The Tenth Planet - Episode 2

The second episode is where we finally get to hear the Cybermen talk. After the great first glimpse at the end of the previous episode. It’s nearly five minutes before we get to hear them speak and it’s a great build up. It’s done with someone doing the voice off screen with the actor opening their mouth to try and time the words. Sadly this doesn’t quite work at times as the actor opens his mouth just a second after the speech starts. It’s the same problem that they have with the Daleks. There is a nice backstory as to what the Cybermen and where they have come from. It’s a short yet concise explanation and it fits the Cybermen well. The Cybermen instantly show their dominance over the humans by twisting a gun that Ben is holding like it’s a plastic prop. Oh wait a second!!

Ben gets to be quite resourceful when he is locked in a projector room. The moment is made even more dramatic when he has to kill a Cybermen and is horrified when he’s done it. He is the most active of the regulars in this episode as William Hartnell doesn’t really do anything apart from sit down. His involvement in this episode is somewhat limited. It’s a shame that in his final adventure he isn’t more active but that’s a fact of his illness and Anneke Wills also suffers from the same fate but at least she gets to stand up to the Cybermen for a short while.

The stakes get even more raised when General Cutler discovers that his son has been sent into space and the General thinks that his son has been sent on a death mission. This turns an amusing character into something quite different. The fun and humour has gone from him and we have someone who doesn’t care about anything else except for getting his son back.

The cliffhanger lacked the impact that the first one had. It was good but compared to episode one it was never going to be as good. As an episode it did its job very well and I thought that it was carried the story along well. Despite the Doctor being somewhat side-lined, the story continued well without (as many of the last half dozen stories have done) without him. I still think that the story uses all its positives well and I’m enjoying it immensely.