Dr. Who and the Movies that Never Were

its time for another review from thy eerie and surreal universe where Amicus never stopped making Doctor Who films.
previously.... we were introduced to the Amicus second Doctor Who, the stately and sharpwitted Michael Ripper.
now I give you .... Doctor Who versus the Planet of Terror.
Firstly, I love that title. Its asolutely bonkers, Captain Kirk and others could be ON thevplanet of terror, but only Doctor Who could verse a planet.
Secondly, that title sequence, gone are the trippy effects and in is Carl bloody Sagan. a glorious narration about the solar system and an ominous ending about how there might be other planets ... and perhaps other life out there. glorious.
Once that pases, we get a belicous genersl bellowing at the poor schmucks around him, ending his cod-Full Metal Jacket rant with "AND WHERE IS THAT EGGHEADED DOCTOR WHO!". Brian Blessed is hilarious, hia lines are just so OTT and hiscdelievery delicious. and enter atage left, with a "I could hear you over an avalanche" enter Ripper's Doctor Who, our with the quasi-Prisoner Edwardian scholar, and in with a velvet smoking jacket and glorious brocade waistcoat. Out also the anti-military sentiment of other movies, and in with if not pro-establishment but at least not anti-establishment (Doctor Who is the expert outsider, but one who is happy to work within the established order). He's "scientist in residence" at Snowcap Base, he even has a secretary-cum-assistant in the form of Gillian Anderson's bubbly Polly Wright. I admit to a thrill when they enter his mess ofva lab to see T.A.R.D.I.S. sitting in the corner (its never really explained why, but Doctor Who's glee at something he took from the Cyber-warship suggests T.A.R.D.I.S. was grounded by a technical fault, the gadget he took fixed the fault).
but the true joy of this story are the Cybermen, from their planet Cybertron! Theyre voiced bybthe same chappy who voiced HAL in 2001, and are just on the wrong side (or the right side, depending on your POV) of creepy, a mess of calipers and wores holding up black facemasked zombies. Their conversation, almost polite and well mannered, with Doctor Who (full of sarcasm and mockery) and Pollyls mounting horror is sublime. The look on her face when Doctor Who peels one of the Cyber-Masks off, even if wevnever see what she does, iscwnough to still the blood. Even more effective, in that she didnt scream - we expectva scream, butbshes so horrified, she's silent.
another sign of the series' altering view of militarism is how effective and multilayered (outside pf Blessed's General Cutter) the base military is. Theyrevdefeated by thevfirst wave of Cybermen, but hold their own against latervwaves.
On the whole, Ripper's Doctor Who revels in language and wordplay, so pitting him againsr firat the intractable (and as thecstory goes on, unhinged) Cutter and later the Cyber-Computer gives him full chance to be passionate an clever. mybonly real complaint is that he doesnt actually fight the planet of terror, he just talks a computer to death. but he does it with style!

and now for something a little different, a review of .... DOCTOR WHO AND THE DALEK INVASION OF TIME (1969).
A psychedelic title sequence. Check.
Lava lamps. Check.
Peter Cushing. AND his moustache, check.
Peter Falk. OHH HELLO new face to the series (check).
The Dalek's maddest plan yet (gotta love the ranting black Dalek spelling out the entire plot in the first five minutes of the film). They want to DESTROY TIME ITSELF! Or rule the Earth. Or both. Who knows, or cares. It's hilarious to listen to th Black Dalek change plans faster then he exterminates his alien supporters (and thus stopping us from playing "spot the costumes from Lost in Space").
Yes, it does suffer a little for the lack of Susie, but the increasing exasperated interplay between Dr. Who and Falk's Steven Taylor makes up for it (Falk is HILARIOUS as the bumbling, and bath obsessed, Taylor). The conceit of Dr. Who just stumbling across two new travelling companions is probably necessary given the scope of the plot, but I really struggle to see the ever so professional Brett Washington (Doug McClure) hiring anyone like Taylor.
But perhaps we couldn't have Susie in a story that walks the very fine line between "fun family fare" and "a little too violent", and I think crosses the line when Brett is literally stabbed in the back by Mavic Chen (played with subtle villainy and some wit by fan favourite Syd James of all people). Chen's cool "you're dismissed Washington" was too much for me as a nipper. You couldn't do that to a friend of Dr. Who for goodness sake!
The central "action" of the plot comes from the Daleks chasing Dr. Who, Taylor and Washington through time and space in their own "Dardis". Lots of lovely Hollywood cameos abound (who knew Elvis could be so funny?)
But at the end of the day, it's the 60s. Vietnam is raging and it's time for Dr. Who to have his political moment in the sun, making a grand speech to the Dalek Supreme about how wit will always triumph over brawn, and how common humanity, the very least of what makes us us will defeat the empty hate of the Daleks (it's an epic scene, and a lovely piece of acting from Cushing. He's acting opposite a tincan and in a room full of whirling dials and spinning reel-to-reel computers and no one notices all that, no one notices Falk sneaking up to the Dalek's Time Destructor either, it's the sheer force of Cushing's performance that acts as a distraction for the audience as well as the Daleks).