Right OK I've been trying to get ideas for the 80th post of the year and one with new content so I thought I would do another Doctor Who story and this is a classic one from the Patrick Troughton era, which I'm positive I've not done before (I've checked honest!).
And the story in question is Tomb of the Cybermen, which is often hailed as one of the best Doctor Who stories of all time. Is it??? Well let's see!
And the usual applies here PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!
STORY
Right so the story begins with the TARDIS materialising on the planet Telos, where the Doctor (Troughton) and his companions, Jamie (Frazer Hines) and Victoria (Deborah Watling) comes across a human archaelogical expedition crew. The crew's leader, Parry (Aubrey Richards) tells the Doctor that his crew are searching for the remains of the Cybermen, who apparently died out centuries earlier. On arriving at an entrance one of Parry's team is electrocuted trying to open the doors but after checking the doors, the Doctor tells the others that the electric current is now drained and they can now open the doors safely, which is done by one of the party, the strong and silent Toberman (Roy Stewart). On entering they find a chamber which has a control panel and a large hatch which is sealed. The other team members then split up and search around the chamber which include Kaftan (Shirley Cooklin) and her friend, Eric Klieg (George Pastell). Victoria then explores with Kaftan while the Doctor stays behind with Klieg and Parry. However while Victoria is with Kaftan they find a chamber that has a sarcophagus type wall inset, which faces a projection device that was apparently used to revitalise the Cybermen. Victoria out of curiosity steps into the sarcophagus but is trapped inside by Kaftan and she activates the projector pointing at the sarcophagus but the Doctor soon manages to free Victoria and he remains suspicious of her.
In the meantime Jamie has gone with one of the other team members, Haydon (Bernard Holley) as they experiment with a control panel in another room. However during their experimenting with the control, a Cybermen slides into view and shoots Haydon, killing him. The Doctor arrives on the scene but discovers that it wasn't a real Cybermen but in fact just a testing range for weapons. The crew's problems after this get worse when the crew's captain, Hopper (George Roubicek) tells them that their ship has been sabotaged and they cannot leave until it has been repaired. After this they finally managed to open the hatch and climb down inside what appears to be a large chamber which contains cells containing frozen Cybermen. Meanwhile Victoria has stayed behind up above in the control room with Kaftan, who drugs her and then seals the hatch. Inside the chamber, Klieg activates some more controls and this causes the ice on the Cybermen's cells to melt and they slowly come to life. Klieg then shoots one of the crew, Viner (Cyril Shaps) who tries to stop him from activating the controls and Klieg then holds the others back at gunpoint from doing the same. Klieg then reveals that he and Kaftan are members of the Brotherhood of Logicians and he intends to try and use the Cybermen as their allies to gain power for themselves.
Meanwhile Victoria comes around and confronts Kaftan who threatens her with a gun but she is unaware of a Cybermat appearing which attacks her and leaves her unconscious but Victoria manages to shoot the Cybermat but as she is unsure how to open the hatch she runs outside to find Hopper. Down below in the tomb however, the Cybermen have now been revived and they free their leader from his cell, the Cyber Controller (Michael Kilgarriff). As Klieg tries to reason with the cyber controller, the controller simply grabs Klieg's hand and says in a robot voice "You belong to us! You shall be like us!". And its from here that the Doctor and the others must try and find a way to stop the Cybermen and Klieg and Kaftan from carrying out their nefarious plan......
THOUGHTS
After nearly 50 years there is no doubt that Tomb of the Cybermen remains one of the true classic Doctor Who stories and its easily one of the best of the Troughton era. The story itself like alot of Troughton's other stories for years however was lost as the original master tapes were deleted from the BBC archives back in the 1970s. But in 1991 the original telerecordings were returned to the BBC from Hong Kong and it was released on VHS the following year. The story itself is also very effective and like many of the classic stories back in the 1960s, the black and white format used for the show of the time allows to make this story quite atmospheric and creepy. And the story has plenty of memorable and at times even chilling moments and it certainly remains as one of the more effective Cybermen stories that conveys their inhuman (or indeed alien) nature.
PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES
As for the performances well the cast are all largely very good here starting with Patrick Troughton who is excellent as ever in his role as the Doctor and he plays him with the usual mix of impish fun and seriousness.
Patrick also has some good scenes even in his opening scene where the Doctor and Jamie bring Victoria onboard the TARDIS for the first time. And Jamie says to the Doctor to try and give them a smooth take-off not to frighten Victoria and the Doctor scoffs saying "A smooth take-off?! A smooth take-off?!! What a nerve!!". Another scene is where the Doctor appears to get the hang of the Cybermen control panels. And Klieg who appears a little jealous says to him "Doctor to be seem very familiar with this place!" and the Doctor says "Oh, no, not really. Umm, it's all based on symbolic logic". And the Klieg persists by saying "Yes, yes, I can see that, but how did you know in the first place?" and the Doctor says "Oh I use my own special technique. Keeping my eyes open, and my mouth shut!". And another amusing scene comes when the Doctor and Jamie inadvertently hold hands with each other without looking when in fact they were tyring to hold hands with Victoria and when they realise they quickly break apart! (this was apparently done on purpose by Patrick and Frazer).
Then there is a nice and understated scene later where the Doctor comforts Victoria who misses her father who was killed by the Daleks (in the previous story The Evil of the Daleks). And the Doctor says to her "I have to really want to - to bring them back in front of my eyes. The rest of the time they... they sleep in my mind, and I forget. And so will you. Oh, yes, you will. You'll find there's so much else to think about, to remember. Our lives are different to anybody else's. That's the exciting thing! Because nobody in the universe can do what we're doing".
And last of all there is the scene where the Doctor teases Klieg who shows his megalomaniacal qualities as he thinks he can become the ruler of the universe. And the Doctor fuels Klieg's ego by saying to Jamie "Don't you see what this is going to mean to all the people who come to serve... Klieg - the All-Powerful? Why, no country, no person, would dare to have a single thought that was not your own! - Eric Klieg's own conception of the...OF THE WAY OF LIFE!!". And as Klieg says "Yes! Yes! Master of the world!" the Doctor then says "Well, now I know you're mad. I just wanted to make sure!".
Frazer Hines also does a fine job as Jamie McCrimmon, the second doctor's near lifespan long companion and plucky Scotsman from the Highlands in the 18th century. Frazer has some good moments aswell such as the scene near the start where Jamie tries to open the entrance doors to the tomb after the Doctor fails to budge them. So Jamie says "Let me, Doctor" and he tries them and can't budge them either and he says awkwardly "Aye, well I've not had much exercise lately!". Then there is the scene where Jamie and the Doctor subdue the Cyber controller and seal him in a hatch, which Jamie bounds with ropes. And the Doctor asks if they are secure and Jamie says "Oh, the king of the beasties couldnae get out of that one!". But before they know it the Cyber controller manages to punch his way out of the hatch with ease and the Doctor quietly says to Jamie "Jamie, remind me to give you a lesson in tying knots sometime!".
Deborah Watling also does well as Victoria (and looks great!) the Doctor and Jamie's new companion who at first is terrified but soon shows her courage in the face of danger against the Cybermen as well as her feistiness. Deb has some fun moments as well such as having to deal with the male chauvanism of Captain Hopper and his flight team and they keep calling her "Vic" much to her annoyance as she keeps saying "Oh please stop calling me Vic!". Then there is the moment Victoria is surprised to find out that the Doctor is 450 years old and she says to the Doctor "Well, if you are four hundred and fifty years old, you need a great deal of sleep!". And she continues on by remembering her father "It's only when I close my eyes. I can still see him standing there. Before those horrible Dalek creatures came to the house. He was a very kind man. I shall never forget him. Never".
As for the story's cast members, George Pastell is very good as the megalomaniacal Klieg who tries to ally himself with the Cybermen. Pastell has some good scenes as well such as the one where he watches the frozen Cybermen cells in amazement after they have just discovered in the tomb and he says "Like a gigantic honeycomb. Like bees waiting for the signal to arise from their winter sleep!". And the Doctor warningly says "A signal that they are never going to get!" and as Parry says "Its too cold to remain for long..." Klieg says to himself "Unless we find some way to warm things up!".
And then there is the scene where Klieg succeeds in reviving the Cybermen and the Cyber controller steps toward him and looks down at him. And Klieg says "I am Klieg. Eric Klieg. I have brought you back to life. We of the Logicians have planned this. You are alive because of us. Now you will help us. We need your power. You need our mass intelligence. Are you listening? Do you understand me? Now that I have released you...". And the Cyber controller suddenly grabs him and Klieg yells out "Agghh! Let me go! I set you free! It was our plan!". And lastly there is the moment where Klieg taunts the Doctor one more time just as he intends to kill him and the others by saying "No, I have a better idea. Much better idea. I shall leave you to the Cybermen. I'm sure they'll have some use for you. Or parts of you!" just before he is attacked by a Cyberman.
Shirley Cooklin (who was married to the serial's director, Morris Barry) also does well in her role as Klieg's partner, Kaftan. Cooklin has some good moments also such as the moment where the Cybermat is about to attack her and she is unaware as she has her gun pointed at Victoria and she warns her "If I have any further trouble from you I will have to
take drastic steps!". And as Victoria pleads with her to look behind her to see the Cybermat, Kaftan scornfully says "We will not allow a little girl like you to interfere
with our plans!". And lastly there is the scene where are Kaftan and Klieg have been placed in a containment cell, they manage to unscrew a cybergun to use it. And Kaftan says to Klieg "But this time we have the power, at least you do. The
gun, Eric, the gun. You have the Cybermen's own weapon, this laser to turn
against them. Now they will have to obey. If they refuse, we shall destroy the
opening device and seal them up in their tomb forever! Now do you understand?".
As for the supporting cast members, Roy Stewart is good in his role as the strong and silent, Toberman, who being a big guy is able to bring a strong physical presence to his role without needing to say much at all. Aubrey Richards is also good as the leader of the expedition Professor Parry, a decent man who is caught between his two devious colleagues, Klieg and Kaftan and the Cybermen. George Roubicek also is good as the wisecracking Captain Hopper, who get's deliver one of the most difficult lines for any actor to pull off well, but he does it. And its the scene where Hopper tells the others that's their rocket has been sabotaged and one of the party, Viner says anxiously "Have you any idea what it's like in this deadly building?!" and Hopper looks at him and says "Well its not exactly peaches back on the ship!". And last of all Michael Kilgarriff while he has no real lines in the story (as the Cybermen voices are done by Peter Hawkins) he is still pretty effective in his part as the Cyber Controller thanks to his intimidating height. Although it has to be said his outfit is still a bit silly looking given that his helmet has a large glowing brain ontop and he has what looks like felt tip pen drawn around his eyes and mouth!
DIRECTOR AND MUSIC
As for the story's director, Morris Barry does an excellent job here and he builds up the suspense of the story really well from the get go as there is a real sense of unease right form the start. Barry also previously directed The Moonbase, which was also a Cybermen story but it was reportedly not as good as Tomb not that it matters here. Barry also includes some strong dramatic and even violent moments in the story such as Haydon being killed by the mock Cyberman, the team member at the start being electrocuted and of course the scene where Toberman rips open the chest unit of one of the Cyberman and liquid oozes out from it. And this scene caused a bit controversy after it was broadcast although given the standards of what followed and by today's modern series it is pretty tame!
As for the music well for a change there was no composer for this serial as Dudley Simpson was (and up until the second last Tom Baker season) the regular composer for the show and instead they used stock music for this one. But the tracks selected work very well and are keeping well in check with the atmosphere of the story itself.
FLAWS
As for the story's flaws..... well yeah OK its not quite a perfect one. For starters I think while the Cybermen are actually quite chilling (no pun intended in regards to their tomb!) the Cybermen voices do detract from them a bit. And while its a good idea for the Cybermen to have robotic voices, the effect used on the voices makes it a bit difficult to always understand what they are saying so certain lines are lost on you. Also during certain moments when the Cybermen are struggling with the Doctor and the others they just make some silly droning noises that kind of undercuts the credibility of them as enemies.
Another problem is also the use of the cybermats as they frankly look a bit ridiculous as they look nothing more like a metallic fish and they certainly not that fearsome. So when it comes to the scene where the Doctor and the others are attacked by several Cybermats (sent by the Cyber controller through vents down in the tombs below) and they are all screaming and panicking it just becomes a bit laughable that these tin fishes can actually do much and just a few shots from a gun takes them out quite easily.
Then there is Toberman who will he makes for an imposing figure there are times where he is reduced to being the equivalent of Bane from Batmand & Robin as an almost mindless thug that says one word sentences and things such as "Destroy!" and "Kill!". And I just expected for Bane to appear round the corner any minute and shout "Bomb!" and "Destroy!" etc etc. If you also look closely there is a small mistake in the story where Toberman climbs up into the hatch and one of his feet hits the step but that's nothing at all really and to be fair I'm just nitpicking at that point!
The story is also guilty of the usual male chauvinism of the time where Victoria is patronised by Hopper and his men for not being able to figure things out for herself such as not knowing how to open the hatch to let the Doctor and Jamie and the others out from the tombs below. So Victoria has to resort to being quite bossy and feisty in order to get herself across and even in the future chauvinism is still very much present but then again its probably something that might never go away how far in the future you might go.
Anyways that's it for the flaws section.
SUM UP
So that is it for my look at Tomb of the Cybermen which remains one of the timeless classics of the original Doctor Who series and it is for the most part very well paced, suspenseful and it features a fine cast who all give solid performances. So if you are a fan of the original show and are yet to see this story you should definitely give it a go.
And that's it for now and I will be back with another post sometime soon.
Until the next un its bye the now!
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