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The Cybermen's first appearance -
and the First Doctor's last...
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4 episodes. Running Time: Approx. 94 minutes. Written by: Kit Pedler, Gerry Davis. Directed by: Derek Martinus. Produced by: Innes Lloyd.
THE PLOT:
The Doctor and his companions find themselves in mid-1980s Antarctica, near an international space tracking station. The stations' commander, General Cutler (Robert Beatty) is annoyed by their unexplained appearance, but has no time to question them - The space capsule his crew is tracking has been drawn off course. Though Cutler refuses to listen, the Doctor is able to correctly predict the cause of the problem: the appearance of the planet Mondas, a world remarkably similar to Earth. He also, rather ominously, adds that its appearance means that "soon we shall be having visitors."
The visitors are half-biological, half-mechanical beings known as Cybermen. They invade the tracking station and announce that their world is absoring the Earth's energy. Earth will soon be destroyed as a result, but the Cybermen plan to save those at the station - by taking them back to Mondas to transform them into Cybermen!
The Doctor insists they can weather the crisis if they can just buy sufficient time. But the toll Mondas is taking on Earth seems to be mirrored in the Doctor, who collapses from exhaustion and complains to Polly that "this old body of mine is wearing a bit thin..."
CHARACTERS:
The Doctor: William Hartnell's final story, written and produced after the decision was made to recast the role. Hartnell remains a dignified presence, but the script deliberately minimizes his role, leaving him relatively few moments to shine. He does make the most of what he gets. In Episode Two, he transforms what is on the page a simple inquiry about the Cybermen's lack of emotions into a surprisingly strong moment, full of life and meaning. At the start of Episode Four, he negotiates with the Cybermen - partially a genuine negotiation, hoping for a peaceful settlement, but largely stalling for time as he works out their true intentions.
Ben: Initially acts impulsively, foolishly going for a gun when the Cybermen are holding them hostage. He finds his brain fairly quickly thereafter, however, and ends up becoming the hero of the story. He outwits the Cybermen in Episode Two, a desperate gambit that ends with the defeat of the initial wave of Cybermen. With the Doctor out of action in Episode Three, it falls to Ben to sabotage a missile launch; and he again takes centerstage in the latter half of the final episode, deducing the Cybermen's weakness to radiation and coming up with a plan to exploit it.
Polly: Mostly acts as a sounding board for the Doctor and Ben. She does get a nice role in Episode Three, playing on the doubts of scientist Barclay to get him to help sabotage the missile. Outside of that, she is mostly there so that others can deliver dialogue to her, and to act as a "damsel in distress" when she is taken hostage by the Cybermen near the end.
Cybermen: The Cybermen's first appearance may not be their best story, but it remains one of their most effective characterizations. These Cybermen are genuinely creepy, with cloth wrapped around their human faces and with eerie sing-song voices. They do not seem evil so much as amoral. The initial wave of Cybermen seem genuinely confused when the emotional humans insist on making a futile effort to bring the space capsule back to Earth. When Polly berates them for not caring, the lead Cyberman observes: "There are people dying all over your world, yet you do not care about them."
THOUGHTS:
The Tenth Planet is one of the most significant stories in Doctor Who's run. It would already have a strong place in the series' history as the first Cybermen story, but it is also the first regeneration story, before the process even had a name, with the First Doctor's ending transformation paving the way for a run of successors. Doctor Who's ongoing existence can be traced directly to the success of this story and the one that follows.
The serial gets a boost from the creepiness of the Cybermen and from an above-average overall production. The tracking station looks reasonably authentic by the series' standards, and the ways in which the personnel communicate with the astronauts and with other parts of the world feel passably realistic. Guest performances are well above average, with veteran character actor Robert Beatty lending more depth to his stubborn military commander than the cardboard character actually merits.
It would be nice to be able to say that it is a masterpiece. It is not. The first two episodes are extremely strong, setting an effective atmosphere while moving the plot along nicely. The second half just isn't as good, however. Episode Three suffers somewhat from Hartnell's unplanned absence, but even more from the subplot of General Cutler's determination to "launch the Z Bomb" at Mondas. That realistic atmosphere I mentioned? It's shattered in an instant, as I start giggling and looking around for Dr. Strangelove. Episode Four gets back on track with Hartnell's return and some effective Doctor/Cybermen confrontations. But the resolution feels a bit rushed and overly easy - a problem that would recur (in fact, worsen) in many future Cybermen stories.
It is worth noting that the lead astronaut is a black man. Given that previous nonwhite roles in Doctor Who were usually played white actors in blackface (or were one-dimensional idiots like The Smugglers' Jamaica), it represents a visible shift in representation as the 1960s wore on.
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The Doctor's negotiations with
the Cybermen get a little animated...
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THE MISSING EPISODE
While the first three episodes thankfully exist, and have been remastered into particularly good quality for DVD, the final episode is missing. It is fair to say it is the most desired of all of Doctor Who's missing episodes, featuring the series' first regeneration. Thankfully, several 8 mm clips survive, including a handful of iconic moments ("This old body of mine is wearing a bit thin"; "It's far from being all over!"; and the regeneration itself).
The final episode was animated for the DVD release. This animation is significantly better than that of The Reign of Terror, with smoother character movement and none of the earlier effort's bizarre rapid cuts to extreme close-ups. It largely looks the way the episode itself probably did, and the sound quality is as clear as that of the existing episodes. As a result, moving from the first three parts to the animated fourth part is surprisingly unjarring.
It's still nowhere near as good as the real thing would be - But in the absence of the actual episode, the animation is a welcome replacement, far more dynamic and involving than even a high-quality static reconstruction.
OVERALL
The regeneration itself is well-done, a mysterious and sinister scene that is all the more effective for having no dialogue until Ben and Polly arrive (thanks to the wise last-minute decision to delete what would have been Hartnell's last line). Exactly what happens goes unexplained, and likely left many contemporary viewers spending the next week speculating about what the series might do next.
Overall Rating: 7/10.
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