Harry -
I was not looking forward to rewatching this story, solely
because of the opening moments in the TARDIS. The Doctor and Rose are so caught
up in each other that Mickey is entirely forgotten, left pressing down a button
on the console for half an hour. Then the smug chuckling between the two of
them, like teenagers in the cafeteria. Wow, I hate this opening.
Sarah -
This is the era of peak smug. I want to smack them both
upside their heads. Mickey should dump these two jerks.
Harry -
Nice foreshadowing.
The TARDIS seemed to hate what was going on too, flying
right out of the time vortex and then shutting down, plunging everyone into
darkness. I'd have done the same!
Sarah -
In my head canon, the TARDIS has always been fond of
Mickey.
Harry -
They all pick themselves up, and the Doctor fears that
they've gone through the void into nothingness. Mickey pops the door open and
declares that this nothingness looks a lot like contemporary London.
Sarah -
London with zeppelins and a very alive Pete Tyler. Who
doesn’t like a good parallel-world story? More to the point, who doesn’t like a
good two-part, parallel-world story...directed by Graeme Harper! The first (and
only) Doctor Who director to return to the series after its unfortunate
sixteen-year hiatus. The director of "The Caves of Androzani", back in the TARDIS
again!
Harry -
We are also treated to the return of an actor from the
classic era: Colin Spaull, who played security guard Lilt in "Revelation of the
Daleks". Here, he plays Mr. Crane, henchman to John Lumic, the genius head of
Cybus Industries on parallel Earth.
Sarah -
Lumic is a bit of a cartoon baddie, with appropriate
over-the-top megalomania. We know he’ll be hoisted by his own petard by the end
of the story, even if he doesn’t see it coming.
Harry -
Lumic's vocal projections always sound odd, like he's
barking even though he's speaking. It hints that he's not all there.
Lumic is the head of Cybus Industries, a corporation that
has cornered the market on personal digital devices. Everyone in London wears
Cybus earpods that feed information directly into the wearers' brains. A day's
worth of news, sports, weather, lotto numbers and entertainment all downloaded
in seconds. Makes cell phones look clumsy and obsolete.
Sarah -
Once again, Doctor Who made me afraid of technology. When
this story came out, people were just starting to walk around with their
bluetooth earbuds, which always made me uncomfortable. It was just weird to be
talking to someone while their earbud flashed at you. The earpods in this story
totally played into my techno-anxiety, which made it all the more effective.
Harry -
It's still jarring today to walk past someone having a
conversation with themselves, only to notice something plugged into their ear
after the fact. Anyway, it looks like Pete Tyler also cornered a market and is
the face of a soft drinks empire. Get in Pete! Despite the Doctor's warnings,
Rose is curious to find him and see what her parallel family might be like.
Sarah -
Have they not already learned this is a bad idea?
Harry -
Honestly, didn't we just go through this?
Since he's joined the team, Mickey also considers the
possibility that his deceased grandmother might still be alive and well on this
Earth. Before he can shut them down, the Doctor watches both of his friends
shoot off in different directions. Ordering Mickey to meet back in 24 hours
(long enough for the TARDIS to recharge for departure), he sets off behind
Rose.
Sarah -
I love Mickey’s dismissal of the Doctor, “Well, you don't
know anything about me, do you? It's always about Rose. I'm just a spare part.”
First, well done, Mickey. Second, the line reminded me that Big Finish’s “Spare Parts” was the inspiration for this story. Praise the Compan...er, I mean
Praise Big Finish!
Harry -
To Big Finish Be The Glory!
Sarah -
"The Sun Makers" really is the gift that just keeps giving.
Harry -
It's a timely arrival for the TARDIS crew, coinciding with
Lumic's return to Great Britain. It appears he lives in a state of
statelessness in his personal zeppelin. However, he has returned for a personal
meeting with the British president (wew!), seeking approval to commence his
massive scheme to "rescue" the human race. The plan involves
uploading human brains into an artificial shell: "skin of metal, and a
body that will never age or die." Lumic has created this parallel Earth's
version of the Cybermen!
What did you think of the RTD-era Cybermen design, Sarah?
Sarah -
I know opinions run strong when it comes to Cyberman design.
While I find the Tenth Planet Cybermen to be the scariest of them all, these
Cybermen were effective. Other than their well-timed saunter in front of St.
Paul’s, the Cybermen never seemed particularly coordinated. Their stompy en
masse marching would have had me ducking behind the sofa if I’d seen them as a
child. I’m dying to hear your take.
Harry -
I think they got the heads and torsos right, but the flared
out arms and legs always looked like they'd been put on backwards. The
resulting look always seemed, well, clunky. I admire the streamlined Moffat-era
Cybermen design much more.
The stomping became inextricably linked to Nu Who Cybermen
in very short order. I mean, this story had shots dedicated entirely to
Cybermen stomping down a street. Multiple times! I'm not fussed by it, it makes
sense when we're talking about uniform machinery moving in unison.
Sarah -
After a while, the stomping did feel a bit egregious; like
they were showing off. Cybermen don’t usually show off, that’s what Daleks are
for.
What did you think of the return of the teardrop?
Harry -
The teardrop is iconic, like the head-handles and silver
paint jobs, so it all came together nicely. I was not as sold on RTD trying to
make "Delete! Delete!" into a catchphrase for these monsters. Best to
leave the evil exclamations to the Daleks as well.
My big creeped out moment was after Mr. Crane rounded up
some homeless people and they were herded into a Cyber-conversion chamber.
Covering up their death screams with "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" was
really dark and twisted.
Sarah -With some bonus shots of Battersea, which felt like fan
service directed right to you, Old Boy!
Harry -
One of my favourite buildings in London! Thankfully, on our
Earth the building was just a power station and not a Cyber-abattoir.
Sarah -
As far as we know...
Harry -
Lumic is preparing to release his Cyber army upon the
British president, dispatching a platoon to the Tyler mansion on the very night
that Jackie and Pete are hosting a birthday bash.
Rose really can't say the Doctor didn't warn her. Instead of
the mum she's grown up with, this Jackie is rich, spoiled and a bit nasty.
Sarah -
And Rose is a dog!
Rose’s attempt at a heart to heart with Jackie doesn’t go so
well. Pete and Jackie have split up after 20 years and Jackie doesn’t
appreciate advice from an uppity catering server. The Doctor’s undercover plan
may not have put Rose in the best position to give advice.
Meanwhile, Mickey has made new friends. Left to his own
devices, he decides to see if his grandmother is still alive in this alternate
reality. When he finds her, she’s relieved to see him, but insists on calling
him Ricky. Mickey’s willing to play along, until he’s grabbed off her doorstep
and bundled into a van by people who also think he’s someone named Ricky.
Mickey rolls with it, but things get awkward when comes face to face with the
actual Ricky.
Ricky, you will recall was what the Ninth Doctor used to
“accidentally” call Mickey just, you know, to be a jerk.
I love that Mickey is finally getting his own story arc.
Having been treated initially as comic relief, Mickey’s character developed
very much in the background through Series 1. On this rewatch, I’ve found
myself really appreciating Mickey’s loyalty and strength of character and most
of the credit for that goes to Noel Clarke.
Harry -
Mickey is the star of this story. Throw in a parallel double
and it's two times the Noel Clarke awesomeness.
Mickey and his new friends in the underground make their way
to the Tyler estate just as Lumic's Cybermen storm the joint. I liked seeing
the Scooby Gang forge an escape in their van.
The second part of the story sees Lumic ramping up his plan
and activating everyone's earpods, sending everyone (including Jackie) marching
towards Battersea for conversion. Crane decides this has gone too far, and
attempts to kill Lumic. Crane is eliminated, but Lumic struggles to hold on to
his life. His creations decide it is time for him to be uploaded.
Sarah -
Once again, a megalomaniac is hoisted by his own petard.
Still, Lumic is hardly the most interesting person to have fallen victim to the
Cybermen. Somewhere, Tobias Vaughn is rolling his eyes at the whole situation.
Harry -
The Scooby Gang splits up in order to assault the power
station from three directions: from the roof (Mickey and Jake), ground level
(Rose and Pete), and from beneath (The Doctor and Mrs. Moore).
Another horrible moment awaits Rose as she and Pete track down
Jackie, only to find that she has been Cyber-converted. It's moments like these
that elevate the Cybermen above all other monsters. There is a finality to
Cyber-conversion that is more horrifying than being gunned down by Daleks or
Sontarans. Just last season we saw Captain Jack Harkness cheat death by the
Daleks. With the Cybers the process can never be reversed, making Jackie's
death particularly devastating, even if it was a different Jackie.
Sarah -
Poor Jackie.
Harry -
Meanwhile, down below the powerplant of death, the Doctor
discovers that a simple code can cancel the emotional inhibitors of the
Cybermen. Sadly, Mrs. Moore is attacked and killed before they can escape.
Seeing that the Doctor is not a human being and worthy of study, they march him
up to face the Cyber Controller.
Sarah -
I quite liked Mrs. Moore. Her character reminded me of all
the mature female guest stars who ended up paired with the Fifth Doctor. Her
backstory of having worked for Cybus Industries and having to go on the run after
reading a file that she was not supposed to read would be a great story on its
own. The tragedy of her death is that her family thought she had died long ago.
I salute you, Angela Price!
Harry -
The Doctor finds Rose and Pete already in Lumic's lair.
Hoping that Mickey and Jake have been able to sneak into Lumic's zeppelin, the
Doctor plays for time and coaches Mickey into hacking the inhibitors and
triggering mayhem among Lumic's creations. Once again, master hacker Mickey
comes through and all hell breaks loose.
Sarah -
Once again, Mickey saves the day!
Harry -
Our friends flee in the zeppelin and Lumic perishes as the
building goes up in flames. Hell of a getaway!
It's not a clean ending though. Jake is the only one of
Mickey's new friends to survive. Lumic's network remains scattered around the
globe, and it needs shutting down. Mickey makes the biggest choice of his life
and announces he wants to stay on the parallel Earth.
Sarah -
Good on Mickey! He gets to stay with his alternate-Earth grandmother
and rid himself of the Doctor and Rose. It’s a win-win situation!
Harry -
I started this story hating it, but by the end the
conclusion of Mickey's story redeemed the whole thing. RTD succeeded in making
Mickey into a great side protagonist in the Whoniverse, and successfully
brought back another classic monster. We'll be seeing (and hearing a lot more
stomping from) the Cybers in the years to come.
Best line:
MICKEY: Let's go and liberate Paris.
JAKE: What, you and me, in a van?
MICKEY: There's nothing wrong with a van. I once saved the
universe with a big yellow truck.
Favourite moment: the Scooby Gang escapes in their van.
Lasting image: CyberLumic plummeting into the flames of
Battersea Power Station.
7/10
Sarah -
Best Line:
MICKEY: Thanks. We've had a laugh though, haven't we? Seen
it all, been there and back. Who would have thought, me and you off the old
estate, flying through the stars.
ROSE: All those years just sitting there, imagining what
we'd do one day. We never saw this, did we?
Favorite Moment: Mickey deciding to stay behind.
Lasting image: The stompy Cybermen.
7/10
Our marathon continues with Story #173: The Idiot's Lantern...
