The Age of Steel

Well it was a tense week, waiting for the resolution of episode fiveВ’s cliff-hanger. How would the Doctor and company successfully escape / defeat the army of marauding Cybermen? Rather too easily, it turned out. I found it somewhat hard to stomach that the crystal absconded from the TARDIS would really have the power to В“zapВ” all of the Cybermen, in fact В“dissolveВ” them as they literally appeared to melt away. Maybe we were supposed to think that the crystal possessed some kind of supernatural, life-and-death power (like the heart of the TARDIS in Series One) but if so, this wasnВ’t sufficiently explained. Could Tom MacRae not come up with something more credible than this?

Opening reservations aside, overall this was an above competent sequel to the first episode. With hindsight I donВ’t think it can be ranked as a В“classicВ”, but on the whole it delivered the goods, whilst not quite following up on the promise of В“RiseВ”. This was certainly more of an action-based episode; with less emphasis on characterisation and an attempt to resolve the issues / problems established in the preceding instalment. And how successfully did it do thisВ…?

Well just as I suspected (though I guess it was kind of predictable), the ear pieces were quickly utilised by Lumic in order to bring the population of London under his control, and send them to his Cyber factory. Again we got some nicely sinister scenes on the streets with people being taken over and walking, zombie fashion, toward Battersea. Were we meant to assume that all of London was wearing the ear pieces though? And what about people living outside the capital? Had they been issued with the pieces? We were also told, via a newsreader and other characters, that the В“whole of London had been sealedВ” off and that the Cybermen were invading the city. However at this stage, were there really enough converted Cybermen to invade the whole of London? Perhaps slightly hard to credit. Nevertheless the sense of apocalypse and idea of humanity being led to their doom came across generally well and IВ’m glad that the ear piece idea was followed through logically.

We also got to hear about the CybermenВ’s origins, albeit in a rather throwaway fashion, via the DoctorВ’s comment that in this parallel universe, this particular race of Cybermen had been В“started from scratchВ” right here on Earth. Given that this was a different universe to the one of other Cybermen stories, this was credible, but it was still never explained how Lumic had happened upon the idea of their design. I donВ’t know, maybe it didnВ’t need to be but I did feel that a little more back story was required here.

The majority of the episode concentrated on the efforts of the Doctor and the others to infiltrate the Cyber factory and stop the controlling machines. We got the slightly hackneyed В“split into groupsВ” scenario, which at least allowed for focus on different sets of characters and their own respective attempts to throw a spanner in the works.

First off from the groups, we had Mickey and Jake, В“RickyВ” being bumped off quite early into the proceedings. As I said in my review of В“RiseВ”, I found Ricky to be more amusing than convincing and canВ’t say I was particularly sorry about his fate, electrocution by nasty Cybermen or not. The scene before his death, when he and Mickey both stand next to each other, saying virtually the same things, is clearly meant to portray them as being of similar ilk but I found it pretty cringe worthy, especially their jointly uttered В“Split up!!В” Yeeuch!! The disposal of Ricky paved the way for Mickey to be set up as his replacement, with Jake as his (reluctant) partner. MickeyВ’s speech, prior to the factory attack, about wanting to prove himself and not be the tin dog В– В“those days are overВ” was one of Noel ClarkeВ’s better scenes and quite convincing В– itВ’s true that Mickey hasnВ’t really had much to do in the previous stories, and in the light of this his comments were understandable. The sense that the Doctor and RoseВ’s relationship is one he canВ’t compete with was also nicely conveyed in their В“good luckВ” hug, something Mickey is denied, and his backward glance suggested regret and highlighted his isolation and loneliness. Later on we got to see Mickey fulfilling his promise when he helps to sabotage the controlling signal and also break the emotional inhibitor code, more of which IВ’ll discuss further on.

I didnВ’t actually mention Jake in my last review. In both episodes Andrew Hayden Smith makes a fair stab at playing him, given the fact that heВ’s not a particularly memorable character, more of a token В“rebelВ” and probably there to provide a bit of sex appeal for the youngsters too. One of his main functions in the story is to form a partnership with Mickey but a few lines aside, I just didnВ’t find him that special (well perhaps he could have been given a bit of kit-off action a la Mickey, but it wasnВ’t expedient to the plot and thatВ’s just me grasping at straws now, besides which I didnВ’t actually find him that attractiveВ…personal choice really.)

Our second group of factory infiltrators were Rose and Pete, and this pairing allowed for a bit more development in their relationship. The idea of them using the ear pods to walk into the factory undetected was rather flawed В– if they put them on surely they would have been hypnotised like all the other humans? The scene when they both met the converted Jackie-Cyberman (woman?) was chilling and Shaun Dingwall showed appropriate grief for the loss of his wife. We also got to see that the Cybermen apparently can control their В“deleteВ” ability В– as they grip Pete and Rose and lead them off В– so clearly they must be able to switch off those electrocuting hands!

The final group was the Doctor and Mrs Moore, the latter coming over in this episode more (pardon the pun) as a person in her own right. It was interesting to hear about her background as an ex employee of Cybus Industries and the fact that her husband didnВ’t know her whereabouts, but alas there wasnВ’t enough time for further exposition. The scenes in the cooling ducts, when the Cybermen came to life and chased the Doctor and Mrs Moore, were quite tense. Even better was the moment when they encountered the dying Sally Fielder/Cyberman:

В“Why am I so coldВ…whereВ’s GarethВ…he canВ’t see meВ…itВ’s unlucky the night beforeВ”.

This was a truly sad and powerful moment that brought a tear to my eye, conveying the idea that the CybermenВ’s emotional inhibitor can be turned off, confronting them with what they have become В– horrible! Having the converted В“SallyВ” refer to something as normal and universally recognisable as her own wedding, in a flat robotic monotone, heightened the horror and impact of what had happened to her. I couldnВ’t help but be reminded of last seasonВ’s В“DalekВ” when the Dalek starts to develop its own emotional responses В– the incongruity of something apparently alien and ruthless experiencing emotions and feelings. Indeed, the whole emotional inhibitor idea was an interesting one which I will explore a bit later.

We then progressed to the final climatic scenes within Cyber control and Mickey and JakeВ’s infiltration of LumicВ’s zeppelin. It was good to see Mickey coming into his own and attempting to override the В“lockВ” on the zeppelin controls, but a little too fortunate that the re-awakened В“exhibitВ” Cyberman should put its fist through the right piece of machinery, so cancelling the signal that was controlling the humans. God IВ’m so critical arenВ’t I?

Meanwhile we saw the Cyber-controller unveiled for the first time, or rather, the converted John Lumic. In contrast to last time we only got to see the human Lumic in a couple of scenes in this episode but I donВ’t think this was a great loss, given my previous remarks on Roger Lloyd-PackВ’s acting. As the Cyber-controller I actually think he was better (he still had LumicВ’s voice albeit Cyber-style) and the look of the controller was pretty good (IВ’m not quite sure why the brain was displayed so prominently though).

The DoctorВ’s confrontation with Lumic/Cybercontroller was well handled with some good dialogue about the usefulness of human emotions, something the Doctor has defended before (remember his exchange with the Cyberleader in В“EarthshockВ”?) All of this was a lead up to him feeding Mickey with the information needed to locate the code that would disable the CybermensВ’ emotional inhibitor. As I said I thought the emotional inhibitor concept was a good one, particularly the idea that when switched off, the Cybermen would be faced with what theyВ’d become and this was an apt method of defeat. However the way in which this was achieved was just too easy and frankly, unrealistic. Would the Cybermen really have allowed the Doctor to go on talking in such a free fashion so he could supply Mickey with the necessary this information? Ricky managed to crack LumicВ’s database with remarkable speed В– well I suppose to give him credit he was meant to have computer skills. Having the code sent to RoseВ’s phone and then plugged into a convenient socket really beggared belief though В– how thoughtful of the Cybermen to arrange exactly the right-sized hole in their control panel!! It also didnВ’t make sense that the factory then started to explode В– just because the emotional inhibitor was turned off? Why does this always have to happen at the end of a story? Okay so lots of explosions make for a more dramatic ending but it was hardly logical.

The escape via LumicВ’s zeppelin was quite exciting, although the sudden reappearance of the Cybercontroller, trying to climb up the ladder did smack of В“AliensВ”.

Which left us with the farewell scene by the Thames. Life appeared to have got back to normal pretty quickly considering the amount of traffic we saw in the background! It was nice that we got a final Rose and Pete scene, picking up on their previous conversation at the Tyler party. It was touching to see Rose almost getting through to Pete when suggesting that she was his daughter in another world, and PeteВ’s refusal to acknowledge this: В“DonВ’tВ”. And then of course there was MickeyВ’s the decision to stay. This made sense for a number of reasons В– Mickey has now experienced life in the TARDIS, he and Rose are В“overВ” in terms of being boyfriend/girlfriend, he wanted to see his grandmother again and the alternative London had lost its В“RickyВ” and so needed balancing out. Added to that, Mickey now had the chance to be В“the heroВ” and continue the fight against Cybus industries, shutting down the other factories across the globe. Unfortunately whilst this was an appropriate point for departure, once again Mr ClarkeВ’s acting didnВ’t measure up to the emotionalism of the moment В– his attempts to look sad and choked were equally embarrassing and hilarious. The expression on his face when the Doctor and Rose dematerialised was especially funny and had me in stitches. Poor Noel, he did try, bless him. By contrast Billie Piper was excellent job in portraying the sadness of losing her companion and her grief was believable.

Following on from this, the scene where the Doctor and Rose paid a quick visit to the В“realВ” Jackie was nicely presented, and it was realistic that Rose would want to reassure herself after the В“deathВ” of the other version of her mum. I couldnВ’t help wondering if it would have been so simple for the Doctor to return the TARDIS to the real universe though В– this was glossed over far too easily. After all the Doctor and Romana had a hard time of it getting out of E-SpaceВ…

Just a few other final comments. It was a shame that Colin Spaull was disposed of so quickly after his debut and considering his apparent support of Lumic in В“RiseВ” his sudden decision to turn against (and try to kill) his employer seemed abrupt and unrealistic. It would have been better to have seen him nursing doubts throughout the episode and then making an eventual decision to rebel, perhaps with the DoctorВ’s persuasion and influence.

Talking of the Doctor, David Tennant again had some strong moments, in particular his disgust with the Cybermen for killing Mrs Moore and his dialogue with the Cybercontroller. IВ’m still finding him grating at times though, itВ’s something in his intonation, for example the high-pitched way he uttered В“What the hell was that thing?В” when Mrs Moore uses her bomb against the Cyberman.

Summing up, В“The Age of SteelВ” was an enjoyable enough follow up to В“Rise of the CybermenВ”, whilst being flawed in the ways IВ’ve talked about above. As I said before, I wouldnВ’t rate this as a classic episode but I certainly preferred it to the RTD stories this season. Above all it was fitting vehicle for the CybermensВ’ return and IВ’m looking forward to their second resurgence later this season.