OMENS: Dalekmania

Dalekmania

Featuring Yvonne Antrobus, Steve Arnott, Toby Aspin, Roy Castle, Bernard Cribbins, Jill Curzon, Peter Cushing, Gary Gillatt, Marcus Hearn, Dave Hicks
Directed by Kevin Davies
Released 24 July 1995
Lumiere Films, 57 mins., Unrated

Tagline: A documentary concentrating on the two live-action DOCTOR WHO movies with Peter Cushing.

A DOCTOR WHO documentary on Netflix Streaming, how could I resist? Overall, the less-than-a-hour documentary isn’t as thorough or enlightening as I hoped, instead spending an unfortunate amount of time replaying snippets of trailers of the two movies covered here. DALEKMANIA is specifically interested in exploring the two Dalek movies starring Peter Cushing in 1965 and1966, DR. WHO AND THE DALEKS and DALEKS INVASION EARTH: 2150AD. Additionally, there’s a short bit dedicated to Dalek merchandise and the price they initially sold for and the value of them now.

Archival footage of script writer and Dalek creator Terry Nation provides some nice background detail about the thinking process about what went into making them, as well as showing Nation’s love for his creations and intent on maintaining their integrity through the television series and feature films. Two of the female stars from each picture give the most interesting behind-the-scenes tidbits, Roberta Tovey (who played The Doctor’s granddaughter Susan) and Jill Curzon (the Doctor’s niece). Discussion ranges from interactions with other actors and a game played with the director involving money and number of takes. Although any interview footage of Cushing as The Doctor is absent, the cast do reminisence and remark on their time working with the iconic actor. The documentary concludes noting that a third DOCTOR WHO feature film was to be put into development, but the lack of success with the second Dalek movie proved the audience just wasn’t as enthused anymore.

Overall a decent enough documentary delving into two areas of DOCTOR WHO’s history I’m not particularly familiar with. My only complaint is the lack of behind-the-scenes information that I was hoping would be abundant. As it stands, for DOCTOR WHO fans, DALEKMANIA is a sure thing to watch, but one won’t necessarily find themselves captivated or too enlightened by the material presented here.

Netflix Rating: Liked It