Unwilling Adventurer
-First Doctor era obsessed, Ian and Barbara worshippers, William Russell devotees,The Adventures of Sir Lancelot fans.
Expect a lot of writing and One era gushing. Feel free to say hi!
"As we learn about each other, so we learn about ourselves."- First Doctor.
The Daleks in London, earlier this morning! The Daleks invaded London earlier this morning and resistance was useless – insofar as it was impossible to resist the striking sight of the Doctor’s iconic enemies swarming through the capital!
But their presence was not part of a plan to enslave Earth – or at least that’s what the production team was telling us! The cast and crew of An Adventure in Space and Time were there to recreate some of the most memorable moments from Doctor Who’s early years – the scenes from The Dalek Invasion of Earth where the metal monsters imperiously glided through London, gloriously framed against the backdrop of famous sites like the Palace of Westminster.
Back in 1964 the photos of the ‘invasion’ became instant classics and over the years the imagery of those episodes has been referenced and updated on several occasions. But this is the first time that a production team has attempted to faithfully replicate the 1964 shoot using Daleks that were unique to that single adventure. The results look set to be stunning, as you can find out for yourselves when An Adventure in Space and Time - a one-off drama exploring the genesis of Doctor Who - debuts later this year.
(via llywela13)
Clever set up to tease the audience who as of yet won’t know that the next serial the Daleks are returning!! Love the way Ian walks closer to camera and says ‘I hope’.
Also watch where you’re putting your plunger in that last pic Dalek.
“My mistake, I meant static electricity powered trash cans with lasers.”
Been watching the 1st Doctor. That’s how it goes in my mind.
The Daleks go sightseeing, and Barbara, Dortmun and Jenny run through the deserted London streets. Think this whole sequence looks amazing, and love the Dalek symbols/graffiti tags they’ve got around.
Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964) and Stolen Earth (2008)
The serial where the Daleks attempt to pilot the Earth out of its orbit…and the episode where they finally do.
Some really great and very creepy shots of the Robo-men around London. The Robo-men were a great idea, the notion of the Daleks needing human slaves so they would kidnap you and convert you into these drones, is interesting. But they’re not advanced like Cybermen, they’re sort of just there to capture prisoners, and keep people in order. It’s quite horrifying to see them seem so human but with this metal helmet attached to their skulls.
And the cliffhanger! What a great image of the Dalek emerging from the Thames. Why the Dalek is taking a paddle, who knows? But it looks great!
Season 1, episode 2, part 3: The Escape
In which Classic Who foreshadows the Daleks.
Radio Times covers for ‘the Dalek Invasion of Earth’ and ‘the Chase’.
i *think* this is from the Daily Mail Boys And Girls Exhibition of the 60s… i *think*… either way it’s a bizarre photograph!!
haha wtf? Brilliant.
History According to Doctor Who: When Daleks arrived on the Mary Celeste, the terrified passengers threw themselves overboard. (The Chase)
14. Favorite Susan Moment of Greatness?
It’s been a while since I’ve watched a serial with Susan in it, but there are a few moments that stick out. In The Sensorites Susan’s psychic abilities allow her a greater understanding of the Sensorites than everyone else. She then makes the decision to go with the Sensorites as a captive, even when everyone else protests. She really moves the story forward and acts as she sees necessary, and things are better for it. What’s really great is that Susan and her psychic abilities continue to be an important part in the story.
15. Favorite Historical Figure?
I thought about this quite a bit, and while looking through a list of serials I suddenly remembered Tavius from The Romans. I watched The Romans with my oldest brother and we both enjoyed it a lot, but Tavius stood out to us in particular. He was so hard to figure out. Doctor Who wasn’t exactly known for complex characters, and The Romans is a comedy that works partly because of a lack of complex characters, but in the midst of all this you have Tavius. Was he a good guy or a bad guy? What was motivating him? Well, it turns out he was a Christian, and suddenly everything made sense. For instance his willingness to buy a slave to give her a better life, but not being concerned over losing the value when she leaves. Instead, he is only concerned with the safety of the now-former slave. I think he was a great character.
16. Favorite Steven Badass Moment?
I’m having trouble thinking of one in particular. Steven is one of my favorite companions, partly because he was always outstanding, but by no means perfect. He was intelligent and had a big heart, but was also more likely to start a fight with an alien than reason with it. He has a lot of great moments, but if I have to choose one I might go with his attempt to charge the fake taranium core in The Daleks’ Masterplan. They needed a way to make the fake core look like the real one, and Steven had the only solution. The Doctor and Sarah both said it was too dangerous and they should find another way, but they couldn’t. Steven accidently encloses himself in a force field, unable to talk, barely able to move, but the core is charged. It actually works to their advantage as they daleks’ try firing on Steven, but he is protected from it. So, he did something dangerous, possibly stupid (and had been warned it was), but since there was no other way he went ahead and put himself at risk and saved the day. Part heroism, part stubbornness.
23. Favourite serial for character growth? The Daleks.
After the rough ride in An Unearthly Child and before the new found respect at the end of the Edge of Destruction, we feel that this serial is the one that provides us with a lot of character growth for our first team and the character of the Doctor overall.
We see new strengths to Ian and Barbara. Ian despite knowing the Doctor’s cruelty now takes it upon himself to protect him and the others, he also takes on the role of speaking to the Thals. Barbara overcomes her worries (and the breakdown in the last serial) and does her best to adapt to her new life, she makes new friends, gets on with it all and forgives the Doctor despite the fact that he was going to leave her behind. They grow slightly closer as a pair too with Ian telling her she can rely on him and the fact he seems jealous of Barbara’s attachment to Ganatus brings a new aspect to their relationship.
The Doctor starts out here as the mischievous and selfish observer, he tricks them into the city because it suits him and then when they get in trouble he wants to run away. He doesn’t apologise or take responsibility, that is until Ian and Barbara show him responsibility and the Doctor is forced to work with the Thals to defeat the Daleks. If the Doctor hadn’t have been forced into this alliance, if he had been able to run away again, if Ian and Barbara hadn’t have been there; he would have continued to be the man he was.
Luckily the Doctor can see that we must fight and help one another. He learns here about the Thals as people, and the way the Daleks came to be. He recognises that the Daleks are evil and he is disgusted by their actions “This senseless, evil killing!”. Before now he did not get involved and nearly almost killed a man himself. But now he was deep in the action, standing up for what was right. He even talks at the end to Dyoni about being a pioneer amongst his own people. He opens up to people for the first time and tells them he may visit them someday. He even shakes Alydon’s hand (A very human custom).
Instantly by Ian and Barbara becoming fellow travellers they have changed him. Unfortunately when something happens to the ship, the confused Doctor forgets about all that they have done for him and their relationship needs a little more work. They are not all best pals yet but they are building the foundations of a great team. This serial started that journey of the bond between the Doctor and humans.
Hahaha our Dad just came back from a boot fair and bought us this talking Dalek bottle opener and a TARDIS mouse mat. It’s great being fans of Doctor Who, people just like buying you loads of merchandise and silly stuff and he probably got it for like 50p or something.
5. Favourite Alien Nemesis. The Daleks.
For us it has to be the Daleks. They are quite a major part of the first era and the First Doctor probably fought these evil monsters more than any other Doctor. He had to do it without knowing who they were and what they were, which in many ways made them a lot scarier in this era than they are today. A lot of people make fun of them and they probably did in the 60’s too but we still think they were taken more seriously as villains back then.
We have such strong memories of the Daleks as kids and although we never saw the Hartnell era then, the images of these creatures still bring back those feelings of fear and excitement. They don’t look threatening at all and then they just massacre people with lasers. They have flame throwers and all sorts of attachments at this point, they are like out of space vacuum cleaners but ones that can kill you. Never underestimate their silly plungers and whisks. And back at this early stage they might not even kill you, they might lock you up and toy with you, paralyse you and use you for their plans.
They are the greatest alien nemesis because there is simply nothing you can do to negotiate with them and they’ll never give up. They are programmed to hate, kill and survive and they will always remember the people who tried to stop them. There’s nothing better than knowing the Doctor has triumphed and then seeing that yes…the Daleks will be back and he’s going to have to stop them all over again. They need him as an enemy and so much of the Doctor’s life has involved the Daleks.
They are Doctor Who history and they started in the very second serial. They still scare kids today as they did their grandparents in the 60’s. The Daleks, the Dalek Invasion, the Chase and the Daleks’ Master Plan all show the Daleks at their best, their most frightening and even as the comic villain they can be.
A good chance to put our fave pic on the blog again and now we know it really is William Russell’s daughter, we always wondered.
“They’d (His children) been with me to the studios, and sat in Daleks, and peddled them around. Not all of them, but my eldest daughter, she came and had her picture taken in a Dalek.” William Russell DWM.
Awww we love this photo so much.
