Sarah -
Here we are in Season 22. We've come so far, Dear Harry!
It's the first story of Colin Baker's only full season as the Doctor and the only season of Doctor Who to feature 45-minute episodes before the series' return with "Rose".
Harry -
Interesting how the two episode structure cleaved this story into two very different halves.
Sarah -
I had the same thought. The two episodes felt more like a contemporary two-parter than anything we've seen before in our marathon.
Harry -
We'll see how the format holds up over a season. "Attack of the Cybermen" started off strong, but faded late and ended up neither good nor bad overall.
Sarah -
I agree. The first episode is so much stronger than the second.
Harry -
The story lived up to its title almost immediately, as a pair of municipal workers are attacked by an unseen assailant in the sewers somewhere below London. The underground scene is just the first of many familiarities that will be thrown our way.
Sarah -
Poor municipal workers -- doomed from the start!
Harry -
Up in the TARDIS, the Doctor is tinkering with the machinery, aiming to repair the chameleon circuit that has been faulty since the Hartnell era. He appears to have settled down from the manic psycho we met in "The Twin Dilemma". However, Peri is still wary and the two of them can't help acting like the Bickersons in space. Suddenly: console room pandemonium! The TARDIS lurches abruptly and our friends are forced to ride it out, clutching the console to avoid getting thrown around the room. Just like the Davison era.
Sarah -
I thought the opening scenes in the TARDIS were effective in establishing the state of the Doctor and Peri's relationship. I liked that Peri was still wary of the Doctor from their experiences in "The Twin Dilemma".
Harry -
Down in a London street, a quartet of criminals prepare to stage a bank heist. Their leader is another familiar face -- the Dalek co-conspirator Lytton, whom we last saw slinking away from the warehouse of death with his killer bobbies. Unlike "The Twin Dilemma", this story took much more effort to ease the viewer into the universe of Doctor Who.
Sarah -
I really liked the establishing scene with our bank robbers. It really didn't feel like a Doctor Who episode, which made everything so much more effective. Did you notice Terry Molloy as Russell, the undercover cop? He must have been delighted to be on Doctor Who without having to wear the Davros costume.
Harry -
It's always a thrill to see the faces behind the masks. We saw John Leeson playing a human in "The Power of Kroll", and a couple of Davroses (Davri?) have acted outside the chair. Michael Wisher appeared in several Pertwee-era stories before becoming the first actor to play Davros, and the most recent Davros, Julian Bleach, has made appearances as other baddies in both Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures.
Sarah -
The TARDIS rights itself and begins following Halley's comet towards 1985 Earth, only to land at 76 Totter's Lane. It's our first (televised) return visit since "An Unearthly Child". It seems appropriate that this is the moment the chameleon circuit activates, turning the TARDIS into an ornate cabinet of some sort. I have a very strong memory of watching this for the first time and being completely floored by the TARDIS changing its appearance.
Harry -
More fan-friendly throwbacks as the Doctor and Peri both name check some previous companions while pursuing a distress signal.
Sarah -
Tegan, Zoe, Susan, and Jamie name checks -- hooray!
Harry -
After successfully overpowering the bobbies of death, it's down into the sewers, following Lytton and his crew.
Sarah -
I love the scene when the Doctor and Peri overpower and outwit the bobbies. The sight of Colin Baker leaping into the sewer passage is brilliant -- as is his return, wearing the bobby's helmet.
Harry -
All the racket brings the Cybermen out of hiding. Ever the slick player, Lytton immediately ingratiates himself to them. He reveals (or so he says) that he's not from Earth, but from a planet in the future -- Vita 15. Russell legs it and runs into the Doctor and Peri. He reveals that he's a cop and they make a tactical retreat to the TARDIS. Too late! For some crazy reason the Doctor left the door unlocked and the place is crawling with Cybers. Lytton and Griffiths follow them inside and watch as Russell is killed. They turn their ray guns on Peri next, and we get a mini-close up cliffhanger to close out the episode.
Sarah -
What is this, the Davison Era? I don't think Sixie is the type to leave out the welcome mat for everyone who wanders by.
Harry -
Part one was a great episode, and you're right, it did feel like something more contemporary.
Sarah -
I'd rate episode one as 7/10. Unfortunately, episode two will be dragging that rating down.
Harry -
Part one got a happy 8/10 from me for being such a pleasant surprise and better than I'd remembered.
As part two begins, the Doctor talks his captors out of killing Peri. Thoughtful!
Sarah -
At least none of the Cybermen are putting the moves on her!
Harry -
The Cybermen demand he set a course for Telos, the planet they invaded and took over after the destruction of Mondas.
Down on the surface of Telos, a couple of seemingly unrelated characters are toiling in the work fields. Bates and Stratton have hatched a plan to kill one of their Cyber guards and sneak into Cyber Control, aiming to steal their time vessel and escape. I found their efforts amusing, maybe unintentionally humourous?
Sarah -
Bates and Stratton are an excellent double act. They are desperate men with nothing left to lose, but you're right, Bates' frustration with Stratton's incompetence provides some desperately needed comic relief. Michael Attwell's performance as Bates is a highlight of the story for me.
Harry -
Agreed, he was bursting with energy and determination. There is a seriousness to the duo's presence too. Later in the story, Bates and Stratton reveal themselves to the others as examples of failed Cyber conversions, something we haven't seen before.
Sarah -
How terrifying was that? This story does not hold back, which I kind of love.
Harry -
It was good to be reminded that the Cybermen are not just robots stomping around in space. Having hijacked the TARDIS (another rarity!), they contact Telos, where the Cyber Controller delights in learning that they have acquired the best time vessel in the universe. He all but drools "bring them to me."
The Doctor would never surrender that easily, and he tweaks the flight path so that they land inside a network of tombs rather than right in the Cyber Controller's lap. Things get hairy from this point. Another defective Cyber conversion bursts out of a tomb, going haywire. Everyone scatters, and the Doctor is separated from Peri as Lytton and Griffiths head for Cyber Control. Lytton hopes to continue ingratiating himself with the ultimate goal of stealing a time vessel for himself. He and Griffiths hook up with Bates and Stratton to pursue this purpose.
Sarah -
And this is where the story goes off the rails. It was kind of exciting to see the tombs, before the plot started to get in the way.
I do have to say that Brian Glover is absolutely brilliant as Griffiths. He’s one of those great characters who carries the weight of his back story – even if we don’t know what that back story is. In the commentary, Colin Baker mentions that he was a wrestler before becoming an actor. He certainly looks the part, but went on to have quite an impressive career.
Harry -
His is one of those faces that kept popping up in British telly throughout the 80s & 90s.
Meanwhile, Peri and the Doctor both encounter the native inhabitants of Telos, who were thought to have been compleletly annihilated by the Cybermen. The Cryons look like icy versions of the Fish People, with their buggy eyes and swanning movements. Best hand acting since William Hartnell for sure.
Sarah -
In a series know for naff aliens, the Cryons have to be among the most naff. I couldn’t understand half of what they were saying. Maybe that’s why the story made no sense.
Harry -
The revelations come fast from Flast, the Cryon leader. She tells the Doctor that they had been in contact with Lytton, and he was working on their behalf to lure the Cybermen to Telos. This seemed strange since they were already there. Flast also reveals the Cyber plan: to use a time vessel to go back, redirect Halley's Comet, crash it into the Earth and prevent the destruction of Mondas. Easy peasy!
Sarah -
Really, quite a simple plan.
Harry -
The Doctor suspects that it was the Time Lords who manipulated his TARDIS into landing where it did on Earth, so that he'd have no choice but to prevent its destruction. He gives Flask a sonic lance, a tool with which she will be able to ignite the convenient storehouse of explosive material the Cybermen had locked her up with.
Sarah -
The Doctor gets all shouty at the Time Lords, but it’s not clear that they’re listening. The sonic lance was an interesting touch. I started to wonder how they got it past JN-T and then realized he was probably planning for his next American convention and didn’t know about the lance.
Harry -
Writing it all out, the story seems to make a lot more sense.
Sarah -
I’m not so sure about that!
Harry -
Okay, maybe it was "better on paper", but watching it was another matter. By the end of part two, everything unravelled. Lytton and his group enter Cyber Control, but the Cybermen turn on them. Bates, Stratton and Griffith escape while Lytton is seized, has his hands broken, and is tossed into a Cyber conversion chamber to meet his fate.
Sarah -
Talk about not holding back! Lytton’s hands being crushed may be the most horrifying thing we’ve seen so far – so much blood.
Harry -
The other three are gunned down not long after.
Sarah -
I found that moment especially heartbreaking. They came so close to escaping, to be gunned down when it was finally in their reach.
Harry -
Having learned that Lytton was on the side of the Cryons, the Doctor makes a last ditch attempt to save him, triggering a gun battle inside Cyber Control. It's a particularly wild gun battle with the Doctor blasting away. There's yet another rare sight.
Sarah -
The Doctor is so remorseful about having misjudged Lytton that resorting to firearms almost makes sense.
Harry -
So much chaos at the end, I just wanted it to be over.
Sarah -
The story winds up with one of the most awkward endings I can think of. The Doctor and Peri escape into the TARDIS just as cyber-control explodes and have this exchange:
DOCTOR: It didn't go very well, did it?
PERI: Earth's safe. So is history and the web of time.
DOCTOR: I meant on a personal level. I don't think I've ever misjudged anybody quite as badly as I did Lytton.
What? All this death and destruction and this is the takeaway. Good grief!
Harry -
The Doctor's first line that you quoted sums up how many of us must have felt by the end. "Attack of the Cybermen" started off surprisingly well, but it got bogged down in too much continuity for its own good, and it became a noisy mess by the end. At least the Cybermen did a lot of attacking, so it lived up to its billing in one respect.
Best Line:
DOCTOR: Unstable? UNSTABLE?! This is me, Peri. At this very moment I am as stable as you will ever see me.
PERI: Oh dear.
Favourite Moment: Bates and Stratton assemble their own Cyberman cosplay.
Lasting Image: the freaky looking Cryons.
Part one 8/10
Part two 6/10
Overall 7/10
Sarah -
Best Line:
DOCTOR: I have perfect rapport with this machine.
PERI: I hope the TARDIS knows it.
Favorite Moment: The TARDIS changing into a cabinet and organ.
Lasting Image: The Doctor smugly emerging from the sewer passage wearing the bobby's helmet.
Part One 7/10
Part Two 5/10
Overall 6/10
Our marathon continues with Story #138 - Vengeance on Varos...
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