Dr. Who (Dalek films)

Dr. Who is a character in two films made by AARU Productions in the 1960s based on the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor Peter Cushing.

Although based upon the character of the Doctor from the television series, the character has fundamental differences as described below. The character appeared in two motion picture releases: Dr. Who and the Daleks, which was based upon the televised serial The Daleks, and Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD, based upon the serial 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.

Cushing made no mention of the character or films in his autobiography.

Personality

Cushing's Doctor was a gentle, grandfatherly figure, naturally curious and sometimes absent-minded, but who at the same time was 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 apparently human, not a Time Lord, and is actually named "Dr. Who" (first name not given), and not called "the Doctor" (see also "Doctor who?"). He was an eccentric inventor who claimed to have created his TARDIS, although the films never clarified why it was in the shape of a police box.

Canonicity

Although Cushing's Dr. Who character ultimately derives from the First Doctor as portrayed by William Hartnell, Cushing's Doctor is not generally considered canonical, although he has made occasional appearances in the spin-off media. Doctor Who fans generally refer to the character as "the Cushing Doctor" or "the Dalek film Doctor".

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. Like all spin-off media, the canonicity of this is unclear.

References