The ever sought after 4th Season of Classic Doctor Who is filled with some stories that are better than others and yet hardly any of them exist. This is one of the lucky few that has half of its episodes in their entirety and I can safely say that it's very enjoyable, even with the missing episodes.
Patrick Troughton is stereotyped as being very lost in his role, at this point in his tenure and struggling with creating a new persona for the Time Lord, yet, I always find his performance in every tale to be very engaging. He plays minimal comedy with brilliant ease and he works off of his companions very very well. I love his giddy jumping for joy in several scenes and his serious takes, too. He can be very playful and chipper and yet dark and motivational, when he wants to be. This story is a must see, for Troughton lovers.
Polly is one of the Doctor Who girls that I am less familiar with, due to her lack of a complete era, on film. And while she is very easily scared of the Cybermen, she is smart enough to whip up her infamous Polly Cocktail, using her own nail varnish to attack them. This is one of her better stories, seeing as how underused she is in some of her other tales.
Ben is rather badly sidelined here, which is a shame, since I love the character who has proved to be very smart, witty and aggressive, but in all the right ways. He only really chips in with the odd line, here and there, in this story, but he is at least active, if not anything else. I did like his chummy relationship with Jamie and even the competition that the two share over Polly, but it's all in favour of just some padding, as they never have this kind of a fight again. His and Polly's want to get outside and jump around on the moon is also quite nice, but he is fairly under used, in most of the story.
Jamie is the one I sympathise with the most however, as he sleeps throughout the first 3 episodes and even then all he does is walk around for half of Episodes 3 and 4. He was rather badly sidelined in The Underwater Menace, too, but he was still active and making genuine helpful moves, throughout, whereas here, he just lies down and makes the odd comment. His weakest story, by far.
The Cyberman are much creepier here, since there is much more build up towards their appearance and they feel more like omniscient threats that bigger physical ones, like they did in The Tenth Planet. I like the base-under-siege idea in the story. I even like the atmospheric ambient noises that are filled into the medic bay scenes.
A must see, for viewers who love Troughton and the Cybermen, but as for the companions and supporting cast, it's a bit weak.
Patrick Troughton is stereotyped as being very lost in his role, at this point in his tenure and struggling with creating a new persona for the Time Lord, yet, I always find his performance in every tale to be very engaging. He plays minimal comedy with brilliant ease and he works off of his companions very very well. I love his giddy jumping for joy in several scenes and his serious takes, too. He can be very playful and chipper and yet dark and motivational, when he wants to be. This story is a must see, for Troughton lovers.
Polly is one of the Doctor Who girls that I am less familiar with, due to her lack of a complete era, on film. And while she is very easily scared of the Cybermen, she is smart enough to whip up her infamous Polly Cocktail, using her own nail varnish to attack them. This is one of her better stories, seeing as how underused she is in some of her other tales.
Ben is rather badly sidelined here, which is a shame, since I love the character who has proved to be very smart, witty and aggressive, but in all the right ways. He only really chips in with the odd line, here and there, in this story, but he is at least active, if not anything else. I did like his chummy relationship with Jamie and even the competition that the two share over Polly, but it's all in favour of just some padding, as they never have this kind of a fight again. His and Polly's want to get outside and jump around on the moon is also quite nice, but he is fairly under used, in most of the story.
Jamie is the one I sympathise with the most however, as he sleeps throughout the first 3 episodes and even then all he does is walk around for half of Episodes 3 and 4. He was rather badly sidelined in The Underwater Menace, too, but he was still active and making genuine helpful moves, throughout, whereas here, he just lies down and makes the odd comment. His weakest story, by far.
The Cyberman are much creepier here, since there is much more build up towards their appearance and they feel more like omniscient threats that bigger physical ones, like they did in The Tenth Planet. I like the base-under-siege idea in the story. I even like the atmospheric ambient noises that are filled into the medic bay scenes.
A must see, for viewers who love Troughton and the Cybermen, but as for the companions and supporting cast, it's a bit weak.