Synopsis:
Following an attack by Cybermats, the Doctor's party hurry to the weapons testing room to check on Klieg and Kaftan - only to be confronted by the pair. Klieg has armed himself with a Cyberman gun - an X-ray laser - and takes aim at the meddlesome Doctor. Victoria screams as he opens fire...
It is Callum who is shot and wounded, however. Klieg is happy for the others to be handed over to the Cybermen for conversion.
Believing that he can now negotiate with the Controller from a position of strength, he unlocks the hatch and calls for it to come up.
Toberman has now been mentally conditioned to obey the Controller, and has had his right arm replaced with a cybernetic limb.
The Controller orders the Cybermen to return to their tombs to conserve energy then ascends to the upper level, followed by Toberman. The Doctor and Jamie note the latter's lack of emotion.
The Controller agrees to listen to what Klieg has to say, but first it must re-energise itself. With Victoria held hostage, the Doctor, Jamie and Parry are forced to help it to the recharging room where it climbs into the sarcophagus-like form. After locking it in, the Doctor then has Jamie assist with tying ropes around it to prevent the Controller from getting out - hoping it will overload. The recharge process is automatic, however, and the Controller is soon revitalised.
It smashes its way out of the unit, then sends a mental message to Toberman. Victoria has tried to trick Kaftan and Klieg by pretending that another Cyberman weapon is to be found in the recharging room.
With their attention diverted, Toberman attacks Klieg as the Controller arrives and retrieves the X-ray laser.
Kaftan refuses to open the hatch and instead pulls a gun on the Controller. The bullets have no effect and the Controller shoots and kills her with the laser. It then opens the hatch and calls down to the Cybermen who are still active.
The Doctor is able to convince Toberman that the Cybermen are evil - pointing to the death of his mistress. He attacks the Controller.
The Doctor and Jamie will descend to the tombs accompanied by Toberman to ensure that the Cybermen are frozen, but Klieg is able to slip away after them - armed with the discarded laser.
In the tomb, the Doctor mocks his desire for absolute power. A Cyberman suddenly attacks and kills Klieg - causing Toberman in turn to attack and destroy it.
The Doctor sets about freezing the others, intending to sabotage the controls this time.
Back upstairs, he plans to rig a powerful electric charge which will flow through the main doors as well as the controls. He ushers everyone but Jamie outside.
The Controller has only been stunned by Toberman and tries to stop them.
They rush outside where the Doctor has Jamie help him attempt to push the doors closed - only to realise that this will render them live the moment they touch and the circuit is made.
They will be electrocuted.
They try using shoring timber, but the Controller is pushing the doors apart when Toberman steps forward. He forces them shut but is killed doing so, whilst the Controller collapses in a smoking heap.
A dejected Professor Parry - the lone survivor of the expedition - will return to Earth with Callum and Captain Hopper, whilst the Doctor hopes that the tombs of the Cybermen are never again disturbed.
Unnoticed, a lone Cybermat scuttles across the barren landscape...
Next time: The Abominable Snowmen
Written by Kit Pedler & Gerry Davis
Recorded: Saturday 22nd July 1967 - Lime Grove Studio D
First broadcast: 5.50pm, Saturday 23rd September 1967
Ratings: 7.4 million / AI 50
VFX: Michealjohn Harris & Peter Day
Designer: Martin Johnson
Director: Morris Barry
Critique:
The draft script for this final instalment included the Doctor describing Toberman as ultimately a "brave man", and Parry stated that he would be remembered as such in his official record of the expedition, prompting Jamie to rebuke him for not grieving his loss. The Doctor placated the pair.
It was also intended that the Controller's head was to have exploded as the doors to the tomb complex were finally closed.
A late change in dialogue, made during rehearsals, was the Doctor claiming not to like making predictions, in reference to his hope that the Cybermen were entombed forever this time.
One scene was filmed on location at Gerrards Cross on Monday 12th June - of the Doctor and Jamie watching as Toberman struggled to close the doors. This was filmed along with Episode 1 material.
Other shots of Toberman and the doors, with the Controller in view, were filmed at Ealing the following day.
Wednesday 14th June saw the Cybermen being filmed returning to their alcoves, as well as the big fight between Toberman and the Cyberman, played this time by Reg Whitehead.
A fire-fighting appliance was used to pump foam from the damaged chest unit after Roy Stewart tore the front panel off. As with the sequence using wirework in the previous episode, the harness and kirby wires are clearly seen on screen.
It was on this day that all the publicity shots of the Cybermen were taken on the tomb set, as well as capturing Morris Barry at work.
The next day an insert shot was filmed of smoke emerging from the mouthpiece of a dummy Cyberman helmet.
The final piece of Ealing filming took place on Friday 16th - model shots of the tombs freezing and thawing for this and the second episode.
As July progressed, the heat in Studio D at Lime Grove became almost unbearable. It was a stuffy, airless space at the best of times.
An oscilloscope trace was superimposed over the Controller and Toberman communicating telepathically.
For the sequence where the Controller is re-energised, smoke was pumped from the gun-like projector device whilst the door to the sarcophagus form was made from cardboard and polystyrene for Michael Kilgarriff to smash through.
He and Roy Stewart began their struggle on screen before moving out of shot. Stewart then re-entered the shot carrying a dummy wearing a copy of the Controller costume. It was this which Stewart then picked up and threw. Unfortunately the helmet could be seen to detach itself in the broadcast episode.
One recording break was to allow smoke to be pumped through Shirley Cooklin's costume as Kaftan is shot, and another for the attack by Toberman on the Controller. After Stewart had thrown the dummy, Kilgarriff replaced it, lying on the ground.
The heat in studio resulted in Cooklin falling asleep as she lay on the floor. In the DVD making-of documentary she claimed that this was due to a disturbed night looking after sick children.
The shot of the lone Cybermat was a late addition - included to leave the door open for a sequel, in the same way that a light was left pulsing in the damaged Dalek Emperor in the previous story.
Two "Next week" captions were prepared to close the episode - one stating that The Abominable Snowmen would follow, and the other claiming it would be The Ice Warriors, as at this point it was undecided what the Season 5 broadcast order would be.
One sequence was cut from this episode for timing. It comprised a conversation between the Controller and one of the Cybermen. The Cyberman advised that Klieg should not be trusted but the Controller dismissed this before advising that the Cybermen should return to their tombs to conserve energy, and they needed access to their re-energising machinery on the upper level.
The episode has some fine dialogue. Take the Doctor seeming to praise Klieg's visions of power - only to turn round and state "And now I know you're mad...". And after the Controller smashes his way out of the recharge unit, he ruefully tells Jamie: "Remind me to give you a lesson in tying knots sometimes...".
Another example of his anarchic personality: "Now, the best thing about a machine that makes sense, you can very easily make it turn out nonsense...".
Victoria continues to spar verbally with Hopper, remarking, ironically "That's alright Captain. It's comforting to know that we have your superior strength to call on, should we need it...".
With recording over, the regular cast embarked on their summer holiday. Patrick Troughton had two families at this time - a situation which he ensured was kept out of the public eye. He went off to France with his new family then spent time with the children from his first marriage on his return, before embarking on the location filming for The Abominable Snowmen in Wales.
The Tomb of the Cybermen was only sold to four countries - Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore. Initially it was refused broadcast in Australia due to an "A" Adult rating, but the BBC appealed the decision - using the expert advice of a certain Dr Kit Pedler and Dr Hilde Himmelweit - the psychologist who had backed Pedler in the Talkback discussion (see Trivia).
The original videotapes were wiped in September 1969, though the BBC were still offering film copies for sale up until 1974.
When the BBC first started to look into the home video market, fans were asked which story they would most like to see released, and this topped the poll - only to be told that the story no longer existed.
Over the years it became a bit of a 'holy grail' of lost stories.
In DWM issue 170 (January 1991), a reader wrote in to say that they had seen the story in the Far East as recently as 1978.
Later that year the story was found complete, in 16mm form - discovered at Asia Television in Hong Kong. The recordings were returned to the BBC in January 1992. That April BAFTA hosted a special event to mark its return - "Tombwatch". Peter Bryant, Victor Pemberton, Morris Barry and some of the cast formed a Q&A panel.
It can difficult for reality to live up to expectation, and perhaps there was just too much expectation with The Tomb of the Cybermen. Read back issues of DWM and you will see the story being held up as the very best the series had to offer - whilst it was still missing. This was partly down to fan-memory, and partly due to a highly regarded novelisation by Gerry Davis.
The rediscovery of lost stories tends to lead to a re-evaluation. (Just look at the way The Enemy of the World went up in everyone's estimation back in 2013). The Tomb of the Cybermen was, for some fans, a bit of a let-down in certain respects. These are mainly due to issues of production and of casting.
The action set-pieces involving wirework have come in for some criticism. This is particularly annoying as they are on film and should have been picked up on viewing the rushes, with a view to remounting them. The dummy Controller prop in this final episode is more understandable as it is obviously more difficult to restage scenes in studio, with limited time constraints.
As far as casting goes, the issue is that all the ethnic minority characters are villains. We can't argue with this but it should be noted that the part of Kaftan was specifically written for Cooklin, and George Pastell is basically reprising his character from Hammer's first Mummy movie - one of the main inspirations for the story. As for Roy Stewart, this was the sort of role he was usually being called upon to play at this time, and his next appearance will be as a dodgy circus strongman in Terror of the Autons. We simply can't judge his acting range from these performances.
Despite such criticisms, the story remains one of the best loved Troughton adventures and has often featured in Top 20's of the classic series.
- The ratings continue to rise, up 1.4 million on the opening instalment, making this the most watched episode of the story. It was also rated the second highest children's programme for the month.
- Shirley Cooklin is the cousin of Ian Levine - the 'super-fan' who acted as unofficial adviser during the early years of JNT's producership. She has recently had a memoir published - Blame Not The Wind - concerning her quest for justice, her son Ben having died in a sailing incident which was subject to a government cover-up.
- Attack of the Cybermen returns to the tombs of Telos, and will reveal that the Controller was not destroyed at the conclusion of this story. It will once again be portrayed by Michael Kilgarriff, employing his own voice at last.
- As mentioned last week, the Talkback series went out live for the first time on BBC1 on Tuesday 25th September, when once again Kit Pedler was on hand to defend the series against its critics who thought it too frightening or violent for children. The scene in which Toberman attacks and kills the Cyberman was shown - as it had been in the unscreened pilot the week before.
- This fight sequence was also included in the final episode of Talkback, broadcast in April 1968.
- In 1998, students at Oxford University mounted a two-act theatrical presentation of the story. For some reason the companions were changed to Ben and Polly.
- On 23rd November 1998, this episode was screened on BBC Choice as part of the series' 35th Anniversary celebrations.
- For the series' 50th Anniversary, The Tomb of the Cybermen was selected to represent the Troughton era with a screening at the BFI on London's Southbank. Deborah Watling, Shirley Cooklin, Michael Kilgarriff and Bernard Holley took part in a panel, along with Anneke Wills, Michael Troughton and director Michael Ferguson.
- Finally, the second of the excellent retro movie-style posters from Oliver Arkinstall-Jones:
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