Dr. Who (Peter Cushing) is working on an invention he calls a TARDIS, an acronym for "Time And Relative Dimension In Space". He shows his invention to Ian (Roy Castle). Ian is the boyfriend of Dr. Who’s oldest granddaughter, Barbara (Jennie Linden). While inspecting the TARDIS, Ian accidentally turns it on. Dr. Who, Ian, Barbara and Dr. Who’s youngest granddaughter Susan (Roberta Tovey) are transported to an alien planet called Skaro.
Skaro is the home world of two civilizations called the Thals and the Kaleds. A thousand-year war reduced the planet to a radioactive ruin. The travelers find themselves in a desolate and dead forest. Outside the TARDIS they find a packet containing vials of liquid. Susan puts the drugs in the TARDIS. In the distance Dr. Who sees a city. They decide to check it out. Ian wants to leave but Dr. Who pretends that one of the TARDIS components had a mercury leak and they will have to try to find a replacement part in the city.
When they get to the city they are attacked by Daleks. The group is captured, and the Daleks take the TARDIS component from the doctor. While a prisoner of the Daleks, Dr. Who realizes that they have all been exposed to radiation. He thinks that the drugs they found may be antidotes to the sickness. He then finds out that the Daleks are also vulnerable to the planet’s radiation. That’s why they must stay in protective metal casings.
The Daleks find out about the cure and send Susan back to the TARDIS to retrieve the drugs. On her way back to the city, Susan meets Alydon (Barrie Ingham), the leader of the Thals. Thal gives Susan another packet of drugs and tells her that he would like to trade radiation drugs for food. Susan returns to the city and tells her grandfather about Alydon. The Daleks have been spying on their captives and are aware of the radiation drugs. Now that they have a sample of the drug to reverse engineer, the Daleks decide that they no longer need the Thals or Dr. Who and the others. They set a trap for the Thals. When that doesn’t work, they decide to set off a neutron bomb, steal the TARDIS and invade other planets.
“Dr. Who and the Daleks” was released in 1965 and was directed by Gordon Flemyng. It is a British science fiction film and the first Dr. Who production done in color.
Peter Cushing played Dr. Who in two movies, this one and “Daleks, Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.” 1966. A third film had been planned but was scrapped after a poor showing for the second film. Cushing was offered the role of Dr. Who in the television series but declined the part, something that he would come to regret.
The voice of the Daleks was done by David Graham. The Daleks are a fictional extraterrestrial race of xenophobic mutants. They were created by Terry Nation for the Dr. Who series and were inspired by the Nazis.
I’m really not sure what the lava lamps were for.