The Tenth Planet

"Planet don't just appear..."

Writers: Kit Pedlar & 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 was an absolutely wonderful story and I really am delighted to have watched it once again. This must be my fourth or fifth viewing now and I can honestly say I don’t think I’ll ever tire of watching it. It’s right up there with my favourites of all time and with the upcoming Christmas Special of Twice Upon A Time depicting the First Doctor towards the end of his incarnation, during the closing stages of this adventure, I saw it as the perfect excuse to grab the DVD out of the attic and fill my Christmas Eve. It was my first William Hartnell story since my first blogging of this serial a few years ago and I must say it was fantastic to see him again. He’s absolutely brilliant and the contrast that he brings to the character, despite being the first incarnation, is massive. He was the pioneer of the show and this is his farewell. And it’s bloody brilliant. He may be asleep for his penultimate episode but when he bursts back onto the scene in part four, his farewell, I couldn’t help but get a little emotional. He’s tremendous and I am so excited to see how David Bradley brings his character back to life tomorrow. I’m sure he’ll do him justice. The First Doctor is returning, 51 years after regeneration, and I can’t wait. How magnificent is that? What a TV show this is. As well as this being the swan-song for Hartnell and the First Doctor, it also saw the debut of the Cybermen in their incredible first design. This remains my favourite design because it’s just so real and still resembling of humanity. You see the faces behind the suit and the hands and those voices! Their monotonous and totally devoid of emotion. With them returning in World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls, I thought this was also good for helping my opinion on how well they were brought back. I must say that justice was done to the incredible design. Polly and Ben were terrific together in this story and whilst I was viewing this with one eye leaning towards how it will fit in with tomorrow’s episode, I still found myself embroiled with what was going on. The story itself is excellent and the return of Mondas to its ancient twin to drain its power is great. The Doctor knew what to expect and that immediately put him in an excellent position amongst the personnel on the Snowcap. The emergence of the Cybermen is a chilling moment and I loved how quickly they took control. One thing I really like about this story is that the resolution is simply to wait. The Doctor reveals relatively early on that Mondas will disintegrate as it will drain too much power from Earth and that’s exactly what happened. It was just all about biding time and I really like that. The animation of the final episode completes the adventure which is a real treat and despite it obviously being quite different, it’s still delightful. There is plenty of room for the First Doctor to go off and meet the Twelfth Doctor in tomorrow’s episode here and I assume (in fact, I think DWM confirmed) that it takes place for the first incarnation just after he leaves Ben and Polly in the Snowcap after the Cybermen collapse following their power drainage. The Doctor knew his body was wearing thin and it was far from over. No, this was just the beginning. The regeneration sequence happens quite quickly and I do wonder whether Steven Moffat has been tempted to give any further explanation other than the Doctor getting old. I’ll be watching very intrigued. Overall though, a simply wonderful story and the one that I think is, without a shadow of a doubt, the most important in the show’s history. The lead actor can change and it’s perfectly explainable within the narrative of the show. It instantly became immortal and that’s incredible. William Hartnell bowed out in style and I can’t wait for the First Doctor to return tomorrow. Overall though, one of the greats.

Rating: 10/10