Revenge of the Cybermen

Four episodes
Aired between 19th April 1975 and 10th May 1975

Written by Gerry Davis
Produced by Phillip Hinchcliffe
Directed by Michael Bryant

Synopsis

The TARDIS Crew "drift" through time and space as they hold onto the Time Ring back to Space Station Nerva.  It teleports them into the stations control room but for some reason, the TARDIS is gone.  The Doctor doesn't seem too bothered though.  He says it's drifting through time as they speak to catch up with the coordinates of the Time Ring and will show up eventually.

They leave the Time Ring on the console and it dematerialises back to the Time Lords (much to Harry's surprise).

The Doctor suggests they go to find Vira and see how they're getting on reviving the human race.  When he opens the door however, a dead man's body slumps into the room. There's even more of them littering the outer ring corridor of the station,

None of them are dressed like the crew of the Nerva beacon, more like army uniforms.  The Doctor begins to suspect that they're not quite in the time they left.

In the communications room, a member of the station staff called Warner, warns an approaching ship away from the beacon, claiming they're in quarantine.  Warner is only one of the surviving crew.  The Commander, Stevenson, is still alive, as is his second in command, Lester, and Professor Kellman, a Planetary Surveyor.  Kellman acts scornful of their predicament, saying its impossible to keep the fifty man station going with three officers, but Stevenson and Lester disagree, their assignment is only three years to warn people off the new asteroid that's entered and is orbiting their solar system, at least until all the star charts are updated.

Down on the asteroid, in a deep, dark, cavern, an alien humanoid dressed in golden robes tries to use a radio to contact Nerva Beacon. He is captured by more of his own kind and the transmission is cut off.

Back on the beacon,   Warner is puzzled.  Professor Kellman enquires what's wrong and Warner explains.  Kellman is sceptical that the signal could have come from the asteroid as he set up the transmat circle on the asteroid itself and has spent six months cataloguing all the caves there.  There's no life.

Back in the corridors, the Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to open a locked bulkhead door.  as soon as he does so, a silent alarm is tripped and Stevenson ans Lester go to investigate, taking guns with them.

Meanwhile, on the asteroid, it becomes clear that the place is full of deep caverns and is home to a species of golden aliens called Vogans (the asteroid being called Voga).  One of their leaders, Vorus, is speaking with his aide, Magrik, about the Vogan that tried to contact Nerva Beacon.  Magrik explains that the Vogan was frightened of Vorus' plan.  Vorus defends his plan and says it's brilliant.

 He's clearly relying on a member of the Nerva Beacon crew to help them out in return for gold, something that is fantastically abundant on Voga.  it seems that they are involved in something that is against the wishes of Cybermen which Vorus believes could have been listening in to the transmission the Vogan made.

Back on Nerva, Warner is attacked by a long metal snake and bitten.  He falls to the floor ill, his veins throbbing with light. Shortly afterwards, Kellman enters and destroys the log Warner made of the contact from Voga.

Stevenson and Lester eventually catch up with the Doctor, Harry and Sarah as the explore and are astonished to find them as EVERYONE in that section of the station is dead.  They obviously suspect them as saboteurs and hold them under arrest.

They take them back to the communications desk and find Warner infected by their "plague".  Stevenson is prepared to shoot Warner but the Doctor thinks fast and lies, getting them to believe that they're a medical team that've been sent from Earth.  He gets permission to look at Warner and see what he can do.

Kellman goes back to his quarters and spies on the party through an elaborate monitoring system hidden in a brush and other household objects.  He watches as Stevenson explains the situation to the Doctor about a mysterious plague coming they believe from the asteroid - Voga.  The Doctor remembers the name and it turns him on the right track.

He explains that Voga isn't an asteroid, it's a planet - a planet of gold, a place that played a significant part in the Cyber Wars.  He investigates Warner and finds bite marks on him indicating that the Cybermen could be causing this virus.

Stevenson scoffs saying that the Cybermen all disappeared ages ago, but the Doctor is quick to point out that they're not extinct, and given their hatred of gold, revenge on Voga seems like a plausible goal.

Hearing all of this, Kellman makes contact with a Cyber-ship and explains that the crew are onto them.

Warner eventually succumbs to the infection and he dies.  The Doctor says it's a shame he was too late spotting the bite, or he could've got him on the transmat to Voga and the gold flaked air might've affected the poison in some way.

There's only one lead left for him, and he goes to Kellman's quarters to find it.  Kellman has left by this time, but the Doctor doesn't take long to find the brush device and a bag of gold dust.  He hears Kellman returning and hides under the bed.  Kellman enters and sees the brush out of place.  He guesses the Doctor is somewhere inside the room and so sets a booby trap to electrocute the floor and leaves the room again.

Whilst the Doctor swings on cupboards and uses his scarf as a filter from the smoke, Sarah Jane is attacked by the silver mechanical snake.

The Doctor makes it out of the room and hears Sarah Jane screaming.

He rushes to her and pulls the snake off her, killing it with some of the gold dust found in Kellman's room.  He's too late though, Sarah's neck is pulsing with light from the venom coursing through her.

  The others turn up and the Doctor points to the snake telling them that's the cause of their plague.  He takes Sarah to the transmat chamber and gives her to Harry.  He tries to beam them down to Voga so that the surrounding gold will neutralise the toxin, but it turns out Kellman's taken the Pentallium drive from the beam machine.

As the Doctor works furiously to bypass the sabotage, Stevenson and Lester go to find Kellman.

Meanwhile, on Voga, Vorus sees a Cybership approaching Nerva beacon. He orders that his secret weapon, the Sky Striker missile, be armed in four hours.

The Doctor eventually succeeds in reparing the transmat and sends Harry down with Sarah who very quickly makes a remarkable recovery once the poison is filtered from her body.

Harry is delighted to find the cavern that they're standing in is littered with gold, but his joy is short-lived as they're soon captured by the Vogans.

They take the pair of them to Vorus who questions them about who is on board Nerva.  Their brief interrogation is interrupted however by Councillor Tyrum who requests a meeting with Vorus.

Until he returns, Sarah and Harry are taken away to be locked up.

Lester and Stevenson eventually capture Kellman and bring him to the Doctor.  The Doctor explains that he knows whats going on.  He says that Kellman is working for the Cybermen to help them destroy Voga, because gold is the perfect non-corrosive metal that clogs up the Cybermen's breathing units and kills them.  He suspects that the silver snake is a Cybermat and Kellman used it to kill everyone.  He asks Kellman for the pentallium drive, as he can't retrieve Sarah and Harry without it.  Kellman acts aloof and defiant until the Doctor uses a control found in Kellman's room to steer the re-activated Cybermat towards his prisoner.  Kellman eventually cracks and gives the Doctor the drive.

Now imprisoned on Voga, Harry points out that the chains are solid gold - therefore soft metal.  He and Sarah get to work smashing them open.

Elsewhere, Vorus meets with Tyrum.  The Councillor explains that he knows aliens are on Voga, and he suspects that Vorus has a hand in it, given that the impetuous man has long desired to emerge from hiding and become a trading society once again.  Vorus admits it and refuses to back down.  Tyrum says he doesn't trust Vorus or the Vogans appointed to guard the planet anymore.  He sends his own guards down to the mines to take control with orders to kill anyone who resists.

Vorus returns to his men.  He tells Magrik to keep Tyrum from finding out about the Sky Striker missile and he orders Harry and Sarah to be killed.

Back in the jail cavern, Harry and Sarah break out of their gold chains and rush off, just before the guards come to get them.  They're chased through caverns and tunnels until opposing Vogan troops arrive and force the execution squad to surrender.

On Nerva, the Doctor gets the transmat fully functioning again, but sees that Harry and Sarah Jane have left the transmat circle.

Lester sees a ship on their scanners but it refuses to answer their calls.  The Doctor knows its a Cybership.  He rushes to the airlock to try and find a way to stop them but can't.  Lester and Stevenson fire at the Cybermen as they enter the ship, but are gunned down.

The Doctor is also shot in the back as he tries to sneak away.  The Cyberleader (the guy in the black helmet) exclaims that the beacon is finally theirs.

Kellman comes face to face with the Cybermen.  The Cyberleader tells him that he's only stunned the Doctor and the officers because he needs them as part of the plan to destroy Voga.

He instructs Kellman to re-calibrate the transmat to beam just short of a shaft that goes to the core of Voga.  Kellman insists on going down to the planet to check the beam works properly.  The Cyberleader agrees and beams Kellman down.

Little does the Cyberleader realise, but Kellman is actually a double agent.  Once on Voga, he goes to find someone to try and get an audience with Vorus.  Unfortunately, he didn't anticipate the civil war that's currently being waged between Vorus' guardians and Tyrum's militia.  Kellman is captured by the Militia and is taken away as he tries to warn them of the Cyber-threat.

Now they're re-captured, Harry and Sarah are taken to Tyrum to explain Vorus' plan.  Whilst they don't know his plan, they do explain about the Cybermat on Nerva.  Tyrum understands that this means the Cybermen are coming.

Back on Nerva, the Doctor, Stevenson and Lester have revived.  The Doctor tries to aggravate the Cyberleader in order to reveal his plans.

He questions what Kellman is getting out of it if Voga's gold is going to be destroyed and also points out that there's barely any of the Cybermen left following their near extinction in the "Cyberwars".  The Cyberleader explains that there's enough parts on their ship to build an army of Cybermen, and Kellman asks only to rule this solar system when the Cybermen conquor it.

Given how dangerous all that gold on Voga is to the Cybermen, they strap Cyber-bombs onto the Doctor, Stevenson and Lester's backs.  The Cyberleader explains that they're going to go down the shaft and plant the bombs.  They're sensitive enough to explode if they're tampered with unless the code is entered to temporarily disarm them.  Once the bombs are planted, they will have fourteen minutes or so to get out via the transmat before the planet blows.  Their progress will be followed via radar.

With little option, the men are beamed down along with two Cybermen.  Once down, they soon encounter the Vogan militia, but the Cybermen are more than a match for them. As the fighting rages, the Doctor and co. escape further into the tunnel.  The Doctor explains to Stevenson and Lester that the Cyberleader in no way intends to let them live, but they've got to keep going as their progress is being monitored and the Cyberleader could remote detonate the bombs at any moment.

Tyrum hears of Kellman's capture and decides to speak to him.  Kellman explains how he and Volrus came up with a plan to lure the Cybermen to the beacon and then blow it up with a rocket, thus wiping all the remaining Cybermen out and Voga could once again emerge from hiding.

Kellman urges them to use the Sky Striker.  Believing the Doctor to still be on Nerva, Harry tells Sarah to get back up there and warn the Doctor whilst he tries to stop the rocket being fired.

Tyrum visits Vorus and arranges a ceasefire whilst they speak. Tyrum tells Vorus off for such a reckless plan to kill the Cybermen, but Vorus is convinced it can work.  He shows them the Sky Striker rocket.  Tyrum disagrees considering that the Cybermen are already on Voga.  Harry says that they'll have to find another shaft down to the core of Voga and find a way to stop the Cybermen.  Kellman agrees to help.

Sarah Jane transmats back to the Nerva beacon and overhears the Cybermen monitoring the Doctor's progress.  The deeper the bomb group go into Voga, the more the radar signal is interrupted.

Back on Voga, the Doctor, Stevenson and Lester go deeper into the shaft but come across a wall of fallen rock.  Harry and Kellman reach the same place from another shaft and begin messing with the rocks, causing a rockslide.  Kellman is killed and the Doctor is knocked unconscious.  Harry finds a way through and sees the Doctor lying unconscious on the floor.  Not being aware of the consequence of removing the bomb harness, Harry begins doing just that!  Luckily, Lester revives and stops him.  When the Doctor comes to and realises what's happened he yells out amidst laughter that Harry is an imbecile.

Once he's fully recovered, the Doctor hypothesises that the gold on Voga will be interfering considerably with the Cybermen's radar.  He makes a plan for Stevenson to continue so that a trace of the radar trail is shown, but the Doctor, Harry and Lester will go into the other shaft and lay an ambush for the approaching Cybermen.

As the silver monsters approach, the Doctor and Harry jump on them, trying to rub a handful of gold dust onto the Cybermen breathing units.  In reality, the Cybermen are just too strong and force the Doctor and Harry to run for it.  Lester drops down between the two Cybermen and releases his harness, thus detonating his Cyber-bomb taking out the Cybermen and killing himself in the process.

On Nerva, the Cyberleader gets concerned when the Cybermen fall out of contact.  He orders the bombs to be detonated but Sarah Jane rushes in to stop them.  All she accomplishes however is getting captured herself.  The Cybermen push the button but there's no detonation.

Back on Voga, the Doctor has managed to get the detonation device from the dead Cybermen and stop the remote signal.

With this out of the way, they're able to unclip the bombs from themselves.

Knowing his plan has failed, the Cyberleader goes to a backup.  He orders Sarah tied up on the station and loads it with more Cyber-bombs, with the intent to crash Nerva beacon into Voga.

The Doctor, Stevenson and Harry return to the Vogans just as Magrik announces to Vorus that the Sky Striker missile is ready.

The Doctor begs for 15 minutes to save Sarah.  Vorus reluctantly agrees.

The Doctor gets back to Nerva, takes the Cybermat and loads it with gold dust.   He sends it out to attack the Cybermen.  it works on one of them but they're ultimately re-captured by the Cyberleader.

On Voga, Vorus grows too impatient as he sees the station begin to approach and orders the rocket fired.  Tyrum stands against him and is forced to shoot Vorus.

Unfortunately, Vorus manages to launch it before he dies.

On Nerva, the Cyberleader orders the Doctor to tie himself and Sarah Jane up.  The Cybermen finish loading the station with bombs and abandon it to its fate.  Once they're gone, the Doctor reveals that he's tied the knots so they'll be easy to get undone (another trick learned from Harry Houdini).  The Doctor uses the station controls to contact Voga and order them to steer the missile toward the escaping Cybership instead.  They try their best and only just manage to pull it up in time.  The missile hits the Cybership and blows the Cybermen to pieces.

There's still the small matter of Nerva being on a collision course with Voga however.

As the station drops nearer and nearer to the surface, the Doctor unlocks the gyro controls and pulls up just in time.  The world is safe.

Harry is beamed on board the beacon and the TARDIS finally arrives, catching up in their space and time.  The Doctor nips inside to make sure the controls don't cause the ship to dematerialise again as the companions catch their breaths.  He comes back out a moment later and tells them to hurry up.  He left a device with the Brigadier on Earth only to be used in emergencies and needless to say, it's sending out a distress from the Brigadier asking them to come back at once.

The Doctor leads his companions into the TARDIS and they set off once more, for Earth.

Trivia

• This is the first Doctor Who story to feature the Cybermen as the bad guys since 1968.  

• This was filmed before Genesis of the Daleks.  Michael Wisher was cast as Davros because he was readily available, playing Vogan's in this story

• Carey Blyton did a lot of the music for this story and got the tone totally wrong.

• Wookey Hole was used for Voga.  When the crew went down there they made fun of a local superstition of a stalagmite known as the "Witch of Wookey Hole".  Shortly afterwards, a number of the crew became ill and Liz Sladen almost met a very bad accident

• That accident being that one of the mini speedboats they used went totally out of control and was about to go down a tunnel with a low ceiling.  She dove off luckily.

• The guy who played Vorus also did the British dubbed voice for the irrepressible Monkey!

• Another Vogan (Tyrum) was Kevin Stoney aka, Tobias Vaughn and Mavic Chen!  This was his final appearance in Doctor Who unfortunately

• Pay attention to the symbol on Vorus' costume.  It will be popping up again somewhere very important 

• This was the first ever Doctor Who story to be released by the BBC on VHS video

What worked

• The Cybermen looked better than they have done in the past, although the head guns were a bit daft

• Both Liz and Ian Marter play really good parts in this story and act it fairly well

• Tom Baker's line "who's the homicidal maniac" when the Doctor first meets Kellman is better than any other line in this story

• I liked the fact that was a number of crisis to deal with at the end, it kept the tension going

• Oh, and the throbbing veins were very well done

• The creation of the Cyberleader is the best thing about this story

What didn't work

• The Cybermat

• The entire scene with Kellmans room 

• The Vogans looked awful

• The rolling asteroid ground looked awful too

• The Cybermen voice weren't so great.  I preferred the more robotic versions

• The neck massage the Cyberleader gives the Doctor in Part 4

Overall feelings
So, everyone knows I'm not above liking a Doctor Who story with weak plot (Sea Devils being one of them).  The Revenge of the Cybermen for me however, was just a step too far.

On one hand, there's the fact that the Cybermen go after destroying Voga (a travelling asteroid of gold) because...well we hate it and it's got gold on it.  Fair enough, but it's not the only place in the universe to have gold, and there's people who are still alive that fought in the Cyberwars, so they know how devastating a "glitter gun" can be to a Cyberman.  Even if they destroy the planet, there's no way they're ever going to rebuild an empire of Cybermen.

And that's just the silver ones.  Look at the Vogans.  How can Vorus not only hide a huge rocket on a relatively small asteroid for two years, and how can the rest of them fail to notice Kellman turning up to negotiate his plan?  Rubbish.

There's a lot to dislike and not a lot to like on this one, but I guess ultimately, the reason why many would go against the Revenge of the Cybermen is because it's an epitomy of how far the Cybermen have strayed from their original purpose.  Look back at the Tenth Planet.  Ok it was crap, but the Cybermen were interesting!  Now they don't even know what they are anymore to the point where Gerry Davis is inventing quirky flaws for the sake of it and that's a massive disappointment when one of the original writers put this together.  They've lost their appeal and won't be back again for a few years and based on this story, that's a good thing.

Rating

3 out of 10

Rewatchability Factor

3 out of 10

Watch this if you liked...

• The Invasion

• The Tomb of the Cybermen

• The Wheel in Space

• The Moonbase

• Earthshock

• Closing Time (Doctor Who, Series 6)

Consulting the Matrix

Do you think that the Cybermats have a place in the Cybermen's arsenal?

The Wheel in Space

6 episodes
Aired between 27th April 1968 and 1st June 1968


Written by David Whitaker
Produced by Peter Bryant
Directed by Tristan De Vere Cole

Synopsis

The TARDIS lands, but the scanner is having trouble picking up anything other than the fact that it is surrounded by metal.  After a moment, the scanner begins to show images of flamingos, a sunny beach and other pretty things.  The Doctor works out that this is a TARDIS defense mechanism and wants them to fly off as there's obviously some great danger awaiting them.  However, before they can leave, the fluid link drains and causes and overload.

The Doctor grabs a device called the time vector generator and forces Jamie out of the TARDIS, following shortly after.

He explains to Jamie that he had to remove the generator before the ship gets too out of hand and blew up.  With the generator removed, the TARDIS' insides have reverted to the same spacial dimensions as the inside of a Police Box in the real world.  They are stuck until they can find more mercury to repair the fluid link.

After looking around their immediate surroundings, Jamie and the Doctor find themselves inside a drifting spaceship.  The Doctor finds an oil trail running across the floor, to disappear under one of the closed doors.  They explore further finding the trail leads inside the ships control room, which is locked.  They soon figure out that the ship is a small cargo freighter, built for a crew of four, but no one is on board, the ship is drifting without power, and annoyingly enough, there is no mercury on board unless it's in the control room.

The Doctor and Jamie decide to take their time, having some dinner from the food replication module and Jamie even uses one of the bunks to have a quick nap.

Inside the control room, a small robot activates and begins making its way through the corridors.  It soon finds the TARDIS, and seals the door leading away from it.  It then returns unnoticed to the control room unnoticed.

Once inside the control room, it starts the ship again, throwing the Doctor off balance and causing him to hit his head.  Jamie is roused and rushes to the Doctor who is dazed.  He says that they need to get back to the TARDIS.  When they go, they find the door sealed.  Jamie takes the Doctor back to the living quarters and puts him on the bed.  The Doctor implores him to lock the door, shortly before he passes out.

Alone, Jamie looks out of the porthole and sees a large silver ship in the distance.

He's too busy looking at it to see the Doctor get up in a daze and leave the room, using energy in the time vector generator to cut through the door to the TARDIS.  As he is doing so, he comes face to face with the robot.  It approaches the Doctor menacingly until Jamie throws a blanket over it and hauls the Doctor back into the living quarters, locking themselves in.

The robot frees itself of the blanket and comes after them, cutting its way through the door.  The Doctor instructs Jamie on how to release the energy within the time vector generator and use it like a gun.

Jamie points the device at the door and shoots through it, destroying the robot.

The Doctor passes out again.

The silver ship in the distance turns out to be a space station.  The crew on board pick up the signal from the small freighter and determine that it's 90 million miles off course.  When they don't get a response from hailing the ship, the base controller - Jarvis - determines its a threat and orders it destroyed.

Unknown to the space station or the TARDIS crew, strange white orbs float from the hold of the tiny freighter and disappear through the space stations hold.

Dr Gemma Corwyn, second in command, tries to convince Jarvis to reconsider as she feels there could be survivors on the ship.  Jarvis is adamant that the ship will be destroyed.

Looking for help, Jamie uses his ingenuity and uses the time vector generator to send a signal across to the wheel in space by flashing its light through the porthole at the ship.

Unkown to Jamie, the generator creates static across the comms. channel which is picked up and nearly bursts the crews ear drums!  With this evidence, Jarvis relents and agrees to send across some men to investigate.

Two of the crew suit up and go across, bringing Jamie and the Doctor back. As they are being checked over, Comms Officer Leo Ryan begins chatting up Astronomer Tanya Lernov.  As they are talking, they get reports of strange magnetic anomalies on the wheel.  Tanya puts these together with the slight dips in air pressure recently and begins to suspect they may be related to the freighter.

Gemma checks over Jamie and the Doctor.  She fears that the latter may have concussion and perhaps a small fracture, but Jamie seems alright.  She asks for their names and other details, which forces Jamie to supply the false name of John Smith for the Doctor, based on a name he sees on the medical equipment.

He lies to her and says he doesn't know what went off in the ship because he fell ill, and the Doctor was left to look after him, adding that up to now, the Doctor hasn't told him what happened to the rest of the crew.  Gemma gives Jamie a glass of water, but he doesn't drink it, he's more interested in taking a tour of the wheel.  Gemma sends him to their Librarian - Zoe.  When Jamie leaves, Gemma gives Zoe a heads up and suggests she keeps an eye on Jamie.

Jamie finds Zoe and soon discovers that she is a walking talking database.

She has an eidetic memory, and is full of information on astrophysics and other disciplines.  The downside to this is that she's got no real empathy with others, and openly laughs at Jamie wearing a kilt until he gives her enough information to reference it.  With pleasantries out of the way, Zoe begins the tour.

Their first stop is to see Bill Duggan, one of the crew that is studying flowers collected from Venus.  The next stop is to show him the X-Ray laser, the wheels main defence against invaders and environmental threats.

Whilst Jamie is out on the tour, Gemma contacts Jarvis and lets him know Jamie lied.  She knows he lied about the names, and his blood test confirms that he hasn't been ill, or in space for long.  She also points out that he wasted the water, one of the most precious commodities in outer space.  This all leads to Jarvis deciding that Jamie and the Doctor are saboteurs.  He rushes off to resume the order to blow up the ship.

Zoe continues the tour with Jamie, explaining the wheel's multi functional purpose of relay station, research centre, and early warning system for Earth.  On their way round, news of Jarvis' orders reach them, and whilst the crew are all getting ready, Jamie manages to slip away.

Jarvis reaches the control deck and finds Zoe, but realises that he's too late to catch Jamie.  He and Bill Duggan rush off to the power room, leaving everyone else to speculate about what's happening.

Meanwhile, the odd looking orbs begin to glow and form something inside of them.  The shell breaks and a mechanical hand appears...the hand of a cyberman!

Jamie finds his way back to the power room and uses a bottle of quick setting plastic to gunk up the workings of the X-Ray laser.  He's soon found by Duggan and Jarvis, who hold him and call for security.

In the control room, Zoe looks over the instruments and accurately predicts that a star in a nearby system is about to go nova.  When this occurs, it's likely to cause a localised meteor shower.

The Cybermen hatch out of their eggs on board the freighter, and communicate with a strange electronic overlord.  They inform their "controller" that they're on board and undetected.

Gemma informs Jarvis of the impending meteor shower, and makes it clear that they will need the X-Ray laser to get the wheel through it unscathed.  This lends more credence to Jamie and the Doctor being saboteurs.

They all go back to the control room, leaving Duggan to check over the machinery.  As he does so, he notices a small metallic slug like creature, that he mistakes for some kind of unusual space pet.

He puts it in a cupboard until he has time to examine it better.

In the control room, Jamie is interrogated, but refuses to be called a saboteur (even though he is).

He puts the blame on the Doctor, saying he told him to.  Jamie is impounded in the infirmary with the Doctor.

When the Doctor regains consciousness, he rants at Jamie for putting them in this situation, but understands that he had to do it to stop the TARDIS from being destroyed (may not be invincible without the time vector generator).  As it turns out, he barely remembers anything else from the freighter.

Meanwhile, in the control room, Zoe works with Leo to confirm the calculations on the star.  He gets cross with her for being so cold and analytical, which upsets her when she realises that it's true, she has very little empathy.

Bill Duggan continues to try and fix the laser, but soon discovers that his newly found pet has gone and eaten all the Bernalium rods, the very thing that fuels the X-Ray laser.

Now he is conscious, Gemma checks over the Doctor.  She begins cross-referencing Jamie's answers to her questions but is interrupted by the arrival of Zoe.  She has turned up because she's done more calculations and worked out that the freighter didn't have enough fuel to get where they are now, from where it was registered to set off.  In addition, it couldn't have possibly drifted that far off course in that short space of time.  The Doctor tries to act nonchalant and defy her logic by saying its wrong, but yet cannot come up with an explanation.

Bill Duggan goes to contact Gemma and fill her in on the loss of the Bernalium.  He leaves one of his crew in there to clean up.  The crewman is attacked by a host of the silver slugs, but before he dies, manages to cover one of them in quick setting plastic.

Once it's discovered, Zoe arranges to bring the creature to the Doctor for analysis.  They set up an X-Ray machine to see inside the plastic (because it hardens like steel and cannot be easily cut through).  They discover that the creature is a Cybermat, and therefore the Cybermen are clearly involved.

Jarvis finds out about the laser and does his nut.  He replaces Duggan with Leo, and puts Tanya on Leo's duties.  Gemma concurs with Jarvis that all the mishaps of late seem to be related to the freighter, and convinces him to once again, send people over there and inspect the ship.

Two of the crew go back over there, and are immediately set upon by the Cybermen.  They are mind controlled and ordered to take the Cybermen back to the Wheel in space.

The metal monsters get inside a crate with a false bottom and hide, whilst the mind controlled humans fill the crate with spare Bernalium found on board the freighter.

The Doctor is permitted to speak to Jarvis and Gemma, to whom he tries to explain the threat of the Cybermen.  Jarvis refuses to listen, stating that they'll never get to the wheel undetected.

The crewmen bring back the Bernalium and are welcomed with open arms.

Gemma gets Duggan to take a look at the X Ray picture and confirms that the Cybermat is what he saw.  The Doctor begins putting the pieces of the puzzle together, speculating that the Cybermen wanted the Bernalium gone, but can't think why.

As the day progresses, the Doctor begins to question Jarvis' sanity, seeing as he refuses to believe anything outside of things working perfectly, and Gemma takes his point, especially when Jarvis announces that the Doctor and Jamie are to be trusted and given the run of the ship, and everything is perfectly fine now.

A while later, one of the crewmen goes to the hold to pick up the newly arrived Bernalium.  he is confronted and killed by a Cyberman and dumped in the incinerator, before the mind controlled humans pick up the fuel and make their way into the wheel.

Tanya picks up on the fact that the incinerator has activated, but Leo tells her to just log it as another anomaly.

The mind controlled humans take the Bernalium to the X-Ray laser and with the help of the Cybermen, mind zap Bill Duggan.  They begin fixing the laser themselves, whilst ordering Bill to go to the control room.

Zoe approaches Gemma and says that she told Jarvis of a miscalculation in the meteor swarm, but Jarvis told her to ignore it and that everything is fine.  Whilst she's there, she takes the opportunity to raise her issues around the lack of empathy she has, but Gemma assures her that it's just a byproduct of her training in the "city" - a parapsychology research centre where she was raised.

Now he has the freedom to move about the ship, the Doctor soon finds out about the Bernalium brought over.  He quickly works out that the Cybermen must have come over in the crate and have likely brainwashed some of the crew.  He confronts Gemma with this, but she assures him that all the crew take specific drugs to combat the potential of mind control.  The Doctor assures her that the Cybermen's powers will be far in excess of that.  As a backup, they have a device called the solinski circuit that can monitor thought waves for mind control.   They use the scanner in the control room and discover as Bill Duggan enters the room, that he is controlled.  Duggan smashes the communications hub and is killed by electrocution.

The Doctor advises them to create a crude device that they can all attach to the back of their necks to interfere with the mind control signals, and sets Leo and Tanya off with creating them.  Zoe asks if she can help, but they refuse to let her.

As they prepare the circuits, the Doctor and Jamie go off to the hold to find the crate of Bernalium.  They're investigating it, when they hear the metallic clump of feet against the stairs.  They hide just in time to see the Cyberman pick up some of the Bernalium and take it back upstairs.  This makes the Doctor ponder the Cybermen's intent, as they now clearly don't want to destroy the wheel.  He reckons they'll just kill the crew instead by corrupting the air.  They contact the control room and get them to close off all the air locks, but are soon confronted by a pair of Cybermats.  The Doctor instructs Tanya and Gemma to quickly set up a frequency to broadcast into the room, burning the small robots brains.  The Doctor holds the destroyed Cybermat up as proof of the threat they now face.

The Cybermen contact their controller and inform it of the death of the Cybermats.  The controller decides that now is the time to take over the wheel.

The Doctor returns with the broken Cybermat and gives it to Gemma who confronts Jarvis with it.  Jarvis is almost catatonic now and has clearly had a nervous breakdown.

He still refuses to believe in it, putting Gemma in a position where she has to take control of the wheel.  She orders a magnetic force field to be placed around the control room to protect them, but doesn't know what else she can do.

Everyone feels helpless, and Zoe confides in Jamie that she regrets not being able to sympathise.  In his own patronising way, he consoles her.

In the laser room, an Irish engineer called Flannigan turns up and sees the mind controlled humans working on the laser.  A call comes in from Leo but they ignore it.  When Flannigan goes to answer it, one of the men pulls a gun out on him.  They end up fighting and one of the controlled crew is shot before Flannigan is subdued and mind controlled.  The Cybermen question Falnnigan about the nature of the force field, but discover it can only be deactivated from inside the control room.

In the control room, Leo panics as they discover that the meteor shower is much bigger than anticipated.  He suddenly gets an incoming call from the laser room.  It's Flannigan.  He tells Leo that the laser is finally ready and they haven't been in touch because of a technical fault.

Hearing all this, the pieces fall into place for the Doctor.  He explains that the Cybermen blew up the star to force the wheel to use the X-Ray laser, but they ensured that the Bernalium was destroyed so that the humans would have to go to the freighter and therefore bring the Cybermen on board.  From there, they can invade Earth.

The Doctor looks around and asks Jamie where he put the time vector generator, but Jamie explains that he gave it back to the Doctor.  They soon realise that it must have fallen out of his pocket back on the freighter.  He chastises Jamie and tells him it's vital to defeating the Cybermen, going so far as to making him return to the freighter and getting it.   Gemma and Zoe volunteer to help Jamie get back to the freighter and head off.  Jamie doesn't particularly like risking their lives, but he's convinced there's no other choice.

When Leo finds out Gemma and Zoe have gone with Jamie, he shouts at the Doctor, explaining that they will be destroyed by the radiation from the laser, or smashed to pieces by the meteor debris.  The Doctor is really apologetic, but says it's vital they get the device back, stopping short of explaining why and where it's from.

Zoe and Jamie suit up, heading out into space whilst Gemma operates the air lock.  Once they're both clear, Gemma hears footsteps and hides.  She watches as a Cyberman and one of the controlled crew enter.  They discuss their plan to turn all the air to ozone and kill the crew.

She contacts the control room and tells the Doctor about the plan she overheard.  She's discovered doing it and is killed by one of the Cybermen as the Doctor watches helpless to do anything.

Out in space, Jamie and Zoe near the freighter, but soon see the meteors hurtling towards them.

On board the wheel, Leo coordinates the attack to destroy the meteors, using the X-Ray laser.  Luckily, Zoe and Jamie make it to the ship through a cloud of debris and dust.

Leo is shocked when he finds out that Gemma is dead and is more perplexed when the Doctor informs him that a Cyberman control spacecraft has just been spotted on the scanners.  They switch over to the emergency (not sexual) air supply, and thwart the Cybermen's plans to suffocate them all.

Jarvis overhears all of this and finally accepts what's going on.  He wanders off, lifting the magnetic shield from the control room and roams the corridors, looking to take out as many Cybermen as he can.  Leo contacts him over the comms. but he refuses to come back, and is quickly strangulated by one of the Cybermen.

Jamie and Zoe find the time vector generator, and manage to home in on the Cyberman communications signal, relaying their intent to find and stop the Doctor who they've identified as a previous threat.

Flannigan contacts Leo and says that he's in the laser room, being attacked by Cybermen.  He's sealed the doors but doesn't know how much longer he can hold out.  The Doctor says he'll go and help him and arranges to meet him by one of the air lock doors.  As soon as the video link is broken, he tells Leo it's a trap and comes up with another plan.

As soon as Zoe and Jamie arrive back on the wheel, they are confronted by a mind controlled Flannigan.  He is overpowered by Leo and they attach one of the small scramblers to the back of his neck, bringing Flannigan back to the good guys side.

The Doctor meanwhile takes the time vector generator from Jamie and goes through the air vents to the laser room and fixes the device to the X-Ray laser, boosting the power, pocketing some mercury he finds on the way.  He jury rigs an electrical field together, and when the Cybermen attack him, they are fried in the process.

Now the Cyber control ship is in range, a horde of Cybermen flap their way through space towards the wheel.

With the boosted power in place, Leo directs the laser to the ship and blows it up.  They remaining crew then shortly fix scramblers to the controlled humans, and destroy the Cybermen by spraying quick setting plastic on them, or repelling them into space with the main force field.

With the threat ended, the Doctor says his goodbye's and goes back to the freighter.  Zoe asks Jamie to come with them as she doesn't fit in on the wheel, but Jamie tells her to stick it out.  She disobeys him and stows away.

Once inside the TARDIS, the Doctor repairs the fluid link and prepares to leave, spying Zoe hiding in a chest just in time.

He gets her out of the box and asks her if she's really certain that she wants to go with them.  She says she is certain.

To make doubly sure, the Doctor goes to one of the roundels on the wall and picks out a headset.  He puts it on and projects a mental image onto the scanner screen, asking Zoe if she's ever heard of the Daleks.

He proceeds to remember one of his earlier adventures and show Zoe the potential dangers of travelling with him.

She eagerly watches the screen.


Trivia

• One of the prevailing myth's of this story is that the Director came in vastly over budget for this story.  In actual fact, he came in under budget, but didn't come back again because he didn't agree with Peter Bryant always being on-set interfering with the production.

• The incidental music was provided by the Radiophonic workshop as they didn't want to bother paying for music.

• The scene at the end was put in to tie in a repeat of the Evil of the Daleks to be shown the following week.

What worked

• The sounds accompanying the Cybermen are pretty good, but will drive you insane by the end of the story.  

• The spheres sliding through a ship are pretty excellent, and the sound effect is even better.  

• For early Cybermen, they look pretty good, having gotten rid of the old school balls on their joints and changing into diving suits

• The callousness of the Cybermen and their willingness to brutally murder adds a lot of tension

What didn't work

• When will the Doctor learn to carry spare mercury inside that TARDIS of his?

• So the TARDIS has warned them of great danger, and they decide to lark about eating Sunday dinner and having 40 winks!

• All that medical examination by Gemma and she never once sees that the Doctor has got two hearts, or anything else unusual about him

• Why take a highly suspicious Scotsman on a tour of the base, and show him exactly where your defences are?

• The scene where Bill Duggan thinks the Cybermat is a pet and puts it in a cupboard

• We get yet another base commander who tries to get the best out of his crew by ranting, raving and disbelieving anything and everything that they say.

• Best line fluff ever - "switch to the sexual air supply"

• The Doctor shows Zoe a scene that he was never in - how did he know it even happened?

Overall Feelings

Ok so, you don't need me to mention the frankly bonkers plot is an issue.  It's obvious that David Whitaker made it complicated, so everyone would stand back and go "whoa that was so complicated, therefore great".  The point that he missed though is that the Doctor even says in the episode that without the time vector generator hooked up to the laser, they stand no chance of blowing up the cyber ship and winning,  That's on top of the fact  that they have enough quck setting plastic to kill two Cybermen at the most.  Why not just go with plan A and storm the wheel?   Well, either that, or if they have enough power to blow up a sun, why not hold the world to ransom, or even better, why do they need the Earth at all?

Despite all the sillyness, some reviews I've read claim that the Wheel in Space is better than the Moonbase because it's improved on it, demonstrating that the scenes we don't get to see used the Cyber threat much more effectively.  When you consider their approach here to walking into an infirmary and eeny-meany-miny-mo-ing which crew member to take, then yes, it is better, but I think that overall, this is just as bad.

Not that I need to try hard to justify this, but...

The TARDIS screen showing happy pictures aside, we initially get a very promising start to the story, but it's quickly brushed aside to watch the Doctor and Jamie eat Sunday dinner and nap.  We then get a full episode of walking round a station, sabotaging equipment and saying you didn't, and telling obvious lies.  Next, we get bonkers plots and commanders going round the twist whilst the handsome people talk about noses and flirt with each other.  None of this is particularly surpassed by greatness shown in the Moonbase; but the difference here is that the Moonbase had japes in it from start to finish.  This was played serious and it is to the shows detriment.

The only scene (I think) where this works is the Doctor's reaction to Gemma dying.  There could have been some good moments with Zoe despairing at her lack of empathy, but they're ruined by Jamie patronising her.  On the up side, at least there wasn't much in terms of making plans only to abandon them like we've had in the last few stories.

Rating

5 out of 10

Just as bonkers as the Moonbase, but without the comedy to make it bearable

Rewatchability Factor

4 out of 10

If the Fury from the Deep is to be watched mainly for Victoria leaving, then there's little to entertain you in this story beyond watching it to see Zoe come aboard.

Watch this if you liked...

• The Moonbase

• Fury from the Deep

• The Ark in Space

Consulting the Matrix

Which is your favourite Cyberman voice?