Looking Back: Attack of the Cybermen

Colin Baker's tenure isn't popular. At all. Let's see how that goes.

'Attack of the Cybermen' kicked off Season 22, on the 5th of January 1985, and it's actually quite a symbolic story - it saw the beginning of the first decent season of Colin Baker's (probably the only decent season of Colin Baker's), and marked the temporary transition from four-part stories to regular, 45-minute two-parters (excluding 'The Two Doctors', which was three), a trend that would be lost again come the mega-story, 'The Trial of a Time Lord'. The season also saw the baptism of Colin Baker into his role as the Doctor - of course, he had done 'The Twin Dilemma' at the end of Season 21, but let's just... gloss over that, shall we? What with all the changes and alterations going on in Doctor Who at this point, it was vital for the writers and producers behind the scenes to keep the fans happy - this they did by bringing back as many classic villains as they possibly could, which resulted in a season bearing the reappearances of the Cybermen, the Daleks AND the Sontarans, something that had only ever happened once before on the show. Which is a thing. Point is, Season 22 is like a honeypot to curious Whovian bees. Or wasps, because bees can make their own honey.

Roll the opening credits!

Part One:

Something that can really get a viewer invested in your story is a good opening scene. Maybe two minutes with a mystery, some characters, an atmospheric setting and an unexpected event. Something to really hook the audience, and do it quickly, and 'Attack of the Cybermen' does this really, really well. We start here in a sewer, yes, but hold your judgement, it's a well-done sewer and a nice scene, and it exposes some really good plot elements. It's the 'wrong tunnel', people disappear in the dark. It just works. Era-less, as has been pointed out on more than one blog.

It's just a shame the quality can't be transferred to the TARDIS.

Now I think it's fair to say the Peri/Doctor dynamic is a weird one, because I never know whether Peri really has a character or whether she's just a sex symbol or a punchbag or whether the Doctor is being a dick or not. It's just weird and slightly hostile, which I think is wrong. I mean, we've only just been introduced to this new Doctor - why make him so violent and cruel? Why take away Peri's character so entirely? I mean, I can put up with Colin Baker, he means well, often victim of the careless production team, it's just an off-putting relationship. At least we're now in the story, and we can go back to Earth as we please (hallelujah). It's London, it's the eighties, it's criminals, it's...
...is it?
It is! It's Lytton! From 'Resurrection of the Daleks'! Yes, Lytton, a nasty character it's hard to tire of watching - really, take a look at 'Resurrection' or this. He's a dude. And now a dude with a gang and a plan. Maybe things are looking to get better...

Oh and he's up to no good, to be sure. Strange technology, signalling devices, and those two suspicious policemen... I feel like I'm receiving spirit messages from his previous story. Wait, there was a distress call picked up in the TARDIS, from Earth - could a link be forming here? Maybe? Good character work in these London bits, too. Really well crafted and timed. I like it, and I like the hostility/relationships within the criminal group. But the next scene...
I mean, the Doctor finding himself at 76, Totter's Lane shouldn't really be a problem, most of the time. It's a hallmark location of the show. But what are nineteen eighties children going to gain from such a mindlessly self-indulgent scene? Really? Are they going to go 'Ah yes! This is the scrapyard mentioned about twice in the first ever episode of Doctor Who, back when I wasn't born! What exciting continuity!'? No they're not! I mean, if we're going to have a continuity reference, make it understandable for those who haven't watched the entire series beforehand, or just slip it in for fans to notice, don't spray it all over the scene with neon paint and point at it with a big torch. Stuff like that works in stories like 'Remembrance of the Daleks', because it's all about looking back and story arcs, and because the location is actually valid in the narrative. But here...? It's just random, and unmerited. I'll be revisiting this point a lot in the near future. Oh, and the music. The music makes me bleed.

But hey. Long story very very short, both teams end up in the deadly sewers. And I am cutting this bit very brisk, as it's really not that interesting. The Doctor and Peri are confronted by the 'Resurrection' policemen, not much happens, and there's some nice interplay with Russell and Lytton and that lot down in the tunnels. That's pretty much it.
But now we're in the sewers, and the story begins to pick up a bit - the little ferrety one of Lytton's mob is killed through the pixellated vision of a particular unspecified monster (the story's called 'Attack of the Cybermen', hint cough nudge), and no sooner does the Doctor get into the brickwork than the wall opens and out come the Cybermen themselves, in homage to a certain 60's story we all know and love. And it looks nice. It does, it's a powerful shot.

So they're here and back, which is nice. I for one, was glad to see them entering into the equation right about now - any later and it would have felt a bit odd. In fact, I actually quite like these Cybermen. They're punchy, they're violent (we'll go into this in a minute), they're more than a little bit menacing - they're basically all you could want in the metal men from Mondas. Also, there is actually quite a shocking bit, when the fat one in Lytton's gang (the one who's allergic to everything) turns to run and comes face to face with one of the black Cybermen, which I find, whatever anyone says, ridiculously cool. And stealthy. Like ninjas.

Meanwhile, the Doctor's found the dead body of the ferrety guy, the gun of whom he takes. Which I dislike. Screwdrivers, not guns, man. And this, I think, is part of why I don't like the Sixth Doctor - the violence. Oh my, the Doctor is violent. I mean, he beats some poor policeman into submission (I hope not death), he steals this guy's gun, he stabs a Cyberscout with his sonic lance (whatever that is), then tops it all off with a dazzlingly explosive fight scene at the end - you'll see what I mean. In fact, the ending scene's quite good, but my point still stands. Bit over the top, this. But let's cool it down now with some pacy dialogue between the Doctor and Russell, who ran away when the Cybermen appeared (for which I don't blame him).

Interestingly and unpredictably enough, poor Russell turns out to be an undercover police officer, pretending to work for Lytton in order to investigate him. Naturally, the Doctor recognises Lytton for who he really is, and ponders over what the bounty hunter may be planning - but not for long, thanks to the timely arrival of another black Cyberman, provoking some uneasiness to eek out of the sixth Doctor's usually overconfident manner. Good scene actually - a bit of humour, a bit of fear, more than a hint of gratuitous violence from the Doctor's end. Again.

Back with the Cybermen, Lytton appears to be getting rather chummy with the Cyberleader, asking to be taken to meet the Cyber-Controller on Telos. A little more pointless continuity - it's back and baffling. Meanwhile, Payne (the allergic fat one) seems to regard the Cybermen as a fancy dress practical joke, even stooping to the level of imitating the Cyberleader - hilarious. But hark, think we, the fans who understand the Telos references, what was that about the Cybermen's adopted planet and long-dead controller? When shall we see this resurrected tyrant, if ever? Well not now, but we do get to see some Telos action - even if the following scene is slightly confusing...

Nevertheless, the mood, atmosphere and tone of Telos is mightily satisfying - who cares if we have no idea who on earth all the humans are, and why on earth they're working under the Cybermen. I mean, the scene is exciting, and dramatic, and full of effects and things, but can't we get a little bit of background first? How are we supposed to know that we're even on Telos itself? There aren't any massively clear pointers, and god knows they're what we need in this rampaging maze of a story. Pft. We're introduced to Stratton and Bates, two of the labourers - Bates, the terrifyingly fanatical one, and Stratton, his softer accomplice. Look, long story short, the two escape and decapitate a Cyberman. DECAPITATE A CYBERMAN. 

It's all very violent at this stage. I imagine you've guessed as much, but if you haven't perceived the genre we're looking at, there it is. So yeah, Stratton fails to grab the head, resulting in Bates's raging about Cyber Control, a forbidding looking building a couple of rises over. It's apparently vital to secure a head, and so what should we do? Why not take the head off another Cyberman?

Back on Earth, the Lytton/Cybermen team has found the carcass of the Cyberscout from earlier, and the Doctor's presence is confirmed for both antagonists - bad news, as it turns out. In the TARDIS, Russell, entering first, encounters a Cyberman and shoots it through the mouth (through the mouth), before the Doctor and Peri are even through the doors. Another Cyberman then proceeds to kill Russell (no! I shouted at my television, seeing the poor man's body slide to the floor), as the Cyberleader enters, ordering the death of Peri, who makes the face in the picture below as she screams in protest, a gun pointed purposefully at her head by one of her captors, the end credits slipping in with a synthetic chord as we wonder how the hell we can possibly get out of this one!

Part Two:

Oh.
Pretty easily, as it turns out.

Setting the self-destruct timer on the TARDIS console works for this kind of stuff, by the way. And, jeopardy over, why does everything in science fiction have a self-destruct? I mean, especially the TARDIS - even the Cybermen's stuff is beyond that. Just saying.

Anyway, the Cyberleader agrees to let Peri live and the Doctor stops the counter just before it hits zero. Which is quite fun, and followed by some nice dialogue betwixt the Doctor and the Cyberleader. The moment in which the survival of the Cyber-Controller is revealed is really nice, and it's good to see the worry on the Doctor's face. It's just a shame Colin Baker doesn't have enough of these kinds of scenes, save for in the extended universe.

But our antagonists apparently aren't deterred, and the Doctor and co. (including Lytton and co.) are bundled in together after the Doctor is forced to set coordinates for Telos by the Cyberleader. There's a lovely sense of mutual antagonism between the Doctor and Lytton, and it's really played out by the claustrophobic space and the quiet. During the journey, the Doctor recounts the story of Telos to Peri - how the Cybermen took it from the resident Cryons for it's cryogenic capabilities and created hibernation cities for themselves. It's a nice little nod to the 60's and 'Tomb of the Cybermen', much as the sewers were a nod to 'The Invasion', and the plot is a nod to 'The Tenth Planet'. This story basically is just a big nod. Nod nod nod. Oh, and the Doctor remarks on (and this is kinda important) Lytton's extensive knowledge of Cyber-history.

The TARDIS lands (in the shape of an ornamental gate) (don't ask me) within the tombs of the Cybermen (nod nod nod), and the location seems to worry the Cyberleader, who insists the group returns to the TARDIS. All is revealed when a slimy green Cyber-fist smashes through the door of a hibernation chamber and knocks one of the sewer Cybermen's head clean off. I'll be honest, the first time I watched it, this sequence really got me. It'll take you off guard too (well, not now). Seriously, it's just >smack< and there's no head, followed by the algae Cyberman attacking the Cyberleader. By the way, it's all rotten because the Cryons (not so dead) have been tampering with the cryo tombs. Just saying, because nobody else does.

Peri, Lytton and Griffiths escape in the confusion, leaving the Doctor with the Cyberleader. Peri is taken to safety by some kindly Cryons, while Lytton and Griffiths bump into some more, who reveal Lytton's allegiance to the non-extinct species, and offer Griffiths £2 million in diamonds if he will aid them in their attempt to steal the time-vessel the Cybermen captured from Bates and Stratton (remember them?). God this plot is confusing.

In the meantime, the Doctor is thrown into a cold-storage cell by his captors until further notice, in which he meets yet another Cryon, Flast, who explains the Cybermen's plan - to prevent the destruction of Mondas, their original home planet, by using a timeship to knock Halley's comet (remember that?) into Earth, thereby disorientating the human race to a point that they will not be able to defend themselves from the Cybermen. It's revealed in a neat bit of directing that the Doctor has been secretly sent by the Time Lords to stop the Cybermen, thereby averting the massive rupture in time that would occur otherwise. Phew. Thanks for that, Flast.

Lytton and Griffiths, meanwhile, have met up with Stratton and Bates, who agree to help commandeer their time machine, which I suppose is neat, and ties things up a bit - we all need us some of that. Back in the cold storage, meanwhile, the Doctor has discovered a large reserve of vastial, a mineral that combusts under contact with air over zero degrees centigrade. A small portion of this the Doctor uses to dispose of his guard, and the rest he gives to Flast, who agrees to use it to wipe out the Cybermen when they come for the Doctor - this means that Flast will die, but as she cannot leave for fear of boiling herself, it doesn't make much difference. It's actually quite sad seeing her cradling the vastial, knowing that in a short time she'll be gone. Sad music too.

Back in Cyber-Control, the Controller has noticed the Doctor's absence, and orders the Cyberleader to investigate - wait, I feel suddenly that I haven't once talked about the Cyber-Controller. Wow, not once. Time to change that.
The Cyber-Controller is a good, good idea. I think it's neat and logical to have the Cybermen led by a figure more powerful than themselves, and this is concept is channelled perfectly in 'Tomb of the Cybermen' - perfectly. The Cyber-Controller is taller than his minions, he is darker, he is stronger, he talks more, he has a different helmet.. perfect. But here, I find the Cyber-Controller without purpose to the point of embarrassment. Know why?

Because they used the same actor as in 'Tomb'. The same one. The same greying, probably retired man. Michael Kilgarriff, I think his name was. And really, what was the point? They could have had a tall, slim, powerful person, someone like David Banks (the Cyberleader), because, and I'll be brutally honest here - Michael Kilgarriff was too old. He had gone past it just a wee bit. You can hear it in his voice, you can see it in his stature (prompting the title 'The Fat Controller'), and you can feel it in the way the story works. Maybe that's how it was meant. Maybe the Controller was meant to have become inefficient and elderly - but that's not the way Cybermen work! If the Controller had become like that, he would have been replaced or upgraded! Actually, he was upgraded! But only in his armour/suit? I find that hard to swallow, and I think that on this occasion Doctor Who suffered from a bit too much sentimentality. But there you go - that's just the way things are. I'm not saying that Kilgarriff gives a bad performance, not at all - you can see sparks of the old Controller there, certainly you can - it's just that there was always going to be someone better.

By the by, Lytton and co. make it to Cyber Control, but Lytton is captured and the rest are killed as the team reach the landing pad - it's pretty bleak. The Controller demands that Lytton reveals his plans, but when the mercenary refuses to talk, two Cybermen are ordered to crush his hands. Really. One Cyberman grabs his left hand, another one takes his right, and they just start squeezing - it's brutal, horrific and... unnecessary?
Well.
Yes, it's nasty. And gratuitous, and I can see that. I can see that perhaps things should have been a bit more thought-through before it went on air. BUT I do think it's a scene with impact. I mean, sometimes you  just want villains to do some grizzly shit, and the Cybermen are definitely villains that can't afford to not be threatening; they've always shot to kill, always hit to wound, always struck to destroy. They're real, and believably, and for that reason the Cybermen are legitimately scary monsters. And if it's the only thing I ever agree with Eric Saward on, it's that monsters should be scary. Even if this is a bit far.

And really, this story's nearly at an end. There's not much more to it - the Controller plugs Lytton into the conversion frame (or whatever it's called), and leaves to deal with Flast, who, in quite a shocking turn of events, is flung into the heated corridor and dies. It's all a bit sad. The Doctor, meanwhile, has rescued Peri and lands the TARDIS (once more a police box) in Cyber Control. Lytton, half Cyberman, begs the Doctor to kill him (which is really horrible. It's never easy to see strong characters so weakened). With expert timing, the Controller arrives with a Cybergun clutched in his hand to confront the Doctor. Just as all seems lost, Lytton reaches forwards and, with a last push of strength from a dying man, rams something into the arm of the Controller, who spurts green fluid about the place and shouts a bit. The Doctor grabs his gun and deals with the Cyberleader, who has just come in, and finishes by shooting the Controller in the chest unit. Again, this is kinda unnecessary and worrying. It's the kind of thing that was merited in 'Earthshock', but Adric had just died then and here nothing really has happened to justify such violence. Maybe it's the Doctor's post-regenerative trauma.
Whatever the case, it's a very bleak ending. The Doctor kneels beside Lytton's dead form with a sombre expression on his face, Peri at his shoulder, mourning the demise of the hero he took for his enemy. 'I don't think I've ever misjudged anybody quite as badly as I did Lytton', he says as the credits begin to roll.

Last Words?

I actually quite like this story, and I surprise myself here. I like it because it's exciting and well shot, and because it has a certain style that other stories of the same era don't, necessarily. There's some brilliant action, some lovely dialogue, some believable characters and a good enough (if complex) storyline. People complain about the constant horrific level of violence, and I can see that it gets too much here, but at the same time I think it works at raising the stakes (although, following 'Earthshock', it isn't like the Cybermen need a lot of that). The biggest problem really for me is the crazy attack continuity, and even that's just about okay as long as you let yourself go with it.

I don't think that this story deserves the hate it so often receives. I see it as a layered, sometimes scary and occasionally heartfelt romp with the benefit of starring two of Doctor Who's best villains (the Cybermen and Lytton). I admire the fact that not all the characters are the clear-cut goodies and baddies of some classic Doctor Who monsters and protagonists. I see 'Attack of the Cybermen' as one of the more challenging stories of this era, certainly one of the most challenging of Colin Baker's. Yes, there are faults, and many at that - the Cyber-Controller, the music, the random continuity - but what Doctor Who story doesn't have places at which it falls down slightly? And anyway, it isn't the falling down that should be concentrated on with this, it's the getting back up, and I think that this is what 'Attack of the Cybermen' does so well; it compensates for it's less brilliant scenes. It's a story not to be immediately judged - you just have to look a bit deeper than with other stories.

Even though the first part is shit.