Synopsis:
The TARDIS is lurching wildly out of control. When the Doctor finally manages to stabilise it and they land, he claims that they have successfully arrived where he said they would be - the planet Mars. However, Ben has seen images of the lunar surface and this closely resembles these. The Doctor is forced to admit that they are on the Moon. When he wants to move on, his companions insist on taking a look around. They don spacesuits and venture outside. Polly thinks she sees a light appear briefly on the horizon, but it has vanished by the time the others look.
They have just missed the arrival nearby of a saucer-shaped craft.
As his companions begin to leap about in the low gravity environment, the Doctor warns against tearing their suits. Jamie jumps over a low rise and fails to reappear. When the others go to investigate they discover that they are close to a lunar base. They see two of its space-suited crew carrying an unconscious Jamie into the structure, and the Doctor realises that he must have slammed into the base's protective dome and knocked himself out.
They follow inside.
In the main control area, chief scientist Hobson and his deputy Benoit face an emergency situation. The base houses a device called the Gravitron, which manipulates meteorological systems on the Earth to control the weather. As they monitor a typhoon in the Pacific, one of the technicians collapses. He is not the first to fall ill to this disease, and their medic Dr Evans was one of the first victims.
They are expecting a relief medic on the next rocket shuttle and, when the Doctor and his companions are brought in, Hobson at first thinks that this has arrived early.
Polly is permitted to go and see Jamie whilst Ben and the Doctor are questioned. They learn that this is the year 2070, and are told about the Gravitron and its functions. The Doctor realises that it was this which caused the TARDIS to go out of control.
As well as the breakout of a strange illness, the device has been acting erratically and the technicians have been unable to trace any fault. At the same time, brief pressure drops have been recorded in the dome which covers the base.
Weather Control on Earth calls to complain about a hurricane which is out of control. Technician Nils, who handles the communications, reports to Hobson that their radio conversation is being monitored by another party, not very far away.
The Doctor goes to see Jamie and Polly tells him that he has been hallucinating about the "Phantom Piper" which haunts his clan - said to appear before a McCrimmon dies.
Dr Evans is also delirious, talking of "the silver hand". He then dies.
The Doctor is concerned about the illness, which does not behave like a conventional disease...
Ben has offered to help out due to the staff shortage, and is sent to the stores to assist a technician named Ralph. He has discovered that bags of sugar have been tampered with. Shortly after Ben arrives, Ralph is attacked by a shadowy figure and disappears. Ben returns to the control room to report this.
The Doctor joins him there to report Evans' death, and intent on offering his help to Hobson until a new doctor arrives as he is terribly worried about what is going on here.
Polly has stepped out of the sickbay for a moment, and on her return she catches a glimpse of a tall figure passing into a storeroom. Her scream alerts Hobson and her friends as they approach. They discover that Evans' body has disappeared. Word comes through that yet another person has collapsed at the controls of the Gravitron and everyone rushes back to the control room, leaving Polly alone.
She goes to fetch water for Jamie and, as soon as she leaves the room, a tall robotic figure appears and approaches the young Scot.
He is convinced that this is the Phantom Piper, come to take him away, but it is actually a Cyberman...
Written by Kit Pedler
Recorded: Saturday 4th February 1967 - Riverside Studio 1
First broadcast: 5:50pm, Saturday 11th February 1967
Ratings: 8.1 million / AI 50
Designer: Colin Shaw
Director: Morris Barry
Guest cast: Patrick Barr (Hobson), Andre Maranne (Benoit), Michael Wolf (Nils), John Rolfe (Sam), Mark Heath (Ralph), Alan Rowe (Dr Evans / Voice of Weather Control), Sonnie Willis (Cyberman)
Critique:
Producer Innes Lloyd and Story Editor Gerry Davis had been very impressed with The Tenth Planet, both in terms of the story structure and its new monsters - the Cybermen.
Davis had enjoyed working with Dr Kit Pedler, even if he had been called upon to step in and complete the story when Pedler fell ill.
Aware also that Terry Nation was making moves to spin the Daleks off into their own series (plus the fact that they cost more money to use due to Nation's deal with the BBC), Lloyd was keen to develop a replacement and the Cybermen promised to finally provide a viable alternative.
One problem, however, was the design of the creatures - something which had led to delays during filming due to their fragility and complexity, as well as seeing performers faint under the heat of the studio lights.
Sandra Reid was tasked with coming up with a new, simplified, design which would be much more practical. As they don't feature very much at all in this opening episode, we'll wait until next time to discuss the changes.
As far as story structure is concerned, The Tenth Planet had delivered the first of what would become known as the base-under-siege format - a small group of people (preferably an international mix) stranded in some remote location with the monsters trying to break in.
One of the budget-friendly practicalities which this offered was the saving on sets. Stories such as this could have one large central set where most of the action could take place, with the need to provide only the odd cheap corridor or small side room where necessary. Ealing or location filming could provide the hostile environment in which the base was situated - be it Antarctica for Snowcap Base or the lunar surface for the Moonbase.
As soon as Pedler had recovered from his ill health, he had written to Davis to say that he had some other ideas for the new Doctor.
In October 1966 discussions got underway for a new Cyberman adventure, and with the Cold War Space Race at its height, Lloyd asked for a story set on the Moon.
With Frazer Hines being a relatively late addition to the regular cast, Davis asked Pedler to have Jamie be absent for much of the story, intending to slot him in later during the story-editing stage.
Pedler titled his story "The Return of the Cybermen", and it was he who came up with the notion of the Gravitron weather control system as the main purpose of the Moonbase - which he referred to as the "Moonport".
The device was described as a tall cylindrical probe, at the centre of a doughnut-shaped unit. This was separated from the main control room by a glass partition, and those working in the Gravitron room would have to wear special headgear against a constant humming vibration. This differs from the finished programme where the Gravitron sits off to the side of the control area, but not partitioned off, and it is a secondary control room which is sealed off and requires staff to wear padded headgear.
The spacesuits worn by the Doctor and his companions were to be numbered 1 - 4. The Moonbase crew would also have numbered name badges, and originally the crew complement was to be 15, but this was raised to 19. The crew would have their number on their spacesuits as well as their shirts, suggesting that all of their clothing was similarly marked. In the end they would wear tabards over T-shirts, other than Hobson.
Much of Pedler's description was taken up by new designer Colin Shaw (his only work on the show) such as the very basic cantilevered beds in the sickbay with their single quilted covering. Patients were to have had a circular unit attached to their chests, with cables running to a medical unit beside the bed.
In early January 1967 a significant move took place behind the scenes of Doctor Who - an indicator of things to come.
Lloyd had been looking to move on from the series, and Davis had been asked to consider replacing him. He had been assigned an assistant story editor - Peter Bryant. Bryant was known to the general public from his acting days, when he had been one of the Grove family in Britain's first ever soap opera. He had turned his back on acting and was now working as a script editor on BBC Radio.
Davis declined the Producer role and, when Lloyd went on holiday just as The Moonbase entered production, Bryant was given the opportunity to act as his stand-in.
Filming got underway on Tuesday 17th January at Ealing Studios. The regular cast were taken out of rehearsals for the third episode of The Underwater Menace to film all of their lunar surface scenes, covering the first episode and their departure at the close of Episode Four.
The cast wore quilted spacesuits with large transparent helmets, which tended to steam up very quickly.
Only Anneke Wills was obliged to wear kirby wires so that she could be filmed suspended as she jumped in the low gravity atmosphere. For the others, the cameras were over-cranked to make their movements appear slower. This filming was captured by a BBC photographer.
Only two other cast members were required at Ealing for this episode's lunar scenes - Victor Pemberton (playing Jules) and Barry Ashton (as Franz) who were filmed carrying the injured Jamie. They were called back for pick-up shots on Thursday 19th.
The large Moonbase model was constructed by Shawcraft Models of Uxbridge. It was set up in the same studio as the live action and filmed using false perspective to make it look like it stood in the distance as the TARDIS crew looked at it, standing in the foreground.
A quarter-size TARDIS model was also employed for filming.
The next day a photographer took images of extra Derek Calder. These photos would be used to show the black lines starting to cover his face and hand as he fell victim to the illness in this episode. BBC graphic designer Peter Netley added the lines. The hand shot would double for other infected characters in other episodes. Calder had to return to the studio on Thursday 19th for further photographs to be taken.
Model filming took place on Friday 20th January - the day in which images of the new Cybermen appeared in the press.
This included the arrival and departure of the TARDIS, establishing shots of the Moonbase, and sequences featuring the landing of the Cyberman saucers.
Shortly after filming had ended, Sandra Reid fell ill and missed the studio recording for the The Moonbase. She was replaced for Episodes 1 and 2 by Mary Woods.
Joining the cast for rehearsals on January 31st was main guest artist Patrick Barr, playing Hobson. He had worked with William Hartnell in his 'quota quickie' days, and had starred opposite Frazer Hines on stage. (Barr had played Hines' father, and on being reunited he introduced himself with "Hello dad!"). The actor knew Anneke Wills very well as he was a good friend of her husband Michael Gough.
The other principal guest was Andre Maranne, playing Benoit, who pretty much cornered the market in Frenchmen on British screens. He was born in France but of dual British-French nationality. He is best known for his role as Sergeant Chevalier, in the Pink Panther movies. Another role of note is as chef Andre, in the classic "Gourmet Night" instalment of Fawlty Towers.
It was realised that Benoit and Pemberton's technician had the same first name - Jules. As Pemberton had already filmed scenes at Ealing it was Benoit who had to have a change of name, becoming instead 'Roger'. However, his name badge had the initial "J" on it - which is the reason why Benoit wears a little neckerchief to conceal this. It was for practical reasons, rather than national stereotyping.
Morris Barry, who had been a producer with the BBC as well as a director, had discussions with Troughton about the comedy elements of his performance as the Doctor. He wanted to drop the overt clowning without losing the humour all together. In interviews he would later recall how Troughton's trousers were slowly adjusted without the star noticing.
Interviews with the regular cast always mention how Barry - a very regimented man - conducted rehearsals using a music stand and baton.
Publicity photographs concentrated on the regulars and guest cast on the Moonbase control room set, with a single image being captured of the Cyberman played by Sonnie Willis menacing Mark Heath as Ralph - this despite the fact that we never get to see the Cyberman in this sequence on screen.
As was his custom, Troughton wandered about the set to familiarise himself with it. He had just moved away from the large Gravitron prop, built by Shawcraft, when it collapsed just where he had been standing. It had to be rapidly repaired and reset.
Another problem concerned the desks in the control room. When the BBC crew went to collect them they discovered that the contractor had been ill and they were unfinished. Once installed in the studio they had to have their detail finished with whatever came to hand - photocopied images from magazines and strips of coloured tape. Once the episode had been recorded, the desks were sent back to be finished properly for the second episode.
The opening TARDIS scene saw a much smaller set as it would only be seen very briefly. The walls were actually photographic blow-ups. The opening credits ran over a shot of Hines holding onto the console.
The first recording break came when they cut to the photographs of Calder's nervous system being attacked by the illness. The extra was made up with black lines on hands and face during this break. The Cyberman saucer was a photo-caption, taken during the Ealing filming.
The Doctor was supposed to be seen to refer to his 500 Year Diary, but this was cut when they realised that Troughton would be wearing his spacesuit for the scene.
With little to do in this episode, Alan Rowe was able to provide the radio voice of Weather Control.
A second recording break was used to set up the sequence where Ralph is zapped by a Cyberman - with an electric spark generator being superimposed over the action. Closing credits were shown over a close-up of the new Cyberman before a fade to black.
To save on costs, Barry preferred to use stock music and looked to some cues from The Tenth Planet for the Cybermen.
As well as the publicity photographs, including the Cybermen pictured in and around Ealing Studios. Lloyd wanted a television advert - one which made use of the lunar landscape filming. This was shown immediately after broadcast of the final episode of The Underwater Menace.
As well as featuring in the Radio Times preview (see below), Pedler was profiled by The Observer on Sunday 5th February.
He also appeared on Late Night Line-Up on BBC 2 on the night of broadcast.
The lunar surface scenes were singled out for praise at the BBC's weekly programme review meeting on Wednesday 15th February.
I will declare it now that The Moonbase is one of my own personal favourite stories, so I'm very biased in its favour. That's not to say that I won't point out issues - such as Dr Evans' talk of a silver hand which seems to be going somewhere but doesn't. We'll later find out that he's been poisoned via a foodstuff, so shouldn't have ever encountered a Cyberman in person. He is also the first to be abducted from the sickbay, so - unless one of the Cybermen has been popping in there for no real reason - he shouldn't have seen one here either.
Reasons for liking this story are its length - four episodes being my own ideal; the best iteration of the Cybermen; and a favourite Doctor. Great guest cast, only a single poor visual effect (saucers on wires); and I've always liked the tense, claustrophobic atmosphere of the base-under-siege format.
- The ratings for the return of the Cybermen begin healthily enough - one million more viewers than had tuned in for the conclusion of the previous story. The appreciation figure also manages to rise out of the 40's.
- The episode uses sound effects created for The Keys of Marinus - including the pulsing morphotising effect for the appearance of the black lines as well as Morpho background sounds for the sickbay.
- One of the Cyberman saucers will appear in another Morris Barry story, when it is seen attached to a wall above the doorway of the war museum in The Dominators.
- For Season 5, Victor Pemberton will briefly become assistant then full-time Story Editor on the series, before contributing the scripts for Fury From The Deep. He knew Peter Bryant through their radio script-writing connections, and had previously worked with Morris Barry as an extra on another production.
- John Rolfe (technician Sam Beckett) will return to the series to play Mr Fell in The Green Death. He had previously featured as the army captain in The War Machines.
- Alan Rowe will go on to appear in The Time Warrior (as Sir Edward), Horror of Fang Rock (Lord Skinsale) and Full Circle (Decider Garif). He was the partner of actor Geoffrey Bayldon, who played Organon in The Creature from the Pit, and who had been approached to play the Doctor in 1963.
- Radio Times was content to reveal that the Cybermen were back, as the press had already covered the filming at Ealing in mid January. The item is accompanied by a composite photograph, with Cybermen superimposed over a shot from the lunar surface filming.
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