 "Attack of the Cybermen" was the first story of Season Twenty Two and launched the first ever season of stories that were entirely comprised of 45-minute episodes.
This story sees the return of the Cybermen and features the return of Lytton, last seen in "Resurrection of the Daleks". It also features the return of the Cyber Controller, who was last seen in 1967 Second Doctor story "The Tomb of the Cybermen" and also introduced the Cryons, the native race of Telos, whose world had been occupied by the Cybermen.
This story originated after the 1982 Fifth Doctor story "Earthshock" which had proved to be a major success in Season Nineteen. Producer John Nathan-Turner and Script Editor Eric Saward therefore decided that a Cyberman story would be a good way to start off Season Twenty Two.
The story is credited to a Paula Moore. However, behind that name lies one of the most confused and controversial authorships in the entire show’s history. Authorship copyright on the story is divided between ‘Paula Moore’ (real name Paula Woolsey) as the author; Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis as creators of the Cybermen; Eric Saward as the creator of Lytton and the BBC who hold the copyright on the show’s elements.
Several separate accounts offer wildly differing versions of who actually wrote this story. Most accounts agree that fan and continuity advisor Ian Levine suggested a number of plot elements and that it is highly likely that Eric Saward collaborated with Ian Levine to drum up story ideas which could tie in with many of the Cybermen’s Sixties stories.
At the one extreme, it is suggested that the story was authored by Eric Saward, with or without substantial input by Ian Levine, with Paula Woolsey only acting as the story’s author to prevent problems with the Writers’Guild, who objected to script editors editing their own scripts. Alternatively, it is suggested that Paula Woolsey originated the story, but Eric Saward heavily rewrote it in his capacity as Script Editor. Ian Levine himself has claimed that Eric Saward wrote the dialogue to Ian Levine’s story and plot and that Paula Woolsey ‘did not write one single word of that script’. Eric Saward though has flatly denied this in an interview for the Doctor Who Magazine.
One reason for the complexity and confusion around the script’s origin is that under Writer’s Guild guidelines, script editors were forbidden to commission themselves, and Ian Levine’s deal with the show specified that he could not receive any on-screen credit for his work. Thus the use of the pseudonym ‘Paula Moore’ may have been an attempt by Eric Saward to disguise the fact of his involvement from John Nathan-Turner and that she simple appeared to be the driving force for the purposes of meetings with the producer.
Paula Woolsey submitted two further story ideas to the production office following the completion of this story but both were abandoned in the wake of Doctor Who’s 1985/1986 hiatus.
After the initial burst of interest in the Fifth Doctor era (in which the frequency of broadcast was increased to twice a week) the ratings for the show had been fairly tepid. Therefore with Season Twenty Two it was decided to return Doctor Who to its traditional Saturday evening slot, but with thirteen 45 minute episodes instead of the usual twenty six episodes of 25 minutes duration. A successful experiment broadcasting "Resurrection of the Daleks" this way in the previous season, to accommodate the Winter Olympics, merely substantiated the plan. "Attack of the Cybermen" was therefore the first Doctor Who story (other than the 1983 Twentieth Anniversary special "The Five Doctors") to be specifically written for a format other than standard 25 minute episodes. It was however, soon discovered that the process of writing for the new duration was a much larger adjustment (especially in terms of pacing) than merely combining two standard episodes together to create a 45 minute episode.
During the writing stage this story underwent substantial changes, especially to its second part. Originally, Halley’s Comet played a much larger role, with the Cryons planning to lure the Cybermen to their deaths there. The Cyber Director from the 1968 Second Doctor story "The Invasion" was intended to appear, concealed in a London garage. This idea was dropped and the relevant scenes transferred to IM Foreman’s scrapyard, where the TARDIS had first been seen back in the 1963 First Doctor story "An Unearthly Child". Griffiths was also supposed to die toward the end of the first episode, but Eric Saward decided he liked the character’s interactions with Lytton and so had him survive into part two, granting him some lines originally meant for Peri. More changes came about when the story was granted extra location filming. Eric Saward therefore added the material on the surface of Telos, and devised the subplot involving Stratton and Bates.
The subplot about the TARDIS’ Chameleon Circuit was included as an element upon which John Nathan-Turner could draw for publicity and so drum up more interest in the show. He hinted publicly that it might be a permanent development to abandon the familiar police box shape. Nothing though was pursued beyond this story.
Pennant Roberts was originally assigned to direct this story. However, when he proved to be unavailable, Matthew Robinson was assigned to this story instead. Pennant Roberts would later go on to direct "Timelash".
Matthew Robinson had handled the similarly action-oriented "Resurrection of the Daleks". Although he was scheduled to direct "The Nightmare Fair", for the original Season Twenty Three, this became Matthew Robinson’s second and final story when plans for the next season had to be abandoned. Thereafter, Matthew Robinson worked on programmes such as EastEnders and Bergerac as well as the children’s series Byker Grove, which he created and was the Executive Producer.
Faith Brown, who is better known as an impressionist and entertainer, played the Cryon leader Flast.
Children’s television presenter Sarah Greene played Varne, one of the Cryons.
For a while model Koo Stark (who at the time was very much in the public eye because of news reports linking her romantically with Prince Andrew) was hired to play the Cryon Rost. Eventually, though, Koo Stark dropped out of this story and this part was offered to Sarah Berger instead.
Maurice Colbourne returned to play the part of Lytton (a character originally created by Eric Saward for last season’s "Resurrection of the Daleks"). While Michael Jeffries and Mike Braben returned to play the roles of Lytton’s faux-policeman escorts.
Former wrestler Brian Glover, who is well known as the voice of the ‘Tetley Tea Folk’ in television commercials, played the part of Griffiths.
Terry Molloy, better known as the third actor to play Davros and for also playing the part of Mike Tucker in the BBC radio series The Archers, played the part of Russell.
The part of the Cyber Controller was offered to David Banks, but he declined in favour of playing the Cyber Leader again, as he had done in "Earthshock" and "The Five Doctors". The Cyber Controller was ultimately portrayed by Michael Kilgarriff, who had originated the role in "The Tomb of the Cybermen".
A variety of London-based sites were used for location filming, while Wapseys Wood in Buckinghamshire was the quarry selected to masquerade as the exterior of Telos.
For the first time since the 1963 First Doctor story "An Unearthly Child", the TARDIS returns to IM Foreman’s Yard, though this time in 1986. The Doctor would again revisit this scrapyard in the 1988 Seventh Doctor story "Remembrance of the Daleks". The events of that story seem to take place shortly after The Doctor left in 1963.
The TARDIS changes its exterior shape for the first time in the show’s history. It takes on the appearance of a cupboard, then a pipe organ and then an ornamental gateway before reverting back to its normal police box shape. It has since been explained, that the reason for the TARDIS’ chameleon circuit suddenly working is because of its return to IM Foreman’s Yard.
When the TARDIS converts into its pipe organ form, The Doctor plays the opening of J. S. Bach’s "Toccata and Fugue in B Minor" on the TARDIS/organ. This piece had already been used in the 1966 Amicus Doctor Who film, Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 AD.
This story also includes visual and musical references to Steptoe and Son - the famous BBC sitcom about a couple of rag-and-bone men. Including, when the TARDIS arrives in the junkyard, a distorted version of the theme tune for Steptoe and Son (that was originally composed by Ron Grainer who composed the original Doctor Who theme tune) can be heard.
Another piece of background music used in this story is when The Doctor and Peri observe Halley’s Comet. Ironically this was Malcolm Clarke’s music for the 1982 BBC documentary, The Comet is Coming.
This story takes place immediately after "The Twin Dilemma" as Peri is still worried about The Doctor’s problem regenerating, and The Doctor is heard to say they need a rest after Jaconda. Having recently regenerated, The Doctor’s mind is a little scrambled. He is heard mistaking Peri for former companions: ‘Tegan’, ‘Zoe’, ‘Susan’ and ‘Jamie’ (referring to Tegan Jovanka, Zoe Heriot, his granddaughter Susan and Jamie McCrimmon). He even mentions ‘the Terrible Zodin’ Zodin is a never-seen character, first referenced in "The Five Doctors", who The Doctor describes as a ‘woman of rare guile and devilish cunning’.
It is implied that the Time Lords have engineered The Doctor into position so that the web of time might be protected from the Cybermen. The Cybermen portrayed in this story are much weaker than those previously seen. They are seen to be vulnerable to bullets, they ‘feel’ the effects of The Doctor’s sonic lance and even lose their heads rather easily.
This story has a scene where The Doctor shoots the Cyberleader with a laser rifle, a rare occasion in which The Doctor has used a gun (although the Fifth Doctor is seen to struggle with a Cyberman in a similar scene in "Earthshock").
Other continuity references in this story include the Cybermen’s first attempt at destroying the Earth in 1986 (although this story takes place in 1985, a year before the events of the 1966 First Doctor story "The Tenth Planet") - The Cybermen are trying to prevent the destruction of Mondas which occurred in this earlier story - and the Second Doctor’s earlier encounter with the Cybermen on Telos (see "The Tomb of the Cybermen"). The Cyber Controller was originally introduced in that story and apparently survived being electrocuted on the tomb doors at the end of that story. The Cybermen also had a spaceship on the dark side of the Moon and there were Cybermen in the sewers in "The Invasion".
There are black ‘stealth’ Cybermen in the sewers (possible left over from "The Invasion"). The Cybermen already in the tombs are identical to those that are rescuing them (and virtually identical to those the Fifth Doctor encountered in "Earthshock"). It has been suggested that that the Cybermen left in the tombs (and those in the sewers) have kept pace with developments. The tombs themselves also seem to have evolved, too. Therefore, and also because the Cyber Controller remembers The Doctor, the tomb sequences must take place after those of "The Tomb of the Cybermen", and the sequences in 1985 feature Cybermen who have travelled through time in their 'borrowed' time machine.
It is revealed that the Cybermen can detect time disturbances. The origin of the time machine they use is not specified, although it takes three people to operate it.
The process that turns people into Cybermen is not always successful, and in addition to cybernetic ‘enhancements’ the process involves drugs.
It has been revealed that it was Director Matthew Robinson who decided that the Cryons would all be female.
The Doctor makes reference to his first encounter with Lytton in the "Resurrection of the Daleks", where Lytton was working as a mercenary, though they actually only meet once. The Doctor and Lytton are briefly seen on-screen together when The Doctor is captured by the Daleks and is about to be duplicated. They are also seen again twice when Lytton tries to fire at The Doctor before he escapes.
As in "Resurrection of the Daleks", Lytton’s two accompanying ‘policemen’ are shown, watching over his transmitting station. Lytton himself says that he comes from Riften 5 (a satellite of Vita 15) in the star system 690 (and not, as he told Griffiths, from Fulham).
First introduced in the 1976 Fourth Doctor story "The Hand of Fear", the TARDIS’ ‘temporal grace’ function, where weapons are unable to be used inside the time machine, appears still not to work in this story, just as it previously did not in "Earthshock" which led to Nyssa asking The Doctor about it in "Arc of Infinity", clearly to no avail.
It is also revealed that if the TARDIS shell were ever punctured the occupants would find themselves trying to breathe in a vacuum. The TARDIS also has a self destruct mechanism that The Doctor is able to set.
Unusually for the title sequence used from Season Eighteen through to Season Twenty Three, the titles used for this story are rendered in all capital letters.
This story contains a number of errors. Namely: The Cyber Controller has a bit of a tummy on him; The Cyberman’s head that The Doctor investigates, searching for the distress signal, contains no organic parts; When Lytton stabs the Cyber Controller some of the green fluid squirts onto the camera lens; Why does The Doctor berate himself for misjudging Lytton when they only met very briefly in "Resurrection of the Daleks" (and is Lytton really that nice anyway?); How was Lytton able to build a sophisticated communications system with 1980’s components and why is the distress signal still transmitting some months after the Cryons have made contact? (also how do they do this, given that they are in the future?); Why does Lytton abduct Griffiths when he could have taken his policemen with him?; It is never explained how you turn a comet (which is mostly made of ice) into a bomb; it is never explained why the Cybermen want to destroy the surface of Telos; Near to the end of the first episode, a Cyberman gets shot, but when he falls the back of the actors head is clearly visible; A couple of seconds before the credits roll after cliffhanger of the first episode, the editor lets the footage continue to a point where Nicola Bryant - who was supposed to be playing a terrified Peri as she was about to be killed - breaks character and is seen to smile; The scorch mark on the TARDIS wall, caused by Russell firing one of the Cybermen’s weapons, is present several scenes before the actual event; When Flast is being dragged out of the refrigerated chamber, a couple of the floor crew can be seen kneeling behind some boxes on the right-hand of the screen; Why do they leave The Doctor and Fast in a room full of explosives?; There is at least one Cyberman still left in the TARDIS.
As well as the confusion as to who actually wrote this story another myth that surrounds this story is that it replaced one called "The Opera of Doom" featuring Lightfoot and Jago ("The Talons of Weng-Chiang"), Padmasambhava ("The Abominable Snowmen"), Omega, The Master, the Rills ("Galaxy 4") and the Cybermen. This however, has since proved to be a rumour deliberately started by fans and printed as fact in the news magazine DWB.
This story has been criticised for relying heavily on elements from the show’s past, confusing all but hardcore fans of the show. This mainly centres around it being likened to a confusing sequel to the "The Tenth Planet" and "The Tomb of the Cybermen", this story was also at the centre of criticism for Season Twenty Two being overly-violent. The scenes of Cybermen killing people with their bare hands being the central target.
Despite being designed for episodes of 45 minutes in length for syndication, in some parts of the USA, this story was re-edited into four 25-minute segments.
| |
|
The Firsts:
The first story of Season Twenty Two.
The first time the TARDIS returns to IM Foreman’s Yard since the 1963 First Doctor story "An Unearthly Child".
The first time the TARDIS is seen to change its exterior shape.
The first appearance of the CyberController for 18 years - since the 1967 Second Doctor story "The Tomb of the Cybermen".
The first Doctor Who story that Paula Moore is credited as being its writer.
The first Doctor Who story to be broadcast in it's normal Saturday teatime slot since the 1981 Fourth Doctor story "Logopolis".
|
|
(Position = 92 out of 159)
(Position = 161 out of 200)
(Position = 187 out of 241)
