| REVENGE OF THE CYBERMEN by Gerry Davis |
| Story 79 Synopsis: Expecting to return to the Ark, the Doctor, Sarah and Harry find that the Nerva Beacon is rather quieter than they thought, and Vira is not around. But things are not back to normal. They have landed in a time long before the Earth's solar flare problem. A plague has killed almost the entire crew, and the Doctor offers his and Harry's medical expertise. He soon cottons on that the "plague" is carried by a Cybermat, and that Kellman, a civilian, is the traitor. Sarah is attacked, and the Doctor transmats her and Harry to nearby Voga, where they become caught up in civil war. A Cyber-ship docks with Nerva, and the Cybermen take control. They plan to use the Doctor and two of the surviving Nerva personnel to carry bombs into the heart of Voga, then detonate them to explode the planetoid. With Cybermen guarding the detonators, the Doctor has no choice but to go along with the plan. Meanwhile, Sarah and Harry meet Tyrum, leader of one faction of Vogans, and warn of the return of the Cybermen. He decides to confront Vorus about his plans. Kellman, who has also arrived, warns them all that the Cybermen have landed on the Beacon, and teleported down to Voga. Vorus' masterplan, the Skystriker rocket seems to be too late. The Vogans attack the Cybermen, but to little avail. Sarah goes to get the Doctor off the Beacon, but Harry & Kellman go to try and save her from certain death. During a rockfall, Harry comes across an unconscious Doctor, and unwittingly tries to detonate the bomb strapped to him. The Cybermen lose contact, and decide to explode the bombs, but the awakened Doctor has nobbled the Cybermen on Voga, and released himself, although Lester dies to save him and Harry. On board Nerva, Sarah tries to stop the Cybermen blowing up Voga, but is taken prisoner. When it becomes clear that the Cyberbombs have not destroyed Voga, the Cyberleader sets up bombs on Nerva, with the plan to crash into Voga. The Vogans, meanwhile, launch their Skystriker rocket, but Vorus dies. The Doctor manages to move Nerva so it misses the rocket, which destroys the Cyber-ship. He then manages to prevent Nerva hitting Voga, although it's a close call. The TARDIS arrives, Harry beams up to Nerva, and the travellers leave. |
| Review:- This has a very bad reputation, perhaps best seen in The Discontinuity Guide's closing comment "No money. No mercy. Even the title's rubbish." Well, I think there is a lot to be said in its favour. Many aspects are quite worthy, and the signs of disaster are not as obvious as people seem to think. The Cybermen don't start to be pro-active until half way through, when they are effective in taking control of Nerva. Their assault on Voga works very well (in fact, you wonder why they don't all just shoot the Vogans instead of bothering with the bombs, considering how successful they are). The subplot of the Vogan civil war seems believable, and shows the effects that the Cybermen have on the races they encounter. Vorus and Tyrum both have reasonable viewpoints, and it is a sad end for Vorus that his rocket does achieve what he wanted, although not quite as he had envisaged. The Doctor has a bit of a struggle here, as he spends a very long time in part 2 coming to the conclusion that the docking ship is the Cybermen, then proceeds to make them seem stupid in part 3. He has some good wit once he hits Voga, though, especially the line about ideas. Sarah and Harry make a very entertaining double-act, and it goes to show that Ian Marter is very sadly missed. Elizabeth Sladen shows feminists a thing or two when she single-handedly takes on the Cybermen, in spite of the logical consequences. The locations are excellent, and really embellish the story. The studio sets are good, both on Voga and in the fantastic Nerva Beacon. It is amusing that the Commander is usually referred to thus, not as Stevenson, his name, in a story with a rocket. He and Lester give excellent performances, and I only disregard Kellman because I am so taken in by his villainy. It's a bit silly that it takes until the Doctor shows up for it to be so clear that Kellman is responsible for the murders of so many people. But he turns it around in part 3, and his casual death is quite astonishing. On the whole, very entertaining. |
| Disclaimer: I've seen the video, and read the book. |