Jamie and Zoe are making a hazardous spacewalk between the Wheel and the Silver Carrier rocket. The space station's crew have begun destroying the approaching meteorites and they are in danger of being caught in the explosions...
In the communications centre, Leo Ryan is angry and accuses the Doctor of sending the youngsters to their deaths. He insists that this was a risk which had to be taken as there is something on the rocket which he needs, then sadly informs him of Gemma's death which he has just witnessed on the visiphone.
Jarvis Bennett has been sitting quietly in his chair for some time in a near catatonic state, seemingly oblivious to all that is going on around him - but he suddenly snaps out of this on hearing of his friend's death. With everyone preoccupied, he gets up and quietly slips from the room after switching off its protective forcefield.
The Doctor tells Leo of Gemma's final warning - to switch to the sectional air supply. She gave her life to give this information as the Cybermen are about to poison them all.
Leo complies, and then Bennett appears on the visiphone advising that they should reactivate the forcefield. He is in a corridor nearby, determined to get revenge for Gemma's death.
A Cyberman appears and Bennett launches himself at it. It proves a futile gesture as, after a brief struggle, it throws him across the corridor then blasts him with its chest unit. His death is witnessed by the others on the monitor.
Vallance has been instructed to inject ozone into the air supply, but the procedure fails. The Cyberman he is assisting contacts its Planner, which deduces that someone on board the station knows their ways. Vallance is ordered to look into the Cyberman's communications device and picture in his mind everyone on the Wheel, so that this person might be identified.
Jamie and Zoe, meanwhile, have safely made it to the rocket. He tells her about the object they have come to find - the Time Vector Generator - and they quickly locate it and prepare to make the return journey. Zoe uses the rocket's communications equipment to try to contact the Wheel to provide them with an update - but accidentally breaks into the Cybermen's frequency.
They see the mental images produced by Vallance. When it comes to the Doctor, he tells them that he doesn't know this recent arrival - but the Planner recognises him as a known enemy. He must be lured out of the communications centre and destroyed.
In the centre, something large is spotted on the radar. It is seen to change course and move towards the station, and the Doctor deduces that this is the Cybership. Leo asks Casali if he is able yet to contact Earth for assistance, but the technician responds that he needs spare transistors to finish repairs - and these will have to be fetched from the Power House.
Someone will have to go and get them.
Jamie and Zoe depart from the rocket, in order to warn the Doctor of the planned trap for him.
Leo and Tanya study blueprints of the Wheel's layout and realise that the only way to get to the Power House without going through the corridors is through an emergency air shaft.
Flannigan then appears on the visiphone to tell them that he has locked the Cybermen in one of the workshops, but doesn't know how long he can keep them there.
The Doctor then insists that he will go to fetch the spares. Flannigan will meet him in one of the corridors.
As the Doctor is about to leave, he warns Leo and the others to seize Flannigan as soon as he comes into the centre through the forcefield. He advises they check the back of his neck for a metal plate.
A Cyberman orders Flannigan to go to the communications centre and destroy the forcefield as soon as he is admitted.
The Doctor arrives in the Power House through the air shaft, and immediately spots a bottle of mercury which he pockets. He then starts looking through the electronic equipment, a plan forming in his mind...
Jamie and Zoe arrive back on board - to be greeted by the sight of Gemma's body.
As they leave the Oxygen Store they meet Flannigan, who agrees to escort them to the communications centre.
Vallance is accompanying the other Cyberman, and they realise that the Doctor has not come by the expected route. Vallance then recalls the emergency air shaft.
As soon as Flannigan enters the centre with Jamie and Zoe, the crew overpower him and a metal plate with transistor is applied to the back of his neck, breaking the Cyberman hypnotic influence. He quickly recovers, vowing to get even with the monsters.
The Doctor appears on the monitor to report that he has found the spares they need, and Jamie informs him of the plan to trap him. He asks Jamie to use the air shaft to bring the Time Vector Generator to him - then has to break transmission as he reports that company has arrived...
The two Cybermen have entered the Power House.
The Doctor is able to get them to confirm some aspects of their invasion plan before one of the creatures steps forward to kill him. However, he has rigged up a powerful electric field just inside the door, and this destroys the Cyberman. The other attempts to shoot him, but the field blocks its weaponry.
It is forced to withdraw.
Jamie then emerges from the air shaft with Flannigan, who arms himself with a bottle of quick-setting plastic. The Doctor gives them a metal plate to use on Vallance when they find him, then sets about making adjustments to the X-ray laser. As Flannigan and Jamie leave, they ask him to contact Leo.
The Doctor calls him and tells him that he is going to boost the power of the laser, and is told that the Cybership is fast approaching.
Donning spacesuits, Jamie and Flannigan go to the loading bay where the last Cyberman is to be found with Vallance, also in a spacesuit. Flannigan pretends to still be under hypnotic control, claiming to have captured Jamie.
A group of Cybermen have begun to spacewalk from their ship towards the open outer airlock doors. Jamie quickly overpowers Vallance and fits the plate to his neck, whilst Flannigan destroys the Cyberman by spraying the plastic into its chest unit.
The Cybermen reach the airlock door and begin to push their way in as Flannigan tries to close it.
The Doctor fits the Time Vector Generator into the laser's capacitor bank and notifies Leo that it is ready. He opens fire, and the Cybership is destroyed.
Flannigan then activates the neutron forcefield - and the Cybermen are sent hurtling off into space.
A short time later, Leo is contacting Earth to inform them of what has happened, having assumed temporary command of the Wheel. Zoe has gone to escort the Doctor and Jamie to the Silver Carrier to retrieve the TARDIS. Left alone with Jamie, she is curious as to why they won't explain anything about their craft. He bids her goodbye.
The Doctor is refilling the fluid links with mercury when Jamie enters the TARDIS. They are about to depart when the Doctor spots the lid of a large chest gently closing. Inside they find Zoe, who asks to go with them. She wishes to experience life after years of simply studying it, and recent events have opened her eyes to how cloistered her own life has been. Jamie is quick to dismiss her request but the Doctor is willing to accept her - so long as she knows what she is letting herself in for. He removes a headset from a wall panel and puts it on, telling them that he is going to present mental images on the scanner. He will weave these into a complete narrative, and asks Zoe if she has ever heard of the Daleks. He begins to relate to her their last encounter with them...
Next time: The Dominators...
Data:Written by David Whitaker (from a story by Kit Pedler)
Recorded: Friday 10th May 1968 - Riverside Studio 1
First broadcast: 6.05pm, Saturday 1st June 1968
Ratings: 6.5 million / AI 62
VFX: Bill King & Trading Post
Designer: Derek Dodd
Director: Tristan De Vere Cole
Critique:This was the last time Doctor Who used the credit 'Story Editor'. From Season 6 the title would become 'Script Editor'.
Dialogue about how the Doctor would get to the Power House without going through the corridors was added in amendments made in early March.
Whitaker advised that a woman's legs, wearing Gemma's distinctive uniform, could be shown, without revealing the face (which would be seen using the photographs taken during the recording of the previous episode).
The final scene in the communications centre, with Casali establishing radio contact with Earth, was only added during rehearsals for this episode.
Zoe did not hide in the wooden chest originally. The Doctor was to have spotted her crawling into the TARDIS on her hands and knees before hiding behind a chair.
This episode affords us our only glimpse of the Cybermen as they were originally designed for this story.
The main difference between filming and studio recordings was the suit. This was designed by Martin Baugh to be a lightweight vinyl material, light grey in colour, attached to which were small rectangular junction boxes, two of which were mounted on the shoulders. Thin rods were connected to these along the arms and legs.
During the filming at Ealing on Friday 22nd March of the spacewalk in this episode, it was found that the rods kept coming loose, and the thin vinyl wrinkled easily and was in danger of tearing. Unhappy with the costumes, De Vere Cole requested that they be redesigned before the story went into studio.
Some elements constructed by Jack and John Lovell such as the helmets and gloves were retained but the main suit was replaced entirely by two-piece diving suits sprayed silver. The shoulder-mounted junction boxes were moved to the upper arms.
The material already filmed of the Cybermen spacewalking and trying to force their way through the airlock doors was retained for broadcast - so this is the original design's only appearance in the programme, as you can see below. The Cyberman ranks were swollen by having a third costume, worn by Tony Harwood, at the rear. This was one of the old Mark II versions, unmodified. The footage was also mirrored to double their numbers.
It should be noted that the Cybermen on film wore their chest units - actually Mark II versions - mounted the correct way up with the circular weapon at the bottom, which was how the Lovells intended them to be worn.
Apart from model shots of the Wheel, rocket and Cybership, filmed at the Puppet Theatre for use throughout the serial, the shots of the Cybermen being flung off into space were also filmed on Thursday 21st March. These were simply photographs of the creatures, cut out and mounted on cardboard.
Studio recording returned to Riverside and like the previous episode it was decided to use 35mm film rather than 625-line videotape. This was due to the fact that the episode was to be recorded out of order, thanks to some of the cast having to change in and out of spacesuits for parts of the action. For instance, Jamie is seen to be wearing his at the beginning of the episode, and again later in the loading bay, but with his normal gear in between and then again at the very end - necessitating three costume changes over the course of the evening if the episode was made in story order. All the scenes of people wearing the suits could be recorded together.
Hines recorded both of his spacesuit sequences first, ending with the struggle in the loading bay. A break then allowed him to go off and change into his usual costume for his mid-episode scenes and the final TARDIS sequence.
Other recording breaks included one to replace the radar scanner in the communications centre, and another to fix kirby wires to Michael Turner for the sequence where he is picked up and thrown by a Cyberman. Perhaps recalling how bad this physical effect had looked in The Tomb of the Cybermen, this was only to have been seen on the visiphone screen. During the struggle, we can also see a piece of the Cyberman's piping coming loose.
As in previous episodes, a halo of light was superimposed over the Cyberman's chest unit and the screen alternated between positive and negative. This same over-exposure effect was used for when the Cybermen are blasted off into space by the forcefield. The oscilloscope wave was used as Vallance was hypnotically given fresh orders, and superimposed over still images of the cast which represented Vallance's mental images of the crew.
A spark was superimposed over the shot of the Cyberman killed by the Doctor's trap.
The final recording break was to set up the TARDIS scene, which used only a minimal set of console, wooden chest and two walls, one of which was a photographic blow-up in a poor state of repair.
The end credits rolled over a close-up of Zoe's face as she concentrated on the Doctor's mental projections.
The closing sequence was designed to lead into a repeat broadcast of The Evil of the Daleks which began the following week - which we'll look at separately in the next post. The clip chosen came from the cliffhanger to the first episode, rather than starting from the very beginning with the theft of the TARDIS from Gatwick Airport - chosen as it is the first time a Dalek appears in the story.
It is usually referred to as a fluff from Troughton, but knowing his mischievous nature one suspects that his reference to the "sexual" air supply instead of "sectional" - that's what it sound like - was probably deliberate.
Unwinding in Studio 3 - the pub across the road from Riverside - after recording, Troughton expressed his dissatisfaction with the recent stories to Peter Bryant. He felt the scripts to be repetitive and lacking in depth, and he wanted to see new monsters introduced - though he did like the Cybermen, which he was pleased to hear would be back next season. He was told about the plans Bryant and Derrick Sherwin had about reformatting the series, basing it in the England of the near future. It would be more action-orientated, with the Doctor working alongside Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart and Professor Travers in their fight against the Cybermen.
It's a disappointing ending to the story, with the threat of the Cybermen and their invasion fleet dealt with far too abruptly. The VFX leave a lot to be desired as well, what with flimsy cardboard cut-out Cybermen and the comic book style explosion of the Cybership. Things aren't helped by the frantic cutting of these sequences.
It's certainly not one of Whitaker's better scripts, and is generally regarded as the weakest of the 1960's Cyberman stories. The writer did once state in an interview that he didn't think there was enough material to fill six episodes, and the opening instalment is almost a self-contained one wherein the Doctor and Jamie have an adventure with a Servo Robot on a derelict spaceship. It was this concern about the lack of material which caused Whitaker to make the story more of a character piece in its first half, with the Cybermen only getting onto the Wheel at the midpoint of the story.
Character pieces only work, however, if those characters are people we can invest in, in one way or another. Leo and Tanya are very thinly sketched, whilst Bennett - who should be the most interesting character - descends into a form of manic-depression seemingly out of the blue. He goes from being annoyed about other people's theories to acting as if everything is going well, to catatonia in the space of an episode. Even Gemma, an ally of the Doctor in particular and whose death comes as a complete shock, can be a bit of a cold fish - advising Zoe but incapable of empathising with her when she starts questioning her conditioning and how she actually fits into this society.
The only really true human beings on the Wheel are Duggan and Flannigan, the former of whom is killed off relatively quickly and the latter of whom spends some time under hypnotic control. They are the only 'real' characters we see.
We've already mentioned the problematic dating for this story - complicated by Zoe's later talk about the Hourly Telepress of the year 2000 in The Mind Robber. The Cybermen recognise the Doctor in this episode purely from his appearance, but The Moonbase is specifically dated to the year 2070, and events on Telos were said to occur after the Cybermen had not been active in the galaxy for five centuries. The Telepress business definitely suggests an early 21st Century dating for Zoe's time, so before the attack on the Graviton base. When we take into account the Doctor's additional knowledge about the use of neuristors as defence against Cyber-hypnotism, it becomes increasingly more likely that there has been some unscreened Cyberman adventure during the Second Doctor's lifetime - which might go to explain the reference to 'Planet 14' in their next encounter...
This episode survived because it was retained by the BBC as an example of Doctor Who's fifth season, along with the third instalment of The Enemy of the World.
It brings the fifth season to a close - a run which has since become known as the "Monster Season". It began with the Cybermen and ended with them as well, and in between we had Yeti - twice - Ice Warriors and Seaweed Creatures. We even segue into a repeat run for the Daleks.
Only The Enemy of the World stood out from the rest with its James Bond trappings and purely human antagonists, but it at least had the novelty value of the chief villain being a doppelganger of the Doctor to help it stand out.
It had been another year of relative stability, both on-screen and off. Innes Lloyd had passed on the Producer baton to Peter Bryant in a smooth, planned fashion, having groomed him for the role for some time before stepping down. After the slight hiccup of Victor Pemberton as Story Editor, this role had been quickly filled by Derrick Sherwin, who had brought his own assistant - and intended replacement - onboard in the shape of Terrance Dicks, whose association with the television series will continue on and off for the next 15 years.
As for the TARDIS crew, Debbie Watling had appeared as Victoria in every story, thanks to her brief glimpse on the scanner and a credit in the first episode of the final story. This introduced new girl Zoe, but she is technically just a guest character up until the closing moments when she elects to stowaway on board the ship. Watling had also given plenty of notice regarding her departure, only ever intending to stay for a year. Though increasingly unhappy in his role as the Doctor, Patrick Troughton had agreed to stay on for one more season, by which time he would be financially comfortable, and Frazer Hines was happy to carry on a little longer as Jamie, despite pressures from his agent to get into films.
These weren't the only clouds on the horizon of Season 6. The ratings were falling overall, and the audience appreciation figures were only matching the peaks of Season 2 right at the very end.
William Hartnell had always insisted that Doctor Who would last 5 years. It would, though sadly without his presence. His departure at the end of The Tenth Planet had been the biggest upheaval to date for the series, but even bigger changes would lie ahead before the decade was out...
Trivia:- This story ends on a high appreciation index figure of 62, beating Episode 2's score - but we also see the lowest viewing figure for this story, more than 2 million down on its peak for the fourth instalment.
- This episode was scheduled for the later time of 6pm due to an England-Germany international football match on Grandstand, but went out five minutes later than planned.
- The BBC commissioned an Audience Research Report for this episode, which highlighted the performances by Troughton and Hines as well as the spacewalk scenes. However, there were a number of negative comments about the lack of variety in the monsters and the use of complicated technical jargon. It was felt that the series was becoming repetitive.
- Junior Points of View on Friday 7th June echoed the complaints about the overuse of Daleks, Cybermen and Yeti in the series - though one youngster suggested the Doctor for Prime Minister.
- Tristan De Vere Cole was never invited back to direct Doctor Who. Peter Bryant was unhappy with him discussing the scripts with Whitaker, Pedler and Sherwin during the planning stages - arguing that such discussions should go through him as producer. He complained about this in his Director's Report, which was a document completed after every production and sent to his boss Shaun Sutton. As well as his complaint about his direct dealings with the writing team, he also claimed that De Vere Cole had gone over budget. This latter issue automatically led to a director being barred from returning to a series. In actual fact, the story did not go over budget.
- This would prove to be Peter Hawkins' final work on Doctor Who - though he would be heard again by viewers when The Evil of the Daleks was repeated over the summer. He had first joined the series in December 1963 for The Survivors - the second instalment of The Daleks - working alongside fellow voice actor David Graham and Brian Hodgson of the Radiophonic Workshop to develop and perfect the Dalek vocals - with input from directors Christopher Barry and Richard Martin. What they came up with helped popularise the monsters - and thus the series - as they could be easily impersonated by children. A variation of what they helped create continues to this day, Hawkins being the stated inspiration for Nicholas Briggs' performance. As well as his Doctor Who work, the actor is fondly remembered for classic children's series such as Captain Pugwash and Bill and Ben. Hawkins was forced to retire in 1992 due to ill health and died, aged 82, in 2006.
- Wendy Padbury and Eric Flynn would be reunited on screen in 1971 when they both joined the cast of children's adventure series Freewheelers. She was a regular across several seasons, skipping the seventh to have a child, whilst he only featured in a handful of episodes.
- We will meet Tanya Lernov again, and revisit the Wheel, for Zoe's departure scene in the final episode of The War Games.
- A clip of the confrontation between the Doctor and the Cybermen in the Power House was used for the flashback sequence in Earthshock (2), though the Cyber-Leader's dialogue describes the events of The Tomb of the Cybermen - that story still being missing in 1982.
- One of the photographic portraits taken of Patrick Troughton, as used by the Cyberman Planner to identify their enemy, was employed by the BBC for publicity purposes - made into cards which could be sent out to fans requesting autographs.
- It is, of course, a coincidence too far that the rocket's communications system could just happen to intercept an alien transmission, sent by alien technology - and not an ordinary message at that, but a mental projection...
- The Mark III Cybermen never reappeared in the series, but they do have a sort of afterlife - or at least the helmet does. This has turned up in a number of exhibitions, invariably attached to the wrong body, such as at Blackpool in the 1970's when it was paired with a Mark II suit and later with a Revenge version (images below from the Blackpool Remembered 7485 e-book - highly recommended):
- Helmets on their own could be seen at the MOMI exhibition on London's South Bank in the early nineties, as well as at the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff and in the current Worlds of Wonder touring exhibition:
- And a mixed costume Cyberman was photographed for the Radio Times in 1969, with a Mark III helmet on a Mark II body (and with a Mark IV chest unit). This even made it onto the Troughton variant cover for the magazine's coverage of the 50th Anniversary:
