Cyberman | the m0vie blog

Doctor Who: The Next Doctor (Review)

Posted on December 19, 2013 by Darren

To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the longest-running science-fiction show in the world, I’ll be taking weekly looks at some of my own personal favourite stories and arcs, from the old and new series, with a view to encapsulating the sublime, the clever and the fiendishly odd of the BBC’s Doctor Who.

The Next Doctor originally aired in 2008.

Oh, goodness me. Well. But this is… but this is nonsense.

Well, that’s one word for it.

Complete and utter, wonderful nonsense. How very, very silly.

– Jackson Lake and the Doctor

The Next Doctor actually has a pretty audacious concept. It’s one gigantic tease that plays off the audience’s media savvy. Airing after David Tennant’s departure from the role had been announced, but before Matt Smith had been named as Tennant’s successor, The Next Doctor is one gigantic tease. Like the surprise “regeneration” at the climax of The Stolen Earth, it’s a shrewd attempt to turn the audience’s expectations against themselves.

After all, the gap between an announced departure of an existing lead and the point where he actually leaves is rife for experimentation – particularly in a show about time travel. Up until The Next Doctor actually aired, it was quite possible that David Morrissey was Tennant’s successor, and The Next Doctor was a rather clever twist on the classic “multi-Doctor” story by having the Doctor team up with his future self.

Of course, as with The Doctor’s Daughter, Davies was just teasing. It’s to Davies’ credit that The Next Doctor remains interesting even after the illusion begins to slip. The first half is actually a wonderfully solid mystery and character study, albeit one that descends into confusion and chaos in the second half of the episode.

The Next Doctor…?

Continue reading →

Filed under: Television | Tagged: Colin Baker, Cosplay, Cyberman, cybermen, Dalek, david tennant, Davies, doctor, doctor who, Doctor's Daughter, DoctorWho, Eleventh Doctor, games, Jackson Lake, London, Next Doctor, russell t. davies, Sonic screwdriver, Sonic the Hedgehog Games, tardis, Time Lord, video games | 3 Comments »

Doctor Who: Series Four (or Thirty) (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on November 7, 2013 by Darren

The fourth season of the revived Doctor Who is probably the most consistent of the seasons produced by Russell T. Davies. The first season had a very clear arc running through it, building to a fantastic final run of episodes; the second season had some strong individual elements, but suffered from a lot of behind-the-scenes shuffling; the third season suffered from a shoddy opening stretch, teething difficulties with the show’s first new companion lackluster finalé, despite some great ideas and wonderful experimental plotting.

While the fourth season is far from perfect, it does hang together a lot better than any of the previous three seasons. Watching from Partners in Crime through to Journey’s End, it definitely feels like Russell T. Davies had a stronger sense of where he wanted to go than he had with any of the previous three seasons. It helps that the past three seasons had been spent trying to acclimatise viewers to the workings of Doctor Who. The first season introduced the first Doctor and companion and the Daleks. The second introduced the first new Doctor and the Cybermen. The third introduced the first new companion and the Master.

So the fourth season is the first time that the show doesn’t really have too much of a mission statement. Unlike the Daleks or the Master or the Cybermen, nobody was really clamouring to see the Sontarans reinvented, let alone to reintroduce Davros. Like a lot of the foruth season, it seems like the show was really enjoying any freedom from a sense of obligation. The public knew what Doctor Who was. The rules and players had been set out, the past had been acknowledged and the show defined.

As such, the fourth season feels a lot more relaxed for everybody involved.

Continue reading →

Filed under: Television | Tagged: Catherine Tate, Cyberman, Dalek, david tennant, Davies, Davros, doctor, DoctorWho, Douglas Adams, fires of pompeii, journey, Master, Poison Sky, russell t. davies, Sontaran, Starship Titanic, William Hartnell | Leave a comment »

Doctor Who: The Trial of a Time Lord – The Ultimate Foe (Review)

Posted on June 28, 2013 by Darren

The Trial of a Time Lord originally aired in 1986.

In all my travellings throughout the universe I have battled against evil, against power-mad conspirators. I should have stayed here. The oldest civilisation, decadent, degenerate and rotten to the core. Ha! Power-mad conspirators, Daleks, Sontarans, Cybermen, they’re still in the nursery compared to us. Ten million years of absolute power, that’s what it takes to be really corrupt.

– the Doctor

There really are no excuses for the mess that The Trial of a Time Lord became. I mean, seriously. The producers had eighteen months to plan everything out. The task shouldn’t be that difficult. If you are going to fictionalise the persecution of Doctor Who by the BBC in the form of a trial, you really should have some idea what you plan to do or say at the end of it. If your fourteen episode season-long story arc is about defending a show that is coming close to cancellation, then perhaps it might be a good idea to be able to tell us why it shouldn’t be cancelled. The Trial of a Time Lord is a gigantic mess, and something that makes a stronger case in favour of Michael Grade’s attempts to cancel that show than it does against them.

The Ultimate Foe isn’t as soul-destroyingly horrible as Terror of the Vervoids, but that may be because Pip and Jane Baker only wrote half of it.

Only himself for company…

Continue reading →

Filed under: Television | Tagged: arts, Baker, bbc, Cyberman, Dalek, Deadly Assassin, doctor, DoctorWho, Eric Saward, John Nathan Turner, literature, Master, Michael Grade, Robert Holmes, science fiction, Sixth Doctor, Sontaran, tardis, Time Lord, Trial of a Time Lord, Ultimate Foe, Valeyard | Leave a comment »

Doctor Who: Nightmare in Silver (Review)

Posted on May 11, 2013 by Darren

I trust the Doctor.

You sure he knows what he’s doing?

I’m not sure I’d go that far.

– Clara and the Captain make sure they’re on the same page

Nightmare in Silver might not be as breathtakingly ambitious as The Doctor’s Wife, but Neil Gaiman’s sophomoric Doctor Who script retains the writer’s charm and wit. A collection of wonderful high concepts thrown together into a blender, distilled to their essence and gleefully sprinkled across forty-five minutes of television, it’s a beautiful reinvention of the Cybermen. After all, the show’s golden anniversary probably wouldn’t be complete without a visit from the Doctor’s silver nemesis.

Face-off!

Continue reading →

Filed under: Television | Tagged: Amusement park, Cyberman, cybermen, doctor, DoctorWho, Eleventh Doctor, Gaiman, matt smith, neil gaiman, patrick troughton, Silver Nemesis, steven moffat | 3 Comments »

Doctor Who: Earthshock (Review)

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Darren

Earthshock originally aired in 1982.

I would suggest you get your people well back. The hatch may be booby-trapped.

What about you?

Well, my arms are only this long. I can’t get any further away.

– the Doctor and Scott

Earthshock is regarded as one of the stronger stories of Peter Davison’s tenure on Doctor Who. It’s easy enough to see why. After all, it features not one but two memorable twists. It also harks back to the classic “base under siege” stories of the Patrick Troughton era. While it’s still very clearly a piece of early eighties Doctor Who, its production values hold up rather well compared to adventures from that era of the show. It’s written by Eric Saward and, like The Visitation, it has that same sense of tension and pace, building towards a truly massive final twist.

And yet, despite that, I find it very difficult to love Earthshock. I suspect a lot of that is down to how it seems like Doctor Who learned all the wrong lessons from Earthshock, retroactively tainting an otherwise very solid serial.

Shattered…

Continue reading →

Filed under: Television | Tagged: arts, bbc, Buck Rogers, Cyberman, cybermen, Dalek, Dalek Invasion of Earth, David Banks, Davison, doctor, DoctorWho, Earthshock, Eric Saward, Online Writing, patrick troughton, Peter Davison, science fiction, tardis, Unearthly Child | 3 Comments »

Doctor Who: Dalek (Review)

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Darren

Dalek originally aired in 2005.

I’m sorry. I’m so sorry! I swear, I just wanted you to talk!

Then hear me talk now. Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!

– Van Statten and the Dalek

Dalek is a pretty effective reintroduction of the show’s most iconic villain. It’s also something of a tour de force for lead actor Christopher Eccleston and Dalek vocal performer Nicholas Briggs. It’s full of interesting ideas, and perhaps the biggest swipe the show would make at “superfans” this side of Love & Monsters. That said, Rob Shearman’s script is occasionally a bit clumsy in its execution, never quite managing to convince the audience that the Doctor might be turning into a Dalek, no matter how firmly it labours to point. Still, minor quibble aside, it’s a wonderful way of welcoming the Daleks back to the fold.

The loneliest Dalek…

Continue reading →

Filed under: Television | Tagged: arts, Ascension Islands, bbc, christopher eccleston, Cyberman, Cyprus, Dalek, doctor, DoctorWho, List of Doctor Who villains, Love & Monsters, New Zealand, Nicholas Briggs, Parting of the Ways, science fiction, Sea Devil, tardis, Terry Nation, Time Meddler | 3 Comments »

Doctor Who: Attack of the Cybermen (Review)

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Darren

Attack of the Cybermen originally aired in 1985.

We realise this must be confusing for you.

– Threst tells it how it is

There is a tendency, these days, to be more sympathetic in appraisals of the Colin Baker years. Everybody – including Baker – accepts that his tenure could have gone a lot smoother. Watching Attack of the Cybermen, I can’t help but feel sorry for just about everybody involved. Rewatching Colin Baker’s first season, I can’t help but feel that the problem with this period of the show wasn’t that the production crew were making new mistakes or deviating from good ideas. It seems quite apparent that a lot of the major problems were embedded during Peter Davison’s time in the role.

The problem with Colin Baker’s first year on the show was that the writers and producers allowed those already significant flaws to attain critical mass.

A crushing blow…

Continue reading →

Filed under: Television | Tagged: arts, Attack of the Cybermen, bbc, Colin Baker, Cyberman, cybermen, Dalek, David Banks, doctor, doctor who, DoctorWho, fiction, Jon Pertwee, List of Doctor Who items, Peri, science fiction, Susan Foreman, tardis, Tenth Planet, Unearthly Child | 2 Comments »

Doctor Who: The Age of Steel (Review)

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Darren

The Age of Steel originally aired in 2006.

Human race. For such an intelligent lot, you aren’t half susceptible. Give anyone a chance to take control and you submit. Sometimes I think you like it.

– oh, Doctor, you kinky so-and-so

I really don’t like Rise of the Cybermen. I think it’s a waste of a potential origin story for one of the Doctor’s most iconic adversaries. However, most of the problems with this two-parter are front-loaded. The set-up, quite frankly, is relatively pedestrian. It’s Doctor Who on auto-pilot. The follow-up, Age of Steel, actually works a bit better. That’s not to suggest that the script is any smarter or any tighter. Indeed, this is very much Doctor Who in big blockbuster mode. However, Age of Steel does have one massive advantage. It has director Graeme Harper working on it.

At least they’re stylish…

Continue reading →

Filed under: Television | Tagged: arts, bbc, Caves of Androzani, Cyberman, cybermen, Dalek, doctor, DoctorWho, Graeme Harper, science fiction, tardis, The Age of Steel, torchwood, Unearthly Child | Leave a comment »

Doctor Who: The Tomb of the Cybermen (Review)

Posted on February 27, 2013 by Darren

The Tomb of the Cybermen originally aired in 1967.

In fact you might say they’ve had a complete metal breakdown.

Oooooh….

I’m sorry, Jamie.

– traveling with the Doctor can be quite pun-ishing

The Tomb of the Cybermen is a bit of miracle. Originally thought lost to history in the great BBC archives purge (along with most of the Troughton era), The Tomb of the Cybermen was recovered completely intact from Hong Kong in 1992, a quarter of a century after the adventure aired and several years after the original series had been cancelled by the BBC. It remains perhaps the most significant recovery in recent memory, and fosters hope that there might be a few other serials that have been preserved in their entirety. Still, even outside of its significant historical context, I’d make the argument that The Tomb of the Cybermen stands as the best adventure to feature the metallic men.

Sealing your tomb…

Continue reading →

Filed under: Television | Tagged: bbc, Cyberman, cybermen, doctor, Doctor (Doctor Who), doctor who, DoctorWho, Jon Pertwee, patrick troughton, second doctor, Sylvester McCoy, The Tomb of the Cybermen, Tomb Of The Cybermen, William Hartnell | 2 Comments »

Doctor Who: Rise of the Cybermen (Review)

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Darren

Rise of the Cybermen originally aired in 2006.

Delete. Delete.

– the moment the Cybermen realise they are second-rate Daleks

I’ll freely concede that I am sceptical of the Cybermen. Okay, that’s not fair. I actually really like the early Cybermen stories. However, it seems like Doctor Who really forgot how the Cybermen worked when it turned them into a recurring “once per Doctor” sort of threat. However, they are part of the show’s iconography. The image of the Cybermen marching down the steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral from The Invasion is important enough to earn them a sacred place in the show’s history.

So the return of the Cybermen was inevitable, even before we caught a glimpse of one of their silly helmets in Dalek. Russell T. Davies has generally done a great job revitalising old concepts for the revived series, so Rise of the Cybermen has that in its corner. Unfortunately, I’m not convinced that Rise of the Cybermen approaches anything resembling the quality of Dalek, and I think that Rise of the Cybermen manages the rare feat of turning most of Davies’ strengths into weaknesses.