Doctor Who XXXVIII/12.9 - Ascension of the Cybermen
Back to reviewing this week, this time for John Connors's Space Time Telegraph site. Go there to explore the thoughts of John and occasional guests on matters Doctor Who present, past and future, including valuable reminiscences of the early years of British Doctor Who fandom. So what did I think of Ascension of the Cybermen?
Ascension of the Cybermen is ‘about’ narratives and their ownership. It teases with an opening narration through which Ashad, the Lone Cyberman, frames the story which follows as his. The discovery of the title sequence within the eyehole of a detached Cyberman head might suggest the Doctor’s victory over the dead Cyberman, or alternatively that only the Cybermen, in their undeath, survive to tell this tale. As the episode unfolds, this question of ownership of the narrative is raised again and again. Whose story are we watching? Whose story is Brendan’s, from its mythically golden morning to its dully nightmarish twilight? It’s left uncertain where his reality lies. The Doctor and friends arrive specifically as visitors to the end of the Cyber Wars, there to make sure the last humans survive and frustrate the recreation of the Cyber Empire, but are swept forward in a small, final refugee wave as their scheme is frustrated, struggling to retain possession of their destinies.
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Also posted at https://sir-guinglain.dreamwidth.org/2020/03/01/ascension-of-the-cybermen.html.