Dr. Who (Dalek films)

The Doctor
The Cushing Doctor
Portrayed by	Peter Cushing
Tenure	1965–1966
First appearance	Dr. Who and the Daleks
Last appearance	Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D.
Number of series	n/a
Appearances	2 stories (n/a episodes)
Companions	Susan, Barbara, Ian, Louise, Tom Campbell
Chronology
Preceded by	n/a
Succeeded by	n/a
Series	Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D.

Dr. Who is a character based on the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. Although based upon the character of the Doctor from the television series, the character is fundamentally different, most notably in being human.

The character, portrayed by the actor Peter Cushing, appeared in two films made by AARU Productions, Dr. Who and the Daleks, which was based upon the televised serial The Daleks, and Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D., based upon the serial The Dalek Invasion of Earth. Plans for a third film, based on The Chase, were abandoned after the poor box office performance of the second film.^[1]

Cushing made no mention of the character or films in his autobiography.^[2]

Personality

Dr. Who is a gentle, grandfatherly figure, naturally curious and sometimes absent-minded, but at the same time is not afraid to fight for justice. He is shown to have a keen and somewhat juvenile sense of humour, and a strong sense of adventure with a will of iron and very strong morals.

Unlike the Doctor in the television series, he is a human being, not a Time Lord, whose surname actually and unambiguously is "Who". He is not called "the Doctor" by his companions in Dr. Who and the Daleks, though its sequel, Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D., only refers to his surname once and otherwise addresses him simply as "the Doctor." Cushing's character is an eccentric inventor who claims to have created TARDIS.

Companions

In the first film, Dr. Who (Peter Cushing) travels with his two grand-daughters, Susan (Roberta Tovey), who is much younger than Susan of the TV series, and Barbara (Jennie Linden). They are joined in this first adventure by Ian Chesterton (Roy Castle), who is depicted as Barbara's "new boyfriend" and who is generally a rather inept, clumsy, comical figure as opposed to the more straightforwardly-heroic portrayal of Ian in the television series.

In the sequel, Susan is joined by Dr. Who's niece Louise (Jill Curzon) and the somewhat comical additional male companion, London police officer Tom Campbell (Bernard Cribbins).

TARDIS

Dr. Who's TARDIS resembles both that used in the television series and a real police box (although there is no explanation in this film for the machine having this appearance). As with the regular TARDIS, it is larger on the inside, although the interior is vastly different from the series' console room. As with the TARDIS from the 2005 series onwards, the interior and exterior of the Ship are directly connected by the external doors.

Other appearances

As well as the two films, Dr. Who appeared in the comic strip Daleks versus the Martians in the Doctor Who Magazine Spring Special 2006, and the short story The House on Oldark Moor by Justin Richards, published in the BBC Books' collection Short Trips and Sidesteps.

A 'doubly-fictional' duplicate of the Seventh Doctor who appeared in the Virgin New Adventures novel Head Games was also known as "Dr. Who".

I Am The Doctor: The Unauthorised Diaries of a Time Lord by John Peel states that, in the Doctor Who universe, Dr. Who was created by Barbara Wright as a way of making some money from her adventures and alerting people to the existence of the Daleks, without giving away too much about the real Doctor.

In the Doctor Who novel Salvation reference is made to a film called "Pray for a Miracle", in which the First Doctor's role in the events of the story are later depicted with 'Dr. Who' being portrayed by Peter Cushing.

Nev Fountain's short story The Five O'Clock Shadow, from the Doctor Who anthology Short Trips: A Day in the Life, reveals that Dr. Who and his eight-year-old grand-daughter Suzy are fictitious creations brought to life by the real Doctor (using the power of the TARDIS) to keep the nemesis named Shadow, the embodiment of grief and sorrow, distracted until the real Doctor could overcome his grief and escape from Shadow's prison. Shadow has no hold over the cheerful, angst-free Dr. Who, who departs with Suzy on further childlike and wondrous adventures.

References

1. ^ Peel, John and Terry Nation: (1988). The Official Doctor Who & the Daleks Book. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-02264-6, pp. 99-100.
2. ^ Peter Cushing. Peter Cushing: an autobiography. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.