Dalekmania

Dalekmania is a 1995 direct-to-video documentary film released in the United Kingdom. "Dalekmania" was the name given to the craze or "mania" among children in the United Kingdom in the 1960s for all things associated with writer Terry Nation's creations, the Daleks,^[1][2] which were recurring villains in the BBC science fiction TV series Doctor Who.

Dalekmania examines the Dalek craze with particular focus on the two 1960s Doctor Who films, Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D., both of which star Peter Cushing as Dr. Who. Interviews cover the making of the films and their fans.

The documentary starts from the beginning, at least as far as the Dalek films are concerned, and runs through their history while interviewing actors including Roberta Tovey, who played Dr. Who's granddaughter, Susan, and Jill Curzon, who played his niece Louise. There are also appearances from Barrie Ingham and Yvonne Antrobus, who played Thals in the first film.

The actors give personal accounts of the films' production. Their recollections include an anecdote about a group of porters from Covent Garden Market being brought in to play male Thal extras, who were shocked to learn that their roles required them to shave their arms and chests and wear wigs and make-up.

The documentary also reveals that the stuntmen operating the Daleks were supposedly not treated particularly well, as none of the other actors can recall seeing anyone get in or out of a Dalek, or ever actually meeting a Dalek operator. They remember working with cast members who have since died, including Cushing and Roy Castle.

Also interviewed is Dalek creator Terry Nation, who shares his thoughts on the differences between Doctor Who on television and the Dalek films. He also explains the pride he took in his creations and his efforts to protect their image.

There are also contributions from fans of the films, in the form of Gary Gillatt and Marcus Hearn, editors of magazines concerned with Doctor Who. They attempt to explain the huge impact that the Daleks have had on the public imagination over the years.

The documentary is dedicated to Cushing and Castle, who had both died in 1994. The director of the Dalek films, Gordon Flemyng, does not appear in the documentary.^[3] He died shortly before it was released in July 1995.

The Daleks used during filming were made by London-based model maker Julian Vince, who was also interviewed in the documentary. However, his Daleks were not seen in the final edit due to rights restrictions issues with the BBC (i.e. the fact that the Vince-created props were shown moving and were thus actual Dalek characters, rather than empty props). The sole remaining Dalek prop in the final edit is a static Red Dalek from the first film. This prop was built by Steve Allen and David Brian.

The documentary was the main special feature on the Dalek films' DVD release. However, the introduction sequence was omitted.

Reviewing the original VHS release for Doctor Who Magazine, Dave Owen recommended the documentary. He wrote that it was "aimed both at the serious film buff and the Doctor Who fan", describing it as "slightly dry" for the most part but "more focused and coherent" than Davies' earlier work, Thirty Years in the TARDIS. He praised the "particularly entertaining" contributions of Ingham and Antrobus as well as the film's "charming" frame sequences, in which children at a 1960s cinema encounter a sinister commissionaire (played by Michael Wisher), a prop Dalek, and (as seen in Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.) live Robomen and a Dalek spaceship.^[3]

Although he regretted the absence of Bernard Cribbins (who played PC Campbell in the second film), Alistair Hughes praised the interviewees on the documentary, noting that all are "very interesting and, perhaps more importantly, interested." On the "obligatory merchandise section", he wrote that documentary "avoids monotony with its frantic pace and truly amazing 'then-and-now' cost comparisons". However, he considered the opening sequence "a little pointless" and "lacking charm", and argued that the documentary might have been better if it had explored the Daleks' TV appearances as well.^[4]

Erick Harper of DVD Verdict wrote that the documentary is "for diehards only" and has a "pretty low repeatability factor", but provides a "very nice supplement" to the Dalek films.^[5]

• Dalekmania at IMDb