The Tomb Of The Cybermen: Doctor Who: Season 5

Goldby

Grob

Long

The Tomb Of The Cybermen REVIEWS



Goldby

Ok now we've got a rational score for the Gunfighters (nice wind up there Grob) onto Season 5 and another cyberman story, indeed the long thought lost and then found The Tomb of the Cybermen! Troughton has effortlessly turned the doctor character from an increasingly doddering old fool who forgot his lines and went hmmm a lot to a mysterious mercurial genius again. Following on from Evil Of the Daleks and lament this would have been the earliest 10/10 set of episodes but good to see a scene of Doc No. 2 against his mortal foe.

Must agree with your comments Grob, felt a bit let down upon finally seeing Tomb Of The Cybermen. Think it was one of the few I remember reading about a couple of times in childhood amazing how the imagination can sometimes be so much better. The new Tardis team is easily the best in the series so far, all are on form, perfect comedy timing with the Doctor and Jamie and you just want to hug Victoria. The bit with them in the beginning is great, the Tardis sounds big and echoey for a change. The sets were great apart from the obviously polystyrene recharger unit they try to trap the cyber contoller in. Still think that bit was dumb, even in the book it seemed more sensible to let the cyber contoller just keel over and die than re-charge and attempt to over load him.

Ok the other actors were hammy and ridiculous, especially the horrific stereotype American accents /characters. Why the director chose these actors for a good premise of a story seems such a waste. The professor guy seems to be the only one making an effort to take it all seriously and the best guest actor was the black mute. Had the guest cast been totally convincing probably wouldn't even have minded the obviously dummy cyber controller being thrown across the room or the clearly seen wire on the black guy when he's thrown across the room or the weird way the cybermen burble to themselves when engaging in any physical activity or thought the cybermats too 'cute'. That said good to see there was actually a time when the cybermen were both physically threatening and totally frightening to kids.

The pace for these episodes has improved 100% over what was being churned out a year before and the Tomb Of the cybermen had a few iconic Who scenes. Eg. The cybermen waking up. Feels weird rating a story above 5 but although not the classic we all thought it was it's definitely a step in the right direction and now becoming more the show we'll recognize 7/10.



Grob

Be careful what you wish for - you might just get it. Once upon a time every fan under the Varos sun wanted to see The Tomb of The Cybermen. Then they got their chance. Then they wished the asked for Web of Fear instead. The most idiotic bunch of archeologists land on Telos to look for the last of the cybermen. Everyone knows what a bunch of bastards these creatures were so why the FUCK do they want to wake them up for??? And its not just Kleig the Weasel that wants to do that but all the other lame-brained archeologists as well!!!

Amazingly they use the little-known way of uncovering ancient ruins by blowing half the planet to kingdom come and there are the doors - nice and pristine with no damage and barely a rock out of place. Once inside the destruction of various bit-players does little to dampen our heroes enthusiasm for getting cyberized and soon its defrost time and out the silver giants come in pretty much the same manner as the Rolf Harris's did in that Goodies episode. Now, the Tomb Of The cybermen is a pretty hokey set of episodes and I reckon its probably the lowest of the entire classic season 5 batch. But it does have some good points; the little scene with the Doctor discussing his family with Victoria is very touching and there is some great comedy going on between the Doctor and Jamie as well.

For once a quarry actually looks like an alien planet too and the sets are pretty impressive as well. But that doesn't make up for the fact that there is very little going on here which - when it comes to cybemen stories - is sadly going to be the norm. 4/10 By the way; We know the Cybermen can't get out from the inside. So when the Cybermen were first buried, who shut the hatch and the doors?



Long

The Tomb Of The Cybermen was actually the first Troughton I sat through (not counting the Two Doctors)! When they replayed some of them back in 1985 (I think it was just before they ran season 22… which I also didn't watch much of at the time… much to the surprise of Mr Grob!), I remember watching part 1 of The Mind Robber, and thinking it was incredibly bland and boring… maybe cos it was black and white (although I watched a lot of episodes on our old portable black and white TV) or maybe cos I was 11 and so used to my Who being fast paced and action packed with 80's synth… OK, it was mainly the 80's synth that I missed!

Now where were we… yes… The Tomb of the Cybermen (incidentally, did you know that there was only one Troughton story that didn't start with "The"?)… yes, this was the first Troughton (non multiple) Doctor episode I'd ever seen fully, and I really enjoyed it! That could have been because it was off the back of watching some terrible Hartnell stories, plus the fact that I loved the Two Doctors and was looking forward to seeing more Troughton… or the fact that it's a good solid 4 parter with some very iconic moments (Cybermen crashing out of their shells - much like in Earthshock!).

I can see where Grob is coming from with some of the criticism - but a lot of the Tomb Of the cybermen is classic Who… they are crazed with power, and want to harness the Cyber power to control the world… definitely a classic scenario! Sure bits of it are a bit hokey, and some of the sets are a bit… well… obviously sets… but on the whole I really enjoyed this, and have no qualms watching it multiple times… unlike most of the other stories to date!

7/10

"But that doesn't make up for the fact that there is very little going on here which - when it comes to cybemen stories - is sadly going to be the norm."… do you that’s because any story that has "of the Cybermen" doesn't work???

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