Doctor Who: Attack of the Cybermen: Part 1 starts as the Doctor (Colin Baker) & his companion Peri (Nicola Bryant) are on the TARDIS admiring Haley's Comet whizz past when they receive an intergalactic distress call from Earth during the year 1985, unable to ignore the call the Doctor lands the TARDIS in central London & sets about finding the source of the distress call along with Peri. The trail leads to the sewers under London where they encounter a Cyberman who have a base down there as they turn unsuspecting Londoners into Cybermen in an attempt to (literally) rebuild their race. Meanwhile sinister things are happening on a distant planet called Telos where the Cybermen have enslaved humans to plant explosives under the surface, but for what purpose? Why are the Cybermen under London? What is their plan & how will the Doctor save the day?
This Doctor Who adventure was the first story of season 22 & the second to feature Colin Baker as the Doctor, directed by Matthew Robinson I think Attack of the Cybermen is a great Doctor Who story. The script by Paula Moore has a nice easy blend of light hearted comedy & sci-fi. There's a fair amount of fun to be had during this two parter although thankfully it never descends into complete farce, the fact that the Doctor fixes the chameleon circuits on the TARDIS so it will blend in with it's surroundings only to turn into a church organ in a scrapyard, some of the dialogue is pretty amusing without being totally daft & it certainly brought a smile to my face on several occasions. Of course that's not to say it forgets about the scary sci-fi element, there's plenty of Cybermen menacingly lurking around the sewers of London & their sinister plan to turn us into them, there's distant planets & some decent action plus there's a connection to some earlier Doctor Who stories for the die-hard fans. It moves along at a great pace & I never bored, this is at the point where Doctor Who episodes ran for 45 minutes rather than traditional 25 to 30 minutes previously. The downside is that's it's all rather silly & is impossible to take seriously but when something provides this much fast paced good natured fun & bags of entertainment who cares?
This being a BBC funded programme the budget was probably pretty damn low so don't expect brilliant special effects although as a whole the effects are aren't too bad at all. I love the Cybermen, I must admit I've always watched & enjoyed Doctor Who & I have to say the Cybermen are my favourite monsters from the entire show, period (obviously I was glad to see them make a very welcome return in the new series where they look as good as ever). They don't look silly & make for an effective enemy, the one thing I don't like about the Cybermen in Attack of the Cybermen is the voice, it sounds like a guy in a helmet which to be fair what it is but I'd have liked a cold electronic robotic voice to make them even more emotionless. There's a few decent action scenes & laser fights plus I liked the way the Cybermen made their initial entrance & emerged from the shadows of the sewer tunnels for the first time.
Attack of the Cybermen: Part 1 is a great start to a great story that has just about everything I like about Doctor Who, if you hate Doctor Who then obviously stay well clear as you'll hate it but anyone looking for a bit of sci-fi fun to pass a hour & a bit (both episodes combined) then you could do a hell of a lot worse than Attack of the Cybermen.
This Doctor Who adventure was the first story of season 22 & the second to feature Colin Baker as the Doctor, directed by Matthew Robinson I think Attack of the Cybermen is a great Doctor Who story. The script by Paula Moore has a nice easy blend of light hearted comedy & sci-fi. There's a fair amount of fun to be had during this two parter although thankfully it never descends into complete farce, the fact that the Doctor fixes the chameleon circuits on the TARDIS so it will blend in with it's surroundings only to turn into a church organ in a scrapyard, some of the dialogue is pretty amusing without being totally daft & it certainly brought a smile to my face on several occasions. Of course that's not to say it forgets about the scary sci-fi element, there's plenty of Cybermen menacingly lurking around the sewers of London & their sinister plan to turn us into them, there's distant planets & some decent action plus there's a connection to some earlier Doctor Who stories for the die-hard fans. It moves along at a great pace & I never bored, this is at the point where Doctor Who episodes ran for 45 minutes rather than traditional 25 to 30 minutes previously. The downside is that's it's all rather silly & is impossible to take seriously but when something provides this much fast paced good natured fun & bags of entertainment who cares?
This being a BBC funded programme the budget was probably pretty damn low so don't expect brilliant special effects although as a whole the effects are aren't too bad at all. I love the Cybermen, I must admit I've always watched & enjoyed Doctor Who & I have to say the Cybermen are my favourite monsters from the entire show, period (obviously I was glad to see them make a very welcome return in the new series where they look as good as ever). They don't look silly & make for an effective enemy, the one thing I don't like about the Cybermen in Attack of the Cybermen is the voice, it sounds like a guy in a helmet which to be fair what it is but I'd have liked a cold electronic robotic voice to make them even more emotionless. There's a few decent action scenes & laser fights plus I liked the way the Cybermen made their initial entrance & emerged from the shadows of the sewer tunnels for the first time.
Attack of the Cybermen: Part 1 is a great start to a great story that has just about everything I like about Doctor Who, if you hate Doctor Who then obviously stay well clear as you'll hate it but anyone looking for a bit of sci-fi fun to pass a hour & a bit (both episodes combined) then you could do a hell of a lot worse than Attack of the Cybermen.