As we continue our calm, affable stroll along the corridor that is this marathon -- Rob and Toby having sprinted far off into the distance -- I love being able to revisit stories that I watched years ago. Like this one.
Sarah -
"Calm, affable stroll" makes me feel a bit less guilty for taking far too long to get through this story.
Harry -
Aye, it's no' a race, as Jamie might put it.
Sarah -
Not at our pace, Sunshine.
Harry -
What I meant to say was how the passage of time can create false impressions of Doctor Who stories not seen for a while. Like this one.
I was really looking forward to re-watching "The Moonbase", thinking it to be one of the most bestest Cybermen stories ever. Having watched it again, all those warm and fuzzy memories turned out to be deceiving.
That's not to say it's a bad story, it's just not the one I remembered.
Sarah -
This is my first viewing of "The Moonbase", but I know what you mean. I've had a similar experience with other Doctor Who stories.
It's not a bad story. A bit of a retread of "The Tenth Planet" in some ways, but not bad.
Harry -
A retread in many respects: TARDIS lands on the moon, crew explores and gets into the local moonbase, which is soon menaced by metal giants. Cue spacey-timpani score!
Sarah -
After the awful score of the last story, I have to say I thought "The Moonbase's" score was quite good.
Harry -
Unlike "The Tenth Planet," where the gruff General Cutler lorded over a stressed out crew, the crew of this moonbase is naive and overly friendly. Commander Hobson ("Hobby" to the lads) is like a baffled old uncle who can barely follow what's going on. The rest of the crew seem no less baffled at times.
Sarah -
Hard to believe these guys are in charge of the Earth's weather!
Harry -
Luckily the Doctor is there to... hold on, even the Doctor seems a bit quiet in the early going. Actually, this story seemed to take forever to get going. It's basically the Doctor and his friends welcomed to the moonbase with no alarm at all among the crew, an injured Jamie bleating on about the Phantom Piper, and a series of rather clumsy kidnappings. Not what I remembered at all.
I was shocked that the Cybermen didn't even speak until episode three!
Sarah -
That probably wasn't a bad thing. I couldn't really understand most of what they said, anyway. It was an improvement over their sing-songy voices in "The Tenth Planet", but hard to decipher at times.
Harry -
The new Cybervoices are evil! So evil! As a child, if I could make out what they were saying, I would have been terrified!
And I think that's what makes this the most kid-oriented DW story yet - the black-and-whiteness of it all, with loads of silliness. The Doctor does a lot of silly things here: crawling around and removing items of clothing from oblivious crew members, pretending to make awesome discoveries with science equipment, even having audible conversations with himself.
Sarah -
That was completely brilliant! I loved the Doctor's inner dialogue scene!
Harry -
The moonbase crew are assured of their silly status by way of those shower caps. Ben blends into the furniture while Jamie bleats on, so it's up to Polly to devise a concoction to thwart the Cybermen. It felt like watching the first season again, where some Actual Science featured in the story.
Sarah -
Benoit was my favorite member of the crew. If his outrageous accent wasn't enough to let us silly English k...niggets know he was FRAWNCH, the neck scarf was there to remove all doubt.
Harry -
I kept waiting for Nils, the so-called "mad Dane" to live up to his name, but it never happened, so Benoit's my favourite too.
Sarah -
Also, I could not get it out of my head that he looked like Mr. Bean and kept waiting for more silliness to ensue.
Ben's shirt is quite excellent.
Jamie is...well, he's Jamie, which is to say adorable.
It's Our Polly who rises to the challenge and saves the day. Barbara would be so proud! Who knew getting manicures could save the planet?
Harry -
The devising of the "Polly cocktail" was another great moment for her character.
Back to the Cybermen. Unless I missed something, their whole plot could be summed up with the words "destroy everything." Such an unambiguous, kid-friendly story, it was practically panto.
Sarah -
Which is why Mr. Bean fits in so nicely.
Speaking of the set. Oh were we? I guess we are now.
Speaking of the set, I quite liked that modernist balloon sculpture that seemed to be an important part of controlling the Earth's weather. Speaking of the Earth's weather, I'm not quite liking this cold and wet Spring we're having so far. Those blokes on the moon are really shirking their responsibilities these days.
Oh, wait, we were actually talking about Cybermen weren't we? They've upgraded nicely in the few centuries since we last met them, haven't they?
Harry -
The giant headlamps have been steamlined nicely. I'm not a fan of those spikey gloves, or those wiffle balls attached to their bodies.
They are a tenacious lot, though their tactics leave a lot to be desired. For a race of "upgraded" beings, seeing them sneaking about like rats doesn't seem right. When they do attempt a frontal assault, their weaponry fails. As a final humiliation, the Doctor and friends send the Cybermen floating off into space. Hurrah everybody!
Sarah -
Some things just never turn out the way you plan, do they?
The Cybermen clearly need to work out some of the kinks and get back to us. It's nice to know there are always things we can count on in Doctor Who.
Harry -
Like wobbling sets... literally! I'm talking about the part two cliffhanger, when a Cyberman leaps off one of the beds in the medical room. Not only does the bed rock, but you can hear it go "WOB-BLE, WOB-BLEWOB-BLE, WOB-BLEWOB-BLEWOB-BLE" as the credits roll. Fantastic!
Sarah -
I was waiting for the bed to collapse and take the Cyberman with it!
Harry -
Overall, "The Moonbase" is a light romp with lots of fun moments, but not exactly a Cyberclassic.
Best line: The Cyberman's mocking "Clever, clever, clever."
Favourite moment: The sequence where, after a big buildup, the Cybermen's laser cannon fails to crack the moonbase dome, and they pack it up again with resignation.
Lasting image: Benoit working the gravitron controls in shower cap and scarf. Oh la la!
7/10
Sarah -
Best line: Jamie, having asked the Doctor to land someplace on purpose: "Oh, thank the lord for that. You know, Doctor, I'll never ask you to do that again."
Favourite moment: The Doctor's chat with himself.
Lasting image: It's got to be the shower cap!
7/10
Our marathon continues with Story #34 - The Macra Terror...
