DOCTOR WHO-TOMB OF THE CYBERMEN

 

TOMB OF THE CYBERMEN episode 1

With the Daleks supposedly gone forever from the series (!), the Cybermen get a new backstory, sort of. THEY become what the Daleks were…holed up in one place for a long time, almost forgotten with a leader with a big head. More on that later but…this is DOCTOR WHO at its best.

 

We get Victoria’s introduction to the TARDIS. BTW in the last story, the Doctor not only mentioned taking the humans (he PLANNED totally on getting out as he mentions this IN THE CELL!) to either his home planet OR another universe! He also mentions he is not from Earth for the first time AND he seems to drink wine. Victoria’s intro to the TARDIS in TOMB is like a re-introduction to the series. Jamie is even surprised when the Doctor counts that he is about 450 years old. This is probably the first time the Doctor mentions being older than most human beings or having an extended life span. It is hinted at that he is so long lived just because he’s traveled in time and space, again in the last story.

 

We get a huge cast, huge vistas on a very alien looking planet, and loud bold music that sounds almost classical. Still, more than anything else, this resembles a 1950s sci fi movie from either America, the UK, or even the Czech Republic (see VOYAGE TO THE END OF THE UNIVERSE).

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyage_to_the_End_of_the_Universe

 

All that is a good thing. The huge cast are split into three groups---cannon fodder while just being a member of the group (I only count two of those in episode one—that’s right, two deaths in just the first episode, making this a dangerous story already but that’s nothing new…unless you count THE MACRA TERROR or THE UNDERWATER MENACE or…) OR the good guys who seem to speak American OR the bad guys and one gal who seem to speak something foreign, Russian or German? Almost all of them seem to have a personality and back story, handsome spaceship captain, serious archeologist, archeologist leader, and some of them are very young for crew members but then again look at ALL of STAR TREK.

 

There are death traps inside and out, strange doors that close Victoria in a revitalizing chamber (the evil woman Kaftan shuts her in on purpose or so it looks), psychedelic walls that mesmerize Jamie, and finally, the cliffhanger looked as if a Cyberman slid out of an alcove and blasted the young, nice man (in what seems to be modern day clothing!?) Haydon to death!

 

Of course ABOUT TIME has a huge THINGS THAT DON’T’ MAKE SENSE but the story is actually fun at this point and interesting. It’s a take on the old “find a mummy in a tomb” horror movies and as such this episode is quite creepy in its own way. Some of the dialog is a bit…odd at times as when Kaftan wants to take Victoria’s hand to stick together because they’re women.

 

On the other hand there are some great moments here. The Doctor thinks he’s taking Victoria’s hand but takes Jamie’s and they move together, Victoria in the background between them, hesitant and afraid to go into the tomb (and rather than being a scared little girl, she seems actually SMART for not doing so). When they realize they are holding hands, the Doc and Jamie fling each other’s hands away. There’s also a great TARDIS scene at the start where Pat’s Doc gets insulted when Jamie asks him to try to get them where they supposed to go and he reminds me of Colin’s Doctor here or the other way around as Patrick repeats Jamie’s words. The Doctor also seems to relish living in the TARDIS as he tells Victoria it is his home…or has been for some considerable length of time.

 

Even funnier is a short moment when the Doctor counts up strong muscle African man Toberman as the only one who open the doors now that the Doc himself has either made it safe (a man gets electrocuted trying to open the doors and the Doc seems to use a small device to make them safe but then later suggests the man’s death siphoned off the power and THAT’S why it’s safe…I wrote already that there are a lot of things that don’t make sense). When the Doctor looks, “Unless of course he’s afraid,” Toberman advances…seeming at him and the Doc backs away scared and frightened for a moment, “…of course, he’s not afraid…” CLASSIC TROUGHTON. I’m so glad this story was found and it makes me wonder what other bits of Troughton that he added in with facial expressions and movements that we will NEVER get to see.

 

In any case, my own question is this…WHY does the Doctor help them open the tomb doors and then once inside seemingly help them solve EVERY scientific mystery that they wouldn’t have without his help when it leads to the Cybermen returning and killing a lot of the team? It seems almost as if the Doctor wants the Cybermen to revive or that he wants to see if they already have woken up AT ALL COSTS to the team and even Jamie and Victoria. Which, of course, once he shows them some of this stuff, he then recoils when the team uses his input to open more doors and set up the units! WT?

 

Oh yeah…and Jamie finds a very small Cybermat!

 

Of note, there are shadows moving behind both Victoria and Viner in the revitalization room. This could be spooky goings on designed to scare us…or just the crew being seen on camera in a pair of bloopers.

 

Again, though, this episode really does the job. It has a great build up, interesting characters (even if they are types), and a good set and even location work. The main cast is fantastic as ever…and the Doc just as mysterious as ever…I mean why is he doing what he’s doing in this?

 

TOMB OF THE CYBERMEN episode 2

One thing I forgot to mention last time was that the show seemed to sneak in, every so often, a brief sequence and THEN show the title of the story, with specific credit unique to this episode with special music as well.

 

Okay, another good episode. No one, however, seems to be acting smartly but it is not as bad as ABOUT TIME makes it sound. The Doctor presses a button that seems to be an attempt to stop Klieg from opening the huge hatchway. Hopper finds the ship sabotaged by a human but for some reason the Doctor insists that something sabotaged it. It cannot be the Cybermen because…they are in hibernation and the Cybermats are not likely either because they were in the sealed up building. BTW if the Cybermen want humans to come upon them, why rig up the door and the traps?

 

One utter delightful thing about this episode is that the comedy double act of Troughton and Hines makes this so much more enjoyable. They started this last episode and here it continues. When the Doctor wants to attempt to figure out how Haydon died he tells the others in the room, “Now there is a distinct element of risk in what I'm asking you all to do, so if anyone wishes to leave they must do so at once.”  The only one that moves toward the door is the handsome boy Jamie! “Not you, Jamie!”  And there’s a bit more. Jamie warns Toberman (am I wrong in thinking there’s a kind of homosexual thing going on with his outfit and muscles?) to let the Doctor pass, “…or I’ll…” he can’t come up with anything so just says, “Just let him pass.”

 

The Doctor DOES give Victoria and Jamie a chance to go back to the TARDIS for safety while he sleeps in the building with the others. Surely, since the rocket cannot be slept in as Hopper is taking it apart to fix it (?) and there’s not enough room, there must be a safer place? Jamie seems reluctant to stay but does so after Victoria announces she will stay.

 

Victoria. Dear. The Doctor leaves her with Kaftan and warns her to be careful and watch her. So…she turns her back on her and gets drugged into unconsciousness by her and when she revives to be…held at gunpoint. The other point is that Victoria, told by the Doctor to stay well away from the cybermat, puts it in her pocket book (hand bag!). It bites Kaftan or something and she’s out of the rest of the episode.

 

Not sure how much the Doctor used his 500 year diary before but here he uses it for the last time in the classic series. http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Five_Hundred_Year_Diary

 

The Doctor wanted to find out what Klieg was up…certainly there was an easier way than this? By the time he finds out, Viner has been shot by the man and the Cybermen have been unfrozen…TWICE.

 

Speaking of which, while there is much good in this episode, the spookiest thing is the Cybermen seen in their “wombs” in the huge, impressive tomb set reviving slowly like some kind of insects in a hive. Creepy and effective. So much greatness was rumored up around this previously lost story that when it was found, many were disappointed. I kept from watching it for a long time, still bitter at Doctor Who for killing off Adric AND for giving us some terrible stories in Colin’s (not his fault) and Sly’s (not his fault either and none but maybe three were as bad as most Moffat stories). I find I’m not really disappointed in it at all.

 

The Cyber Controller is seen here for the first time, big head (shhh, not as big as the Emperor of the Daleks last story). He’s fairly creepy by not answering anyone right away. And just as effective.

 

By the way, where did the Doctor get that long black cloak? Did Hopper bring it? Why does it look just like the kind of thing the William Hartnell Doctor would wear and NO ONE else there is given one?

 

When Hopper said that he brought anoraks…I thought he meant Doctor Who fans!  Just kidding. Really. I am.

 

All in all, this episode was quite good so far. The sets, the music, and the set pieces…weapons room and tester, giant tomb of ice melting, huge door way shutting down, the CyberMat (quite creepy when seen from the bottom after Victoria shoots it…being useful for a change…and then she runs off out of the building calling for Captain Hopper!) and the whole set up, being THE CURSE OF THE MUMMY sort of, just works...a lot.

 

Still, WHY did the Doctor set this all up?

 

 

TOMB OF THE CYBERMEN episodes 3 and 4

 

FLIPPING AWESOME! So much happens. What we get: the Doctor is sleeping and with one of the piping tubes draped near his arm and yawns, stunning Victoria into pointing a gun at him. He puts his hands up and says that they are on the same side. What follows is a charming scene between them regarding his age, his family, his memories of his family but it’s sort of cold to understand that the Doctor feels that his family stays in his mind until he wants to call them up again but there are more things to think about then them! It’s a nicer scene than it seems but he also seems to be warm and friendly and yet…somehow uncaring and different at the same time. It’s also charming that Victoria let him sleep because she thinks he needs more sleep being so ancient! He tells her he is lively for his age.

 

With most of the men trapped down below with the revived Cybermen, the entire sequence in episode 3 is intense.

 

Hopper throws gas bombs down and helps them escape but only Klieg and Toberman are left below…but somehow the gang let Klieg back up…and lock he and Kaftan in the weapons room. No one is thinking right in this story!

 

The whole escape though, with the Doctor’s ankle being grabbed, Victoria coming to his rescue only to have her hand grabbed, is amazing. Love it. Then, if that’s not bad enough, the Cybermen send up a large number of larger Cybermats to attack the gang. The Doc rigs something up, which is fine. It still seems as if…he knows what will happen before it does.

 

Oh, and either the Cyberman or the Cyber Controller that chased the Doctor up the ladder has a huge rip in his …uhm, costume. Toberman is converted…or at least he’s given the arm of a Cyberman and when Jamie and the Doctor next see him, they realize what has happened.

 

Some of the Victoria stuff only makes sense if…you believe that between her intro to the TARDIS in episode one and the next scene where they arrive on TELOS, there were other adventures with the Doctor, Victoria and Jamie…in fact quite a few. The way she’s acting, the way the Doctor asks her, “Are you happy with us?” and the way she’s not THAT hungry…

 

Victoria and Hopper have a nice rapport going with some fun dialog.

 

Blooper: Jamie slips on the ladder coming down from the hatch.

 

There is more comedy from the Doctor and Jamie. The Doctor says of the Cybermats, “You might almost say that they've had a complete metal breakdown.”  When Jamie groans, he apologizes. The rapport between this Doctor and companion (and I’d include Victoria as well) is probably the best of any Doctor and any companion. I could have watched them go on forever in the series.

 

Another funny bit is after escaping and hiding, the Doctor, Jamie and Parry, one by one peer around a corner, one head above the other THREE STOOGES style!

 

 

Klieg gets a cyber gun and fires it in the cliffhanger, which ABOUT TIME felt was cliché. I feel ABOUT TIME may be too hard on this story and the next.

 

Okay, no one realized the Cybermat got outside and in the end of the story we see it moving toward…the body of Toberman? Is there a sequel somewhere in there?

 

Uhm, the Doctor does more strange things such as electrifying the doors again so that anyone trying to open them will DIE! As Toberman does. So the Doctor is directly responsible for his death.

 

And yes, ABOUT TIME, I get that there are two wooden shoring planks of timber for Jamie and the others to insulate themselves as they try to close the doors with. And again, acting stupid, no one checked to make sure the Cyber Controller was really dead and out of action. The Doctor’s, “Jamie, you go that way, I'll go this way. That way will give us more of a chance. When I say run, run.” Reminds me a bit of the “run” out of the corner of the mouth of  Alan to the boy in JURASSIC PARK 3 when facing the long snouted dino that would attack no matter what.

 

 

By the way, both Klieg and Jamie put down the cybergun when they have control of the situation resulting in worse situations for each of them. The Doctor doesn’t take the gun down below when he and Toberman go back down to make sure the Cybermen are back in their casings…but the Doctor already knows they are not frozen! There was no reason to go back down. They could have sealed the hatch. I guess the Doctor wanted them re-frozen.

 

Despite the flaws, obvious or not, TOMB OF THE CYBERMEN is fantastically entertaining and fun. I think  four parts is best for DOCTOR WHO but unfortunately, this era does not have many of those. There are far more five and six parters.