Doctor Who The Doctor Falls Review

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Bill Potts, Cybermen, David Bradley, Doctor Who, Doctor Who 2017 Christmas Special, Doctor Who Series 10, Doctor Who The Doctor Falls, Doctor Who The Doctor Falls review, John Simm, Matt Lucas, Michelle Gomez, Missy, Mondasian Cybermen, Nardole, Pearl Mackie, Peter Capaldi, Steven Moffat, TARDIS, The 10th Planet, The 12 Doctor, The 12th Doctor regeneration, The 1st Doctor, The Doctor, The Master

Doctor Who The Doctor Falls

Review by Paul Bowler

[Contains Spoilers]

Time is running out for the Doctor! The Mondasian Cybermen are emerging and the Master has returned. All hope seems lost for the Doctor. Bill has been horrifically converted into a Mondasian Cyberman and Missy has sided with the Master against him. Now, with the parallel evolution of Cybermen past and present gathering on all sides the trio of Time Lords must face the ultimate choice as the time of the Doctor’s final battle draws near…

The Doctor Falls, written by show runner Steven Moffat, and helmed once again by the director of the penultimate episode of 2017’s tenth series World Enough and Time, Rachael Talalay (Dark Water / Death in Heaven (2014), Heaven Sent and Hell Bent (2015), is a series finale of truly epic proportions that pits the Doctor against a trio of his most deadliest enemies – The Master, Missy, and the Mondasian Cybermen!

The end of days is coming for the 12^th Doctor. Following the ominously scene-setting pre-title moments, we flashback to events that reveal how the shuttle reached the solar farm after the Doctor and his friends became trapped on board a huge colony spaceship caught precariously in the gravity well of a black hole. Having discovered that Bill has been transformed into a Mondasian Cybermen the Doctor must devise a way escape from the hellish hospital rooftop as the two incarnations of his arch nemesis Missy and the Master dance amidst the twisted maelstrom of chaos they have wrought as the Cybermen rise to challenge them all!

But the whole city is now a machine to turn people into Cybermen and its not long before the Doctor reveals how he’s already managed to turn the tables on the Master and Missy; altering the parameters of the Cybermen’s programming so that the Time Lord’s become targets as well as the humans. However, even when Missy knocks out the Master in a bid to help, the Doctor remains unsure which side she is on as Nardole returns with a shuttle. In the rush to escape from the rooftop the Doctor suffers an electric shock from a Cyberman, fortunately Cyber-Bill rescues him and they escape in the shuttle to a higher level of the gigantic spaceship.

Peter Capaldi is utterly magnificent here as the 12^th Doctor faces his darkest of days, John Simm and Michelle Gomez are also a delight to behold as their waltz of evil unfolds, and the electrifying chemistry between this opposing trinity Time Lord’s as they clash makes for compelling viewing throughout this episode. Bill Pott’s must also grapple with the tragic reality of her Cyber-Conversion, heartbreakingly played by Pearl Mackie, especially when Bill tells the Doctor that she doesn’t want to live like this is she can’t be herself anymore.

While the build up to the finale in World Enough and Time was dark and claustrophobic, The Doctor Falls strikes a markedly different in tone once the action shifts to floor 507 as the apocalyptic uprising of the Cybermen at the hospital gives way to gnarled forests, farmland, and rolling hills. The scenes at the solar farm where our alternating viewpoint between Bill’s human perception of herself and her actual Cyber-self, is heartrendingly portrayed as the Doctor explains to her how her inner strength – from dealing with the Monks mass delusion earlier in series ten – has enabled her to create a perception filter in her mind to cope with the horror of becoming a Mondasian Cyberman, and it’s this visual dynamic of Cyber-Bill that is continually used to great effect across the rest of the episode. Of course the time here has allowed the Doctor a brief respite to recover from being electrocuted, but he’s also exhibiting the early signs of his regeneration which he tellingly hides from Bill. Matt Lucas continues to shine in his role as Nardole, proving his worth and loyalty in more ways than one, with the character once again playing a surpassingly key role in the action.

Right from the stark openness of this episodes pre-titles sequence, The Doctor Falls is without doubt Steven Moffat’s most ambitious script ever. Its an impressively bold and exciting hour-long series finale, brilliantly directed by Rachael Talalay, the epic scale, big action set-pieces, hints of romance, and sweeping revelations ensures the extraordinary pace of this episode hardly lets up for a moment. The Doctor has a plan of his own worked out as he battles to save a group of humans on the solar farm led by Hazran (Samantha Spiro), along with Alit (Briana Shann), Gazron (Rosie Boore), and Bexhill (Simon Coombs), whilst single-handedly attempting to hold off an army of Cybermen and perhaps most devastatingly – his own regeneration!

Following their impromptu genesis of sorts in World Enough and Time, the original Mondasian Cybermen are back in force in The Doctor Falls, having been diligently remodelled for their impressive return to the series. The Mondasian Cybermen originally made their debut back in The Tenth Planet (1966), which starred William Hartnell as the 1^st Doctor, it was written by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis, and directed by Derek Martinus, and as well as heralding the Cybermen’s first appearance this classic story also featured the Doctor’s first ever regeneration.

Now the Mondasian Cybermen are back in The Doctor Falls, and this time they are appearing alongside their modern counterparts from the 10^th and 11^th Doctor‘s eras as well! It goes without saying that the Cyber-Set-Pieces in this episode are an exciting fan pleasing spectacle in their own right, but it is Bill’s plight as a fully converted Mondasian Cyberman that really strikes a cord. This is as exciting a Cyberman episode I think I’ve ever seen in the modern series, and the Mondasian Cybermen’s return now brings the Cybermen’s journey full circle amongst the elite pantheon of Doctor Who’s most successful recurring monsters.

With the Cybermen flying through the levels of the ship to reach them and any hope of returning to the TARDIS on the bridge now a mathematical impossibility, the Doctor intends to use a camouflaged lift in the nearby forest to evacuate the humans to safety on another floor. The 12^th Doctor’s disdain as Missy and the Master refuse to stand with him against the Cybermen is almost palpable, as they are all forced to face some unsettling home truths, and the exchanges between them here is electrifying to behold. As they leave the Doctor to his fate, with Cyber-Bill at his side while Nardole reluctantly leads the humans away along their escape route, and it is here that the Doctor prepares to stand his ground as the combined forces of the Cybermen close in.

Michelle Gomez is fabulously wicked as Missy in The Doctor Falls, especially now that she’s teamed up with John Simm as the earlier incarnation of The Master, and as they abandon the Doctor to return to the Master’s TARDIS it seems Missy has indeed returned to the path of evil. The warped chemistry between the Master and Missy is superbly played by Simm and Gomez, yet their characters dark union ultimately sees Missy have a change of hearts (s), and true to their nature they end up – quite literally – stabbing each other in the back. I’ve really enjoyed Michelle Gomez’s portrayal of Missy, she’s brought a fresh new dynamic to the Doctor’s arch enemy, her team-up with the Simm incarnation of the Master has been great fun, and Missy’s demise in this episode provides a fittingly ambiguous final end to the renegade’s time in the 12^th Doctor’s era.

There are far too many to mention, but along with the obligatory mention of jelly babies, as you’d expect with any series finale there are also a number of references to Doctor Who’s previous series. Missy mentions she knows the Doctor has fallen before, because it was when the 4^th Doctor plummeted from a radio telescope in Logopolis (1981). The Doctor Falls also features a pre-regeneration sequence were the Doctor sees images of his past companions and friends, something which also happened to the Doctor in Logopolis, and the cloister bell which tolls after the 12^th Doctor forcefully holds back his regeneration was also first heard back in Logopilis when it was explained to be a warning of imminent catastrophe and a call to man the battle stations.

There’s a great mash-up of the 4^th Doctor’s comment to Harry from Robot “You may be a Doctor, but I am the Doctor. The definitive article you might say”, and the 1^st Doctor’s ( played by Richard Hurndall) comments to Tegan “As it happens, I am the Doctor, the original you might say.“ from The Five Doctors (1983), during the final scenes of The Doctor Falls with the line “You may be a Doctor, but I am the Doctor… The original you might say.” There are lots references to past Cybermen stories as well to look out for relating back to events on other worlds, including name checks for Mondas from The 10^th Planet (1966), Telos from Tomb of the Cybermen (1967), Planet 14 mentioned by the Cyber-Planner in Invasion (1968), Voga from Revenge of the Cybermen 1975), Canary Warf in Army of Ghosts / Doomsday (2006), and the Moon from The Moonbase (1967). Capaldi’s Doctor also echoes the 10^th Doctor’s finale words “I don’t want to go” from The End of Time Part 2 (2010) as he faces the prospect of his own regeneration.

The final battle in the forest between the Doctor and the Cybermen is explosive, violent, and potentially fatal for the Time Lord as he eventually succumbs to the overwhelming odds and firepower stacked against him. In the last moments of the battle as the Doctor detonates the pipes in this levels infrastructure, the resulting explosion kills all the Cybermen, but the Doctor is also mortally wounded as a result. Cyber-Bill arrives, distraught at the Doctor’s apparent demise, she weeps, and her tears suddenly summon Heather (the sentient water based life-form Bill fell for in the series 10 premier The Pilot). It transpires Heather left Bill her tears behind and it formed a connection between them. Heather restores Bill back to her human form and they set out to explore the universe together, but before she goes Bill says goodbye to the unconscious Doctor resting inside the TARDIS, leaving her own tear behind before she departs.

Although some might find Bill’s fate a little contentious, I though it was handled really well, and gave the character a good sense of closure. Of course, it’s the closing moments of the Doctor Falls, as the Time Lord angrily refuses to regenerate, that events bookend with World Enough and Time’s astonishing pre-titles sequence where the Doctor kneels in front of the TARDIS about to regenerate, only for his regeneration to be delayed again before the surprise arrival of the 1^st Doctor, played by David Bradley, reprising his role from An Adventuree in Space and Time (2013) where he starred as William Hartnell in a dramatization of the early years of Doctor Who in the 1960’s. It’s a terrific moment, one that also brings with it heaps of nostalgia as well for good measure, and it certainly rounds off The Doctor Falls in fine style.

The Doctor Falls is a fittingly epic and action-packed finale to series ten. Overall this series of Doctor Who has arguably had one of the strongest runs of episodes that we’ve seen in recent years. There’s also been a distinct classic series vibe to this whole season, that has easily made it one the best and most accessible from Steven Moffat’s time as show runner. Needless to say, Peter Capaldi has been superb throughout as the Doctor; likewise, Pearl Mackie was also an absolute revelation as new companion Bill Pott’s. I was a little hesitant about Matt Lucas’ return as Nardole though, primarily because I was unsure that the character would work as a series regular, fortunately I’ve been proved wrong as Lucas and his role as Nardole has turned out to be a real boon for series ten

Now with the end of Moffat’s era and Capaldi’s tenure rapidly approaching, The Doctor Falls has paved the way for the 12^th Doctor’s departure, and engineered a thrilling lead-in to the 2017 Christmas Special in the most spectacular way imaginable as Peter Capaldi’s incarnation gets set to teams-up with David Bradley as William Hartnell’s 1^st Doctor for one last adventure before the impending regeneration of Peter Capaldi’s Doctor draws near….

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Doctor Who World Enough and Time Review

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Bill Potts, Cybermen, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Series 10, Doctor Who The Doctor Falls, Doctor Who World Enough and Time, Doctor Who World Enough and Time review, Matt Lucas, Michelle Gomez, Missy, Mondasian Cybermen, Nardole, Pearl Mackie, Peter Capaldi, Steven Moffat, TARDIS, The 10th Planet, the Cybermen, The Doctor

Doctor Who World Enough and Time

Review by Paul Bowler

[Contains Spoilers]

A close friendship for the Doctor will become the catalyst for his most impetuous decisions of all time… In her bid to change her evil ways, Missy has joined the Doctor, Bill, and Nardole on their adventures in the TARDIS. When they become trapped on a gigantic spaceship caught in the gravity of a black hole, the Doctor faces the demise of someone he’s sworn to protect. But on this ship of uncanny life forms, where even time is working against him, old enemies await – the Mondasian Cybermen and the Master!

The inexorable path to the end of an era begins in the penultimate episode of series ten, World Enough and Time, the first part of the series finale, written by show runner Steven Moffat, and directed by Rachael Talalay (The director of the two-part 2014 series finale Dark Water and Death in Heaven, along with 2015’s Heaven Sent and the series nine finale Hell Bent. As the title for World Enough and Time suggests, it’s a reference to a poem by Andrew Marvel, entitled To His Coy Mistress, the lines of which resonate strongly with Missy’s role and the Vault story-arc that has been so prevalent across the entirety of series ten.

Kicking off with a startling pre-titles sequence as the Doctor emerges from the TARDIS into a frozen snowscape where he begins to regenerate, World Enough and Time is an episode that hit’s some powerful emotional beats right from the outset, and from there Steven Moffat’s taut script doesn’t let up the pace for a moment. In deciding to give Missy the chance to explore her newfound goodness as part of her rehabilitation, the Doctor lets her take the lead in a mission to save a 400 mile long colony spaceship attempting to reverse away from a black hole. Yes, there’s a new Doctor, In-The-TARDIS… well, sort of, as Missy glibly assumes the role of “Doctor Who”, along with Bill and Nardole acting as her trusty “disposables” while the Doctor observes from inside the TARDIS.

However, when the blue-skinned humaniod Jorj arrives and holds them at gunpoint the Doctor soon has to intervene. The ship is on full reverse, but because of the time dilation caused by the close proximity of the black hole, time is moving at significantly faster rate at the top of the vast colony ship than at the bottom. Fearing the beings about to arrive in the lift, Jorj shoots Bill when she admits to being human, fatally wounding her. Sinister humanoids dressed in hospital gowns then emerge from the lift and take Bill’s body away despite the Doctor’s protestations.

It is from this shocking moment, as we linger for what seems an eternity on the gaping wound in Bill’s chest, that World Enough and Time spirals momentarily into flashback mode to bring us up to speed with the events that have brought us to this point. There are some wonderful scenes as the Doctor and Bill discuss his long-standing friendship with Missy / the Master, its all beautifully played by Capaldi and Mackie, and it makes what is to come feel all the more heartbreaking as a result.

With the Doctor’s telepathic message instructing her to wait for him haunting her from this moment on, Bill awakes in a strange hospital to find a mechanical device has been grafted to her chest – effectively replacing her heart. Befriended by one of the hospital workers, Mr Razor, Bill gradually settles into life at this end of the colony ship as the population prepares to be upgraded for Operation Exodus, meanwhile the Doctor begins to piece together what really happened to the bridge crew, and the implications of the time dilation for the Doctor and Bill quickly become frighteningly apparent as we observe events seemingly conspiring to keep them apart.

Soon, the TARDIS trio are thrown into total chaos, dark secretes and treachery will strike, there are patients crying out quite literally in “Pain” in a creepy hospital, and old enemies are gathering against the Doctor. Peter Capaldi is, as you’d expect, is on magnificent form throughout as the Doctor tackles the rapidly evolving plight they now face. Pearl Mackie also gives a wonderfully emotive performance in this episode as Bill faces some chilling horrors in the hospital, and Matt Lucas continues to impress as Nardole. The guest cast also includes a good performance by Oliver Lansley as Jori, along with Paul Bright well (Surgeon), and Alison Lintott (Nurse).

Michelle Gomez is quite simply fabulous in World Enough and Time as Missy, the female incarnation of the Doctor’s arch nemesis, The Master. The subplot concerning Missy’s incarceration in the Vault, along with her subsequent desire to renounce evil and make up for her wicked ways, finally delivers the ultimate payoff in this episode as we get to see just what the self-confessed Queen of Evil is really capable of.

The World Enough and Time also marks the return of the Cybermen, and this time it’s the 1960’s style Mondasian Cybermen that Peter Capaldi’s 12^th Doctor finds himself face-to-face with, and this iconic fan-favourite monster with its distinct low-tech cloth-faced look has been faithfully recreated in a the most remarkable way possible for their return here in the modern series. Superbly voiced by Nicholas Briggs, their unsettling form of speech – established with a very creepy rationale – together with their imposing presence ensures that this wonderfully dark and sinisterly toned episode will have you on the edge of your seat as a plethora of macabre and unsettling incidents unfold – especially with the episodes grim exploration of Cyber-Conversion

The Mondasian Cybermen first appeared in the 1966 story The Tenth Planet, staring William Hartnell as the 1^st Doctor, it was written by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis, and directed by Derek Martinus. Although for much of World Enough and Time we are actually only presented with their frightening intermediate stage, as seen en mass in the spaceships vast hospital wards, when an original Mondasian Cybermen does finally emerge from the shadows to face the 12^th Doctor and Nardole in this episode the splicing of fan-expectation and nostalgia it generates is stunning.

Once the lift brining Doctor, Missy, and Nardole eventually arrives at the bottom level of the ship, the Doctor and Nardole head off to find Bill while Missy is entrusted with finding out about the origins of the colony ship – which she soon discovers is from an Earth-like world; Mondas! Approached by Mr Razor, Missy is shocked when he peels away his disguise and is revealed to be her own previous incarnation – The Master!

Yes, its not just the Mondasian Cybermen who are back, John Simm also returns in World Enough and Time as the earlier version of The Master, last seen in the 10^th Doctor’s 2010 swansong, The End of Time Part 2, and his brief presence really brings an electrifying sense of frisson and drama to this episode as events gradually begin to spiral out of control for the Doctor. Sporting greyer hair and a neatly trimmed goatee, John Simm ensures his portrayal of the Master is just as villainously evil and menacing as ever, and the scene stealing moment where the Master and Missy unite against the Doctor is brilliantly played by Simm and Gomez, and its made all the more shattering once the Doctor realizes the Mondasian Cyberman he’s found is Bill when it tells him that it waited for him. This has to be one of Doctor Who’s most powerful cliff-hangers ever. However, it is a great shame that John Simm’s return as the Master wasn’t kept secret though, as the build up to this big event is really good and it would’ve made one hell of a surprise when coupled with the horror of Bill‘s tragic fate.

While not as loaded with Cybermen references as I might’ve expected, World Enough and Time does hint to some other key points from the programmes past. Missy’s insistence on calling herself “Doctor Who” during her fleeting role as the Doctor in this episode is an interesting word-play on the Doctor’s actual name, which often tends to be used in this manner more like a question, like in The War Machines (1966) when WOTAN, the computer in the Post Office Tower, demanded: “Doctor Who is required.” John Simm is back as the Master, as is the renegade Time Lord’s penchant for disguises, something Roger Delgado’s Master often employed in his schemes following his debut in Terror of the Autons (1971) to outwit UNIT and the 3^rd Doctor (Jon Pertwee), most memorable of which was probably adopting the identity of Reverend Mr Magister in The Daemons. When the Master returned in the 80’s played by Anthony Ainley other disguises included the elderly Portreeve in 1981’s Castrovalva and the wizard-like Kalid in Time Flight, and in 2007’s The Sound of Drums and Last of the Time Lords the John Simm incarnation of The Master took on the persona of the newly elected Prime Minister – Harold Saxon. In another clear link back to the 3^rd Doctor’s era Peter Capaldi’s Doctor also uses some Venusian Aikido in World Enough and Time to deal with Jorj.

Even though Missy and Bill take centre stage over the Doctor for a time, Peter Capaldi still gets some incredibly dramatic scenes, there are some timey-wimey shenanigans as well, but Moffat doesn’t trowel it on so thick that it overloads the plot, and of course the return of Jon Simm as the Master is the icing on the cake in this brooding horror-tinged episode. Impressive in scope and atmospherically directed by Rachel Talalay, the sight of Bill fully converted into a Mondasian Cybermen and flanked by Missy and the Master as they confront the Doctor, is as gut wrenchingly emotional as it is exciting, and Moffat and Talalay prove once again what a winning team they make in World Enough and Time when is comes to these two-part extravaganzas. With its opening hints towards the 12^th Doctor impending regeneration and its Genesis of the Cybermen premise, World Enough and Time is one of the darkest and most sinister episodes of this series, and the thrilling cliff-hanger masterfully sets everything up for what promises to be a truly epic series finale!

Images Belong BBC

And here’s the next time trailer for the final episode of Series 10

The Doctor Falls

The Doctor Falls BBC Trailer

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Doctor Who Series 10 New Iconic image featuring Missy & The Master!

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Bill Potts, Cybermen, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Series 10, Doctor Who Series 10 New Iconic image featuring Missy & The Master!, Doctor Who World Enough and Time, Doctor Who World Enough and Time review, John Simm, Matt Lucas, Michelle Gomez, Missy, Mondasian Cybermen, Nardole, New Missy and the Master Image, Pearl Mackie, Peter Capaldi, Steven Moffat, TARDIS, The 10th Planet, The Doctor, The Master

The Master Returns in new iconic image featuring Missy & The Master

for the Season 10 Finale!

A new image has just been released for the Doctor Who series 10 finale, featuring Missy (Michelle Gomez) and the Master (John Simm) together for the first time. The pair are seen either side of the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) as they put their own chilling spin on the iconic poster image that previously accompanied Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor.

Simm is returning to Doctor Who as the Master for the first time since New Year’s Day 2010, when he was instrumental in brining about the Tenth Doctor‘s regeneration. Now the Master will come face-to-face with Missy, his own later regeneration, and battle the Doctor in the series’ two part finale which begins next weekend.The episodes also feature the return of the Cybermen – including the original Mondasian Cybermen, for the first time in over 50 years. Peter Capaldi’s 12^th Doctor is accompanied by Bill Potts (Pearl Mackie) and Nardole (Matt Lucas) in an epic story that will change Doctor Who forever!

Doctor Who’s series finale begins with episode 11, World Enough and Time, at 6:45pm on Saturday 24 June on BBC One. It concludes on Saturday 1 July with episode 12, The Doctor Falls – an extended, 60 minute episode.

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Doctor Who The Tenth Planet: Far From Over

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Anneke Wills, Ben, Cybermen, Doctor Who, Dr Who, Gerry Davis, Kit Pedler, Krail, Michael Craze, Mondas, Polly, regeneration, Snowcap Base, TARDIS, The 10th Planet, The Doctor, William Hartnell

The Tenth Planet

Far From Over

By Paul Bowler

 

Born in London, 1908, William Hartnell grew up during a dark time of war and social poverty. His admiration for Charlie Chaplin inspired him to become an actor, and in 1926 he got this first job working with Sir Frank Benson’s Shakespearean Company. Further parts in theatre quickly followed, along with small film roles, until his career really took off in 1943 with his memorable role as the army officer in The Way Ahead. Carol Reed’s film opened the doors to numerous film roles for Hartnell, often receiving star billing, but the actor was frustrated by the “tough guy” roles he was always offered, preferring the comedy and farce of his early career.

However, fate would soon intervene when Hartnell’s roles in the Granada TV series The Army Game and Lindsay Anderson’s film, This Sporting Life (1963), led to Verity Lambert considering William Hartnell for the role of the Doctor. The rest, as they say, is history. Over the next three years William Hartnell would help forge the role of the Doctor, a mysterious time traveller, an outcast from his own people, a glorious – if somewhat cantankerous – grandfather from another world. Hartnell adored his time as the Doctor, becoming a hero to millions of children as he took his companions on fantastic adventures in time and space: visiting great historical figures like Marco Polo and King Richard the Lionheart, bizarre aliens like the Zabri and Sensorites appeared with strange cultures and customs, they experienced the futility of trying to alter history and the Aztec civilization in 15^th Century Mexico, even turning on each other when the TARDIS drifted towards the edge of destruction, and they were always ready to fight the intergalactic menace of the Daleks which returned time and again to keep viewers enthralled as the Doctor valiantly fought them wherever their evil plans of universal domination threatened to destroy every living thing that dared to stand in their way.

Although Doctor Who enjoyed phenomenal success during its formative seasons, as the series entered its fourth year its popularity has begun to wane somewhat, and with new producer Innes Lloyd and story editor Gerry Davis attempting to revitalize the shows format the gruelling schedule sadly began to take its toll on Hartnell who was already in poor health. Once the decision was taken to recast the role of the Doctor it set in motion a chain of events that would not only mark the end of an era, but it would also see the introduction of a new race of monsters whose popularity would go on to rival even that of the Daleks themselves.

So when the TARDIS brought the Doctor, Polly (Anneke Wills), and Ben (Michael Craze) to the South Pole Space Tracking Station under the command of General Cutler (Robert Beatty), viewers would have never imagined how their favourite science fiction series was about to undergo the most crucial metamorphosis of all. In only a few short weeks during October 1966, history would be made as The Tenth Planet was broadcast, and nothing – not even the ever present threat of cancellation – would ever diminish the incredible journey that still endures today as Doctor Who gets ready to celebrate the 50^th Anniversary of its unparallel success.

The Doctor arrives at the Tracking Station and discovers that a new planet has entered the solar system, its gravitational pull is threatening a manned space capsule as it approaches, where it is soon revealed to be Earth’s twin planet Mondas. Having been cast adrift in space the people of Mondas turned to cybernetics to prolong their lives, becoming emotionless Cybemen. Now they have returned to replenish their planets recourses by draining energy from Earth and harvesting the population to create the next generation of Cybermen. The Doctor and his friends face a desperate race against time to defeat the Cybermen and prevent General Cutler from launching the deadly Z-Bomb, a weapon that would destroy both worlds. Fortunately Cutler’s plan is thwarted by Ben and Mondas explodes after absorbing too much energy from the Earth, killing all the Cybermen in the process; their bodies disintegrating as soon as they are cut off from their worlds power supply. Ben then rescue the Doctor and Polly from the Cybemen’s spacecraft, but the Doctor appears to be ill, stating that his body is “wearing a bit thin” before rushing back to the TARDIS, where he collapses to the floor as startling transformation begins…

The Cybermen were created in collaboration by Doctor Who’s very own – unofficial – scientific advisor Kit Pedler and story editor Gerry Davis as a possible replacement for Terry Nations incredibly popular Daleks. Pedler envisioned the Cybermen as people who had taken the advances of medical science to the ultimate extreme, replacing their worn out bodies with cybernetic limbs, even computerizing their brains to become nightmarish husks of plastic, metal, and flesh. These creatures are so utterly devoid of emotion that they are no longer even capable of comprehending what it means to be human, as Polly discovers to her horror when she tries to reason with the Cyberman Krail.

With impassive, noseless faces, their bodies adorned with gleaming chest units and lethal energy weapons, these early Cybermen have more than a hint of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein about them. Like Shelley’s creation they are twisted anachronisms of life, a mutilation of science and gothic themes gone mad in the darkness of interstellar space. In many ways they are far more memorable than their modern counterparts, still clinging to the last vestiges of their humanity, utilizing the formality of individual names even though they no longer have any emotional resonance for them, and going so far as to adopt disguises to infiltrate the Space Tracking Station.

After attacking someone from the Snowcap Base outside the TARDIS, our first close-up of a Cyberman as it turns over Tito’s lifeless body reveals the monsters featureless visage, one that is stretched and distorted beyond anything even remotely human, with dark bulbous eyes and a leathery slit of a mouth. The headpiece is like an elaborate sensor array, with tubes and wires spilling out from the bulky chest unit, while the limbs support and array of cybernetics that end abruptly with cold humanoid hands. The patchwork nature of the Cybermen gives some inkling towards their nomadic existence, sacrificing their humanity as the vast expanse of space loomed before them, until their technological advances drew them inexorably back to their origins like some intergalactic swarm seeking to wrap their human cousins in their cold embrace.

Once they arrive, the Cybermen dominate every scene, looming over the inhabitants of the Snowcap base as cold logic dictates their actions. One of the most unnerving qualities about the Cybermen are their curiously harmonic voices, provided by Roy Skelton, an effect that is made more disquieting by the way the creature’s mouths stay open as they speak. It is almost as if the Cybermen have yet to realize that they no longer need to articulate the words anymore. The citizens of Mondas are now lost forever, even their original objective to survive has become consumed by their dedication to logic, leaving only a mutilated husk of flesh cocooned in a shell metal and plastic.

The Tenth Planet is a clear indication of the new format the series was about to take, one that would arguably see the series grow above and beyond its original premise, becoming instilled with many of the familiar themes and concepts that are still prevalent in Doctor Who today. Although the Troughton era would successfully build on  the “base under siege” formula, the early steps taken in The Tenth Planet show considerable flare and imagination in terms of its production. The Tenth Planet quickly establishes the isolated military settlement, where the humans are threatened by an alien menace, and the Doctor has to battle against the blind ignorance of authority (General Cutler’s selfish determination to rescue his son’s spacecraft despite the risks) to save everyone from the extraterrestrial threat by destroying the aliens link to their own power supply. It may seem existentially simply in the extreme, but what the Tenth Planet lacks in finesse it more than makes up for with its sheer ambition.

If you can see past the polystyrene snow and the clear sticky tape holding the Cybermen’s helmets together, there is a lot to enjoy here, particularly an eclectic cast of characters and a greater empathise on the Doctor’s companions. Having only been introduced at the end of season three during The War Machines (1966), Polly and Ben were a world away from the Doctor’s original companions: school teachers Ian (William Russell) and Barbara (Jacqueline Hill), whose curiosity about the Doctor’s granddaughter, Susan (Carole Anne Ford) led them to a fog shrouded junkyard and a strange metropolitan Police Box. The companions who followed were in may ways a reflection of the original trinity of TARDIS crewmembers, Vicky (Maureen O‘Brien), Steven (Peter Purves), Dodo (Jackie Lane), all offered great potential that was only partially realized in some cases – however the valiant acts of self sacrifice by Katarina (Adrienne Hill) and Sarah Kingdom (Jean Marsh) in The Dalek Master Plan (1965-66) brought home the terrible price the Doctor often pays for his most decisive victories.. Just as the show was evolving, so to was the role of the companion, Innes Lloyd wanted to bring a new dynamic to the male and female companions – and Secretary Polly Wright and Seaman Ben Jackson were a further attempt on Lloyd’s part to update the series with more contemporary characters.

Gerry Davis’ Target novelisation added even more depth and substance to the Snowcap personnel, with Ben and Polly getting an even greater share of the action – something which was necessitated during the recording of Episode 3 of The Tenth Planet when William Hartnell became unwell. While the fourth episode of The Tenth Planet sadly no longer resides in the BBC’s archives, this episode was eventually reconstructed from images and the remaining footage to be released as part of a BBC Video set (Which also included Attack of the Cybermen), and it is these final pivotal seconds of grainy footage that catalogues the most momentous moment of all in Doctor Who’s fifty year history.

As the Doctor collapsed onto the floor of the TARDIS the lights inside the time machine wax and wane, before a brilliant glow begins to flair around his face. It is unclear if it is the energy drain from Mondas, the battle with the Cybermen, or just the Doctor’s immense age that causes the regeneration – but his haste to reach the TARDIS indicates that the sanctuary of the time machine is crucial to surviving the transformation.  In those few, brief seconds William Hartnell was transformed into Patrick Troughton, leaving a legacy that would endure to this very day. For me one of the quintessential moments in Doctor Who is when William Hartnell stands in defiance of the Cybermen’s impassive adherence to logic: “Emotions. Love, pride, hate, fear. Have you no emotions sir?” The Doctor’s impassioned speech is one that will resonate down through the decades, infusing every incarnation with a righteous anger in the face of tyranny and evil. It would seem that the Cyber Race also hold this moment in high regard, as it forms part of a  sequence of clips used in Earthshock (1982) when the Cyber Leader reviews their past encounters with the Doctor.

From the moment the Doctor Who theme tune gives way to the special computer tape opening and closing graphics (created for this story by Bernard Lodge) it becomes clear that The Tenth Planet is about to herald significant change. The Cybermen proved immensely popular and would return many times to menace Patrick Troughton’s new incarnation throughout the course of the sixties: appearing in such classic stories as The Moonbase (1967), Tomb of the Cybermen (1967), The Wheel in Space (1968), and even invading Earth in The Invasion (1968), their design evolving and changing with each successive story, rightfully earning them their place amongst the elite pantheon of Doctor Who’s most successful recurring monsters.

We can only hope that the fourth episode of The Tenth Planet might be found one day, but for now at least we can still enjoy the DVD release of The Tenth Planet. The missing fourth episode is presented as an animated reconstruction on The Tenth Planet DVD, using a similar animation process that was employed to represent the missing 4th & 5th episodes for The Reign of Terror DVD. The Tenth Planet DVD also features a documentary, Frozen Out, by Chris Chapman about the making of the story, which will include contributions from Anneke Wills (Polly), Earl Cameron (Williams) and Reg Whitehead (Cyberman), along with designer Peter Kindred and the woman who vision-mixed the first regeneration, Shirly Coward.

The adventures that began in a junkyard in 1963 with William Hartnell could very well have come to an end if the regeneration had not been successful. It was a bold move for its time, but in those closing moments The Tenth Planet secured the series a longevity that nobody could ever have dared to dream possible in 1966. A winning formula was born; Doctor Who endured this change of lead actor, as it would do again, many, many times. We must never forget the great debt we owe to William Hartnell, especially as we enter the 50^th Anniversary Year of Doctor Who. So as we prepare to celebrate Doctor Who’s fifty glorious years let us all take a moment to remember the first great champion of time and space, William Hartnell.