Review of The Tomb of The Cybermen

By David Parkinson

Writer: Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis
Director: Morris Barry
Starring: Patrick Troughton, Frazer Hines, Deborah Watling, Roy Stewart, George Pastell,  Michael Kilgarriff

Fans were ecstatic when The Tomb of The Cybermen was rediscovered completely in Hong Kong. They flocked to every HMV or Virgin they could find, and bought it like crazy, only to discover that it wasn't the best. The special effects are next to shite, to be honest.

Basically, the Tardis lands on Telos, the resting place of the Cybermen. But The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria aren't the only humans there. There's also another group of people, on an expedition to find the lost eponymous tomb. They find it by pure luck, and soon the Doctor is dragged along. Troughton is at his best in this serial, playing the Doctor with  pure comedic balance perfectly mixed with a dramatic touch. It shows his full ability as a great actor.
 Anyhow, one of the people die trying to open the doors to the tomb, by means of electrocution. This is just the start of death, and foreshadows the ending. After this little niggle, the group enter and find that the set looks very Cyberman-ish. Well, I saw that, but all that really defines it as Cyberman-ish is the awesome emblem that adorns most of the Tomb.

The serial is also known for introducing the concept of the Cyber Controller and the Cybermats. The mats in this serial differ from those seen in Revenge of THe Cybermen and Closing Time. Basically, here, they're made of tarp and foam. Really obvious foam.

By the end, most of them are dead, Toberman, one of the main character's manservants, is partially converted into a Cyberman, and The Doctor and Jamie are in danger of becoming Cybermen. However, they manage to escape the Tomb, but not without the death of Toberman, closing the Tomb doors but electrocuting himself and the Controller. The Doctor claims that this should be the end of the Cyberman. He obviously doesn't see the Cybermat escape the Tomb......

The problem with the remastering of the story is that the obvious wires and dummies that were used are, well, obvious. Especially the wire used to lift Toberman up above the Controller's head.

You'll love

• Troughton's acting
• The Cybermen

You'll hate

• The special effects
• The persistent human antagonists

You'll laugh at

• The naff special effects

Rating: 3/5

Review of The Curse of Peladon

By David Parkinson

Writer: Brian Hayles
Director: Lennie Mayne
Starring: Jon Pertwee, Katy Manning, David Troughton, Geoffrey Toone, Alan Bennion.

I'm going to liken this to a Political Thriller, mixed with a bit of Scooby Doo. A Planet wishing to join the Galactic Federation, only for some force to try and stop this from happening. The force is Aggedor, a creature who is said to protect the King of Peladon. But the force behind the force, shown throughout the serial as Hepesh, high priest of Peladon, has a twist to it, which I'll explain later.

Basically, the Doctor whisks Jo away from a night out with Mike Yates and goes on a joy ride, which ends being a trip to Peladon. There, he faces rough winds, and low and behold, the loss of his model Tardis down a model hill. Yes, a very obvious model shot, but it wouldn't be Doctor Who without one. Then they find their way into the building where the Delegates are meeting and stumble upon an Ice Warrior. First seen in the aptly titled, The Ice Warriors,  the Ice Warriors are, in my opinion, great. Pity the only real reference to them in the Modern series is in the superb Waters of Mars, and even then it's just a name call. This is really the only time where the Ice Warriors are shown as Allies to the Doctor, rather then enemies, as in their next appearance, rather fortunately in the sequel to this episode, the Monster of Peladon, they're back to being the antagonists of the serial.
 Also among the Delegates are squeaky hermaphrodite Alpha Centauri and Paper Mâché cast off Arcturus, who seems to have a green fountain inside of him, and it also seems that he got speaking lessons from a Dalek. The Doctor is mistaken to be the Earth delegate, and Jo is introduced as Princess Josephine. As the princess, it's natural King Peladon, played by Patrick Troughton's son (!) should repeatedly come onto her. Still, with a costume like that, who wouldn't he come onto.

It soon becomes apparent that someone is out to get the delegates killed. It's a priest, someone who should shy away from Violence and murder and all that stuff. Hepesh is basically the George to Peladon's Lennie. Not saying that Peladon is mentally disabled. And that only works if George is corrupt. Anyhow, we're lead to believe Hepesh is basically acting alone, using the Kings manservant to do his dirty work. But, at the end of episode 3, it's revealed Arcturus was in on it the whole time. He tries to shoot Pertwee, only to be killed by Ssorg, the Ice Warrior. Basically, he wanted to mine Peladon to death. It's a shame his people decided to do it then, if they'd waited 50 years they'd be able to do it much easier. Hepesh then tries to use Aggedor to kill the Doctor, only for Aggedor to turn on his master and savage him to death.

The Doctor and Jo want to stay for the coronation of Peladon, but the real Earth delegate arrives and they slip away, But not before the Doctor realizes how they arrived: The Time lords needed the situation to be sorted, and they used their man in time and space to do it. Also before this, Peladon proposes to Jo, how declines and runs back to her man, the disfigured looking Mike Yates.

The sort of religious views and the political views looked upon in this episode really drew me into it. However, saying that, it tends to lag sometimes and, to be honest, Arcturus is just plain annoying.

You'll love

• The Ice Warriors
• The chemistry between Peladon and Jo
• Alpha Centauri is somewhat lovable

You'll Hate

• Episode Four isn't the strongest of episodes
• Arcturus

Rating: 3.9/5

Review of A Fix With Sontarans

By David Parkinson

Writer: Eric Saward
Director: Marcus Mortimer
Starring: Colin Baker, Janet Fielding, Gareth Jenkins, Jimmy Savile, Tim Raynham.


The Doctor's done many things. He's saved the universe countless times, restarted the Universe, defeated the Daleks, he's even broken the fourth wall. But, before this, he'd never presented a Jim'll Fix It medal. Well, now he has.

A Fix with Sontarans, like Death is The Only Answer, has many things wrong with it. One is Tegan, and no, I don't mean it that way. Tegan looks horrible in this, and I don't mean Janet Fielding is ugly, if that's what you think. No, it's that weird curtain hanging off of the back of her head that buggers me.

Then there's the famed Sontaran killer, whose name strikes anger in their hearts. His name? Gareth Jenkins. One of the most feared names in Sontaran legend, is the same name as someone you'd find working in a chip shop. Never mind the fact he seems to have a big ginormous case of stage fright, or the fact he's a crap actor, or the fact he's wearing a Sixth Doctor costume his gran made for him. No, it's the fact that he gets a flipping Sontaran gun for standing around looking scared. Mind you, with a man with a pedo coat and a woman with curtains on her head looming over you, even Daleks would be scared. The Sontaran marshall's name is.... Nathan. And, according to this, Jenkins' rise to victory is in 2001, when he defeats a Sontaran fleet, which would be an aircraft.....

Then there's the best bit: Sontarans getting violently and gorily killed. With green blood pouring out of their mouths, and their heads compressing, nothing is better in this script. Of course, Colin Baker backs away in repulse from the mug of the Late and Great Jimmy Savile, who enters the Tardis and asks the "Great Doctor" to award Gareth his medal. Awwww, Isn't that sweet? No, but it's better then the kid who asked for Gary Numan, then just sat there bored to death going round in circles, which you can see here.

You'll like

• The Sontaran Death scene
• Nothing but that bit

You'll hate

• The premise
• The ending
• The kid
• The Hair Curtains

Rating: 2.05/5