in the final episode that we see any kind of light at the end of tunnel. The
notice under the bridge next to where the TARDIS lands, about not dumping
bodies into the river, is extremely chilling. This is the twenty-second century
and yet it’s clear that when the sickness really took hold and the emergency
services became overwhelmed, the populace of London acted the same way their
ancestors did during the plague epidemics of the fourteenth and seventeenth
centuries. ‘They used to say Earth had the smell of death about it’ - this is
just like Survivors, Terry Nation’s
other pessimistic take on the future of our world, only with the Dalek’s
providing the apocalyptic force. The death of the man off screen in Day
of Reckoning with David and Susan listening on as he rails against the
Dalek’s for killing his wife and brother emphasises the fact that this must
surely be one of the most brutal and bleakest of times the Doctor and his
companions have landed in so far. And as if the content of the story itself
wasn’t gloomy enough, the individual episode titles themselves only serve to
bolster the general air of doom and gloom, from the biblical sounding Worlds
End and Day of Reckoning to the Bond
movie-esque The End of Tomorrow.

Score On The
TARDIS Doors - 8 - the real problem
with this story is that if you look too closely you’ll see there’s very
little actual substance to it. It relies on the big central premise of the
Daleks on Earth to carry it through all six episodes and apart from some,
admittedly, entertaining and affecting diversions, not a huge amount happens.
It’s a story that follows our heroes as they get split up and attempt to escape
from London, travel up the wooden hill to Bedfordshire and bugger up the
Daleks (somewhat curious) plans. It might have been a far more interesting had it all been set during the initial days of the invasion and the events
that followed in its wake condensed, but that would've made for a different
story entirely, and here, Terry Nation is more interested in showing us what
it’s like to live under occupation and how it affects the world and its
populace. A story written by Terry Nation and directed by Richard Martin really
shouldn’t work. Yet, despite some of the action sequences being a bit laboured,
it’s great fun. And no matter what your opinion of it, whether you love it
because it’s a typical example of how extraordinarily versatile the Hartnell
years could be at their best or loathe it because it’s yet another example of
Terry Nation again pouring out formulaic, apocalypse obsessed tosh, you have to
admit that it is a fairly important story in the history of the show. For the
first time ever we get to see an all too familiar Earth in, admittedly fairly
metaphorical, ruins thanks to the presence of an evil alien invader - it’s the
first story of its kind and its legacy is still felt in the series even now. Stories
such as The Last of the Time Lords and
The Stolen Earth might do the whole
invasion of the Earth genre visually bigger and bolder but we shouldn’t forget
that the origins of such epic adventures lie in this humble little six parter
that was originally due to round off the first season of Doctor Who.

[left] Wow! The special effects in this story are absolutely fucking amazing considering it was

filmed in 1964! [right] Hang on a mo'. Oh...shit!