Silver Nemesis

"Death is but a door."

Writer: Kevin Clarke

Format: TV

Broadcast: 23rd November - 7th December 1988

Series: 25.03

Featuring: Seventh Doctor, Ace

Synopsis 

Earth, 1988: While the Doctor and Ace flee from emotionless men wielding futuristic pistols, neo-Nazi Herr de Flores is intent on heralding the Fourth Reich. Meanwhile, the villainous Lady Peinforte uses black magic to propel herself forward from 1638 for a final confrontation with her sworn enemy - the Doctor. And, at the same time, a spacecraft full of Cybermen sets down on Earth...

As the Doctor desperately evades multiple enemies, a meteor containing a Gallifreyan super-weapon is hurtling ever nearer to the planet. Whoever controls the Statue will hold the power of life or death over the entire universe...

Verdict 

Silver Nemesis was an outstanding TV serial! It really is superb and for me this was a pleasure to watch alongside my six year old cousin who is slowly becoming a huge fan which is just adoring. It's nearly a year since I convinced him to sit down and watch Deep Breath on its broadcast. Since then he's watched every Twelfth Doctor episode, started reading Doctor Who Adventures and is now questioning me on the likes of Vashta Nerada and Whispermen. I'm so glad I've managed to convert him into a fan at such an early age, but more so that he seems to be enjoying the Classics just as much as the new stuff. After his Twelfth Doctor run, we sat down together and watched Human Nature/The Family of Blood and Dalek. He enjoyed both of those very much so I thought I'd try him with a Classic. He found Revelation of the Daleks to be very good so I continued expanding his Doctor Who horizon here with this 25th anniversary story. I knew we'd both be staying at our grandparents tonight so I thought I'd give him a choice of two classic stories. He favoured this over The Claws of Axos with the Cybermen the obvious appeal. I'm trying to explain to him that the Master and Missy are the same person but when he hasn't seen a story featuring the Master I think it's rather difficult for a six year old to comprehend. After watching this story he deduced to my shock but glee that the Seventh Doctor is now his favourite. He's probably quite low down on my ranking list (not that any incarnations are anywhere close to bad) but he just loved the humour. When I come to think of it now, it doesn't surprise me that Sylvester McCoy appeals to him. I'm still not convinced that he understands what regeneration is so maybe that's the next type of story to go with. However, he has requested that I bring DVDs of Remembrance of the Daleks and The Name of the Doctor for our next watch together, something which I certainly won't deny! I thought part one may have been a struggle to keep him interested with the Cybermen only arriving in the cliffhanger but that was far from the truth! He was hooked from the get go. I just loved watching him watch the story. I've read numerous articles in various places that people have images of stories from their childhood, at around my cousin's age, sticking with them forever. I'm hoping that this is the case. I love the concept of the story with three powerful factions all competing for the incredibly value statue of Nemesis. It was literally made of living metal harnessed on Gallifrey by Omega and Rassilon. Those two being namedropped gave you an indication of how valuable this stuff was! Completing the statue with its bow and arrow would give humongous power to whoever completed the circuit, power over life and death throughout the cosmos. The fact we had neo-Nazis on British soil proclaiming a Fourth Reich was more than enough for me to love this story! Could there be anything more frightening from human beings? Then we had the brilliant Lady Peinforte who with her black magic and sorcerer managed to jump 350 years into the future from 1638. And if that wasn't enough, the Cybermen were chucked in for good measure, adequately for the silver anniversary of the glorious programme. On my original Classic run in 2012, I was rather critical of Ace as companion but I think picking and choosing the stories as I like from the Seventh Doctor era, along with the Main Range audios, my opinion on her as companion will soon change. I'm hoping that reading The Good Soldier graphic novel will also help improve my opinion on the popular companion, popularity of which I have questioned in the past. The cliffhangers were very good and I think if you avoid the fact that the Cybermen are coming, part one's will be all the more impressive. But I've seen this story three times now and I just smiled knowing that they were coming. The design has been consistent since Earthshock and I was quite surprised that my cousin didn't mention anything about the way they looked. He's only seen the Cybermen from Dark Water/Death in Heaven which are considerably smaller and more robotic. He gave me a puzzled look when they first spoke but that was about it. I'm assuming he thinks they sounded a bit too human. I love these Cybermen however. The Doctor and Ace using the tape music to jam the Cybermen's signal was fantastic and I do think that the Doctor would have included all sorts of capabilities seeing as he built the thing for Ace! The Doctor and Ace were wonderful together and the moment that he tells her to blow up that ship is one of their greatest moments together. It really does put a smile on my face, as critical as I may be of this pair (probably wrongly so). I liked Richard and how loyal he was to his Lady despite the way he's treated. It was nice that he was the one to survive, especially after he saw his own tomb. Peinforte's tomb was rather different however. Her demise in joining with the Nemesis which destroyed the entire Cyber war fleet was an excellent ending. The threat of the Nemesis was told astoundingly well by the Doctor. Every time it circled back to Earth, disaster struck. 1913 was the eve of World War One. 1938 the eve of the Second. 1963 saw Kennedy assassinated. The Earth was going to be destroyed this time around - and the Doctor forgot! I think hindsight is a beautiful thing in Doctor Who and I can now reference the Eleventh Doctor with the Seventh donning a fez here and also I like to think that the fob watch featured is the same that we saw in Human Nature/The Family of Blood. The final demise of the Cyber Leader well and truly wiped out the Cybermen from the Classic series. Overall, a wonderful serial that was an absolute joy to watch alongside my cousin. I can't wait for the next one with him!

Rating: 10/10