Doctor Who 22.01 Attack of the Cybermen
DOCTOR: "I am known as the Doctor. I'm also a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, in the constellation of Kasterborous."
RUSSELL: "You're bonkers."
DOCTOR: "That's debatable, but I'm also telling the truth."
Overview
Oooookay. This is my first Sixth Doctor adventure. I don't think I've ever sat through one of his stories before, at least not since my childhood. I remember bits and pieces of his first story, The Twin Dilemma, which would have aired when I was around 7, but thereafter my mum decided that she couldn't stand this new Doctor and wouldn't watch the show again until the next regeneration, which meant that none of us watched because in those days families only had one TV in the house. We probably caught odd episodes here and there, as I do remember fragments, but we certainly didn't watch regularly during the Sixth Doctor era and I find that I've grown up with an ingrained prejudice against him that I may or may not ever get past. It is, after all, entirely possible that he deserves it! But only by actually watching a few of his stories will I know for sure.
The Sixth Doctor's first story was the season 21 finale, as for once the regeneration was not the cliffhanger end to a season. For better or for worse, I decided to skip that one and start my Sixth Doctor exploration with the season 22 premiere, Attack of the Cybermen. I'm still not sure what I think. Six certainly comes as a shock to the system and that impact would have been felt much more keenly back in 1984, coming on the back of three seasons of the charming, mild-mannered Fifth Doctor, with whom he strikes such a dramatic contrast. Loud, brash, overbearing and bombastic, not to mention prone to wild mood swings and fits of petulance, Six is pretty much the polar opposite of Five. His companion Peri, who was invited aboard the Tardis by Five only for him to 'die' saving her life almost immediately, certainly doesn't know what to make of him - or where she stands with him, for that matter.
In terms of narrative and production, this is a horribly messy story that reminds me of all the reasons I've avoided watching any Sixth Doctor adventures up till now. This is in-your-face '80s television at its very worst. Everything about it is loud, bright and heavy-handed, from the costumes to the soundtrack, while the plot is both nonsensical and overly convoluted, riddled with holes and dead ends. And yet there are good things about it. Some of the guest artists put in surprisingly nuanced performances - Maurice Colbourne as the morally ambiguous Lytton in particular - while the still-shifting dynamic between the new Doctor and his companion Peri is a lot more interesting than I expected. Peri spends much of the adventure wavering between being slightly afraid of this new Doctor - with good reason - and gamely bantering with him as if nothing has changed; it is by finding those notes within him that remain constant, of which the banter is part, that she is able to accept him as a new version of the same man she knew before and thus continue to travel with him. It is very notable that for all she seems so unsure of him, especially at first, she doesn't ask to be taken home - or simply walk away, as she could very easily in this story, which sees them land on Earth in her home time-zone. She's in this and she isn't giving it up just because the Doctor is so aggressively different, and although cautious she isn't afraid to tease or even to scold him. As for the Doctor himself, he begins the story egotistically embracing his new personality in all its temperamental glory, but by the end of the adventure he is in a much more self-reflective mood, forced to face up to the flaws in his new character, which isn't as perfect as he'd like to believe. Any story that allows a character journey like that can't be a total write-off, although it helps if that development is allowed to stick in future outings. I can see the potential in Colin Baker's performance. It's just a shame he got saddled with such an awful period in the show's history.
Observations
Random thoughts while watching:
For some reason, the season 22 adventures were structured rather differently than the bulk of Classic Who. Instead of broadcasting those stories as a series of 4- or 6-part adventures of around 22 minutes per episode, the Sixth Doctor's early adventures were broadcast as a series of 2-part adventures of 45 minutes per episode, this story being the first to be structured that way.
This story has the word 'Cybermen' in the title, so, you know, we know right up front that the Cybermen are going to be involved. Yet it goes out of its way to avoid actually showing any Cybermen until quite a long way into the first episode - what would have been the first episode cliffhanger, in fact, if this were a normal 22 minute episode. It seems rather pointless to me, trying to create a mystery where one simply isn't possible! Better to embrace the premise of the story right up-front by actually showing us the Cybermen who gun down a pair of workmen in a London sewer in the very first scene, and then keep us guessing as to when the Doctor will figure out they are there. Ah, hindsight.
The Second Doctor adventure The Invasion also involved Cybermen hiding out in a London sewer - their emergence from therein was an iconic image of the show in the '60s. Having Cybermen hiding in the sewers again here is a nice call-back to that story.
You know, the very worst thing about Doctor Who in the 1980s is the clothes. Up until then, each version of the Doctor generally wore clothes that just about passed muster as something a person might wear, even if those outfits were thrown together in eccentric fashion. But then along came Five with his Edwardian cricketer's outfit to buck that trend, and now we have Six, who drew the short straw and got lumbered with the worst outfit of all. Ye gods, the wardrobe department must have really, really hated him. Words fail me. What did he do to deserve something so garish and hideous? Mind you, Peri's outfit in this story isn't much better. Hot pink lycra top with matching hot pink shorts plus high heels? Sheesh. Lis Sladen was right: the '80s really weren't kind to anyone.
Interestingly, as the story opens, the Doctor is attempting to repair the eternally faulty chameleon circuit. He hasn't been bothered about that since his failed attempt at the very end of the Fourth Doctor's era. Also interestingly, he does manage a partial repair, which leads to a number of extremely bizarre alternate appearances for the Tardis to add a touch of humour to the story - ranging from an elaborate dresser to a small pedal pipe organ - before it gives up and reverts to the classic police box shape. I love the way he gives it a little pat of approval when he sees that the police box is back. He won't bother trying to get that chameleon circuit fixed again in a hurry!
A lot of ideas went into the writing of this story - a few too many ideas, really, few of which are really explored in any detail, so that the result is a terrible mish-mash. I mean, the wannabe diamond thieves are a good example. There are several protracted scenes of this gang of ruffians planning their heist, which are both boring and extremely out of place in a Doctor Who story - and also rather confusing when more than one gang member expresses dislike for guns, because since when are hardened criminals so moral? By the time we learn that one member of the gang is really an undercover policeman attempting a sting and another is actually an alien planning an encounter with the Cybermen (as part of a much larger and extremely elaborate scheme) rather than a diamond heist, it is already way too late - I've tuned out of their part of the plot completely and struggle to keep track of it thereafter. Plus there's a pair of creepy fake policemen wandering around with guns, and I can't quite figure out where they fit in with anyone else at all. It's all very messy.
According to the transcript, these are the same policemen Lytton was controlling back in the Fifth Doctor story Resurrection of the Daleks. Maybe if I watched that story, their part in this one would make slightly more sense.
It is actually quite worrying to see how tentative Peri is around the Doctor at the start of the story, although hardly surprising since the first thing he did post-regeneration was attempt to throttle her. Given how unpredictable his new incarnation is, it is hardly surprising that she is worried about the regeneration being unstable still, especially since he is apparently still having memory lapses. There seems to be something of a personality clash between them that makes for quite an adversarial dynamic - Peri can be quite a hesitant character while Six is brusque and impatient, which brings them into conflict. But on the other hand, on the whole I tend to find that this actually works rather well. A long-term pairing of the rather bland Peri with the understated Fifth Doctor could have quickly become insipid. As it is, however, they barely spent any time together, really, and instead Peri is now matched with this very abrasive Doctor, whose aggression and arrogance push her to stand up for herself more. Their combative relationship is a lot more dynamic and energetic than the relationship Peri would likely have had with Five, so on the whole I tend to approve. But I do find Six quite heavy-handed - Colin Baker's background was in theatre, and it shows.
Although the new Doctor is overbearing and arrogant and scares Peri a little with his mood swings and unpredictability, he demonstrates that he does care for her, in his own gruff, brusque way, by attempting to take her someplace peaceful for a spot of downtime after her recent traumatic experiences. It backfires, as they immediately wind up in the middle of another hair-raising adventure, but it was a well-intentioned gesture regardless. I can't help wondering if it is significant that he takes her to Earth 1985, only a few months ahead of where he picked her up. Was he perhaps subconsciously intending to give her the option of walking away, if she wanted?
After a unexpectedly close encounter with Halley's Comet that doesn't become relevant until the very end of the story, and even then only vaguely, and after intercepting an even more unexpected alien distress call originating from Earth 1985, the Tardis lands in Foreman's Scrap Yard, Totter's Lane, London, completely randomly. Yep, back where it all started for the First Doctor all those years ago. But for absolutely no reason whatsoever - I mean, the location isn't even remotely relevant to the plot. The Doctor barely even acknowledges that the place is familiar; he recognises it, but doesn't bother explaining its relevance to either Peri or the audience. Just a nod to the more dedicated and long-term fans, I suppose.
Is that a tricorder the Doctor is waving around as he attempts to trace the source of the distress signal? That's a bit Star Trek, isn't it?
I like that Peri makes fun of the Doctor's outrageously garish jacket. Someone should!
Down in the sewers, one of the wannabe diamond thieves is zapped by an unseen Cyberman. His death is ridiculously protracted. Cybermen are usually much more efficient than that!
While investigating the mysterious distress signal, the Doctor and Peri are confronted by Lytton's mind-controlled policemen who menace them at gunpoint. The Doctor kicks the gun out of one of their hands, shoves him down a pit that leads to the sewers, and proceeds to beat the living daylights out of him off-screen! I am very shocked. The Doctor isn't usually so violent. Peri, meanwhile, thinks fast and manages to disarm the other one - and for all his usual arrogance, the Doctor doesn't hesitate to tell her that he is impressed, which I like. Especially since he does actually seem to mean it.
Peri keeps hold of her stolen gun, stuffing it into a pocket, which rather takes me by surprise. Female companions don't usually have much to do with weaponry! Mind, Peri is supposed to be American, so it makes sense that she'd know her way around a gun. And the Doctor has always preferred to let his companions handle the firearms, when necessary, so that he doesn't have to - just not usually the women. Brave new world.
Then when the Doctor manages to disarm and capture Russell, the undercover (non-mind controlled) policeman who has evaded capture by the Cybermen, he actually tells Peri to shoot the man! Sure, he is just trying a spot of bad cop to get the man to talk, but, given how capricious this new Doctor is, neither Peri nor viewers are entirely certain whether or not he actually means it!
We don't see the sonic screwdriver at all in this story. Instead, the Doctor has a sonic lance, which proves extremely useful - he even uses it to stab and kill a Cyberman!
How the hell did all those Cybermen get into the Tardis? Did the Doctor leave the door unlocked, or something?
The Cybermen in this story have universally lousy voices. It's quite nifty, though, that the Cyber Controller is played by the same actor as in Tomb of the Cybermen, way back in 1967.
This story leaves me rather baffled as to the timeline of Cyberman history. There is a lot of backstory thrown at us and a lot of vague references to previous adventures. In the First Doctor adventure The Tenth Planet, we are reminded, the Cybermen's home world Mondas was destroyed. Then in the Second Doctor adventure Tomb of the Cybermen, we learned that they had adopted a new home planet, Telos - that story was set in the 25th century and the Cyber Controller was then in hibernation on Telos. So is this story supposed to be before or after Tomb from the Cyber Controller's point of view? It is all very confusing. Still, at least I have the option of acquiring and watching all the adventures that are referred to, to at least try to fill in a few gaps; in 1985, when this story was first aired, confused viewers would not have had that luxury!
The Cybermen in this story are ridiculously easy to kill, actually. I mean, undercover cop Russell shoots one in the face with an ordinary gun…and its head explodes, which: since when are Cybermen vulnerable to bullets? They never made any impact at all back when UNIT were forever shooting uselessly at the things in The Invasion! And several characters in this story knock the heads clean off Cyber shoulders just by hitting them with something solid, which is just crazy. Cybermen have never before been so frail and flimsy!
Then again, the humans are pretty frail and flimsy at times, too. A Cyberman slaps Russell across the shoulder blade, and apparently this is enough to kill him, since he is never seen again.
The Sixth Doctor has a catchphrase: wait, watch and learn. That pretty much sums up the Doctor's attitude in general, really. Most of his incarnations tend to keep the people around them on a pretty need-to-know basis, the general assumption being that they don't really need to know anything but rather should follow his lead blindly while he dazzles them with his brilliance.
Upon finding his Tardis occupied by Cybermen, the Doctor quickly sets up a self-destruct command on a 20 second countdown, by way of bargaining tool. Amusingly, once he starts negotiating, he sidetracks himself so much that he forgets all about the countdown and a very anxious Peri has to hastily remind him to cancel it before it is too late.
There is a whole sub-plot devoted to a pair of escaped slave workers on Telos, but I have no idea what this sub-plot is doing in the story because it is almost completely unconnected to anything else that happens and ultimately doesn't even lead anywhere. They manage to capture themselves a Cyber head, so that one of them can try to disguise himself as a Cyberman, but then that plan comes to nothing and proves to have been a complete waste of time, and their goal is to steal the Cybermen's captured time ship, but they are ultimately killed in the attempt. There is no pay-off at all. So what did they have to do with anything and why did we waste so much time on them?
The Doctor and the mercenary Lytton already know one another, having previously met, albeit briefly, in Resurrection of the Daleks, in which Lytton was working as an agent of the Daleks. The Doctor, therefore, has good reason to mistrust the man when he encounters him again now. That mistrust is mutual. The Doctor doesn't believe a word Lytton says and Lytton chooses not to even attempt to change his mind or to share any details of what he is trying to do. It ultimately transpires that, rather than being an agent of the Cybermen as the Doctor suspects, Lytton is in fact working with the Cryons, the original inhabitants of Telos, of whom there are only a scant few survivors left - and they are working to save not one but two worlds, Earth and Telos, both of which the Cybermen intend to destroy. Lytton eventually gives his life for that cause and the Doctor is deeply distressed that he learned the truth too late to save him, castigating himself for misjudging the man. It may or may not be a valuable lesson for him to temper his arrogance and not to make snap judgements - we'll see if it sticks.
On the other hand, Lytton may be working on the side of good on this occasion, but he isn't actually doing it out of the goodness of his heart - he's a mercenary, he's expecting to get paid for his trouble - and he knowingly involved several humans without telling them what they were getting into, directly leading to their deaths, so we shouldn't feel too badly about his demise.
I'm not sure what I think about the Cryons. Their masks look pretty good from a distance, but are less effective up close, and the wavery voices and hand gestures are rather creepy, really. Interestingly, they all appear to be female - I don't think we meet a single male Cryon in the whole story. For the longest time, it isn't entirely clear whether or not they can be trusted, but I think I actually like that about them, because this is the last remnant of an entire people who have been hunted and brutalised and slaughtered and are now living in hiding, waging a covert guerrilla war against the occupying force of the Cybermen. Of course they are going to be wary of strangers such as the Doctor and Peri.
There was no sign of any Cryons on Telos when the Second Doctor visited it in Tomb of the Cybermen, in the 25th century. Maybe they'd all been wiped out by then. But then again, it isn't actually clear what century the Telos scenes in this story are set in. The Tenth Planet was set in 1986 and during the course of that story the Cybermen's homeworld Mondas was destroyed. The Cybermen in this story are very definitely from a time long after that happened, since they are already well established on their stolen planet Telos and have acquired a time ship to travel back to 1985 to set up a team of sleeper agents whose mission is to change the course of history, so that Earth is destroyed instead of Mondas. It is all rather confusing and raises all kinds of issues around the laws of time. The Doctor gets very worked up about it when the Cryon named Flast rather melodramatically explains the plan to him, although he should have already figured it out for himself, since the clues had already been spelled out in detail in the conversation he had with Lytton earlier.
When the Doctor protests that the Time Lords would never allow the Cybermen to alter history on such a massive scale, Flast suggests that maybe their agents are already at work - implying that the Doctor himself may have been deliberately steered here for that very purpose. The Doctor clearly thinks that it is a definite possibility, based on past form, and is furious. It is never made clear, however, whether the Time Lords did interfere or not.
There is a lot of violence in this story, much more graphic than we would usually expect from Doctor Who. I mean, the Cybermen torture Lytton by crushing his hands and we are actually shown the blood pouring down his arms and smearing on the floor when he falls! Gritty new era, indeed! And then, and then the Doctor picks up a gun and shoots at Cybermen as they advance on him! In fact, he has quite a protracted fight sequence, shooting and kicking and jumping and flailing about all over the place! The Doctor! I mean, I know the Third Doctor wasn't averse to a spot of hand-to-hand combat, and the Fourth Doctor could hold his own as well, if he had to, but nothing quite like the fighting Six does in this story!
With the Cybermens' evil scheme thwarted and their stolen time vessel blown up, the end of the story sees a very moving scene between the Doctor and the dying Lytton, in which the Doctor is desperate to save the man's life as recompense for having misjudged him but Lytton knows it is too late and cares only that he kept his word and did his best. For such as uneven story as this has been, it is strangely touching, a good character scene for both, and I like that with the Doctor beating himself up about it, Peri doesn't try to gloss over where he went wrong, as such mollycoddling would be unhelpful, although she does try to cheer him up. But he is in no mood to be mollified by the thought of having saved two worlds and prevented history unravelling, he cares only that he misjudged a man and then was unable to save him. I like that because it shows us that the Doctor we know and love, the one who cares about people on an individual level as well as having an overview of the ultimate big picture of time and space, is still in there, beneath all the bluster and swagger of his new persona.
Quotable Quotes
PERI: "Well, what I really mean to say is, you still seem a little unstable."
DOCTOR: "Unstable? Unstable? Unstable! This is me, Peri. At this very moment I am as stable as you will ever see me."
PERI: "Oh dear."
DOCTOR: "You must forget how I used to be. I'm a Time Lord. A man of science, temperament and passion."
PERI: "And a very loud voice."
DOCTOR: "Yes. Yes, that too. But not unstable. This is the real me, Peri."
PERI: "Just tell me where we are, if you can."
DOCTOR: "O child of little faith."
PERI: "Do you blame me?"
DOCTOR: "I was, in fact, taking you to Earth."
PERI: "Bit of an anticlimax after that journey."
DOCTOR: "Ungrateful wretch."
PERI: "Well, what do you expect, applause?"
DOCTOR: "A little gratitude wouldn't irretrievably damage my ego."
PERI: "Come off it, Doctor. No one is more surprised than you that we came through it."
DOCTOR: "I have perfect rapport with this machine."
PERI: "I only hope the Tardis knows it."
PERI: "That's not possible."
DOCTOR: "Possible it is. Desirable it isn't."
DOCTOR: "I suddenly feel conspicuous."
PERI: "I'm not surprised in that coat."
PERI: "Look, Doctor, since you regenerated, it's as though your memory's been put through the meat grinder. I mean, it's all there, but in a pile of unrelated bits and pieces."
DOCTOR: "That's a horrible simile."
PERI: "It's true, though. In the past couple of days you've called me Tegan, Zoe, Susan - on one occasion you even referred to me as Jamie."
DOCTOR: "Merely slips of the tongue."
PERI: "I rather think they're slips of the mind."
PERI: "Supposing there really are aliens here on Earth. I mean, does it really matter? I mean, they don't all have ten heads and want to take over the world."
PERI: "To think this is my first visit to London."
DOCTOR: "It is an interesting city."
PERI: "I'm sure it's fascinating. It'd be nice to see the sights like a regular tourist."
DOCTOR: "Hmm? You'll find this route more memorable."
PERI: "That I believe."
PERI: "Look, Doctor, this isn't some deserted planet in the middle of nowhere. You don't have to play the Lone Ranger."
LYTTON: "You know, Griffiths, when I look at you, I often wonder why your ancestors bothered to climb out of the primordial slime."
GRIFFITHS: "That sounds like another insult, Mister Lytton."
DOCTOR: "I am known as the Doctor. I'm also a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, in the constellation of Kasterborous."
RUSSELL: "You're bonkers."
DOCTOR: "That's debatable, but I'm also telling the truth."
DOCTOR: "Oh, I've had enough of this. Shoot him, Peri."
PERI: "For real?"
DOCTOR: "Yeah, shoot him."
RUSSELL: "You murder a police officer, you'll get thirty years."
DOCTOR: "Handful of heartbeats to a Time Lord."
RUSSELL: "I'm here to observe the activities of a white male suspect known as Lytton."
DOCTOR: "Lytton? Tall, lean, dark, dark, well-spoken? The sort of man who might shoot his mother just to keep his trigger finger supple?"
RUSSELL: "It's a more colourful description, but it could be him."
LYTTON: "Your regeneration has made you vindictive, Doctor."
DOCTOR: "Not at all. I've never found it difficult to despise people like you."
FLAST: "You're looking very blue."
DOCTOR: "Do you mean depressed, or cold?"
FLAST: "Ah. I think I shall enjoy your company."
DOCTOR: "Not for long, I hope."
FLAST: "I honestly thought I would die without ever seeing another humanoid face."
DOCTOR: "Enjoy me while you can. I hope not to be around for too long."
FLAST: "I wouldn't get too excited."
DOCTOR: "I rarely do."
FLAST: "Because what they have in mind will undoubtedly distress you."
DOCTOR: "Well, tell me gently."
DOCTOR: "The Time Lords would never allow it."
FLAST: "Who knows? Perhaps their agents are already at work."
DOCTOR: "Well, if they are, they're taking their time about it. For a start, why...? Wait a minute. No! No, not me! [yells upward at the heavens] You haven't manoeuvred me into this mess just so I can get you out of it! It would have helped if I had known what was going on!"
FLAST: "You are a Time Lord?"
DOCTOR: "Yes. And at the moment, a rather angry one."
DOCTOR: "Wait, watch and learn."
DOCTOR: "It didn't go very well, did it?"
PERI: "Earth's safe. So is history. And the web of time."
DOCTOR: "I meant on a personal level. I don't think I've ever misjudged anybody quite as badly as I did Lytton."
The Verdict
Well, overall it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. I mean, the loudness and brashness and cheapness and whatnot were exactly as bad as I was expecting, but I found a lot more solid character material to get me thinking than I thought I would, and I am always a lot more forgiving of plot and production weakness if there is decent character work to balance it out.
RUSSELL: "You're bonkers."
DOCTOR: "That's debatable, but I'm also telling the truth."
Overview
Oooookay. This is my first Sixth Doctor adventure. I don't think I've ever sat through one of his stories before, at least not since my childhood. I remember bits and pieces of his first story, The Twin Dilemma, which would have aired when I was around 7, but thereafter my mum decided that she couldn't stand this new Doctor and wouldn't watch the show again until the next regeneration, which meant that none of us watched because in those days families only had one TV in the house. We probably caught odd episodes here and there, as I do remember fragments, but we certainly didn't watch regularly during the Sixth Doctor era and I find that I've grown up with an ingrained prejudice against him that I may or may not ever get past. It is, after all, entirely possible that he deserves it! But only by actually watching a few of his stories will I know for sure.
The Sixth Doctor's first story was the season 21 finale, as for once the regeneration was not the cliffhanger end to a season. For better or for worse, I decided to skip that one and start my Sixth Doctor exploration with the season 22 premiere, Attack of the Cybermen. I'm still not sure what I think. Six certainly comes as a shock to the system and that impact would have been felt much more keenly back in 1984, coming on the back of three seasons of the charming, mild-mannered Fifth Doctor, with whom he strikes such a dramatic contrast. Loud, brash, overbearing and bombastic, not to mention prone to wild mood swings and fits of petulance, Six is pretty much the polar opposite of Five. His companion Peri, who was invited aboard the Tardis by Five only for him to 'die' saving her life almost immediately, certainly doesn't know what to make of him - or where she stands with him, for that matter.
In terms of narrative and production, this is a horribly messy story that reminds me of all the reasons I've avoided watching any Sixth Doctor adventures up till now. This is in-your-face '80s television at its very worst. Everything about it is loud, bright and heavy-handed, from the costumes to the soundtrack, while the plot is both nonsensical and overly convoluted, riddled with holes and dead ends. And yet there are good things about it. Some of the guest artists put in surprisingly nuanced performances - Maurice Colbourne as the morally ambiguous Lytton in particular - while the still-shifting dynamic between the new Doctor and his companion Peri is a lot more interesting than I expected. Peri spends much of the adventure wavering between being slightly afraid of this new Doctor - with good reason - and gamely bantering with him as if nothing has changed; it is by finding those notes within him that remain constant, of which the banter is part, that she is able to accept him as a new version of the same man she knew before and thus continue to travel with him. It is very notable that for all she seems so unsure of him, especially at first, she doesn't ask to be taken home - or simply walk away, as she could very easily in this story, which sees them land on Earth in her home time-zone. She's in this and she isn't giving it up just because the Doctor is so aggressively different, and although cautious she isn't afraid to tease or even to scold him. As for the Doctor himself, he begins the story egotistically embracing his new personality in all its temperamental glory, but by the end of the adventure he is in a much more self-reflective mood, forced to face up to the flaws in his new character, which isn't as perfect as he'd like to believe. Any story that allows a character journey like that can't be a total write-off, although it helps if that development is allowed to stick in future outings. I can see the potential in Colin Baker's performance. It's just a shame he got saddled with such an awful period in the show's history.
Observations
Random thoughts while watching:
For some reason, the season 22 adventures were structured rather differently than the bulk of Classic Who. Instead of broadcasting those stories as a series of 4- or 6-part adventures of around 22 minutes per episode, the Sixth Doctor's early adventures were broadcast as a series of 2-part adventures of 45 minutes per episode, this story being the first to be structured that way.
This story has the word 'Cybermen' in the title, so, you know, we know right up front that the Cybermen are going to be involved. Yet it goes out of its way to avoid actually showing any Cybermen until quite a long way into the first episode - what would have been the first episode cliffhanger, in fact, if this were a normal 22 minute episode. It seems rather pointless to me, trying to create a mystery where one simply isn't possible! Better to embrace the premise of the story right up-front by actually showing us the Cybermen who gun down a pair of workmen in a London sewer in the very first scene, and then keep us guessing as to when the Doctor will figure out they are there. Ah, hindsight.
The Second Doctor adventure The Invasion also involved Cybermen hiding out in a London sewer - their emergence from therein was an iconic image of the show in the '60s. Having Cybermen hiding in the sewers again here is a nice call-back to that story.
You know, the very worst thing about Doctor Who in the 1980s is the clothes. Up until then, each version of the Doctor generally wore clothes that just about passed muster as something a person might wear, even if those outfits were thrown together in eccentric fashion. But then along came Five with his Edwardian cricketer's outfit to buck that trend, and now we have Six, who drew the short straw and got lumbered with the worst outfit of all. Ye gods, the wardrobe department must have really, really hated him. Words fail me. What did he do to deserve something so garish and hideous? Mind you, Peri's outfit in this story isn't much better. Hot pink lycra top with matching hot pink shorts plus high heels? Sheesh. Lis Sladen was right: the '80s really weren't kind to anyone.
Interestingly, as the story opens, the Doctor is attempting to repair the eternally faulty chameleon circuit. He hasn't been bothered about that since his failed attempt at the very end of the Fourth Doctor's era. Also interestingly, he does manage a partial repair, which leads to a number of extremely bizarre alternate appearances for the Tardis to add a touch of humour to the story - ranging from an elaborate dresser to a small pedal pipe organ - before it gives up and reverts to the classic police box shape. I love the way he gives it a little pat of approval when he sees that the police box is back. He won't bother trying to get that chameleon circuit fixed again in a hurry!
A lot of ideas went into the writing of this story - a few too many ideas, really, few of which are really explored in any detail, so that the result is a terrible mish-mash. I mean, the wannabe diamond thieves are a good example. There are several protracted scenes of this gang of ruffians planning their heist, which are both boring and extremely out of place in a Doctor Who story - and also rather confusing when more than one gang member expresses dislike for guns, because since when are hardened criminals so moral? By the time we learn that one member of the gang is really an undercover policeman attempting a sting and another is actually an alien planning an encounter with the Cybermen (as part of a much larger and extremely elaborate scheme) rather than a diamond heist, it is already way too late - I've tuned out of their part of the plot completely and struggle to keep track of it thereafter. Plus there's a pair of creepy fake policemen wandering around with guns, and I can't quite figure out where they fit in with anyone else at all. It's all very messy.
According to the transcript, these are the same policemen Lytton was controlling back in the Fifth Doctor story Resurrection of the Daleks. Maybe if I watched that story, their part in this one would make slightly more sense.
It is actually quite worrying to see how tentative Peri is around the Doctor at the start of the story, although hardly surprising since the first thing he did post-regeneration was attempt to throttle her. Given how unpredictable his new incarnation is, it is hardly surprising that she is worried about the regeneration being unstable still, especially since he is apparently still having memory lapses. There seems to be something of a personality clash between them that makes for quite an adversarial dynamic - Peri can be quite a hesitant character while Six is brusque and impatient, which brings them into conflict. But on the other hand, on the whole I tend to find that this actually works rather well. A long-term pairing of the rather bland Peri with the understated Fifth Doctor could have quickly become insipid. As it is, however, they barely spent any time together, really, and instead Peri is now matched with this very abrasive Doctor, whose aggression and arrogance push her to stand up for herself more. Their combative relationship is a lot more dynamic and energetic than the relationship Peri would likely have had with Five, so on the whole I tend to approve. But I do find Six quite heavy-handed - Colin Baker's background was in theatre, and it shows.
Although the new Doctor is overbearing and arrogant and scares Peri a little with his mood swings and unpredictability, he demonstrates that he does care for her, in his own gruff, brusque way, by attempting to take her someplace peaceful for a spot of downtime after her recent traumatic experiences. It backfires, as they immediately wind up in the middle of another hair-raising adventure, but it was a well-intentioned gesture regardless. I can't help wondering if it is significant that he takes her to Earth 1985, only a few months ahead of where he picked her up. Was he perhaps subconsciously intending to give her the option of walking away, if she wanted?
After a unexpectedly close encounter with Halley's Comet that doesn't become relevant until the very end of the story, and even then only vaguely, and after intercepting an even more unexpected alien distress call originating from Earth 1985, the Tardis lands in Foreman's Scrap Yard, Totter's Lane, London, completely randomly. Yep, back where it all started for the First Doctor all those years ago. But for absolutely no reason whatsoever - I mean, the location isn't even remotely relevant to the plot. The Doctor barely even acknowledges that the place is familiar; he recognises it, but doesn't bother explaining its relevance to either Peri or the audience. Just a nod to the more dedicated and long-term fans, I suppose.
Is that a tricorder the Doctor is waving around as he attempts to trace the source of the distress signal? That's a bit Star Trek, isn't it?
I like that Peri makes fun of the Doctor's outrageously garish jacket. Someone should!
Down in the sewers, one of the wannabe diamond thieves is zapped by an unseen Cyberman. His death is ridiculously protracted. Cybermen are usually much more efficient than that!
While investigating the mysterious distress signal, the Doctor and Peri are confronted by Lytton's mind-controlled policemen who menace them at gunpoint. The Doctor kicks the gun out of one of their hands, shoves him down a pit that leads to the sewers, and proceeds to beat the living daylights out of him off-screen! I am very shocked. The Doctor isn't usually so violent. Peri, meanwhile, thinks fast and manages to disarm the other one - and for all his usual arrogance, the Doctor doesn't hesitate to tell her that he is impressed, which I like. Especially since he does actually seem to mean it.
Peri keeps hold of her stolen gun, stuffing it into a pocket, which rather takes me by surprise. Female companions don't usually have much to do with weaponry! Mind, Peri is supposed to be American, so it makes sense that she'd know her way around a gun. And the Doctor has always preferred to let his companions handle the firearms, when necessary, so that he doesn't have to - just not usually the women. Brave new world.
Then when the Doctor manages to disarm and capture Russell, the undercover (non-mind controlled) policeman who has evaded capture by the Cybermen, he actually tells Peri to shoot the man! Sure, he is just trying a spot of bad cop to get the man to talk, but, given how capricious this new Doctor is, neither Peri nor viewers are entirely certain whether or not he actually means it!
We don't see the sonic screwdriver at all in this story. Instead, the Doctor has a sonic lance, which proves extremely useful - he even uses it to stab and kill a Cyberman!
How the hell did all those Cybermen get into the Tardis? Did the Doctor leave the door unlocked, or something?
The Cybermen in this story have universally lousy voices. It's quite nifty, though, that the Cyber Controller is played by the same actor as in Tomb of the Cybermen, way back in 1967.
This story leaves me rather baffled as to the timeline of Cyberman history. There is a lot of backstory thrown at us and a lot of vague references to previous adventures. In the First Doctor adventure The Tenth Planet, we are reminded, the Cybermen's home world Mondas was destroyed. Then in the Second Doctor adventure Tomb of the Cybermen, we learned that they had adopted a new home planet, Telos - that story was set in the 25th century and the Cyber Controller was then in hibernation on Telos. So is this story supposed to be before or after Tomb from the Cyber Controller's point of view? It is all very confusing. Still, at least I have the option of acquiring and watching all the adventures that are referred to, to at least try to fill in a few gaps; in 1985, when this story was first aired, confused viewers would not have had that luxury!
The Cybermen in this story are ridiculously easy to kill, actually. I mean, undercover cop Russell shoots one in the face with an ordinary gun…and its head explodes, which: since when are Cybermen vulnerable to bullets? They never made any impact at all back when UNIT were forever shooting uselessly at the things in The Invasion! And several characters in this story knock the heads clean off Cyber shoulders just by hitting them with something solid, which is just crazy. Cybermen have never before been so frail and flimsy!
Then again, the humans are pretty frail and flimsy at times, too. A Cyberman slaps Russell across the shoulder blade, and apparently this is enough to kill him, since he is never seen again.
The Sixth Doctor has a catchphrase: wait, watch and learn. That pretty much sums up the Doctor's attitude in general, really. Most of his incarnations tend to keep the people around them on a pretty need-to-know basis, the general assumption being that they don't really need to know anything but rather should follow his lead blindly while he dazzles them with his brilliance.
Upon finding his Tardis occupied by Cybermen, the Doctor quickly sets up a self-destruct command on a 20 second countdown, by way of bargaining tool. Amusingly, once he starts negotiating, he sidetracks himself so much that he forgets all about the countdown and a very anxious Peri has to hastily remind him to cancel it before it is too late.
There is a whole sub-plot devoted to a pair of escaped slave workers on Telos, but I have no idea what this sub-plot is doing in the story because it is almost completely unconnected to anything else that happens and ultimately doesn't even lead anywhere. They manage to capture themselves a Cyber head, so that one of them can try to disguise himself as a Cyberman, but then that plan comes to nothing and proves to have been a complete waste of time, and their goal is to steal the Cybermen's captured time ship, but they are ultimately killed in the attempt. There is no pay-off at all. So what did they have to do with anything and why did we waste so much time on them?
The Doctor and the mercenary Lytton already know one another, having previously met, albeit briefly, in Resurrection of the Daleks, in which Lytton was working as an agent of the Daleks. The Doctor, therefore, has good reason to mistrust the man when he encounters him again now. That mistrust is mutual. The Doctor doesn't believe a word Lytton says and Lytton chooses not to even attempt to change his mind or to share any details of what he is trying to do. It ultimately transpires that, rather than being an agent of the Cybermen as the Doctor suspects, Lytton is in fact working with the Cryons, the original inhabitants of Telos, of whom there are only a scant few survivors left - and they are working to save not one but two worlds, Earth and Telos, both of which the Cybermen intend to destroy. Lytton eventually gives his life for that cause and the Doctor is deeply distressed that he learned the truth too late to save him, castigating himself for misjudging the man. It may or may not be a valuable lesson for him to temper his arrogance and not to make snap judgements - we'll see if it sticks.
On the other hand, Lytton may be working on the side of good on this occasion, but he isn't actually doing it out of the goodness of his heart - he's a mercenary, he's expecting to get paid for his trouble - and he knowingly involved several humans without telling them what they were getting into, directly leading to their deaths, so we shouldn't feel too badly about his demise.
I'm not sure what I think about the Cryons. Their masks look pretty good from a distance, but are less effective up close, and the wavery voices and hand gestures are rather creepy, really. Interestingly, they all appear to be female - I don't think we meet a single male Cryon in the whole story. For the longest time, it isn't entirely clear whether or not they can be trusted, but I think I actually like that about them, because this is the last remnant of an entire people who have been hunted and brutalised and slaughtered and are now living in hiding, waging a covert guerrilla war against the occupying force of the Cybermen. Of course they are going to be wary of strangers such as the Doctor and Peri.
There was no sign of any Cryons on Telos when the Second Doctor visited it in Tomb of the Cybermen, in the 25th century. Maybe they'd all been wiped out by then. But then again, it isn't actually clear what century the Telos scenes in this story are set in. The Tenth Planet was set in 1986 and during the course of that story the Cybermen's homeworld Mondas was destroyed. The Cybermen in this story are very definitely from a time long after that happened, since they are already well established on their stolen planet Telos and have acquired a time ship to travel back to 1985 to set up a team of sleeper agents whose mission is to change the course of history, so that Earth is destroyed instead of Mondas. It is all rather confusing and raises all kinds of issues around the laws of time. The Doctor gets very worked up about it when the Cryon named Flast rather melodramatically explains the plan to him, although he should have already figured it out for himself, since the clues had already been spelled out in detail in the conversation he had with Lytton earlier.
When the Doctor protests that the Time Lords would never allow the Cybermen to alter history on such a massive scale, Flast suggests that maybe their agents are already at work - implying that the Doctor himself may have been deliberately steered here for that very purpose. The Doctor clearly thinks that it is a definite possibility, based on past form, and is furious. It is never made clear, however, whether the Time Lords did interfere or not.
There is a lot of violence in this story, much more graphic than we would usually expect from Doctor Who. I mean, the Cybermen torture Lytton by crushing his hands and we are actually shown the blood pouring down his arms and smearing on the floor when he falls! Gritty new era, indeed! And then, and then the Doctor picks up a gun and shoots at Cybermen as they advance on him! In fact, he has quite a protracted fight sequence, shooting and kicking and jumping and flailing about all over the place! The Doctor! I mean, I know the Third Doctor wasn't averse to a spot of hand-to-hand combat, and the Fourth Doctor could hold his own as well, if he had to, but nothing quite like the fighting Six does in this story!
With the Cybermens' evil scheme thwarted and their stolen time vessel blown up, the end of the story sees a very moving scene between the Doctor and the dying Lytton, in which the Doctor is desperate to save the man's life as recompense for having misjudged him but Lytton knows it is too late and cares only that he kept his word and did his best. For such as uneven story as this has been, it is strangely touching, a good character scene for both, and I like that with the Doctor beating himself up about it, Peri doesn't try to gloss over where he went wrong, as such mollycoddling would be unhelpful, although she does try to cheer him up. But he is in no mood to be mollified by the thought of having saved two worlds and prevented history unravelling, he cares only that he misjudged a man and then was unable to save him. I like that because it shows us that the Doctor we know and love, the one who cares about people on an individual level as well as having an overview of the ultimate big picture of time and space, is still in there, beneath all the bluster and swagger of his new persona.
Quotable Quotes
PERI: "Well, what I really mean to say is, you still seem a little unstable."
DOCTOR: "Unstable? Unstable? Unstable! This is me, Peri. At this very moment I am as stable as you will ever see me."
PERI: "Oh dear."
DOCTOR: "You must forget how I used to be. I'm a Time Lord. A man of science, temperament and passion."
PERI: "And a very loud voice."
DOCTOR: "Yes. Yes, that too. But not unstable. This is the real me, Peri."
PERI: "Just tell me where we are, if you can."
DOCTOR: "O child of little faith."
PERI: "Do you blame me?"
DOCTOR: "I was, in fact, taking you to Earth."
PERI: "Bit of an anticlimax after that journey."
DOCTOR: "Ungrateful wretch."
PERI: "Well, what do you expect, applause?"
DOCTOR: "A little gratitude wouldn't irretrievably damage my ego."
PERI: "Come off it, Doctor. No one is more surprised than you that we came through it."
DOCTOR: "I have perfect rapport with this machine."
PERI: "I only hope the Tardis knows it."
PERI: "That's not possible."
DOCTOR: "Possible it is. Desirable it isn't."
DOCTOR: "I suddenly feel conspicuous."
PERI: "I'm not surprised in that coat."
PERI: "Look, Doctor, since you regenerated, it's as though your memory's been put through the meat grinder. I mean, it's all there, but in a pile of unrelated bits and pieces."
DOCTOR: "That's a horrible simile."
PERI: "It's true, though. In the past couple of days you've called me Tegan, Zoe, Susan - on one occasion you even referred to me as Jamie."
DOCTOR: "Merely slips of the tongue."
PERI: "I rather think they're slips of the mind."
PERI: "Supposing there really are aliens here on Earth. I mean, does it really matter? I mean, they don't all have ten heads and want to take over the world."
PERI: "To think this is my first visit to London."
DOCTOR: "It is an interesting city."
PERI: "I'm sure it's fascinating. It'd be nice to see the sights like a regular tourist."
DOCTOR: "Hmm? You'll find this route more memorable."
PERI: "That I believe."
PERI: "Look, Doctor, this isn't some deserted planet in the middle of nowhere. You don't have to play the Lone Ranger."
LYTTON: "You know, Griffiths, when I look at you, I often wonder why your ancestors bothered to climb out of the primordial slime."
GRIFFITHS: "That sounds like another insult, Mister Lytton."
DOCTOR: "I am known as the Doctor. I'm also a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, in the constellation of Kasterborous."
RUSSELL: "You're bonkers."
DOCTOR: "That's debatable, but I'm also telling the truth."
DOCTOR: "Oh, I've had enough of this. Shoot him, Peri."
PERI: "For real?"
DOCTOR: "Yeah, shoot him."
RUSSELL: "You murder a police officer, you'll get thirty years."
DOCTOR: "Handful of heartbeats to a Time Lord."
RUSSELL: "I'm here to observe the activities of a white male suspect known as Lytton."
DOCTOR: "Lytton? Tall, lean, dark, dark, well-spoken? The sort of man who might shoot his mother just to keep his trigger finger supple?"
RUSSELL: "It's a more colourful description, but it could be him."
LYTTON: "Your regeneration has made you vindictive, Doctor."
DOCTOR: "Not at all. I've never found it difficult to despise people like you."
FLAST: "You're looking very blue."
DOCTOR: "Do you mean depressed, or cold?"
FLAST: "Ah. I think I shall enjoy your company."
DOCTOR: "Not for long, I hope."
FLAST: "I honestly thought I would die without ever seeing another humanoid face."
DOCTOR: "Enjoy me while you can. I hope not to be around for too long."
FLAST: "I wouldn't get too excited."
DOCTOR: "I rarely do."
FLAST: "Because what they have in mind will undoubtedly distress you."
DOCTOR: "Well, tell me gently."
DOCTOR: "The Time Lords would never allow it."
FLAST: "Who knows? Perhaps their agents are already at work."
DOCTOR: "Well, if they are, they're taking their time about it. For a start, why...? Wait a minute. No! No, not me! [yells upward at the heavens] You haven't manoeuvred me into this mess just so I can get you out of it! It would have helped if I had known what was going on!"
FLAST: "You are a Time Lord?"
DOCTOR: "Yes. And at the moment, a rather angry one."
DOCTOR: "Wait, watch and learn."
DOCTOR: "It didn't go very well, did it?"
PERI: "Earth's safe. So is history. And the web of time."
DOCTOR: "I meant on a personal level. I don't think I've ever misjudged anybody quite as badly as I did Lytton."
The Verdict
Well, overall it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. I mean, the loudness and brashness and cheapness and whatnot were exactly as bad as I was expecting, but I found a lot more solid character material to get me thinking than I thought I would, and I am always a lot more forgiving of plot and production weakness if there is decent character work to balance it out.