MovieChat Forums > Dr. Who and the Daleks Discussion > Had the right idea, but botched it.

Had the right idea, but botched it.

posted 10 years ago by WeirdRaptor
4 replies | jump to latest

Yes, the film obviously skipped over the Caveman thing because of Dalekmania, but that in and of itself was a wise decision to go from the introduction straight to The Daleks. The Cavemen story bores me, anyway, and I always skip ahead to the Daleks, anyway, and never feel that I've lost anything of importance. Had they just followed the scripts of "The Unearthly Child" and "The Daleks", the film would have been fine. All they would really have had to do is trim out the filler, combine or move around a few scenes, and it would have been alright.

Other than that, they kept everything else true to the series:

-The Doctor is a mysterious alien with a past shrouded in mystery.
-He's traveling all of space and time with his grannddaughter, "Susan".
-Barbara and Ian are school teachers who investigate their weird new student and get sucked in the madness surrounding The Doctor.
-They land on Skaro instead of Earth's distance past.

"All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you." -Gandalf

[–] grendelkhan 10 years ago

Um, have you actually watched the film? The Doctor isn't an alien, he's an Earth inventor who has created a time machine. Barbara and Susan are both his granddaughters and Ian is Barbara's boyfriend. he comes over to pick her up for a date and the Doctor and Susan show him the Tardis. He accidently bumps the control lever and sends them to Skaro, where things unfurl much like the tv episode, with greater scope and budget.

It has it's detractors; but, I enjoy the film, precisely because it covers the materil in a new, fun way. I thought Roberta Tovey was fantastic as Susan; much more engaging than the footage I have seen of Carol Forman. I look at it as Earth 2 Doctor Who.

Fortunately, Ah keep mah feathers numbered for just such an emergency!

[–] WeirdRaptor 10 years ago

Yes, I saw the film. My point is that if they kept true to those aspects from the show, it would have been a decent film. Er, I think you're insane. Carol Anne Ford IS Susan. That little girl is an imposter.

"All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you." -Gandalf

[–] grendelkhan 10 years ago

Insane or not, I love the film. I haven't seen a lot of footage of Carol Foreman; but, what I have seen was rather bland. Roberta Tovey was engaging; a very good child actor. Given their ages, they played the character differently. I enjoy it, in its own right, and the tv series as its entity. I think there is room for both. I thought they could have done more with Peter Cushing, but I was happy. The movie is played more for children than the tv series, in that they keep things simpler and broader. However, it gives it a lot more scope and some pretty good effects.

Fortunately, Ah keep mah feathers numbered for just such an emergency!

[–] WeirdRaptor 10 years ago

The visual effects were only better because they had a bigger budget, but the writing (the part that really matters) was mediocre at best. And Doctor Who should never be harmless for children to watch. It needs to frighten them. Also, you'll notice that the pathetic Peter Cushing movies stopped at two while the REAL Doctor Who is still around.

"All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you." -Gandalf