Synopsis:
Hobson scans the lunar surface and spots a large force of Cybermen marching towards the base...
They break into the base radio frequency and demand that the main entry port be opened. Nils tries to call Earth for assistance but they find that their radio has now been blocked by the Cybermen. They are destroying the antenna on the surface nearby.
Hobson and Benoit discuss the relief rocket and agree that it is probably already on its way. They order that the scanner be trained on the rocket flight path. The vessel has been detected by the Cybermen, however.
In the sickbay, the control unit used on Dr Evan is activated remotely, and the medic once again falls under Cyberman mental control. He is ordered to slip into the Gravitron control chamber, where he knocks out the technician on duty and takes his place.
The relief rocket appears on the scanner, approaching the Moon. The base personnel are shocked to see it suddenly break away and speed off into space - heading in a direct course for the Sun.
The Doctor realises that only one thing could have caused this - the Gravitron - and they see that Dr Evans now has control over it.
Ben and Jamie are sent to barricade the sickbay to prevent any other conditioned men emerging. Within, a couple of them are stirring.
As Hobson attempts to reason with Evans, the Cybermen once again demand access to the base - otherwise they will destroy everyone.
There is a loud bang and the oxygen level suddenly plummets, causing oxy-masks to drop from panels above the controls. The Cybermen have used a powerful laser cannon to blast a hole in the base's protective dome beside the Gravitron.
Hobson and Benoit are able to make a temporary repair by placing a plastic tray over the hole.
The loss of air has led to Dr Evans collapsing, and they are able to regain control of the Gravitron. The Doctor switches this on and lowers its gravitational field before the Cybermen can fire their laser cannon again. This results in the laser beam being deflected into space.
The Cybermen give up this attack but begin to close in, intent on breaking in by force.
The Doctor has Hobson disable the Gravitron safety cut-out, which prevents it from being directed horizontally across the Moon's surface - to stop it from affecting the base itself.
It can now be used on the Cybermen and their spacecraft. All are sent flying off into space.
Hobson and his men celebrate their victory, and straight away set about getting the Gravitron back in normal operation again. The Doctor encourages his companions to slip quietly away.
Out on the lunar surface, just before they re-enter the TARDIS, Polly sees a shooting star and wonders if this is the Cybermen and their ships.
His companions complaining that they never know where they are going to end up next, the Doctor explains that there is device on the TARDIS which can give them a glimpse of what they may see at their next destination - a component known as the Time Scanner. The superstitious Jamie cautions against "second sight" as the Doctor operates a control on the console and the scanner activates. They see a huge crab-like claw emerge from out of a dense mist...
Next time: The Macra Terror
Written by: Kit Pedler
Recorded: Saturday 25th February 1967 - Lime Grove Studio D
First broadcast: 5:50pm, Saturday 4th March 1967
Ratings: 8.1 million / AI 58
Designer: Colin Shaw
Director: Morris Barry
Critique:
As we mentioned when looking at the opening instalment of this story, Innes Lloyd wanted a story set on the Moon due to the topicality of the Cold War Space Race. Whilst countries like Britain had dabbled in space research, launching rockets from the Outback of Australia, the race was very much led by the Soviet Union and the United States.
In 1986, the Snowcap Space Tracking Station at the South Pole had been commanded by an American General, and at least two of the military guards were American, though the scientists appeared to be British and only one of the three astronauts we saw were from the US (the American one being the son of the base commander).
By 2070, we have a base on the Moon, controlling the Earth's weather - including that of the United States - but there isn't a single American crewman present (unless it's a non-speaking background character, but we certainly don't see any Stars & Stripes badge on any crewman's tabard in the surviving episodes). The Moonbase is
What has happened to the US between 1986 and 2070, for its involvement in space technology and exploration to be so curtailed? It may be a situation like the one presented in Moonbase 3, the drama series created by Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks just before they left Doctor Who. In this, each major political power bloc had its own base, so the Americans will have been off somewhere else. The problem with this is that we still have non-Americans controlling their weather. It may just be that the alliance between the US and Europe at this time is so strong that they can be trusted to do this, whilst the Americans are tied up doing something else. Another fan theory is that some great catastrophe befalls the USA in the first half of the 21st Century, leading to them no longer having a significant role to play in international events.
The main filming for this episode took place on Thursday 19th January 1967, when a grand total of 11 Cybermen assembled on the lunar surface set at Ealing.
The press were invited to take photographs of the new design, most of which were taken outside the studios at a number of locations around Ealing Green. Cybermen posed at bus stops and telephone kiosks, and were seen turning up for work at the studio gates. A pair were pictured walking along with 10 year old Anthony King.
The principal Cybermen on this occasion were portrayed by John Wills (Maxim), Sonnie Willis, Peter Greene, Keith Goodman and Reg Whitehead (who had played Cybermen in The Tenth Planet). 6 extras were also hired to bring up the numbers, and amongst them was a young man who would go on to play a significant role in Doctor Who.
John Woods (then using the name Levine) was attempting to get into the acting profession after being spotted in the West End gent's outfitters where he worked by Hollywood star Telly Savalas. The future Kojak star was in England making The Dirty Dozen and thought that Woods might make a good extra or stuntman due to his physique. Levine would amend his name to Levene and, after mentoring from director Douglas Camfield, would go on to become famous as Sergeant Benton of UNIT.
Filming included the massed ranks of Cybermen marching across the lunar surface and spreading out to take positions overlooking the base. Sequences with them using their laser cannon were also filmed. These shots allow us to see the forced perspective employed to depict the Moonbase model in the background with actors in the foreground.
Some photographs show the saucer-like Cyberships at their feet, as these models were filmed or photographed at the same time.
Some of the more gimmicky publicity shots appeared in the newspapers the following day.
In the week leading up to studio recording, Morris Barry wrote to the principal Cyberman actors to tell them to remain on standby as another story featuring the metal giants was in the pipeline, which he had been asked to direct. He also wrote to Peter Hawkins, expressing sympathy for the discomfort he had experienced with the throat microphone in providing their voices, but asking him to take care of the equipment as he would soon be using it again.
Saturday 25th February saw the series return to its original home of Studio D at Lime Grove. Despite their limitations, the antiquated Lime Grove studios would remain the programme's main base for the next couple of years.
Four Cybermen were required for studio recording - Willis and Greene, along with extras Ronald Lee and Barry Noble. They were shot on a small lunar surface set, for group close-ups.
A circular mask was used for the sequence where two of the Cybermen smash the radio antenna.
If you look closely at the graphic showing the relief rocket approach, you can see that its escape route is already evident, curving up towards the top right.
Other captions included the Cyberman saucer and an image of the night sky with a transparency showing a shooting star passing across it, as seen by Polly at the conclusion of the episode.
The regulars, returning to the TARDIS, had been filmed with material for Episode One on Tuesday 17th January.
The episode closed on the material shot at Ealing by John Davies on Friday 17th February, of the Macra claw seen on the TARDIS scanner.
This episode sees the very first use of filmed optical effects in the series. A strip of film depicting the beam of the laser cannon was combined with original footage of the Cybermen handling the prop, using an optical printer to blend the two film components together.
When he came to edit the episode on Monday 27th February, Barry discovered that there was a considerable amount of talkback on the soundtrack. This occurs when the microphones pick up the voices of the gallery from the crew's headphones on the studio floor. He tried to edit this out as much as possible. Unfortunately, this was a known problem with Lime Grove Studio D. It had previously led to the remount of The Dead Planet.
The new claustrophobic format of base-under-siege, requiring only one large central set and smaller casts, had proven to be successful once again, and so Innes Lloyd and Gerry Davis planned several more stories of this type for the next season.
The Cybermen had also proven their popularity, and would be back.
Before the final episode of The Moonbase had been broadcast, Gerry Davis commissioned Kit Pedler to write their third story - tentatively titled "Dr Who and the Cyberman Planet".
- The main thing to notice about the ratings is that appreciation figure, the biggest seen since Desperate Measures - the second instalment of The Rescue back in January 1965.
- Junior Points of View on 10th March was largely negative about Doctor Who. Troughton did have some fans who liked his "top hat and flute" - neither of which had been seen in this story. It was already decided that the hat would not be returning.
- 29th March saw a BBC audience research report on this episode produced. The climax was criticised, with some thinking that the Cybermen had been defeated far too easily. Some thought the conclusion lacked credibility, and that the heroes winning by accident was unsatisfactory. Futuristic stories were favoured over historical ones, and the sets and props were praised. One scientist thought the use of solvents to attack the Cybermen had been silly. There were concerns expressed that the "extra-sinister" Cybermen might be too frightening for children.
- The ending has come under some criticism by fans as well. It's all very well unruffled Yorkshireman Hobson demonstrating the typical British "stiff upper lip", but the way in which the Moonbase crew simply shrug off recent events and get on with their job is taking this imperturbability a little too far.
- According to Kit Pedler, Hobson was inspired by the British explorer Sir Vivian Fuchs (1908 - 1999), who led the first overland crossing of Antarctica in 1958.
- Barry Noble had a successful pop music career, enjoying a 1968 hit with I've Got My Eyes On You. Previous appearances in Doctor Who had included an Egyptian soldier in The Daleks' Master Plan, a Parisian citizen in The Massacre, and a patron of the Inferno nightclub in The War Machines.
- Episodes 1 and 3 of The Moonbase are missing, and have been since 1974 when it was last put forward for overseas sale. For the story's DVD release these instalments were animated. The company made good use of telesnaps of the missing material, so that sets, costumes and likenesses closely match what viewers would have seen in 1967:
- Titbits magazine published one of the January publicity shots of the Cybermen posing at a bus stop on Ealing Green along with a bit of humorous dialogue. Interestingly, they give the Cybermen monosyllabic names - just as Pedler had originally planned.
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