Telos

"Blank faces, dead eyes and the power to kill us all."

Writer: Nicholas Briggs

Format: Audio

Released: December 2005

Series: Cyberman 1.03

Featuring: Samantha, Barnaby 

Synopsis 

Now there is a common enemy.

The Earth's government is under Cyber control.

The only hope for civilisation is that androids and humans can work together.

But the Cybermen intend to activate their Master Hibernation Vault on Telos, releasing billions of Cybermen...

THERE IS NOTHING TO FEAR...

Verdict 

Telos was a very good conclusion to the first series of the Cyberman spinoff audios! I was very happy that it finished well because it has been an excellent set of stories, despite a little bit of a shaky start. Paying just £8.97 combined for all four audios is a bit of a steal to be honest and when things are good it just makes the cheap price even better. I really was delighted that the spinoff matched up to its Dalek Empire counterpart, a series of which I have the third series and will soon get to listening to it. But for now it was all about the Cybermen and I loved how they continued to be central to the story here, following on from the previous audio after they had a bit of a sideline role in the first two stories. The highlight of the story was once again Samantha and Barnaby and I have absolutely adored them together. They really have been wonderful. I do hope that the second series of this Cyberman audio spinoff, something I am very interested in buying and will be actively looking to purchase, remains centred around the pairing and despite the series finishing here, there's still some questions that need answering. I was quite surprised to find that Telos had been partially destroyed and that meant finding the Master Hibernation Vault would be extremely difficult. But Samantha was determined to stop the Cybermen from activating it and in the end, with the help of Barnaby and the sacrifice of others, she prevented that from happening. Her method didn't come without luck though but I did like the fact that radiation was used to kill the Cybermen. It had a devastating effect and it meant that the Cybermen on Earth would not receive the activation signal to resurrect billions of Cybermen. I love the name of this story because Telos is a fantastic planet and has played a huge role in the excellent The Tomb of the Cybermen and Attack of the Cybermen. I believe this was the first depiction of the planet to feature in a story I have blogged since those two television stories and I certainly hope it shows up in some other audios, as well as comic strips and novels. It's surely inevitable I would think. As much as I love the Big Finish audios, one thing they often do that bugs me is have an extra scene after the end credits. I don't get why they do that because a lot of people will turn off the CD as the end credits hit but I've learned my lesson now after a little research and I thought the so called bonus scene was excellent. I must admit I'm surprised that Paul Hunt is still alive and I like the idea of Cybermen being pretty useless on Earth whilst waiting for the activation signal and not wanting to blow their cover. That indicates to me that the second series will surely follow the first in terms of the story arc. I don't think Dalek Empire does that for their third series but I imagine this second series will follow. Karen Brett's character came to an unfortunate end in this story with her uncomfortable voice in being controlled by the Cybermen. Barnaby's reaction to that was superb. I thought Spavin and Brynner wee good characters and I also liked how the Prime Reordin had disdain towards Barnaby for the constant kissing shared in Conversion. I liked the other references to Scorpius and Fear and the ending of the story with Samantha and Barnaby united, android and human, and headed to Earth to try and stop the Orion War and join forces against the Cybermen. I do hope the whole story hasn't been told because I really have enjoyed it. Overall, a very good conclusion!

Rating: 8/10