Dalekmania (1995)
Article 5513 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 10-11-2017
Directed by Kevin Davies
Featuring Yvonne Antrobus, Steve Arnott, Toby Aspin
Country: UK
What it is: “Making Of” documentary

The making of the two Dr. Who movies of the sixties is discussed.

Back when I reviewed one of the two sixties Dr. Who movies, I suggested that they be seen in the light of being “Dalek” movies rather than “Dr. Who” movies, owing to the fact that they seemed to cater to fans of the metallic monsters over those of the human characters. The fact that the attached “making of” disc for the two movies is called DALEKMANIA rather than WHOMANIA bears this out. I’d hoped that the documentary would be more about the popularity of the monsters during that era (with lots of footage from the TV show), but no such luck; it’s squarely focused on the movies. Still, there are some moments that slip through; I love the scene where they show various examples of Dalek toys from the era, quoting their initial prices as well as how much they pull nowadays (by which I mean, the year when the documentary was made) in the collectible market. There are other memorable moments; I like seeing footage from the Italian dub of the movie, if for no other reason than to hear a Dalek speaking in Italian I also like the observation made by several actors from the first movie saying they never actually saw any actors getting out of and into the Dalek bodies, which must have contributed a bit to the illusion for them. It is, of course, mostly a hodgepodge, so it’s uneven, but most documentaries of this sort usually are.