The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon: Revenge Of The Cybermen
Revenge Of The Cybermen: Part One (19/04/15)
After an unreasonably long absence (6 years!!!) the Cybermen are back! Of sorts; they made a brief appearance this week, not speaking aboard their dubiously-shaped space ship.
Anyhow, the Time Ring has returned the Doctor, Sarah and Harry to Nerva thousands of years early when it's being used as a beacon to divert space traffic away from a new asteroid, called Voga. Unfortunately, the TARDIS is still travelling backward in time to meet them and it seems a plague has wiped out all but three of the crew and a civilian called Kellman. Or has it?
It seems Voga has life hiding inside its wonderfully location-shot, Wookey Hole-like core, albeit a race of alien with dodgy, mask-like faces and either flowing locks or a receding Teutonic bob. Kellman appears to know them, however, as he got a bit jumpy when the communications officer picked up a radio signal from one of the flowing-locks-Vogans (who was quickly disposed of by two bob-Vogans). Kellman seems to be working for the Cybermen as, not long after, what seems to be a large, snaky Cybermat attacked and killed the communications officer. Slowly, with an injection of plague.
Having made their way through the corpse-strewn corridors of Nerva, the Doctor et al. were soon found by Commander Stevenson and his remaining crewman. In great Cyberman-story tradition he quickly accepted the three strangers as helpful and in no way responsible for the plague or at all a threat. Harry tried but failed to save Comms Guy and the Doctor investigated Kellman's quarters, finding some Bond-style radios hidden in his hairbrush; perhaps this is why he's dressed as a U-Boat Captain.
The Vogans apparently have a spy on Nerva who could only be Kellman, so maybe he's a double agent. Anyhow, Kellman came back to his quarters and realised someone was there so he electrified the floor and tried to gas the Doctor. Meanwhile, a Cybermat attacked Sarah.
Pretty good. Not great, but a pleasant enough start, and something of a throwback to the Second Doctor stories. Not as gritty as 'Genesis...', but that's a good thing.
Revenge Of The Cybermen: Part Two (26/04/15)
Well, the plot's trundling along nicely and the location filming continues to be good. Some of the masks aren't particularly good and limit some of the actors a fair bit, but on the whole it looks pretty impressive - I like the grandeur of the Vogan sets and their transport is nicely designed, if a little 'You Only Live Twice'.
The Doctor escaped Kellman's room and got to Sarah but too late to stop her being injected with virus by the Cybermat. As Kellman stole a component from the Transmat, the Doctor jury-rigged a replacement so he could transmat Sarah and Harry to Voga and eliminate the poison from Sarah's system (?) but it only lasted a trip so they found Kellman and his Cybermat controller and threatened to set the Cybermat on him if he didn't return the component, which he did.
However, by this time Harry and Sarah had been caught by Vorus, Leader of the Guardians. He's got a rocket which I assume is for the Cybermen who persecuted the Vogans because, apparently, Cybermen are allergic to gold (!) and Voga is the planet of gold (it coats the Cybermen's respiratory units and suffocates them, apparently...). However, Vorus is only in charge of half the Vogans, the other half (the flowing-locks-Vogans) being less war-like and ruled by the linguistically-challenged Tyrum (whose lines are often muffled and unintelligible, sadly).
Vorus chained up Sarah and Harry after a rather grandiose interrogation, but used gold chains and manacles so they soon escaped (gold is a soft metal, so says Harry). And now the Cybermen have arrived on Nerva, shooting Stevenson, Lester (the other crewman) and the Doctor!
The Cybermen look pretty good. The Leader has black handles and earmuffs! But their voices are odd. They have the electronic noise underpinning their dialogue but have largely Human voices. With odd accents. But despite this, they've made a welcome return.
Revenge Of The Cybermen: Part Three (03/05/15)
So, Kellman was working as a double agent to get the Cybermen to Nerva so that Vorus, behind Tyrum's back, could launch his missile and destroy them all (as they're the last of the Cybermen). However, as he had to bring the Cybermen's arrival time forward to avoid getting found out, the rocket isn't ready yet.
The Cybermen are a bit odd. Their voices are vaguely South African (again!) and they seem very melodramatic. Maybe it's due to just the five of them spending so long in space! Anyhow, they kept three Humans alive on the Beacon to send to Voga woth Cyber Bombs to 'fragmentise' the planet. It seems Kellman wasn't averse to slaughtering 80-odd of his own people to help the Vogans and wipe out the Cybermen. He legged it down to Voga to warn Vorus but got caught by Tyrum's flowing-locks-Vogans who seem to be in a proper civil war with the bob-Vogans. He explained everything to Tyrum who confronted Vorus who admitted to the plot.
Thinking the Doctor was still on Nerva, Sarah returned via the transmat, but the Doctor, Stevenson and Lester had already been sent down with Cyber Bombs strapped to their backs. Two Cybermen joined them and began massacring the Vogans while the Cyberleader watched the Doctor's party's progress on a scanner.
Meanwhile, Harry and Kellman made their way to the core via an access shaft, but encountering a rockfall, knocked it apart onto the Doctor who was on the other side. Oddly, Kellman died saving Harry from falling rocks, but then Harry went to help the unconscious Doctor and started to remove the harness holding the bomb on, which is booby trapped.
Pretty good still, if a little odd in places, and the Cybermen seem a little misrepresented. They seem to have devolved since the 60s but, regardless, they look pretty good. And it was nice to see Harry getting to do stuff this week!
Revenge Of The Cybermen: Part Four (10/05/15)
Obviously, Stevenson and Lester stopped Harry. Then Harry collected some gold dust and went after the Cybermen while Stevenson continued toward the core to fool the Cybermen on Nerva into thinking they were all together (something about a fuzzy signal). The Doctor and Harry attacked a Cyberman but failed and had to leg it but Lester, who'd held back, jumped in and undid his buckle, killing himself and the Cyberman but not detonating the Cyber Bomb (I guess his body shielded it). Then the Doctor persuaded Vorus to wait 15 minutes before firing the rocket whilst he went to save Sarah.
Meanwhile, the Cybermen had loaded Nerva with Cyber Bombs and steered it at Voga. The Cyberleader had a very odd conversation whilst interrogating Sarah where his lines didn't seem to match up to hers. He was also very Hands-On-Hips this week. The Doctor freed Sarah and filled a Cybermat with fold dust, taking down two Cybermen, but they were caught again and tied up while the remaining Cybermen fucked off in their ship.
On Voga, seeing Nerva start to move, Vorus fired his rocket. Tyrum tried to stop him (and Magrik) by shooting them dead. Bit harsh! Then the Doctor and Sarah got free of their ropes and talked Commander Stevenson (who Harry, in the meantime, had gone and found) through steering the rocket away from Nerva and into the Cybership, which blew up. Then the Doctor steered Nerva away from Voga, the TARDIS turned up, Harry beamed back and they all went off to answer a Mayday from the Brigadier!
Whilst I won't say this was the best Cyberman story, it was a lot of fun and great to see the old villains back! Hopefully we'll see more of them again soon! I'm not sure whether I preferred this story to 'Genesis Of The Daleks' or not. It wasn't as well plotted, and some of the writing and direction wasn't great (which can't be said about 'Genesis...') but it wasn't as relentlessly grim, was far from being dull, and had some spectacular location work (and 'Genesis...' was definitely the two former of those).
I've decided I like the Vogan masks now, as they're very Troll-like and that fits well with them living underground for generations. A good end to a series which is miles away from the Pertwee era. I've quite taken to the new Doctor, although he's not a patch on Pertwee, and Sarah has finally mellowed. With Harry they make a good team. Looking forward to the next series.
After an unreasonably long absence (6 years!!!) the Cybermen are back! Of sorts; they made a brief appearance this week, not speaking aboard their dubiously-shaped space ship.
Anyhow, the Time Ring has returned the Doctor, Sarah and Harry to Nerva thousands of years early when it's being used as a beacon to divert space traffic away from a new asteroid, called Voga. Unfortunately, the TARDIS is still travelling backward in time to meet them and it seems a plague has wiped out all but three of the crew and a civilian called Kellman. Or has it?
It seems Voga has life hiding inside its wonderfully location-shot, Wookey Hole-like core, albeit a race of alien with dodgy, mask-like faces and either flowing locks or a receding Teutonic bob. Kellman appears to know them, however, as he got a bit jumpy when the communications officer picked up a radio signal from one of the flowing-locks-Vogans (who was quickly disposed of by two bob-Vogans). Kellman seems to be working for the Cybermen as, not long after, what seems to be a large, snaky Cybermat attacked and killed the communications officer. Slowly, with an injection of plague.
Having made their way through the corpse-strewn corridors of Nerva, the Doctor et al. were soon found by Commander Stevenson and his remaining crewman. In great Cyberman-story tradition he quickly accepted the three strangers as helpful and in no way responsible for the plague or at all a threat. Harry tried but failed to save Comms Guy and the Doctor investigated Kellman's quarters, finding some Bond-style radios hidden in his hairbrush; perhaps this is why he's dressed as a U-Boat Captain.
The Vogans apparently have a spy on Nerva who could only be Kellman, so maybe he's a double agent. Anyhow, Kellman came back to his quarters and realised someone was there so he electrified the floor and tried to gas the Doctor. Meanwhile, a Cybermat attacked Sarah.
Pretty good. Not great, but a pleasant enough start, and something of a throwback to the Second Doctor stories. Not as gritty as 'Genesis...', but that's a good thing.
Revenge Of The Cybermen: Part Two (26/04/15)
Well, the plot's trundling along nicely and the location filming continues to be good. Some of the masks aren't particularly good and limit some of the actors a fair bit, but on the whole it looks pretty impressive - I like the grandeur of the Vogan sets and their transport is nicely designed, if a little 'You Only Live Twice'.
The Doctor escaped Kellman's room and got to Sarah but too late to stop her being injected with virus by the Cybermat. As Kellman stole a component from the Transmat, the Doctor jury-rigged a replacement so he could transmat Sarah and Harry to Voga and eliminate the poison from Sarah's system (?) but it only lasted a trip so they found Kellman and his Cybermat controller and threatened to set the Cybermat on him if he didn't return the component, which he did.
However, by this time Harry and Sarah had been caught by Vorus, Leader of the Guardians. He's got a rocket which I assume is for the Cybermen who persecuted the Vogans because, apparently, Cybermen are allergic to gold (!) and Voga is the planet of gold (it coats the Cybermen's respiratory units and suffocates them, apparently...). However, Vorus is only in charge of half the Vogans, the other half (the flowing-locks-Vogans) being less war-like and ruled by the linguistically-challenged Tyrum (whose lines are often muffled and unintelligible, sadly).
Vorus chained up Sarah and Harry after a rather grandiose interrogation, but used gold chains and manacles so they soon escaped (gold is a soft metal, so says Harry). And now the Cybermen have arrived on Nerva, shooting Stevenson, Lester (the other crewman) and the Doctor!
The Cybermen look pretty good. The Leader has black handles and earmuffs! But their voices are odd. They have the electronic noise underpinning their dialogue but have largely Human voices. With odd accents. But despite this, they've made a welcome return.
Revenge Of The Cybermen: Part Three (03/05/15)
So, Kellman was working as a double agent to get the Cybermen to Nerva so that Vorus, behind Tyrum's back, could launch his missile and destroy them all (as they're the last of the Cybermen). However, as he had to bring the Cybermen's arrival time forward to avoid getting found out, the rocket isn't ready yet.
The Cybermen are a bit odd. Their voices are vaguely South African (again!) and they seem very melodramatic. Maybe it's due to just the five of them spending so long in space! Anyhow, they kept three Humans alive on the Beacon to send to Voga woth Cyber Bombs to 'fragmentise' the planet. It seems Kellman wasn't averse to slaughtering 80-odd of his own people to help the Vogans and wipe out the Cybermen. He legged it down to Voga to warn Vorus but got caught by Tyrum's flowing-locks-Vogans who seem to be in a proper civil war with the bob-Vogans. He explained everything to Tyrum who confronted Vorus who admitted to the plot.
Thinking the Doctor was still on Nerva, Sarah returned via the transmat, but the Doctor, Stevenson and Lester had already been sent down with Cyber Bombs strapped to their backs. Two Cybermen joined them and began massacring the Vogans while the Cyberleader watched the Doctor's party's progress on a scanner.
Meanwhile, Harry and Kellman made their way to the core via an access shaft, but encountering a rockfall, knocked it apart onto the Doctor who was on the other side. Oddly, Kellman died saving Harry from falling rocks, but then Harry went to help the unconscious Doctor and started to remove the harness holding the bomb on, which is booby trapped.
Pretty good still, if a little odd in places, and the Cybermen seem a little misrepresented. They seem to have devolved since the 60s but, regardless, they look pretty good. And it was nice to see Harry getting to do stuff this week!
Revenge Of The Cybermen: Part Four (10/05/15)
Obviously, Stevenson and Lester stopped Harry. Then Harry collected some gold dust and went after the Cybermen while Stevenson continued toward the core to fool the Cybermen on Nerva into thinking they were all together (something about a fuzzy signal). The Doctor and Harry attacked a Cyberman but failed and had to leg it but Lester, who'd held back, jumped in and undid his buckle, killing himself and the Cyberman but not detonating the Cyber Bomb (I guess his body shielded it). Then the Doctor persuaded Vorus to wait 15 minutes before firing the rocket whilst he went to save Sarah.
Meanwhile, the Cybermen had loaded Nerva with Cyber Bombs and steered it at Voga. The Cyberleader had a very odd conversation whilst interrogating Sarah where his lines didn't seem to match up to hers. He was also very Hands-On-Hips this week. The Doctor freed Sarah and filled a Cybermat with fold dust, taking down two Cybermen, but they were caught again and tied up while the remaining Cybermen fucked off in their ship.
On Voga, seeing Nerva start to move, Vorus fired his rocket. Tyrum tried to stop him (and Magrik) by shooting them dead. Bit harsh! Then the Doctor and Sarah got free of their ropes and talked Commander Stevenson (who Harry, in the meantime, had gone and found) through steering the rocket away from Nerva and into the Cybership, which blew up. Then the Doctor steered Nerva away from Voga, the TARDIS turned up, Harry beamed back and they all went off to answer a Mayday from the Brigadier!
Whilst I won't say this was the best Cyberman story, it was a lot of fun and great to see the old villains back! Hopefully we'll see more of them again soon! I'm not sure whether I preferred this story to 'Genesis Of The Daleks' or not. It wasn't as well plotted, and some of the writing and direction wasn't great (which can't be said about 'Genesis...') but it wasn't as relentlessly grim, was far from being dull, and had some spectacular location work (and 'Genesis...' was definitely the two former of those).
I've decided I like the Vogan masks now, as they're very Troll-like and that fits well with them living underground for generations. A good end to a series which is miles away from the Pertwee era. I've quite taken to the new Doctor, although he's not a patch on Pertwee, and Sarah has finally mellowed. With Harry they make a good team. Looking forward to the next series.
For my thoughts on this one, see your FB post ;)
ReplyDeleteI clearly don't think this is as bad as you. It isn't very well plotted, and it has its design problems, but it's no different to the majority of the 60s Cyberman stories. That's perhaps its most obvious flaw - that Gerry Davis' scripts always lacked a certain logic (ironic for the co-writer of Cyberman stories) and perhaps he didn't get the memo that storytelling had moved on since 1968. But there's a lot of fun to be had here, with great scenes of Sarah and Harry, indeed everyone, wandering round Wookey Hole, and the scenes with the corpse-strewn corridors of Nerva are effective. And I know they're not meant to be, but I do like how camp and silly these Cybermen are after their rather impressive arrival on the beacon where they gun everyone down. Yes, it doesn't make a lot of sense if you really think about it, but that can be said about a vast number of other stories so that argument has never washed with me. The Cybermen are back, they look pretty impressive and they're up to their old tricks; that's all I'm really bothered about, and after 6 weeks of grim Dalek action this was a welcome return to fun adventuring for me.
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