The Moonbase - Episode 4

The final part of this adventure starts with the image that we could get on audio and that is of an army of Cybermen walking along the moon. The sight of it is great and the music helps to create a wonderful opening impression. This is the first chance we have to look at the new Cybermen in all their glory. I still maintain the first design is the best look but there is something quite charming about the new look which has a nice mouthpiece where it opens when the words are being spoken, it was the only downside to the first design. It’s good that there more than three Cybermen in this story. If this were a Dalek story then it there would be three Daleks and several cut outs.

The Cybermen are quite resourceful as they use someone who is already infected to try and enable them to divert the relief ship from coming to the moon. Even when things go against them they still try and get into the base. The way that they are defeated is quite good as the gravitron is used against them and the effect of floating Cybermen is a rather well done one and it helps that the background is black so you cant see the string that are being used to pull them up.

I like the moment when the Doctor doesn’t do what the others when the Cybermen are about to fire on the dome. It reminds me of the moment when Hartnell’s Doctor stands defiant against a War Machine. It’s the first time that I have felt we have had the true brilliance of Patrick Troughton’s Doctor. At the end of the episode we get to see them all in their spacesuits for the first time and they are quite funny as they do look a bit silly and it just looks a bit cheap. One of the things that I think is a shame is how little the companions have to do. The most that Polly has to do is play charades with Benoit when they are trying to lower the gravitron and Ben and Jamie just have to run around.

The final scene ends with a  claw appearing on screen and this leading to The Macra Terror. It must have been a good cliffhanger at the time but I just cant help but think that it’s a bit lacklustre. It’s quite good to set up a mystery about what that Claw belongs to. As an episode it’s a very good final episode and uses every possible minute to end the story well. The regulars are good and the supporting cast is also very good here. As a four part episode I think it was just as good as I have thought of it in the past. It’s a great follow up adventure for the Cybermen and their status as second most popular villains in Doctor Who is cemented.