Revenge of the Cybermen

"They're utterly ruthless. Total machine creatures."

Writer: Gerry Davis 

Format: TV

Broadcast: 19th April - 10th May 1975

Sesson: 12.05

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Sarah, Harry

Synopsis 

Arriving on Space Station Nerva in its distant past, the Doctor, Sarah and Harry find its crew threatened by a mysterious plague. Discovering that things are not as they seem, they stumble upon a plan to commit genocide, devised by the Doctor's old enemies, the Cybermen.

Verdict 

Revenge of the Cybermen was an excellent Doctor Who story and one I throughly enjoyed watching with my cousin. He's growing fast and is nearly eight years old now but his knowledge of Doctor Who, both old and new, is quite incredible for a boy of his age! With some of the stories he has watched, I was actually rather surprised that this one had omitted his viewing. I would've thought the Horror channel would have aired it by now but their failure to gave me the pleasure of watching it alongside him. I am hoping to watch at least one more story with him whilst I'm up but for now I'm going to talk about the story that he gave a perfect rating. It's a significant story for a number of reasons and the most obvious would be the return of the Cybermen. It still amazes me that given their frequency in appearing against the Second Doctor, they didn't feature at all against the Third Doctor. The Invasion is a fantastic story but I bet viewers at the time didn't think they would have to wait seven years before the metal men returned again. The change in appearance seems to happen with every story that the Cybermen are a part of in the Classic era but I seem absolutely love each design. That opinion changed with Nightmare in Silver a few years ago but before that I just loved how each design was so different yet instantly recognisable as a Cyberman. I think I am a sucker for nostalgia and all things retro as even now my favourite design of the Cybermen is from The Tenth Planet. That story got a nice little reference here which is always great. Watching this story with my cousin made me appreciate just how brilliant Tom Baker was as the Fourth Doctor, particularly in these early days of his tenure. The comedy he brought to the role shined brightly in this serial with me and my cousin looking at each other in laughter on more than one occasion. The Doctor's facial expressions also add so much to a story and I think they were a big reason as to why he was so appealing and popular as the Doctor. The scene at the start of part four when he realised Harry was going to unstrap the bomb, which in turn would detonate it, was outstanding. After reading the stories of The Amazing World of Doctor Who, that also feature the Fourth Doctor, Sarah and Harry (and will continue tomorrow), it was refreshing to have a change of format whilst maintaining the same TARDIS team. I think it will be beneficial when I come to read the final four stories in the aforementioned book. The plan of the Cybermen to destroy Voga was great and I am surprised that gold hasn't since been used much as a weapon against the Cybermen. It occurred in Earthshock but that's about it. The costumes for the Vogan people were very good and I liked the kind of civil war that was occurring on the planet. Tyrum and Vorus leading each faction was good and the bickering that those two shared was excellent. I thought Kellman was a terrific character and even though I've previously watched this story on two separate occasions, I actually forgot that he was a double agent working against the Cybermen until it was revealed! No matter how many times you watch a Doctor Who story, you'll still find something new with each viewing and I think that's just amazing. Lester and Stevenson were also good characters but for me it was the Cybermen that stuck out in this story, as one might expect. It continued off from Genesis of the Daleks and immediately led into Terror of the Zygons, but sometimes this story gets forgotten in some quarters. I thought Sarah was terrific in this serial and I also enjoyed the action and close calls that came with the climax. I liked how the Doctor didn't want to say goodbye and I also loved his lack of reaction to Sarah saying how good it was to see him. Overall, not quite as high a rating as my cousin gave, but it wasn't far off.

Rating: 9/10