Total Extermination: The Peter Cushing Doctor Who Collection (Blu-ray Review)

Reviewed by: Tim Salmons
Review Date: Jun 13, 2025
Format: Blu-ray Disc

Director

Gordon Flemying

Release Date(s)

1965/1966 (June 24, 2025)

Studio(s)

AARU Productions/BBC-TV Productions (Severin Films)

Film/Program Grade: See Below
Video Grade: See Below
Audio Grade: See Below
Extras Grade: A
Overall Grade: A

https://severinfilms.com/

Review

In the mid-1960s, “Dalekmania” had swept the British nation after their first appearance in The Daleks serial storyline from the first season of Doctor Who, airing from December 1963 to February 1964. AARU Productions—essentially Amicus Productions which is primarily known today for horror anthologies such as Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors and Tales from the Crypt—sought to bring both Doctor Who and the Daleks to theatres in widescreen and in full color, and hire Peter Cushing to play the titular Doctor. 1965’s Dr. Who and the Daleks was very much a success in Britain, despite its mixed to negative reception from critics. However, Doctor Who fandom often disregards it, as well as its sequel, 1966’s Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D., as non-canonical detours. Others might argue that despite these variations on the source material (as well as the lack of lore that came later in the Doctor Who series), they’re still gorgeously-mounted and colorful pieces of entertainment that hold up as their own entities.

In Dr. Who and the Daleks, Dr. Who (Cushing) is a brilliant inventor, and his granddaughters Susan (Roberta Tovey) and Barbara (Jennie Linden) are his companions. One evening, Barbara’s klutzy boyfriend Ian (Roy Castle) calls on her, whereupon he’s introduced to Dr. Who and shown his latest invention, TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension In Space); a police box in appearance, but actually a time machine and spacecraft. The four are then accidentally transported to the alien planet of Skaro, whereupon they meet the Daleks, ruthless robotic aliens hellbent on world destruction and total domination. Hiding from them outside the main city are the Thals, a race of humanoid beings that have secretly survived wars with the Daleks, wishing only to make peace with them. Dr. Who and his companions must convince them that the Daleks cannot be reasoned with, subsequently helping to fight against them in order to survive extinction.

Amicus Productions co-producer Milton Subotsky adapted Terry Nation’s serial The Daleks for the big screen, squeezing seven half hour episodes into a 90-minute film, most would say with mixed results. Having not been a Doctor Who fan prior to viewing these films years ago, outside of seeing a few random episodes of series 1 and 2 of the 2005 revival, my Who knowledge was definitely limited at the time. Dr. Who and the Daleks is obviously not a highly-budgeted creation, but it more than makes up for it in execution. It’s a beautiful film to look at with a myriad of colors bursting off the screen at any given time, but also features some excellent camera work and production design. The story is uneven, as to be expected, but it works well enough, outside of some unnecessary comedic pratfalls and slapstick, which is thankfully kept to a minimum.

Peter Cushing, who’s always a welcome presence in anything, is a bit more old man-ish and bumbling than a traditional Doctor might be, and quite literally named Dr. Who. He’s also more reactionary than participatory, sometimes taking a back seat to the other characters. On the other hand, Roberta Tovey is wonderful as the young Susan, who was aged down from the original serial. Roy Castle’s Ian can be challenging to appreciate from time to time, especially during the rather silly finale, but he doesn’t intrude on the film’s tone too much. Jennie Linden’s Barbara is pretty useless and contributes little to the narrative. Barrie Ingham is quite good as the leader of the Thals, though the Thals’ appearance is off-putting to some (I personally don’t have a problem with it). As for the Daleks themselves, they’re wonderfully colorful with minor cosmetic changes from the original series, but essentially the same menacing characters, at least on the surface.

After the success of the film, it wouldn’t take a time-traveling alien genius to realize that Amicus would produce a sequel as soon as possible. However, Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. did not match the success of its predecessor. Cushing returned once more to portray the good Doctor, as did Roberta Tovey as Susan. Replacing Jennie Linden as Barbara and Roy Castle as Ian are Jill Curzon as Louise, the Doctor’s niece, and Bernard Cribbins, Police Constable Tom Campbell, who finds himself an unwilling participant in the Doctor’s latest adventure.

After failing to stop a jewelry store robbery in progress, Tom runs into the nearest police box to phone for help, which turns out to be TARDIS, wherein he meets the Doctor, Susan, and Louise before suddenly traveling to the future year of 2150. Upon their arrival, they find a devastated London landscape, which is under the close watch of the Robomen, brainwashed human servants to the Daleks. Other humans are in hiding or in lax servitude, eager to aid their alien masters in exchange for food. The Daleks’ ultimate plan is to use humans for mining deep into the Earth in order to destroy its core, which would enable them to pilot the planet like a spaceship across the galaxy and conquer other worlds. If the Doctor and his allies can evade being caught by the Robomen or killed by the Daleks outright, they may be able to stop them and save humanity from total extermination.

While Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. certainly has plenty of creative and entertaining flourishes, it’s definitely the lesser of the two Dr. Who films. It’s uneven in its approach, separating main characters from each other for nearly the entirety of a film in which we need them to be together in order to solve problems, but also inconsistent in tone. It’s a darker story in comparison to the first, but occasional attempts at silliness, using the character of Tom, often halt the film’s story progression and feel out of place. As this film, like the previous one, was aimed at children, the filmmakers likely felt that the heavier story material needed to be lightened up in places, but a sequence in which Tom pretends to be one of the Robomen for several minutes feels more like Mr. Bean slapstick than a Doctor Who story.

Like the previous film, most of the lead characters have plenty to do, aside from Louise. Like Barbara, she’s there mainly as eye candy (as evidenced by some of the unused promotional material) and contributes little to the plot itself. Other characters are much more helpful. Wyler (Andrew Keir), David (Ray Brooks), and Wells (Roger Avon) are all very useful in the fight against the Daleks. Those out for themselves, including the sleazy Brockley (Philip Madoc) and a hermitized mother and daughter (Eileen Way and Sheila Steafel), will do anything to please the Daleks as long as it means not being killed and having something to eat. David Graham and Peter Hawkins also return to voice the Daleks, but once again, go uncredited.

Production design is less interesting than the first film automatically, mostly because it’s a bombed out, Earth-bound location and not another planet where more creative visual freedom could be achieved, but also just in terms of lighting and sets. Still, there’s a very memorable stunt involving actor and stuntman Eddie Powell whose character tries to escape from the Daleks, only to be killed in the attempt. In the scene, he falls from a second story building through an awning and onto the ground before the Daleks move in for the kill. It’s an amazing stunt, particularly with the knowledge that, despite the mattresses, Powell broke his ankle and got up immediately to continue with the scene. There’s also some fun moments of the Daleks being destroyed, as well as a beautiful model of their ship flying through the air before crashing in the finale.

As an adaptation of the 1964 TV serial The Dalek Invasion of Earth, Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. has plenty of merit. It’s enjoyable in a lot of ways, and some even prefer it over Dr. Who and the Daleks, partly because it’s a little closer to the TV version of Doctor Who than the first film. Unfortunately, there would only be two Dr. Who films produced by AARU Productions as the proposed third film, which would have been based upon the eighth serial of the second season, Terry Nation’s The Chase, never came to fruition. More’s the pity as this incarnation of Doctor Who, for many, is a beloved one; and having more adventures with Peter Cushing, even if he isn’t the idealized Doctor, in the lead would have been appreciated by many.

Dr. Who and the Daleks and Dalek’s Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. were shot by cinematographer John Wilcox on 35mm Techniscope 2-perf film, finished photochemically, and presented in the aspect ratio of 2.35:1. Severin Films brings both films to Blu-ray for a second time with StudioCanal’s 4K 16-Bit scan of the original camera negatives, which are also being released on 4K Ultra HD with High Dynamic Range. Wet-gate scanning was used to remove severe scratching, while color grading and restoration work were completed by Silver Salt Restoration, who dedicated over 200 hours to manually cleaning and carefully removing sparkle, dirt, and scratches. The whole of the restorations were supervised by Jahanzeb Hayat, and eventually encoded to dual-layered BD-50 discs. They’re gorgeous presentations that thoroughly best all previous home video releases in terms of clarity and detail. The bitrates sit comfortably between 30 and 40Mbps, most of the time in the upper range, with well-managed grain. The color palette for Dr. Who and the Daleks offers a rainbow of hues in nearly every shot, from the interiors of TARDIS and the Daleks’ city, to the broad Mario Bava-esque strokes of green, pink, and blue within the forest and swamp-like landscapes. The color palette for Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. isn’t as striking, but the interiors of the Daleks’ spaceship, as well as the dilapidated streets of London and forested areas outside of it, offer a nice range of natural hues. Contrast is perfect with deep blacks and enormous shadow detail, surpassed only by the UHDs. The images are stable and clean, and outside of occasional and very mild fading along the bottom edges of the frame, which is barely visible at all, they’re near-perfect presentations.

Audio for both films is included in English 2.0 mono DTS-HD Master Audio with optional subtitles in English SDH. They’re amazingly robust for single channel audio sources, well-balanced and thoroughly clean, offering great support for dialogue, score, and sound effects. In Dr. Who and the Daleks, there’s what sounds like an unfortunate minor digital click at the 79:46 mark, and a pair of very minor dropouts at 63:59 and 64:44. However, these are barely noticeable. They’re both otherwise superlative tracks.

DR. WHO AND THE DALEKS (FILM/VIDEO/AUDIO): B/A/A-
DALEKS’ INVASION EARTH 2150 A.D. (FILM/VIDEO/AUDIO): C+/A/A-

The Severin Films 2-Disc Blu-ray release of Total Extermination: The Peter Cushing Doctor Who Collection features Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. on separate Region A Blu-ray discs in a black Amaray case. The insert for Dr. Who features artwork from the film’s Thorn EMI/HBO Video VHS, while the artwork for Daleks’ features artwork from the film’s original Italian theatrical poster. Everything is housed in a slipcase featuring artwork from the 1966 Spanish theatrical one-sheet for the first film by Macario “Mac” Gomez Quibus (which was also used by Kino Lorber Studio Classics for their Blu-ray). This release is also available as a 4-Disc 4K Ultra HD release, and both are exclusive to the Severin Films website. Also available are standard Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD releases for each film (Dr. Who and the Daleks on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray, Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray). The following extras are included on all releases:

DISC ONE: DR. WHO AND THE DALEKS

Audio Commentary with Stephen Jones, Kim Newman, and Barry Forshaw
Audio Commentary with Jennie Linden and Roberta Tovey, Moderated by Jonathan Sothcott
Audio Commentary with Kim Newman, Robert Shearman, and Mark Gatiss
1992 Audio Interview with Gordon Flemyng by Tony Earnshaw
Subotsky and the Daleks: Part One (HD – 10:13)
Kara and the Daleks (HD – 15:26)
Dalekmania (Upscaled SD – 59:57)
Interview with Gareth Owen (HD – 8:00)
The Dalek Legacy: Destination Skaro (HD – 16:24)
UK Trailer (HD – 3:14)
Still Gallery (HD – 17 in all – 1:25)

DISC TWO: DALEKS’ INVASION EARTH 2150 A.D.

Audio Commentary with Barry Forshaw, Stephen Jones, and Kim Newman
Audio Commentary with Kim Newman, Robert Shearman, and Mark Gatiss
Daleks’ Invasion BBC: 1963 to 1969 A.D. (HD – 35:28)
Subotsky and the Daleks: Part Two (HD – 8:19)
Interview with Actor Bernard Cribbins (HD – 4:12)
Interview with Gareth Owen (HD – 4:18)
The Dalek Legacy: Invasion Earth (HD – 15:44)
Restoring Dr. Who in 4K (HD – 10:54)
Trailer (HD – 2:43)
Still Gallery (HD – 17 in all – 1:28)

The new commentaries feature “Whovians,” authors, and film scholars Barry Forshaw, Stephen Jones, and Kim Newman. Forshaw is meant to be a guide and moderator, but Newman often hijacks the conversations. Self-professed fans of Doctor Who and its film counterparts, they have very chaotic discussions of the two films and the TV show, mostly discussing them from the point of view of people who saw both films when they were young. Some will enjoy them, others might lose patience with them due to how everybody is trying to talk over each other, and Forshaw barely gets in a word edgewise. Your mileage may vary on this. The next audio commentary for the first film, recorded in 2001, features actors Jennie Linden and Roberta Tovey, moderated by journalist Jonathan Sothcott. It’s a much more straightforward question and answer session with some definite gaps of silence, but it’s quite good as both ladies’ memories of their experiences on the film are sharp and informative.

Kim Newman returns for additional audio commentaries for each film, both recorded in 2020, which also feature screenwriter Robert Shearman and actor and writer Mark Gatiss. They’re much more proper discussions about the two films, their memories of them, and their feelings on them today. They’re aces compared to new commentaries. The final track (for the first film) is a 1992 phone interview with director Gordon Flemyng, conducted by author and journalist Tony Earnshaw, which plays over the film and is essentially a fourth audio commentary. It’s invaluable as the director isn’t represented anywhere else in the bonus materials. Earnshaw opens the track by explaining the how and why of the interview, emphasizing that it may have been one of the last that Flemying ever gave on these films, which makes it that much more special.

Part One of the audio-only Subotsky and the Daleks features writer Philip Nutman who interviews Amicus producer Milton Subotsky at Subotsky’s home in 1985 (both men have long since passed away). It’s a very frank and honest interview, with Subotsky providing his brief memories of the production, his biggest regret being the first film’s US release, which he believed could’ve been much bigger with a different distributor. In Part Two, Subotsky discusses his reluctance to make a sequel, Peter Cushing’s sudden illness affecting the start of production, and rushing to finish the film at the last minute due to time constraints.

Kara and the Daleks features an interview with writer and Doctor Who expert Kara Dennison, who details how she came to know the two films, how she personally feels about them, and how she believes fans of the show should view them today. Dalekmania is a 1995 documentary about the films and the Dalek craze in 1960s Britain. Participants include actress Roberta Tovey, film writer Marcus Hearn, Doctor Who Magazine editor Gary Gillatt, screenwriter and Dalek creator Terry Nation, actors Barrie Ingham and Yvonne Antrobus, Dalek memorabilia collectors Tony Clark and Carol Hall, actress Jill Curzon, stuntman and stunt co-ordinator Eddie Powell, director and model maker Julian Vince, and actors Josh Maguire, Natalie Jarrett, Anastasia Mulrooney, Michael Wisher, Steve Arnott, Toby Aspin, Dave Hicks, and Stephen Mansfield.

In the two-part interviews with Gareth Owen, author of The Shepperton Story, he details the era in which these films were made, responses from friends to Dalekmania, aspects of the making of the two films, their respective releases, their productions, problems on the set, the Sugar Puffs cereal tie-in for the second film, and the proposed third film that was never made. The Dalek Legacy: Destination Skaro and The Dalek Legacy: Invasion Earth interviews a number of Doctor Who aficionados within the industry who express their opinions of the two films. They include Dalek voice actor Nicholas Briggs, screenwriter Robert Shearman, visual effects designer Mike Tucker, Doctor Who Magazine editorial assistant Emily Cook, and Doctor Who Magazine writer and 3D artist Gavin Rymill.

In Daleks’ Invasion BBC: 1963 to 1969 A.D., author and “Doctor Who expert” Stephen Thrower delves deep into the history of the Daleks, mostly on television. In the interview with actor Bernard Cribbins, he recalls fond memories of working with Peter Cushing and director Gordon Flemyng, and sitting in on the casting sessions for the Doctor Who TV show. In Restoring Dr. Who in 4K, restorationists Anthony Badger, Ray King, and Steve Bearman of Silver Salt Restoration detail the process of scanning and restoring the films, including the difficulties of working with 2-perf film during the wetgate scanning process, researching visual and written information for the color grading process, and why the original camera negative was not used in the previous restoration. Last are each film’s respective UK trailer and Still Gallery, each containing 17 production stills and a single behind-the-scenes photo.

Unfortunately, it seems that high quality sources for the US versions of each film’s trailer could not be found, but you can view a low resolution version of the first film’s trailer on Youtube if you wish. (It’s worth noting that portions of the Italian, French, and US trailers for the first film are shown in the Dalekmania documentary.) Also missing from the 2001 Anchor Bay Entertainment DVD release is the visual essay A History of Dr. Who. Not carried over from the 2020 Kino Lorber Studio Classics Blu-ray releases are the Restoring Dr. Who and the Daleks and Restoring Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. featurettes, which covered StudioCanal’s 2013 restoration from the interpositive. StudioCanal’s 2022 UHD and Blu-ray releases of the films also included a 64-page booklet containing various essays, photos, and the first film’s 1965 press book; a small reproduction of John Walsh’s book Dr. Who and the Daleks: The Official Story of the Films; two posters; four art cards; and a collectible coin.

Outside of a few random bits of missing bonus material, Severin’s 2-Disc Total Extermination: The Peter Cushing Doctor Who Collection boxed set on Blu-ray is an outstanding release and well-worth your time if you’re a fan of these films.

- Tim Salmons

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