Doctor Who and the Tomb of the Cybermen

"We are searching the universe for the last remains of the Cybermen."

Writer: Gerry Davis

Format: Novel

Released: May 1978

Series: Target 66

Featuring: Second Doctor, Jamie, Victoria

Synopsis

The Cybermen – silver, indestructible monsters whose only goal is power – seem to have disappeared from their planet, Telos. When a party of archaeologists, joined by the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria land on the Cybermen's barren, deserted planet, they uncover what appears to be their tomb.

But once inside it becomes clear that the Cybermen are not dead, and some in the group of archeologists desperately want to re-activate these monsters! How can the Doctor defeat these ruthless, power-seeking humans and the Cybermen?

Verdict

Doctor Who and the Tomb of the Cybermen was a wonderful novelisation of the televised story. Despite that, I can't help but have a slight feeling that the author was a little out of touch with the Cybermen and how their hierarchy works. The story itself is one I know very well as I have watched it at least five times so this blog entry may be a little different in that regard. I am in no doubt that is a revered and classic tale and so it should be. It is an iconic adventure and I definitely got that feeling from this novelisation. I was a little disappointed by the consistency in this book though. I couldn't understand why the Doctor was referred to as his traditional name, Doctor Who and Dr Who. Surely pick one and stick to it? I didn't like the complications there as it just seemed so out of place when things changed. That was also the case for the Cyber Controller. I can't begin to tell you how many times I was shaking my head with all the different title uses for the character. Cyber Leader, Cybercontroller, Cyberman Controller were just a few of the different variants. I wasn't a fan of that at all! I found the deviations intriguing and that came with the description of the Cyber Controller's appearance resembling that of the Cyber Leader we would see in the likes of Revenge of the Cybermen and Earthshock. One thing the novelisation makes you realise is just how long the story takes to introduce the Cybermen despite the entire story being all about them. Some of the history regarding the Cybermen was very interesting and quite amusing to read. The changing of the year for The Tenth Planet to match the release date expectations was interesting and I liked that this story and The Moonbase were referred to and used in conjunction with this adventure. One highlight of the book was definitely Victoria. She was my favourite of the TARDIS trio here and I am unsure whether that would be the case for the televised adventure. I felt quite sorry for her to be honest. She was always left behind and not once was she chosen to go below the hatch. She rightfully felt patronised and I liked that she was overcoming some of her Victorian insecurities to speak her mind. It was really great. Steven Moffat has gone on record concerning this story being fantastic whilst not making much sense and I guess that is right. The idea of the Cybermen plotting their own resurrection is a very roundabout way of getting intelligent life to encounter them, but I do enjoy the idea of playing on the Cybermen needing to be recharged. That is definitely something fun to play with. The iconic scene of the Cybermen emerging from their tombs didn't seem quite so impactful as it did on television, but the book made me appreciate the wider setting a whole lot more. Telos made for a good one and I thought the expedition was brilliant. It is quite staggering how often a member died, but that sold just how treacherous the location was. The Doctor is terrific in this one and whilst his presence might actually lead to many deaths (would they have got the doors open without him?), his method to save the day works well and I liked how it was obvious that he was deeply suspicious of Krieg and Kaftan. The ending with Toberman, a Turk apparently, sacrificing his life to seal the doors to the tombs permanently was written fantastically and I liked how his description was used to go alongside that of the Cyber Controller's. Overall, a fantastic story that was novelised well, even if some of the characters were inconsistently referred to by different titles.

Rating: 9/10