Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D.

By far the stronger of the Doctor's two early big screen adventures, perhaps because it was based on a popular story from the TV series, Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 AD delivers all-out adventure with refreshingly little messing about. Peter Cushing never quite clicks in the role of the famous time traveller but makes an engaging enough protagonist nonetheless, whilst Roberta Tovey reprises her role as granddaughter Susan, Jill Curzon plays curvaceous, no-nonsense niece Louise and Bernard Cribbins is a Cockney copper who, in a swift opening sequence, stumbles into the TARDIS, determines to file a complaint, and finds himself stumbling out again in 2150. There's also an appearance from Quatermass star Andrew Keir.

That's the humans out of the way. Of course, the real stars of the show are the daleks, and they're on great form. By the time the Doctor and his crew arrive they're pretty much finished invading Earth (or at least London) and are proceeding with stage two of their plan - to blow up the planet's core and turn it into a giant spaceship that can be used to further their military ambitions elsewhere. Only a desperate group of rebels is holding out against them. Can the Doctor thwart the dalek plans and save the Earth?

For its time, this is an impressive piece of work. Though it looks a bit stagey, the sets, like the script, are well designed to let simple special effects have maximum impact. Most impressive of all is the rendering of a whole dalek army using just a handful of daleks and an awful lot of mirrors. Though they lack the brutalist industrial look of their modern counterparts, these daleks more than make up for it in sheer nastiness and the sense that they are unstoppable (they're also quite cute but we needn't let that spoil it). Tovey in particular dos a good job of looking scared and younger viewers will find her easy to identify with, probably from behind the sofa.

With the resurgence of interest that the Doctor has enjoyed in recent years, now is a great time to check out these early films. They may not be as slick as the new series and may not respect the canon of the older ones, but they're still a lot of fun in their own right.