The Wheel in Space - Episode 4

Back to the CD for this episode and as we are in the second half of the story its where all the elements should be coming together and hopefully it will improve from the rather rubbish cliffhanger. The Cybermen don’t sound quite as tinny in the reprise which is good but they are still not as good as in previous stories. I do like the look of them and think that whilst it doesn’t beat my favourite look which is the very first design of the Cybermen, it’s a good look for them. The story has a base under siege vibe to it and it uses this to its advantage with the threat of meteorites at the forefront of the menace (apart from the Cybermen).

It’s taken until now for the inevitable disbelief of the Cybermen. It happened in ‘The Moonbase’ but it’s taken longer here because it’s a longer story. Though the disbelief tends to come from Jarvis. Jarvis is going slightly mad and hysterical with Gemma being the voice of reason, even if she’s slightly suspicious of things. The reasons behind his appointment is questioned quite rightly by the Doctor. He’s become so unstable that its clear to anyone that this is going to cause problems later on in the story.

There is another example of Zoe and Jamie having a somewhat unusual relationship. It’s certainly going to be different to the Jamie/Victoria one which was a nice one to observe (or hear in some cases). Zoe starts off as the smarty pants but by the end of the episode starts to realise that she’s not the most liked person on the wheel. I must say that Patrick Troughton doesn’t seem to have quite the impact that I have become use to. Frazer Hines has a slightly better episode but that’s only really because he got to interact with Wendy Padbury who went under a character change in a relatively short space of time so hopefully this is where Zoe will have mellowed for good now.

This episode is the first time for sometime that I’ve heard the TARDIS or the fluid link mentioned. It’s nice that we are reminded about this fact because with the knowledge that the Cybermen the point had been lost. It’s only briefly mentioned and then its dropped when its realised that the Cybermen have smuggled themselves on board.

The episode continued to move along but it still doesn’t seem to have the punch to it that I would have expected. The Cybermen are still on the outskirts of this story even though they are more visible to the viewer. I am still surprised that they haven’t come into contact with the central characters. All they did really in this episode was hypnotised several minor characters and that’s it. Whilst it might not be the greatest six parter in the history of the show its certainly maintaining my attention unlike ‘Fury from the Deep’.

A bit of trivia here to end this portion of the marathon is that this episode aired on May 18, 1968 and it aired 35 minutes late after the FA Cup Final finished late though footy fans might be happy to know that WBA beat Everton 1-0.