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Those masks!

By:Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom
Date:Monday 20 June 2011
Rating:   5

What always struck me most about the original Cybermen was those eerie and skanky cloth faces! Sheer brilliance of design, and when their mouths part like they do it scared the poo out of me as a child.

Yet again this story suffers from having an episode missing for the screen version. The BBC really arent that thoughtful.

There are some things wrong with this story though, it has to be said. One is the lamentable amount of scenes the Cybermen have in episode three, the grand total of one scene, and even in that their handles are falling off in a very uncyberman like way. But this was the nineteen sixties and time was short for Doctor Who serials. But I for actually love the selotape holding their heads together! But the lamentable third part really lets the side down for this story.

The other weakness of this story is the lack of things to do for Ben and Polly. Even when Will Hartnell bows out in episode three, they still do not really stick out or have that much of a role in the story. And I just love Ben and Polly, two of the all time great companions. All Polly does is make coffee and scream, and all Ben does is get punched by a psychotic General. So in those respects this story isnt all that much to write home about.

And the final cybermen's voices are too sing song in the final part, whereas in the earlier parts they are chilling. But the cybermen overall deserved a far better entry tale than this one. They look very good indeed, but the writing doesnt match them.

The only very very good sequence is the regeneration scene, highly imaginative and extremely well done for the time. And one does like the character of Doctor Barclay, and the two astronauts. The General is just a bit too over the top, although some scenes are better than others when he's in them. Such as his anger at his son being sent up in the second capsule by the earth executive! Very well done scenes there too. But for the most part The Tenth Planet isnt the best Doctor Who story to give Will as his last one, he deserved a bit better than this.



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