Matte Smith

NO!  We Are Not Talking About That 'Doctor Who' Actor

Who was also quite the ballfooter, I believe, and whose talent actually managed to intervene in the BBC's premier dramamentary, when the <guesses wildly> the centred-back needed an - assist? - from the wingy-flanker*.

Definitely Roof-Assist stuff

     For Lo! we are on about "Dalek Invasion Of Earth 2150" once again, wherein we encounter several matte works, which therefore must have been created by artisans who are experts in making mattes, and thus - matte-smiths.  A matte, since you will most probably be unfamiliar with the term, was a painting upon a glass screen, with a little bit blanked off.  The film would be played, and  appear in the little screened-off bit, with the painted backdrop as the rest of the scene.  Thank you, and you're welcome.   ART!

      This is one of the few occasions where the television program, with a fraction of the budget, upstages the film version, because at this point in grainy old black and white, Ian notices that "they must have gone over to nuclear power".  The three and a half stubs above depict Battersea Power Station, as depicted on -

      - although from the other side of the Thames. This is my example of a 'matte', where there is a painted backdrop standing against the rest of the set.  It was a relatively quick and cheap method of creating an effect, where you could realistically substitute a daub of oils, instead of having hundreds of minions working for weeks to the value of hundreds of thousands of pounds**.  Art!

     This is part of the background that barely gets a mention in the film, but which is fleshed-out more in the television serial; the Daleks <spits> had subjected planet Earth to a sustained meteor bombardment, killing large numbers of Hom. Sap. and threatening the survival of those whom remained.  Given that the film is set in This Sceptred Isle, one can understand an affixation on rainwater.  Art!

Hideously sexist!
(and there are serious questions about that uniform, too)

     Conrad also noticed a few things about the film's "Robomen" that bear mention, given that we are now living in 2021, which is over fifty years since the film was made, meaning that we are now science-fiction in real-life <stops, rather confused and knocks back a bucket of gin>.  Okay, at no point do we see any female Robomen, which means either that the producers were rather pedantic in their scriptwriting, or that women are immune to Dalek brainwashing, so there ought to be far more female mining slaves than male - or - er - am I overthinking this again?

"Tom and The Doctor quickly decided against a swim in the Thames."

     I am going to leave things here, since we have O! so many more things to mention about this film.  Were I to deploy my cinematic reviewer's jewelled loupe and diamond scalpel, Why! we'd be here this time next month***  <another bucket of gin ensues>.

That Spitting Devil's Cabbage

As mentioned in passing yesteryon.  Conrad has to confess that this is an entity he copied whole from "Roadside Picnic" which is one of that very small genre of science-fiction novels in the "Aliens came and dropped off a load of interstellar rubbish and then left" tranche.  Art!

   No cinematic equivalent because <gasps!> nobody has made a film of RP.  Why this is so I simply cannot tell, because it really has everything - aliens, mystery technology, human drama, Canada, dinosaur bones, the lot.  Mister Clooney would have been better advised getting this off the ground instead of a replay of "Solaris".  And no, you cannot pass off "Stalker" as being a definitive statement.

Wherefore Art Thou, Romeo?

"Outside, waiting for the 409 bus" would not, in this case, be acceptable.  No, what Your Humble Scribe is pointing at in this case is - sources.  Not to be confused with <comedy drum roll and 'ka-ching'> 'sauces' because we've had those over our sausages tonight.  

      You see (hopefully) Your Humble Scribe was reading about the Battle of Medenine, which took place during 06/03/1943, and which but barely comes under the remit of The Desert War, since it was well beyond Egypt and Libya.  Art!

Battlefield with puny humans for scale

     The matter one jibs at is the Wikipedia reference to British casualties and losses., which comes in at: " 6 British tanks, 16 scout cars, 33 motor vehicles, 32 anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns and 51 prisoners"

     Yes well.  You know Conrad, a stickler for sources.  The various volumes I have on the Second Unpleasantness mention 130 British casualties, and that's it.  The only source for the totals above is a single South Canadian reference that doesn't itself quote a source.  This is very annoying and will stop me getting to sleep tonight.  Just so you know.  I will get to the bottom of it, mind you, and THEN someone will be sorry.

Conrad's Mind -

Frequently unfathomable, even to himself.  I made up notes last night, you see, whilst I was also plotting mischief, and watching "Dalekmania" which is a documentary about the two Doctor Who films from the Sixties, so my attention was, perhaps, unfocussed.  Because I now have to decipher "Y, MATA - result?"  Any helpful suggestions gratefully accepted in the Comments.

     I dunno.  Maybe it was a "V".

Erk

To coin a phrase.  Conrad is pretty sure that, when the Japanese decided to stop trying to conquer the world, they decided instead to amaze it.  Thus you have Godzilla and manga.  Not only a Godzilla in films, they are building a life-size one on it's very own Monster Island.  This was - in fiction  -  a giant dumping-ground for all the assorted kaiju that periodically infested the Japanese mainland. Art?

     No, Vulnavia, they did not do the sensible and obvious thing, which would be to blow these beasts to bits with the Big Bang bombs.  After all, where would the sequels come from?  So, instead, they store up trouble for the future.  And no, they couldn't licence it as a theme park a la Jurassic Park, because having your paying customers devoured whole by the dozen, or turned into a hazy radioactive vapour, would prevent repeat custom.  And spread bad word of mouth.  I wonder - perhaps they expected the monsters to destroy each other?  That would be a ticket event.

*  Or something.

** Or <shudder> dollars.

***  And then I'd have to eliminate you.