I'm going to gush a lot about this one and here is why: "Revenge of the Cybermen" is my first Doctor Who story!
Sarah -
Huzzah! How exciting to start with the Cybermen!
Harry -
I can even narrow it down to part two, which stands out vividly as the first episode I ever saw. If you look at part two on its own, you can see how it would blow the mind of a first-time, 5-year-old viewer.
Sarah -
I can't imagine what it would have been like for me to watch Doctor Who as a child. Because my local PBS station showed Doctor Who at 11:00 p.m. on Sundays, there was no way for me to see them before I was in high school.
Harry -
Part two jumps between several interesting settings: the murky underground caverns, where a couple of nice humans encounter some wild looking aliens with flowing white hair. Then there's the control room on a space station, where this wild eyed man with a funny scarf and a yo-yo is doing sciency stuff. Then there's a spaceship coming to invade, and it contains giant silver robots with scary robot voices. Nonstop excitement. By the end of this episode, my young eyes must have been wide as saucers.
Sarah -
And so your Whovian fate was sealed! My eight-month-old nephew was at my house while I watched "Revenge of the Cybermen" yesterday. While he's still a wee lad, I'm hoping it made an impression on him!
Harry -
Maybe some of it got caught deep in his psyche. He'll thank you for it someday, assuming he didn't watch only part one. Because for all the exhuberance I feel for this story, it has a dreadful opening.
Sarah -
Well, there is that.
Harry -
If they still gave individual titles to episodes, part one could have been called "Let's Remove All Suspense From This Story Immediately."
Sarah -
Running that at the beginning of an episode might have a slight impact on ratings. Hard to say.
Harry -
Our friends finally return to Nerva, but it's thousands of years too early. A plague has wiped out most of the crew, but right away we meet Professor Kellman, the most obvious villain ever. A mysterious ship approaches Nerva, only it isn't so mysterious. If the title of the story didn't give it away, the appearance of the Cybermen before the cliffhanger certainly does. And for anyone who really missed the obvious, the Doctor himself declares that it's the Cybermen, having reached that conclusion by uttering the word "Voga" a couple of times. Then Sarah gets attacked by a Cybermat, because why not.
What a weak opening.
Sarah -
Cybermats aren't as cute as they used to be, are they?
Harry -
Cuteness factor zero.
Sarah -
My favorite thing about this story is how utterly bonkers Tom Baker is throughout. He's been madcap for the entire first series, but takes it all over the top in "Revenge of the Cybermen". He truly is a mad man -- who really needs to find his blue box!
Harry -
It really does feel like the Doctor is just making it up as he goes along in this one. When the console he was rigging blew up in his face... well at least now we know how he lost his eyebrows.
Sarah -
One thing I will say for this episode is how perfect the Nerva crew are. The three of them all look like they've been cooped up on the beacon for ages and it's clearly wearing on them. If anyone is working it in this episode it's the three of them -- even if they're quickly whittled down to two.
Harry -
After part one and its pageant of obvious plot set ups, part two suddenly screams into life. The Doctor ingeniously expells the toxin from Sarah by sending her and Harry down to Voga via transmat. That was brilliant.
From there, the story becomes a rollicking adventure. I've already gushed about it above, so let me take this moment to point out the convergence of several guest actors beneath those Vogan masks. Kevin Stoney as Tyrum, Michael Wisher as Magrik and David Collings as Vorus. All three have made multiple appearances on Doctor Who over the years, and they were great as the squabbling Vogans.
Sarah -
Kevin Stoney is my single all-time favorite Doctor Who guest actor -- the man who brought us both Mavic Chen and Tobias Vaughan! It's a pity that he's hidden behind a mask, but it's a small price to pay to have him in the story.
The Voga location filming is brilliant. Better than any quarry, Wookey Hole Caves has to be one of the best location sites ever. The settings lends a certain verisimilitude to all the Voga scenes.
Harry -
I'm glad that the show runners deliberately sought out locations that were "not quarries" when it would have been so easy to fall back on that standby throughout this season.
The Vogans were interesting in that they weren't the villains in the story, but Vorus' scheming almost led to everyone's undoing. I like when the Doctor encounters alien species and steps right into the middle of an internal conflict.
Sarah -
To be accurate, he usually leaps more than steps. While there's often an obvious good and bad side in the internal conflict, things are murkier on Voga -- but we all know the Cybermen are the baddies.
Harry -
I also like when the Doctor and his friends have to deal with multiple enemies. In this one, we get the truly irritating Kellman, the suddenly emotive Cybermen and their charmless Cybermats, and the baton-wielding Vorus.
Sarah -
Kellman nailed the sci-fi villian look, didn't he? Gotta watch the guy in the turtleneck.
Harry -
Turtleneck = bad news.
Admitedly, this story is a bit wonky. The whole thing about gold being fatal to the Cybermen never made sense, nor did Kellman perpetrating mass murder on Nerva just to destroy the Cybermen. Then there was the suicide bomb plot that no one really believed (thought it did allow the Doctor to deliver poor Harry's eternal epithet). But on pure action and drama alone, this story is still great viewing.
Sarah -
There are loads of holes in the plot, but it's extremely watchable.
Poor Harry, he started out as Ian Chesterton and ended up as Bertie Wooster. Most wasteful use of a companion since Liz Shaw.
If I can register one more complaint -- the music was unbearable. Apparently, the producers thought they should take a break from Dudley Simpson, so Carey Blyton was brought in for one story. I can't help but think the story would have been stronger with Dudley's steady hand on the wheel.
Harry -
You're right about the music. For a moment, we could hear a bit of Pertwee-era electronica when the Cybermen were down in the caves, but then the score switched back to that hokey stuff that played throughout. Not a fan.
Sarah -
Speaking of Doctor Who stalwarts, Michael Briant's direction played up the action and helped us forget all those bits that didn't quite make sense.
Harry -
The atmospheric caverns made a great setting for all those shootouts and skidoo getaways (Go Sarah go!). As a one-time thing, this troop of over-the-top Cybermen were fascinating baddies. And I really loved the design of the Vogans and their internal strife.
The suspense and action of part four made it easy to forgive the weakness of part one. There's Sarah charging the Cybermen as they prepare to detonate their Cyberbombs on Nerva. "Detonation now" was a great moment of expectation. When that fails, the Cyberleader and Vorus move to bomb each other to oblivion, and the countdown to the thrilling finale is on.
Sarah -
Things did get a bit tense there in part four, but it all comes right in the end -- and the TARDIS finally arrives at Nerva! Huzzah!
Harry -
People are going to think I'm nuts when they see what I rate this story, but that final sequence was heartracing stuff. Who will bomb who first? Will it be mutually assured destruction? Will the TARDIS and her crew be lost forever?
When Tyrum shoots Vorus, Stevenson is forced to control the rocket. With the Doctor's help, he manoeuvres the rocket away from Nerva and crashes it into the Cybership. Awesome!
Then, seconds before Nerva crashes into Voga, the Doctor pilots it away and safely into open space. Awesome!
Everyone is reunited and the TARDIS arrives safe and sound. Awesome!
Sarah -
I've peeked ahead and have to admit that I'm surprised by your generous rating, but emotion is an important part of Doctor Who and I never mind sentimentality.
Harry -
I'll always be that wide-eyed 5-year-old when watching "Revenge of the Cybermen."
Before anyone can take a breather, the Doctor picks up a tickertape message from the Brigadier, our friends are off once again, and one of the best seasons of Doctor Who comes to a close.
Sarah -
It's really just about a perfect season, isn't it? Having torn through in a couple weeks, it's almost hard to imagine having to watch it over months. I was getting impatient when I had to wait a day for the next episode.
Harry -
What a wild ride that was. Forgive me Sarah, I need to stretch out and catch my breath!
Sarah -
Just don't step in any giant clams while you're stretching.
Harry -
Best Line:
"Why don't we just wait here?"
"I think my idea's better."
"What is your idea?"
"I don't know yet. That's the trouble with ideas, they only come a bit at a time."
Favourite Moment: the thrilling finale.
Lasting Image: Cybermen and Vogans battling in the caves.
Yes, the story is goofy, but it was well placed to follow the gloom of "Genesis of the Daleks." Riding a wave of old memories and warm feelings, I have to give this one...
9/10
Sarah -
Best Line: Sarah - "Well, we can't just sit here glittering, can we?"
Favorite Moment: I'll concur on the thrilling finale!
Lasting Image: The Doctor with his yo-yo and the Cyberman as the transmat lands him on Voga.
7/10
Our marathon continues with Story #80 - Terror of the Zygons...
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