Episode #205 : The Next Doctor

The "Next" Doctor: It's strange, though. I talk of Cybermen... from the stars... and you don't blink, Mr. Smith.
The Doctor: Ah, don't blink, whatever you do, don't blink, remember that? The blinking and the statues and... Sally and the angels? No?
The "Next" Doctor: You're a very odd man.
The Doctor: Mmm... I still am.

Episode #205:      The Next Doctor.
Companions:        The 10th Doctor.
Air Date:              25th December  2008.

Christmas 1851, and Cybermen stalk Victorian London. The Tenth Doctor discovers a spate of mysterious deaths, and he's surprised to meet another Doctor! Are two Doctors enough to stop the rise of the CyberKing?

The Doctor is travelling alone again and winds up at Christmas in 1851 just in time to be drawn into the evil schemes of the "Pete's World" Cybermen who have escaped the Void by somehow using Dalek technology. They now plan to convert the Earth using the villainous Mercy Hartigan. On the way he encounters someone he thinks is his future self but ultimately isn't. Much running ensues, the mystery solved and a rather obvious Cyberking is stopped.

The Next Doctor is a story where I cannot decide whether I like it or not. On one had I find the adventure somewhat lackluster and with a glaring historical issue at the end, but at the same time it's not a bad little romp. Some aspects obviously trigger a little OCD in me I guess but I'll come to that shortly. Either way i have decided that since I cannot decide it is unfair to mark the episode down so it gets an average rating from me.

Jackson Lake, the supposed "next Doctor" is quite a good character though I don't see much use for his companion Rossita. It almost makes me wish that Lake had been the next incarnation as until his amnesia/fugue is fixed he makes quite a good Doctor personality. Making him a confused personality thinking he is a Time Lord is a clever idea but once unraveled it feels like a bit of a let down and you almost wish he was the next incarnation of the Doctor.

So, jumping ahead to the historical issue that I mentioned. Well, we have a two hundred foot high Cyberman battle mech stomping all over London. Even Lake says that it will be mentioned of in the history books for years to come. But it wasn't and it really irks me that such a thing was included. Doctor Who is more subtle than that. Even when we had the Loch Ness Monster popping up in London the Doctor does make a point that humans are self deceiving at times. But this wasn't a couple hundred people seeing something in the river Thames, this is thousands of people seeing a giant robot battle suit. Now, this brings me to events from the 11th Doctor... did the reboot of the universe erase these events from ever happening in the first place? It's all timey-whimey again.

One last comment though that does make this episode better for me than other Christmas specials is that it doesn't make too much of a point of it being Christmas in the episode. There are a couple references and then they focus on the adventure, and just get on with it.

Episode #175 : Rise of the Cybermen / Age of Steel.

 

Rose: [surprised] They're people.

The Doctor: They were, until they had all their humanity taken away. That's a living brain jammed inside a cybernetic body, with a heart of steel. All emotions removed.

Rose: Why no emotions?

The Doctor: Because it hurts.

Episode 175:   Rise of the Cybermen / Age of Steel.
Companions:   10th Doctor and Rose Tyler.
Air Date:         13th to 20th May 2006.

On a parallel Earth, a deadly new version of the Doctor's old enemy is about to be reborn. The Cybermen take control of London and start converting the population, and the Tenth Doctor, Rose Tyler and Mickey Smith become fugitives.

An explosion in the vortex drops the TARDIS and crew on to a parallel Earth where things a tad different from our own. In this one there are airships everywhere and everyone is connected to everything via an earpiece. The time travellers arrive to find that Rose's father Pete is still alive and rather successful which causes Rose to go off looking for him. Unfortunately this is the same time that the Cybermen of this universe come into being and start upgrading everyone.

I'll start off by saying that I'm not a fan of the new Cyberman designs. I find them far too clunky and robotic, but I do prefer the 1980's look and they will always be the Cybermen for me. But fair play and things change. The BBC have better ways of showing these creatures now. If only they hadn't added "delete" as a catchphrase. It is far too cheesy. Even more so than before these Cybermen remind me of the Borg from Star Trek for their conversion of people into Cybermen, which you do see through this story.

John Lumic, who becomes the Cyber Controller, is played by the late Roger Lloyd-Pack who is more famously known for the role of Trigger in the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses.

Just as with the 3rd Doctor story Inferno, the fun aspect of this story is seeing how our regular characters are different in an alternate universe. Pete Tyler is a respectable and rich business man, and Jackie Tyler isn't so different just stuck up. Rose doesn't exist. Instead the Tyler's have a dog named Rose. Mickey has an opposite called Rickey who is a braver more criminal (number 1 for parking fines!) version of himself.

When all is said and done, Mickey decides to remain here because his gran is still alive in this universe and he feels he can help deal with the remaining Cybermen in other parts of the world. I find Mickey an annoying character at times. Far too clingy towards Rose. In hindsight though perhaps he wasn't that bad.

Rise of the Cybermen / Age of Steel is a good story for introducing the Cybermen to a new generation. I just wish that they weren't the only ones we see for a long time.

Episode #137 : Attack of the Cybermen

"The TARDIS, when working properly, is capable of many amazing things. Not unlike myself."

Episode 137:   Attack of the Cybermen.
Companions:   6th Doctor and Peri.
Air Date:         5th to 12th January 1985.

The TARDIS is lured to Earth in 1985 by a distress call sent by Lytton, who has made contact with a group of Cybermen based in London's sewers. The Doctor and Peri are then captured and forced to take Lytton and the Cybermen in the TARDIS to the Cybermen's home planet Telos. The Cybermen have stolen a time vessel from another race and plan to change history by crashing Halley's Comet into Earth and obliterating it before it can bring about the demise of their original home world, Mondas, in 1986.

Contary to popular opinion, there is a lot to like about Attack of the Cybermen especially if you are a fan of the classic show. This story acts as a sort of prequel and sequel to the 2nd Doctor adventure Tomb of the Cybermen and the 1st Doctor's final adventure; The Tenth Planet, and carries lots of references to enhance the story. Some feel that that is a bad thing but for me the continuity (such as it is) is what makes this story something more than your typical Doctor Who adventure. Attack of the Cybermen explains more about the tombs discovered on Telos, has the return of Lytton and the Cyber-Controller. It also sees the return, albeit brief, of the TARDIS with a functioning chameleon circuit and Totter's junkyard where everything first started.

The Doctor has come a ways since we last saw him. No more psychotic, a little more sedate and back to being a personality that we can relate to as the Doctor. There is a little violence that wouldn't normally be there such beating up one of Lytton's fake police and blasting some Cybermen, but you get the sense this is part of who this personality is now. It doesn't bother me and makes a change.

These Cybermen seem a bit weaker than what we are used to as well. Some seem to die easily to bullets and others have their heads knocked off rather literally. Oddly, the Cyber-Controller has put on a few pounds since we last saw him and it looks a bit odd. There is also the incidents of mouldy, insane Cybermen on Telos which are never explained as far as I could see.

There is much more to this story than most fans see I think, and with the intervening years this one is quite a gem. Just ignore any small plot holes and enjoy.

Episode #37 : The Tomb of the Cybermen

"Our lives are different to anybody else's. That's the exciting thing, that nobody in the

universe can do what we're doing."

 

 

Episode 37:   The Tomb of the Cybermen.
Companions: The 2nd Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield.
Air Date:        Four episodes. 2nd to 23rd September 1967.

The TARDIS arrives on the planet Telos, where an Earth archaeological expedition led by Professor Parry is trying to uncover the lost tombs of the Cybermen. With a lot of help from the Doctor, the archaeologists enter the tombs. There, one of the party, Klieg, reveals himself and his business partner, Kaftan, to be planning to revive the Cybermen.

There are time as I go re-watching these stories, that I realise that I am often overly-critical of some of them. Especially these which are pre-Pertwee. But The Tomb of the Cybermen is a gem among these early stories and a must-watch in my opinion. Very rarely does 1960's Doctor Who get such a well written, well paced and well-acted story, but this one does it.

The story deals with the Cybermen having put themselves into a hibernation state for 500 years. My guess would be because of Mondas' destruction in the mid 20th century though as machine life forms who could live indefinitely it makes me wonder why that would be necessary. Now that they have been found they plan to start assimilating, for lack of a better word, the archaeologists and rebuild their race. The story also introduces the concept of a Cyber-Controller and Cybermats, both of which will last throughout the Cybermen's appearances in the series.

This is the first time that I can say I've seen Victoria Waterfield on screen and I quite like her as a companion. Unlike Jamie, who just seems to leap into the idea of time travel and space, Victoria actually plays the culture shock of being a person out of time, dropped into things she doesn't truly understand.

We get a follow up to the events of this story with the 6th Doctor in the story Attack of the Cybermen, which also ties into the events from The Tenth Planet. Nice to see that the writers were considering previous stories at some point.

For those who want to watch the better classic stories, I heartily recommend this one. A big thumbs up.