Peter Cushing Dalek Movies

The classic 60s Dalek movies are not owned for release by 2Entertain, and as such featured on DVD surprisingly early, 2001, when very few televised stories were available on the fledgling format.

Although the rights have been passed from one studio to another over the years, each owner has considered it one of their flagship contracts, and as such this has gained more rereleases than any other Doctor Who adventure...

Lengths: 89'27", 80'28"

8mm releases

1977: Walton Sound And Film Services release of a number of 8mm films. The first film is released as an 8 reel collection F740 [not pictured] or two single reel edits A848 and A849 [only the first pictured], which were also available in b/w silent.
The second film was released as an 8 reel collection F741 [not pictured] or two single reel edits A850 and A851 [only the first pictured], which were also available in b/w silent. The 8 reel collection in this case were also apparently available in widescreen unlike the other releases which were all pan and scan.

VHS releases

1982: UK - Thorn EMI - TVC9005952 (or TXC9005954 for Betamax) / TVC9006882 (or TXC9006884 for Betamax) [not pictured]
1985: Aus/NZ - Thorn/EMI - cat#s unknown
1982?: US - Thorn EMI/HBO cat#s unknown [not pictured]
1980s: Asia (Japanese subtitled) - King Video/Tohokushinsha Home Video K48V11559 (direct translation 'Invasion Earth War 2150AD). First film also possibly released dubbed rather than subtitled [not pictured].

In 1984, there was possibly an Australasian video release of the second film by Valley View Video Library.

All these releases were in pan-and-scan 4:3, except the opening credits which were in an incorrectly-formatted letterbox.

June 1988: UK - Warner Home Video - PES38024 / PES38025
1989: America - Goodtimes Home Video (first film only) - cat# unknown [not pictured]
1991: UK - Weintraub (second film only) - WTB38025 [not pictured]
1993: UK - Warner Home Video - SO38328 [single video with both films]
1994: America - Lumiere with WHV - VHS0384 / VHS0388

All these releases were in pan-and-scan 4:3, except the opening credits which were in an incorrectly-formatted letterbox.

Dalekmania was a documentary on the films directed by Kevin Davies, which would later see release alongside the movies themselves. It featured the original trailers and interviews with Robert Tovey (Susan), Marcus Hearn (film historian), Gary Gillat (fan expert), Terry Nation (writer) Barrie Ingham and Yvonne Antrobus (Alydon and Dyoni), Tony Clark and Carol Hall (Dalek collectors), Jill Curzon (Louise), Eddie Powell (stunt co-ordinator), Julian Vince (amateur film maker).

1995: UK - LUM2221 (as standalone video and also as box set with video, book by Marcus Hearn, two A2 poster reproductions and six postcards - picture right).
1995: Australia - LUM2221

26/02/1996 and 13/05/1996: UK - Warner - SO38354 / SO38353. Purchasers in WHSmiths were given exclusive postcards.
1996: Australasia - PolyGram.

Movies in widescreen for the first time since the 8mm releases.

UK releases included trailer and (if purchases through WHSmiths) postcards - they were part of the Beyond Vision range, that WHV had launched earlier that year, releasing cult and new sci-fi (including the first season of Babylon 5 and THX 1138) in their original aspect ratios (well, except Babylon 5) and often with poster art reproduced as collector's cards if bought through Smiths. These represented some of WHV's best sci-fi releases to date.

This release of the first film is missing a number of Barbara's lines by the swamp are missing ("What was it?" and "Are you alright?"), along with the sound effect of Ian's shirt ripping during the chasm-jump scene - these sounds are present in all other VHS releases.

In this release of the second film, the opening music is improved slightly (the first two notes were missing on previous versions), there is a missing drum cue while Ray Brooks crawls through the rubble (at 00:14:11) and a tidied-up sound cue at a scene change (00:29:45) which sounds very jumpy on the DVD and previous VHSs. Also, when Cushing says "I wonder if the Constable's up there" (00:39:30), there is a rather loud cue dubbed over the existing music, and another cleaned up sound jump appears after the death of a Roboman (1:10:28) which again jumps on the DVD and other VHS releases. Finally, the piano cue that appears between the shot of Cribbins waving goodbye and the final shot of the Who family is also tidied. These cues were tidied again by Mark Ayres for the UK DVD release in 2002.

DVD releases

09/03/2001: Aus - Studio Canal - 0782342

This release included both films, plus the Dalekmania documentary (57'10"), trailers for the two films (3'02", 2'34") and a photo gallery.

14/11/2001: France - Canal+ Video - EDV29

Le Docteur Who s'engage dans un nouveau voyage grâce à sa machine à voyager dans la temps. Se retrouvant en l'an 2150, il découvre que la Terre a été envahie par les robots Daleks, qui ont mis en esclavage une partie de la population. Le Dr Who rentre en contact avec la résistance et va tenter de déjouer les plans des Daleks.

(Rough translation: Doctor Who finds himself on a new voyage thanks to his time machine. Arriving in the year 2150, he discovers the Earth has been invaded by the Daleks, who have enslaved part of the population. Dr Who contacts the resistance and tries to thwart the plans of the Daleks.)

This release featured a mono French soundtrack as default (with the option of a mono English soundtrack and/or French subtitles), andan exclusive introduction by critic Jean-Pierre Dionnet (2'32"), as was standard on the Cinema de Quartier range, and a photo gallery.

Translation of Dionnet's introduction:

You are about to see "The Daleks Invade The Earth", directed by Gordon Flemyng in 1966 with Peter Cushing. "The Daleks Invade The Earth" is the second film for cinema adapted from the British series "Doctor Who", written by Terry Nation [...] for the BBC. With nearly 600 episodes made until 1989, it's the longest series in the world: the English equivalent of Star Trek in the United States. A popular phenomenon, you can find [...]. annuals etc. The main principle of the series is voyaging through time (past and future) and space towards other planets, thanks to TARDIS, a machine in the form of an English telephone box, which contains Doctor Who's laboratories. His adventures allow us to meet [...], Napoleon and Einstein.

The Doctor was played by eight different actors, including William Hartnell, Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker. The change is explained by the concept of 'regeneration' through the Doctor's voyages in time, and also by his extra-terrestrial origins, as he comes from the planet Gallifrey. He is sent to Earth in the nineteenth century because of his knowledge of justice, passion for the sciences and [...] George Wells and Jules Verne.

The Daleks are Doctor Who's most popular enemies - they are a sort of giant dustbin that first appeared in the second episode of the series in 1963. Their creation is a little bit complicated: They come from a war-torn planet, and were created by Davros. Because they can travel in time too, they have reappeared to haunt the Doctor AFTER they were exterminated!

Two years after the stat of the series, American producers Max Rosenburg and Milton Subotsky adapted this series for the cinema. There were two films: Firstly "Doctor Who and the Daleks" which was a great success in France, and then "The Daleks Invade The Earth". The two films are directed by Gordon Flemyng, the robust artisan from Scotland, known in France for his version of 'Big Catherine' with Jeanne Moreau, for "The Crime, It Is Our Business", "The Split", a film with Jim Brown and Gene Hackman, and finally for his war film "The Last Grenade".

The part of Doctor Who is NOT given to an actor of the series, but to Peter Cushing - his interpretation of the Doctor is different in many ways to that of the series: He comes across as a patriarchal figure in charge of a small family circle. And the allusions to his extra-terrestrial origins are casually ignored. The most remarkable points of the second film are [...], and the allusions on the Second World War, occupying Nazis, the Resistance and the Collaboration.

20/11/2001: US - Anchor Bay
DV1157 - Dr Who and the Daleks
DV1158 - Daleks Invasion Earth 2150AD
DV11958 - Doctor Who Gift Set (both of above, plus Dalekmania, in a slip cover - not pictured)

The first film included an optional commentary with Jennie Linden and Roberta Tovey, and both featured photo galleries.

29/07/2002: UK - Warner Home Video/Canal+ Video - D038470 [Deleted 10/11/2005]
09/12/2002: UK - Warner Home Video/Canal+ Video - G201354 [Deleted 03/01/2006]

This release included both films across two discs, plus the Dalekmania documentary (57'10"), the commentary from the US release, two trailers (3'02", 2'34"), photo galleries and PDF files of the original campaign brochures. Also in the package were three collector cards (below) - two displaying the original posters, and a third displaying a slightly altered version of the US Dalekmania cover.

The second edition was in an oversized box containing the same DVDs, physical copies of the campaign brochures, 2 senitypes of frames from the films and a mail-in offer for free 40"x27" copies of the original posters.

25/09/2006: UK - Optium Home Entertaimmment - Release code unknown

After Warners' contract with Canal+ expired, Optium picked up the baton and rereleased most of their DVDs under their own label. This included the Cushing movies, identical to the Warners release in terms of content, but with an unusual edit to the beginning of Dalekmania, skipping the dramatised sequence. In March 2007, Amazon briefly issued a version of this with added trading cards and a poster, limited to 300 copies - these shifted within days.

ALL the DVDs releases are anamorphic widescreen transfers of the 1996 releases, featuring the same missing effects on the first film, except for the British release which has the effects present, but initially had a slightly faulty music and effects track throughout - following complaints by fans, Warner eventually offered to replace faulty discs, but replaced them with ones with a fault at the layer change. Five months after the first release, Warner finally pressed this disc a third time with everything corrected - this is now the version available in shops, although if in doubt can be identified by the following method: Around the inner circle, all the discs have the code "38024D5/" followed by either 1, 1.2 or 1.3. Version 1.3 is the 'correct' one.

ALL bar the UK releases of the second film feature the same problems as the 1996 release. In the Australian and US versions, the pre-credits sequence is rather clumsily swapped with the opening titles, and the final cue (which was 'tidied' for the 1996 release) begins at a different point in the music. The American release was supposedly re-edited for its second pressing, although this has yet to be proven. The UK release DOES, however, feature this re-edit, and the various audio problems were tidied up by Mark Ayres.

Classifications

16/05/1966 - First film passed as 'U' by the BBFC (82'28") [for cinema release in UK]
10/06/1966 - Second film passed as 'U' by the BBFC (83'58") [for cinema release in UK]
01/02/1984 - Second film passed as 'G' by the OFLC (81m) for Aus/NZ [for video release by 'Valley View Video Library' - we have no further information on this release]
15/04/1985 - First film passed as 'G' by the OFLC for Aus/NZ (78m)
22/05/1985 - Second film passed as 'PG' (no reason stated) by the OFLC (80m) for Aus/NZ [an increase on the previous 'U' and 'G' ratings - from here on all certifiers would give this a 'PG']
06/05/1988 - First film passed as 'U' by the BBFC (79'10") [for first WB UK release]
09/08/1995 - Dalekmania passed as 'G' by the OFLC (57m) for Aus/NZ
22/02/1996 - Second film passed as 'PG' by the BBFC (80'26") [for Widescreen releases in UK]
07/02/1997 - First film passed as 'G' by the OFLC (79m) [for widescreen PolyGram Australian release]
04/03/1997 - Second film passed as 'PG' (for 'Low Level Violence') by the OFLC (81m)

Dalekmania is classed as 'E' (Exempt, due to its documentary nature) in the UK and has apparently never been passed.
The Australian DVD was never passed, but a 'Low Level Violence' warning appears on the cover, as a holdover from the OLFC's 1997 passes.
The French and American DVDs are uncertified.