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Are you ready to hear about the first time that Donna Noble's grandfather stepped into the Tardis?
Bernard Cribbins plays constable Tom Campbell, who drops into the Tardis and goes with Dr. Who to the year 2150. Giving Cribbins the distinction of having played two companions.
The movie is an adaptation of the second Dalek story The Dalek Invasion of Earth. Tom is an original companion. Alongside Louise (the Doctor's niece), another original. The two replacing Ian and Barbara. I like that detail. An issue that I brought up with them using the original companions, in the first movie, was that one companion had been gone for nearly a year (while the other two had recently departed the show). With Tom and Louise being original to the film, it gives them more freedom, as there's nothing to compare them to in the show.
A major change from the TV serial, is that Susan doesn't end up with David (and stays in 2150). With the actress playing Susan being only 12, during filming, such a development would've been disturbing. Both in the sense, that the film would have a 12-year-old girl getting romantically linked with a grown man, and that the Doctor would be abandoning a little girl (rather than the little older (maybe 17-ish) TV version. Keep in mind, this was made in an era, where it wasn't unheard of for 15-year-olds to leave school and go to work). As it was obvious that they couldn't have done the Susan development and departure from the serial, it made me curious (while watching it) about what was going to happen to Susan. Despite having seen the original serial, I had no idea what would happen to Susan. Nor with what would happen to Tom and Louise.
Mind you, the movie has plenty of problems. At the start of the film, the Doctor, Susan and Louise are preparing to go the year 2150... no reason is given to why they were going there. The terrible slapstick is still there. It drags the plot to a halt. The Doctor and David fails to see Susan's message... despite David having just looked at the wall, where it's written. It is an adaptation of a 6 episode serial. Each episode being 25 minutes long... which the film tries to cut down to 84 minutes. Certain things are okay on television, but when you've only got 84 minutes, changes will have to be made. The original story was written to fill out 6 half-hour episodes. When you try to cut it down to about half of its length, you need to cut out unnecessary elements. Maybe write an original Dalek story, rather than relying on the existing ones.
Apparently, they had intended on a third one, based on The Chase. However, the lackluster performance of this film killed any future films. Between this, the first film, and the intended third, it appears that they had no plans beyond the Doctor fighting Daleks... which was frankly to become a thing of the past. The first Doctor's era had the most Dalek stories. However, this film was released in August of 1966. The then most recent Dalek story (The Dalek's Master Plan) had concluded in January of that year. In October of 1966, the Cybermen were introduced (and the first Doctor regenerated). Presenting the Doctor with a newer, fresher, villain. In the era of the second Doctor, there were a total of four Cybermen serials... but only two Daleks stories. Granted, part of it might've been related to Terry Nation wanting to build his own show (never happened) around the Daleks (making them offlimits to the show, for a while), but one can't help but wonder if the public hadn't grown a bit tired of Daleks in 1966.
Bernard Cribbins plays constable Tom Campbell, who drops into the Tardis and goes with Dr. Who to the year 2150. Giving Cribbins the distinction of having played two companions.The movie is an adaptation of the second Dalek story The Dalek Invasion of Earth. Tom is an original companion. Alongside Louise (the Doctor's niece), another original. The two replacing Ian and Barbara. I like that detail. An issue that I brought up with them using the original companions, in the first movie, was that one companion had been gone for nearly a year (while the other two had recently departed the show). With Tom and Louise being original to the film, it gives them more freedom, as there's nothing to compare them to in the show.
A major change from the TV serial, is that Susan doesn't end up with David (and stays in 2150). With the actress playing Susan being only 12, during filming, such a development would've been disturbing. Both in the sense, that the film would have a 12-year-old girl getting romantically linked with a grown man, and that the Doctor would be abandoning a little girl (rather than the little older (maybe 17-ish) TV version. Keep in mind, this was made in an era, where it wasn't unheard of for 15-year-olds to leave school and go to work). As it was obvious that they couldn't have done the Susan development and departure from the serial, it made me curious (while watching it) about what was going to happen to Susan. Despite having seen the original serial, I had no idea what would happen to Susan. Nor with what would happen to Tom and Louise.
Mind you, the movie has plenty of problems. At the start of the film, the Doctor, Susan and Louise are preparing to go the year 2150... no reason is given to why they were going there. The terrible slapstick is still there. It drags the plot to a halt. The Doctor and David fails to see Susan's message... despite David having just looked at the wall, where it's written. It is an adaptation of a 6 episode serial. Each episode being 25 minutes long... which the film tries to cut down to 84 minutes. Certain things are okay on television, but when you've only got 84 minutes, changes will have to be made. The original story was written to fill out 6 half-hour episodes. When you try to cut it down to about half of its length, you need to cut out unnecessary elements. Maybe write an original Dalek story, rather than relying on the existing ones.
Apparently, they had intended on a third one, based on The Chase. However, the lackluster performance of this film killed any future films. Between this, the first film, and the intended third, it appears that they had no plans beyond the Doctor fighting Daleks... which was frankly to become a thing of the past. The first Doctor's era had the most Dalek stories. However, this film was released in August of 1966. The then most recent Dalek story (The Dalek's Master Plan) had concluded in January of that year. In October of 1966, the Cybermen were introduced (and the first Doctor regenerated). Presenting the Doctor with a newer, fresher, villain. In the era of the second Doctor, there were a total of four Cybermen serials... but only two Daleks stories. Granted, part of it might've been related to Terry Nation wanting to build his own show (never happened) around the Daleks (making them offlimits to the show, for a while), but one can't help but wonder if the public hadn't grown a bit tired of Daleks in 1966.
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