Revenge of the Cybermen - Episode 4

This is the final episode of Tom Baker’s first full season as the Doctor. The reprise that we got at the beginning of the episode is slightly different from the cliffhanger and that’s the shot of Kellman and Harry being taken out. It means that the beginning of the episode is much better than the cliffhanger and it’s a rare thing then that happens. I like the Doctor’s reaction when he learns that Harry was about to unbuckle the belt and makes the rocks fall. “Harry Sullivan is an imbecile” is a line that always makes me laugh. The bit where they are still travelling to the centre of voga doesn’t last that long and it makes way for the rest of the episode.

The fight sequence between Harry, the Doctor and Cybermen was a little disappointing but it was probably the best that they could do. I thought that Lester’s death was quite a good one. He had been a good character throughout the story and the fact that he gave his life to destroy two Cybermen was a noble death.

I’ve not commented on it before now but the Cyber Leader headpiece looks rather silly. It’s like they made no attempt to distinguish the leader from the rest of them. It’s only now that I realise that black and white television lent something good to the Cybermen which is lost now the show is in colour. What caps it off is one scene where the Cyber Leader is walking out of a room with his hands on his hips and rambling. Their demise is also a disappointment because its just them being blown up by the rocket from Voga.  It’s a shame that their only story of the 1970’s is such a let down. That was a weird thing to write. It was over 2,000 days since the Cybermen were last seen and I suspect that it will be the same amount of time before they turn again in ‘Earthshock’.

The idea that the Cybermat is used to kill a Cyberman mirroring the way that they were used in the first episode is quite a good idea. Sadly its only used a couple of times before its dropped and whilst it looks better than when the humans get bit, it means that the chest plate isn’t the only place that can get affected by gold. Even though they are metal, the ‘teeth’ on the cybermats are enough to do the job.

There is a scene where Harry is seen stood on the spot doing nothing. That pretty much sums up his involvement in this story and it’s a blessing that the next story will be his last because Ian Marter really has suffered during the course of this shortened series. Whereas Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen had been largely strong in this shortened season, Marter has been made redundant because the person chosen to be the Doctor is younger than they were anticipating when they cast Marter. Marter isn’t terrible and he’s nowhere near as bad as Jackie Lane but he’s not been one of the best companions.

As a story its not as bad as I remember. Like ‘Invasion of the Dinosaurs’, this story has some very sound moments but there are small things that due undermine this story and so the final story of Tom Baker’s first season is just about better than his first. I think that over the course of the past twenty episodes, it has been shown the show can survive without Jon Pertwee just as it had survived after Patrick Troughton left the show and after William Hartnell left. The next season will be the first that hasn’t had the Barry Letts touch to it and so I think that the show will go from strength to strength.