Rise of the Cybermen

Imagine a fictional (hopefully) Doctor Who production meeting.

В“OK gang weВ’ve brought back the Daleks in series one, now weВ’re bringing back Cybermen in series two, how are we going to do it?В”
В“How about a two-part story?В”
В“Great, but weВ’re going to have to pad it out a bit. Any ideas?В”
В“What did the fans want us to bring back from the original series?В”
В“A lot of them were upset that Davros didnВ’t turn up in the В‘Parting of the WaysВ’В”
В“Great, letВ’s bring in a Davros-type guy then, but weВ’re still going to need moreВ”
В“What worked well last season?В”
В“That FatherВ’s Day episode was a cracker, why donВ’t we do that again?В”
В“Fantastic, there we go then, problem solvedВ”

Is this where the wheels come off series two of Doctor Who?

This is my first review for Gallifrey One, so please excuse my lack of all the real inside info on Doctor Who. However, having really enjoyed the previous two episodes В‘School ReunionВ’ and В‘The Girl in the FireplaceВ’, and even В‘Tooth and ClawВ’, though it suffered from the regular RTD trait of trying to be too clever, I was really looking forward to this episode. Now the usual fault of two-part stories is that all the creative energy gets exhausted by the second part and the story peters out. I can only hope that В‘The Age of SteelВ’ bucks the trend, because if itВ’s going to be less creative than this then weВ’ve got trouble.

Even Mickey points out that the parallel universe thing has been done time and again, and really this time itВ’s not done very well. In fact any attempt at humour in this episode is doomed to failure with one or two exceptions. Then thereВ’s the standard 2- dimensional megalomaniac in an NHS reject wheelchair. Trigger as a genius inventor? DoesnВ’t quite ring true to me. Am I also allowed to guess that the second part ends with him being killed by his В‘childrenВ’, or is that too obvious?

Add to this thereВ’s Rose and her father, and here is where credibility is stretched to its limits. In the superb FatherВ’s Day, (why is Paul Cornell not writing an episode for this series?) Rose is taken on a heart-wrenching emotional roller-coaster, where she ends up not only losing her father all over again, but almost destroys the Universe and the Doctor en-route. Yet are we to believe that the first thought of an intelligent woman, on entering the non-reality of a parallel universe, and given all her previous experience, is that on seeing a picture of her dad she must go and see him? Sorry donВ’t think so.

This brings us to, what for me, was the only bright spot of the episode the fleshing out of Mickey's character. Here there is the realisation that he had not only lost his family, but he also blamed himself for his grandmotherВ’s death. Here at last is some emotional depth to the character, and a potential escape from being the В‘Tin DogВ’. Are we setting up for Mickey to take over from Rose as the DoctorВ’s travelling companion?

As for the Cybermen, and humans being turned into robots, again been done too often now, and somehow the menace has gone. Even the scene of the Cyber-factory featuring a machine that looked very similar to WallaceВ’s Sheep-shearing invention in В‘A Close shaveВ’, failed to impress. Brains being welded to a metal frame, and all emotions removed, now where have I heard that one? Oh yes itВ’s a Dalek! They even have their version of В‘exterminate!В’. So there we have it Dalek II being put together by Davros II on Earth II, while the Doctor and Rose experience FatherВ’s Day II. The rule is sequels rarely work, and so it proves in this case.