An elderly scientist named Doctor Who invents a machine that can travel through time and space called the TARDIS. He lives with his two granddaughters, Barbara and Susan. Barbara has a bumbling boyfriend named Ian who accidentally turns the TARDIS on and transports the four of them to an alien planet inhabited by the peaceful Thals and the destructive Daleks. Doctor Who tries to convince the Thals to reclaim their planet before the Daleks detonate a neutron bomb.
First things first, we have to put aside comparisons to the TV Doctor Who. There's very little that's similar between the two, even though this movie is based off of one of the earliest stories from the show. The Doctor is human not an alien time lord and his name is literally Doctor Who here, not The Doctor. Judging this by its own merits, I thought it was watchable and sometimes even good. Peter Cushing is enjoyable, as are Jennie Linden and Robert Tovey as his granddaughters. Linden looks quite good in her pink capris. I wasn't crazy about Roy Castle, particularly when he's trying to be funny. It's filmed in a lovely Technicolor, which I always appreciate. The effects and sets may appear cheesy to some today but I think they're very creative and fun, as sci-fi designs usually were back in the day. The music's pretty good, too. This isn't likely to appeal to many modern Who fans but I think people who like Peter Cushing and Amicus will find something to enjoy about this.
