The Wheel in Space - Episode 5

The penultimate episode and the final time until The Space Pirates that I would be forced to listen to a CD. To be honest there’s a problem from the start and its that I cant remember what the cliffhanger was and there’s a good reason why as its not very exciting. This is the episode where it seems like they are considering Zoe as a companion when she has the speech about being raised to purely reel of stats and information. They have done a great deal since the last episode as she is far less annoying and that’s a big plus point. They have even dispensed with the slightly fractious relationship between Jamie and Zoe. I know they don’t have any scenes together but its still a point to go in the good column.

If I’m being honest then I feel that the focus seems more on the meteorites instead of the Cybermen. They don’t really get more involved in the story than they had done in the previous episode.  As the meteorites were taken everyone’s attention, it seemed the perfect opportunity for the Cybermen to continue with their plan. The thing about the meteorites it that it is something that the supporting cast can understand and believe in so we got to spend more time with them and that’s not a bad thing as they are quite entertaining.

The Cybermen have a rather convoluted plan to conquer the earth. Quite why they would go to the trouble of destroying the wheel. Surely there would be an easier way of getting the minerals that they all of a sudden desire. Also quite why its taken until the fifth episode to get this explanation is beyond me.

I haven’t mentioned the performances from Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines and that’s because there wasn’t much about them. They were perfectly fine but there wasn’t anything special. It did feel like they were trying  their best but the script didn’t really allow them to do anything and that’s a shame really. Gemma’s death is rather well done as she doesn’t do the hysterical scream that both men and women do in this show. It’s a shame that they have decided to kill her off as she was one of the few supporting cast members that stood out in any positive way.

I don’t know why but I’m not really being gripped by this story in the way that I thought it would have done.  I think maybe if I had watched/listened to it in one go then I would still think highly but it just feels like a bit of a dampener as the Cybermen are reduced to the secondary threat and I cant see how that’s going to change in the final episode. This is slowly turning into the weakest Cybermen story so far.