The Tenth Planet

"Aeons ago our planets were twins then we drifted away from you on a journey to the edge of space. Now we have returned..."

Writers: Kit Pedler & Gerry Davis

Format: TV

Broadcast: 8th - 29th October 1966

Season: 4.02

Featuring: First Doctor, Polly, Ben

Synopsis 

The TARDIS lands at the South Pole in 1986. The arrival coincides with the appearance of Earth's forgotten twin planet Mondas along with visitors from that world - the emotionless Cybermen. It's up to the Doctor and his friends to stop the creatures before they convert Earth's population into similar cyber creations - but the encounter will have a devastating effect on the Doctor...

Verdict 

The Tenth Planet is an utterly brilliant Doctor Who story and in my opinion it is the most important serial in the show's fifty year history. Yes, we have the debut of the ever recurring Cybermen but we witness the first ever regeneration. Now, watching the DVD animation of the sequence and I was totally grasped and shocked by the change even when I knew it was coming. To the viewer at the time, I can't imagine how much of a shock it was. The broadcast audience may have just figured it was another brilliant cliffhanger with somebody swapping locations with the Doctor. But they'd soon find out that their hero had a new face. For the 2014 Doctor Who fan regeneration isn't too much of a deal really. We now associate 13 actors with the role of the Doctor but back in 1966 only William Hartnell was the man with the TARDIS key. And what an amazing job he did as the Doctor. He laid down the framework for the character that's allowed the show to progress for what will be 34 seasons and 50 years. The development of the character over Hartnell's three-and-a-bit seasons has been a pleasure to watch. What a ride. The stubborn and angry old man we saw in An Unearthly Child soon vanished as his relationship blossomed with Ian and Barbara. And as companions came and went, it was only inevitable that the Doctor would change as well. This serial provides a masterful swan-song for the First Doctor with the debut of the evil and emotionless Cybermen. It's difficult to comprehend what life would be like with no emotions. Not feeling love, pride or happiness, what would be the point? Survival was the Cybermen's answer. The plot was absolutely outstanding with the return of Earth's ancient twin planet Mondas, and even better still that it was inhabited! The idea of the Cybermen is just brilliant! They used to be human but removed all 'weaknesses' to preserve and prolong their life span. The design of these Cybermen ranks amongst my favourites. As we know, the Cyberman design has changed dramatically over the last 50 years and I think original designs are hard to beat. But there's something about the design from The Invasion that gives those Cybermen my award of best design. The South Pole station setting worked fantastically and the supporting cast were extremely strong. General Cutler and Barclay the major standouts. The immediate disliking of one another between the Doctor and Barclay was brilliant from the get go. The new companions of Polly and Ben have more than settled in on the TARDIS now and are turning out to be rather wonderful. Well, Polly on her own I think is just lovely. She's staggeringly beautiful, has luscious blonde hair and even her voice is lovely! She really looks the perfect companion and with a few more stories she may just become my favourite. Similarly to The War Machines, I liked how this story's events made the news and the Doctor was getting involved in everyday life which is how it should be, providing a good cover up of the truth of course. The problems with Zeus IV and Zeus V were terrific parts of the story and the shock when the first craft blew up was portrayed expertly. The idea of Mondas returning to its twin planet to drain its entire energy was a horrific plan by the Cybermen, which from the viewer's perspective made it absolutely brilliant. And I adored the solution that the Doctor came up. Just simply wait. The Doctor knew that Mondas would absorb too much energy and cause its own destruction. The climatic scenes of Mondas' final moments were excellent and were probably enhanced by the DVD animation. Speaking of which, I must thanks those who reconstructed this missing serial into full animation and allowed a historic tale to be able to be viewed in full. It deserves it. Hartnell deserves it. Despite a brilliant plot, the debut of the Cybermen and Polly being just wonderful, The Tenth Planet is the First Doctor's story. It's his farewell. It was evident in The Smugglers that the Doctor wasn't quite feeling himself and it seemed that age was catching up. Was this a result of the Time Destructor in The Daleks' Master Plan? The Trilogic Game encounter in The Celestial Toymaker? Or was everything just catching up with the old retched First Doctor. His final moments were absolutely outstanding. "It's far from over." An iconic line that I adored hearing for the first time. In fact, it's only the beginning. A new beginning. And as Polly turned the collapsed Doctor onto his back, the regeneration occurred. Change is here, but the moment has been prepared for. 

Rating: 10/10