Rise of the Cybermen

This is probably the closest that the new series gets to evoking the nature of the original series, particularly the pacing. I thought this was deliciously paced. Most have complained it was too slow but I'd describe it as a slow burn, a building up to the inevitable. This is probably Graeme Harper, wanting to slow it down and get the maximum benefit by doing so.

There were so many interesting elements in this one, all juxtaposing with each other and there have been many comments that the feel of the episode was disjointed. I think that was deliberate and many of the sequences in the episode are designed to create this feeling.

From the top, let's get the death of the TARDIS thing out of the way - because it's simply the MacGuffin to get them into the parallel Earth situation. Some have been irritated by the way this element was so casually resolved. For me, it’s just a device to get the characters into this alternative Earth and keep them there until the events play out.

The vital things in this story, besides the triumphant return of the Cybermen, is the development of the Rose/Doctor/Mickey dynamic and the alternate take of the Rose/Pete/Jackie family unit from an altogether less attractive viewpoint. A number of scenes were very important for me. The scene with Rose and Jackie outside the country house where Rose is stupid enough to think that because she's again found that spark of recognition in her father then she's on to a winner trying it with Jackie and can rekindle some kind of surrogate family in this alternate world. The repellent attack from Jackie is such an emotional wallop and it also echoes the de-humanising of people by Lumic via his application of corporate technologies - to the extent of turning individuals into Cybermen and the literal raising of the rich elite over the dispossessed (the zeppelins and Pete's millionaire salesman schtick). Jackie’s heart and soul belong to Lumic and this version of Rose’s mother really does highlight the clever way Camille Coduri has made the character actually rather ‘lovable’ on the other Earth. Rose is looking for unconditional love from a very different version of her mother and she's suddenly made aware that love comes at a price and it has to be earned.

The other crucial scene is when Mickey visits his Gran. It’s a wonderfully sensitive scene that’s redolent of lost lives, things that should have been said and done in Mickey’s own world. Noel Clarke...what a revelation. He was so very good in the scene and much of his back story was also finally revealed and gave us great insight into a character that at the start of Series One was a bit of a no-hoper. This adds depth to the character and builds upon the series themes of sacrifice and redemption. This story will certainly be about how Mickey 'makes a difference' in contrast to a now very unlikeable version of Rose. A quietly clever juxtaposition that's been taking place over the last few episodes and since The Christmas Invasion.

This is also feeding into the confused and somewhat insensitive nature of Rose that we are now being shown. Witness the horrible baiting of Mickey from Rose and the Doctor. We're all aware this is going to come to a distressing conclusion - much of it in next week's episode, I think - and Rose and the Doctor will be changed by it.

There are key elements of Greek Tragedy running through this episode – themes about lives being torn apart by outward suffering or inner conflicts (literall, for the creation of the Cybermen), The sacrificing of a society, the losing of individuality in order to form groups – both the Cybermen and the Preachers. And there’s the lovely symbolism of Heaven with its Angels ( the zeppelins, the rich elite ) and Hell with its Demons ( the Cybermen, the dispossessed, the conversion factory). Evokes cleverly in the visuals - we’re always looking up at the zeppelins overhead or down from the machines as they fly over London.

The Cybermen...great. The last fifteen minutes of the siege on the house were note perfect in terms of visuals, lighting, editing. A tour de force from Harper and what the intended pacing has been leading up to do.

John Lumic - I'm still wavering over Lloyd Pack. He was a bit up and down for me and I think if you take him in the spirit of a Bond like villain it just about works and I can see how some people are criticising him for being a poor man's Davros. But there are enough sparks in the performance to relish even if it occassionally gets hammy. Doctor Who has always had it's fair share of OTT performances and it always will have.

For me, he isn’t Davros or Frankenstein. He’s Prometheus – symbolising the suffering and sacrifice involved in spiritual or artistic striving in trying to transform the human condition into something more refined, more exquisite, more God-like. Naturally, here it’s all for the wrong reasons and he projects his suffering onto people who can’t fight back.

Visually - lots of greys, browns and references to Art Deco, Orwell, Verne, Metropolis, Weimar Germany, the steam-punk aesthetic. Echoes of Invasion, Dalek Invasion Of Earth.

Music - some lovely nods to Father's Day from Murray. A nice touch as this epsiode shows the disintegration of a family unit with Rose as bystander rather than Father's Day where it was about re-integration of the family unit with Rose as an active force.

Finally, I must conclude with the factory conversion scene. One of the most unsettling scenes in the series so far, the scene’s use of music (The Lion Sleeps Tonight – how very ironic!) can be compared with how Reservoir Dogs used ‘Stuck In The Middle With You’ on the soundtrack. Granted, it's no comparison in terms of the violence but the 'dread' that both scenes evoke with the juxtaposition of music was highly effective in both cases.

A treat of an episode, perhaps unfairly seen as a disappointment, but where the pay-off in ‘Age Of Steel’ will I’m sure elevate its reputation.