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Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. - that's not a title, that's a Gordon Ramsey voiceover

The novelisation's cover's got one of the robomen from the film on it! It might not be exactly the same, what with the gas mask, a single, thick white stripe in place of the two red ones on the helmet and a rather less fantastical looking gun, but it's basically in the same clothes with the same little receiver on its helmet.

According to

tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Doctor_Who_and_the_Dalek_Invasion_of_Earth_(novelisation), this was simply a result of an 'absence of an accurate photo reference' from the TV serial, which would presumably cover the Dalek saucer design too, but it can't have been quite that simple.


Admittedly, this is before 1984/5 and the BBC's realisation that some sort of guidance might be necessary when it came to the use of actors' likenesses and photographic reference by Target (see David J Howe, The Target Book, pp 88-90 for details), but presumably Aaru Productions or Milton Subotsky or Jackie Cummins (wardrobe supervisor on the film - imdb.com/name/nm0192008) would have wanted a bit of money or at least recognition for the pilfering of their work.


On top of all this, those black-clad robomen really were central to the film, at least seemingly in the eyes of those behind it. You can see in the poster how they're presented as the core attraction, shoving not just Peter Cushing but the Daleks too to the margins. This is even more obvious in the film's original trailer (youtube.com/watch?v=aHSyoMPQibI), which never names the Daleks, names Peter Cushing but not his character and rechristens the film simply Invasion Earth 2150A.D.. In fact, the only threat to the robomen's supremacy in the trailer is the magical future year 2150 AD.


To be fair, though not named, the Daleks are featured prominently in the trailer. However, they're presented as a strange adjunct to the robomen. The rebels, apparently, are 'fighting to the death a mobilised band of burnt-out human beings, robomen, with their flying saucers and an army of bloodless, fleshless monsters' - in other words, the saucers and the monsters are tools at the robomen's disposal.


Anyway, for a look at the novelisation, which does actually pay some attention to both the Doctor and the Daleks, click here...

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