Rewatching... Doctor Who: Tomb of the Cybermen - Episode 4

"...the power of the Cybermen."

Saturday 23 September 1967

Let's just talk about Victoria for a moment. Now those of you who've followed my ramblings may be aware I had a bit of a crush on Polly, so I suppose I might have been a bit grumpy about her being dumped at Gatwick to make way for this new girl.

But whilst she's no Polly, I do quite like her. She's an unusual character though, almost schizophrenic. One moment screaming helplessly, the next bossy and assertive. Or is that just 'human?'

I'm pretty sure most of us would be both frightened and brave. In fact, I remember making the same point about Polly. Back in The Highlanders, she was exasperated by the weedy Kirsty, then leading her into danger, and fearlessly rescuing her friends. Then in Power Of The Daleks, she was a screaming nervous wreck. But it felt believable. We'd all be terrified trapped on a hostile planet with humanoid villains on one side and mutant horrors in armoured tanks on the other. So I'm ok with Victoria's blend of bravery and terror.

So generic villainous foreigner, Eric Klieg has escaped from his locked room with a cyber gun and is now pointing it at Callum.

For at least five seconds. Just pointing it. Callum could have strolled off by now but inexplicably he patiently remains on the spot to be shot while the opening captions appear. "Episode 4" fades from the screen so Klieg seizes his moment...and misses. Well, he does hit Callum but it's not fatal. Klieg does one of his sardonic smiles (he's really very good at those) and pretends it was deliberate.

Down in the tombs, we learn that the Cybermen run on rechargeable batteries.

This, and their concern with conservation of energy is admirable. I think I'm a bit like the Cybermen: I'm concerned about the environment, always switching things off when I'm not using them, I have a fairly logical mind, and I love a good long sleep. I can't bear a lot of gold 'bling' either, but that means nothing to anyone in 1967 so I'm getting a bit ahead there, bit naughty...

The Cybermen hear Klieg yelling down at them, demanding to speak to the controller.

They're busy though, they've been working on Toberman. He's got this white smock thing on. I wonder where the cyber wardrobe is, and whether they have other garments as well as smocks. Or maybe this is their one and only smock. I wonder who made it. Are there cyber tailors?

Back upstairs the controller pops his head through the hatch. Klieg immediately aims his gun at it.

"You are under my control," he points out, helpfully.

I'm surprised the controller would walk into an obvious trap like that, unprepared. Or maybe he is prepared....he has brought Toberman who climbs into the room. Nobody seems to notice something shiny and metallic under one of his sleeves. I swear I saw a glimpse of one of those silver cyber practice golf ball things.

Klieg demands that the controller agrees to his plan to conquer the Earth.

Instead of saying "I'd really rather you didn't," the controller even offers to give the man some of their power devices. Imagine what damage could be done with a couple of power devices. A power device in the wrong hands could be devastating.

Klieg allows the controller to go and recharge. He ushers the Doctor, Jamie and Parry (keeping Victoria as hostage) into the room with it.

This is the least threatening Cyberman I've ever seen now, just standing idly, unable to climb into the recharger. I like the slurry effect on his voice. He's still making demands even in this weakened state: "You will help us". Unbelievably the Doctor actually does help him into the sarcophagus.

They shut him in but to do so it seems the machine has to power up and therefore revitalise him.

"Where would you rather have him, in or out of there?" the Doctor asks his baffled friends. Well, my answer would be "I'd rather have him out here completely discharged than in there completely powered up!" I mean, what?! The state he was in before they could have pushed him over and gone home.

In the other room, Klieg is worried that the controller might be aroused.

As you know, there's nothing more dangerous than a Cybermen in a heightened state of arousal, so Klieg stands by with his gun.

The Doctor didn't account for the fact that the revitaliser has a built-in timer and fully charges its occupant. Jamie assures the Doctor that the King of the Beasties couldn't get out of that one because he's tied him up with rope, but the cyber controller is clearly stronger than the King of the Beasties.

So he bursts out as easily as if the sarcophagus was made from balsa wood and foil.

In the control room, Kaftan tells Callum that their big plan is to build a better world.

These power devices must be pretty awesome. I wonder what sort of world they have in mind. A world of logic. What does that involve? How would that affect you and I?

Toberman is up to something, unseen by all except Victoria. He approaches Klieg and reveals a Cyberman arm in place of his own.

I knew it!

He chops Klieg to the floor and turns on Kaftan. The controller enters the room and picks up his gun. After some arguing about broken promises, Kaftan shoots the controller with her pistol but it has no effect. In return, the controller fires on Kaftan who dies a smoky death.

Or is that steam as her flesh burns?

The Doctor points out to Toberman that what just happened was a bad thing. He explains that the controller killed his friend Kaftan. Eventually, Toberman gets it and he fights the Cyberman.

That bit where he picks the controller up above his head...no wires this time but no movement from the Cyberman either, a rather obvious dummy! It's like the controller was already dead when he picked him up.

More Cybermen start climbing into the room but are despatched by Jamie who shoots them and pushes them back through the hatch.

When it's all gone quiet the Doctor wants to make sure there's no more danger from the tombs so plans to take Toberman down with him.

He explains again that the Cybermen are bad people. Toberman is quite hard work, and takes ages to get it. The Doctor talks to him as if he's a slightly hard of hearing foreigner. "They are evil. Think of Kaftan," he says. Finally, the big guy gets it: "Evil!" he exclaims.

"They've tried to make you their slave...they just want to use you" the Doctor explains toKaftan's black servant...

As they turn to leave Jamie offers the Doctor the cyber gun.

"I shan't need that," he says confidently. Ah, now that's the Doctor I know!

"Move quietly", the Doctor tells Toberman. "EVIL!" the man yells. He really is a bit dim, isn't he?

There's a lovely scene where the Doctor pretends to go along with Klieg's nutty plan, stroking his ego, telling him how brilliant he is and how everyone will fall at his feet...and then just before the grinning lunatic explodes with ecstasy the Doctor mutters "Well now I know you're mad. I just wanted to make sure."

Upstairs the others wait nervously.

I can't believe even in the sixties that Americans spoke the way Captain Hopper does. It's not quite "jeepers" and "gee whiz"...but almost. This must be for American viewers what watching Dick Van Dyke is like for us Brits. I like how Victoria gets her own back on his previous sexism with some excellent sarcasm: "It's comforting to know that we have your superior strength to call on should we need it."

Meanwhile, Klieg is still wittering on about his superior intellect and the "supreme power of the Cybermen" when one of them makes his point for him by pushing him over to death.

People are often pushed over to death in Doctor Who.

Then Toberman picks another fight and he and the Cyberman grapple for a bit.

Surprisingly, Tober beats Cyber despite having only one cybernetic arm versus the Cyberman's full set of two.

Toberman rips open the chest unit and it looks like he pulls out organic material followed by an eruption of white foam. I suppose that is quite strong for teatime viewing. It's quite 'gory' but its space gore so I shouldn't think it'd upset anyone.

Later the Doctor decides to re-electrify the main doors...

...thus potentially making him responsible for the death of anyone who happens to brush past them or casually lean against them, let alone try to open them. He even admits that it'd be a fatal shock.

As they exit the tomb, a Cybermat trundles past without them noticing or hearing.

Then the controller wakes up and there's another struggle between him and Toberman. The big man wins and the doors are shut but at that point, they both get the electric shock and die.

So the Doctor caused Toberman's death and not a word of regret! They just casually say goodbye and that's it. Not even a gentle "he gave his life to save us" speech. Also, are the doors still charged or did they discharge through the controller and Toberman and can now be safely touched, as in episode one? Presumably, the Doctor wired them differently.

So it ends after everyone has departed with the lone Cybermat bleeping...

I mentioned at the start that Victoria was quite a schizophrenic character. I think the same can be said about this script. It had moments of stupidity followed by moments of brilliance. Terrible cliched and very naive dialogue, followed by brilliantly witty lines and one or two beautifully memorable scenes. There were certainly lots of wonderful set pieces, and bags of action, and also some very ropey visual effects.

I have been admittedly a bit disparaging about a lot of it, but actually, I adore this story. There was obvious inspiration from the Howard Carter Egyptian expedition, which worked really well. I love Hammer films and this was as close as Doctor Who has got to a Hammer mummy film, so what's not to like? The hokey dialogue was just amusing frankly; there was enough brilliant dialogue to offset the terrible. For a story about logic, the logic of the script was questionable at times, but really who cares? It was a lot of fun and the Cybermen themselves were superb. The tension was relentless, and one can easily imagine a better-realised remake being a massive success, perhaps on the big screen. But probably best watched with brain disengaged.

A trailer at the end shows us another icy episode coming up. Looks like another isolated expedition. Something scary on a windy mountain...can't wait!