| THE TOMB OF THE CYBERMEN by Kit Pedler & Gerry Davis |
| Review:- This is an astonishing story, following on from the Doctor's "final" vanquishing of the Daleks, and positions the Silver terrors as the new #1 baddies. Possibly one of the most intelligent high-concept Cybermen tales sees them sneakily drawing the curious expedition into their clutches, and then, with Klieg's misguided assistance, rising from the dead with almost vampiric theatricality. The fact that they are nearly successful marks one of the few occasions when the Doctor can't really feel 100% satisfied at a completed job, and certainly one of the earliest examples of this. His final wistful comment suggests the Cybermen will find a way back. With most Troughton Cybermen stories, the story revolves around the diversity of views amongst the humans, and the stark centrality of the Cybermen. Their great threat is not domination after destruction of opposition. It's domination after conversion of opposition. If turning someone from being alive to being dead is horrible enough, the notion of turning someone from being emotional, thinking, living, into being unemotional, unquestioning, living death is pretty ghastly too. Here. that is less a theme because of the small number of humans. Klieg and Kaftan are a good pair of nasties, one out and out villainy, the other more misguided, but equally doomed. They almost share a touch of the Macbeth/Lady Macbeth syndrome. Jamie proves a sturdy friend, whilst Victoria makes an intermittent success of her first adventure outside her time frame, able to shoot a Cybermat, but duped by Kaftan and patronised by Captain Hopper. The Doctor, of course, is at the centre of almost every significant action, and is on a more serious form through the majority of the story. He sees through Kaftan and Klieg very quickly, and yet is able to share time to comfort Victoria over her grief for her father. Toberman rather suffers from little character development beyond a loyal attachment to Kaftan. This provides his later motivation for retaliation after his partial Cyber-conversion, rather than for any sense of revenge of his own fate. All in all, a short and tidy tale, that makes the Cybermen into first-class foes. |
| Disclaimer: I've read the script book, and now seen the video. |
| Story 37 Synopsis: The TARDIS lands on Telos, and the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria soon come across an expedition team who are uncovering a lost tomb of the Cybermen. The Doctor helps them get in, and they see that the technology seems intact. Eventually, they find the actual tomb, a wall of compartments, each containing a frozen Cyberman. Klieg, expedition funder, turns up the heating, despite the Doctor's protestations. The Cybermen reawaken, and determine that the expedition will undergo Cyber-conversion. The Doctor works to get the expedition out, but with varied success. He also returns the Cybermen to hibernation, and replaces the booby-trapped entrance. |