The Cybermen are coming!!!!
The Doctor (Patrick Troughton), Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines), and Victoria Waterfield (Deborah Watling) find an archeological dig on the planet Telos. The dig uncovers the tomb of the Cybermen, but team members Klieg (George Pastell) and Kaftan (Shirley Cooklin) and her assistant Toberman (Roy Stewart) have their own plans for the Cybermen. When the Cybermen are released, the whole archaeological party might discover they are all part of the Cybermen’s master plan.
Doctor Who: The Tomb of the Cybermen falls under the fifth season of the popular British series Doctor Who. It aired in four parts from September 2, 1967 to September 23, 1967. Following the events of Doctor Who: The Evil of the Daleks, Doctor Who: Tomb of the Cybermen has been collected in The Patrick Troughton Years as Story #37.
Oh, this is a cute little robot thingy…
Doctor Who: The Tomb of the Cybermen one of the early appearances of the Doctor’s long-time enemies the Cybermen who first appeared in Doctor Who: The Tenth Planet (Story #29). This episode has the Doctor and his companions joining a crew raiding a Cybermen temple. It shows how Cybermen are held in stasis, and I have to say, I kind of enjoy the Cybermen “storage” tomb since it was a rather decent set for the Doctor at this point.
The series introduces the Cybermen’s cute little sidekicks in the Cybermats and the Cyberman Controller. The Cybermat is a fun little addition though it looks horrible in this version. I think even in the modern Doctor Who the Cybermats haven’t translated well to the screen, but they are still goofy fun. The Cyberman Controller is fun however and starts to establish the hierarchy of the Cybermen that often comes into play in the story.
Freeze dried Cybermen!
I do find it really hard to get into these Patrick Troughton series however, but it isn’t Troughton’s fault. In fact, I like what I’ve seen of Troughton, but Troughton of course is the biggest victim of the loss of Doctor Who episodes. Only six full series of Troughton’s run exist and there are a number of partial episodes. I always hope for more episodes to pop-up and I am really into the idea of animating the serials…you lose the human aspect of the story, but most Doctor Who actors are very theatrical and overplay their parts so it still could come through in the vocals.
Doctor Who: The Tomb of the Cybermen is a worth-wild trip for fans of the current Doctor Who in that it does play into the story a bit more than other earlier Doctor Who stories. The Cybermen are fun enemies and continue to be fun enemies to this day…see one of their earliest appearances. Doctor Who: The Tomb of the Cybermen is followed by Doctor Who: The Abominable Snowman (Story #38).
