The Tenth Planet - Episode 1

It’s the end, but the moments been prepared for. This is the final story to feature William Hartnell as the lead man. It’s a story that also introduces the Cybermen to the world. Now this comes out on DVD in October (2013) and so all I have is a old copy on VHS so I was wait for this to come out but then decided against it. This is the period in Doctor Who where base under siege stories were commonplace. The story takes place in a base in the Antarctic and the claustrophobic setting is helped by the sound effect and the snowflakes. The story takes place twenty years in the future  and its good how they haven’t let their imaginations run wild when imagining what the future would be like.

Some of the people at the base do seem like they have come out of a Carry On movie with the Italian’s reaction to being told there is a woman outside verging on the slapstick. Thankfully after the initial arrival of the Doctor, Ben and Polly they are kept to a minimum. What we are then dealing with are some well realised characters. General Cutler is instantly entertaining. When the Doctor says that he doesn’t like his tone, the General replies with I don’t like your face or your hair. It’s a great line and it’s the start of one of the standout characters in the story. I like how the Doctor knows what they will see before they have seen it.  When the new planet is seen on a screen no one has clued that its basically the earth upside down. Someone has got a globe and spun it upside down.

The title is somewhat out of date because in 2006 it was decided that Pluto wasn’t a planet so Mondas is actually the 9^th planet and not the tenth.  However this is irrelevant and the Tenth Planet title isn’t mentioned at all during the story so

The final portion of this episode is brilliant. The sight of the Cybermen walking over the horizon towards the TARDIS is a fantastic shot and also the final shot for the cliffhanger is one of my favourite in Doctor Who. I love the look of this Cyberman and think it’s the best one ever. I know everyone will disagree but if you don’t think that this Cybermen has the best design then I’m sorry but your 100% wrong.  This opening episode has a different feel to previous episode and I don’t know whether those who watched in 1966 could tell that the end was going to come in this episode but as it stands it’s a cracking opening episode with great characters and the rest of the story is going to be a good send off to the original Doctor.