 |  |  |
 | Reviews for Revenge of the Cybermen / Silver Nemesis |
|
| | |
There are 3 reviews so far. To add a review of your own for this item, visit the voting page.
| | |
| Harry Sullivan is an imbecile! |
|
| | |
| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
|
| Date: | Sunday 15 August 2010 |
|
| Rating: |   9 |
One has to say that Revenge of the Cybermen has gained so much flack over the years for being a stupid comeback from the silver giants from Mondas, but I have to wholeheartedly disagree now.
True, not so long ago even I didnt like this story a whole lot. But upon watching it on DVD after all these years, I wondered why I hadnt liked it originally. There is quite a good amount of brilliant material on show here and I will list it.
The first thing is Tom Baker's humour. Clearly he appears to be having a great time as he finally sinks his teeth into the role of the Doctor. This story is literally littered with brillaint gems of dialogue. He really reminds me how good he was as the Doctor in this story.
The second is the slightly more emotional cybermen. Maybe their conditioning isnt 100% as they appear to be easily angered and riled, and never before or since has a cybermen had a farewell line to the Doctor like Chris Robbie has in this, totally human and nothing else. So quite uncharacteristic. They still do own emotions, they just dont want to admit it. But this is a good thing. Simply going around converting all over the place does become rather tepid and boring in the end.
And then there are the fantastic location scenes, shot in Wookey Hole. They really are atmospheric and believable. Dark and watery and very alien looking. And the gold actually looks like gold...
And to top it all off the acting is high standard. From all of the cast including the vogans. David Collings and Kevin Stoney work together really well.
And it was humans who looted voga of its gold....perhaps the vogans didnt truly realise how lethal gold was to the cybermen....but otherwise the plot is very stable and gos along nicely all the way.
And then we come to Silver Nemesis.
Im sure that (if you watch the Industrial action extras) if the Doctor somehow was God then he would not have said since life crawled out of the sea, he would have said since I raised them from the dust wouldnt he? So that rather silly plot thread is better for its absence from the final story, and John Nathan Turner showed good sense in not allowing this viewpoint to truly manifest in this script. Good man indeed.
Aside from that, the story is so enjoyable and funny and entertaining. It again boasts the excellent fact that the Cybermen do more than just convert people yet again. This time they, like the neo nazis and Lady Peinforte are after the Nemesis, a statue made out of valedium, a living metal. The fight scenes in this story are some of the most impressive ever in the history of Doctor Who. Both the nazi-cyber fight and the Ace scenes with Ace towards the end of the story!
And Sylv is rather like Tom with this story, really finally getting his teeth into the role and coming up trumps with brilliant acting and charisma.
But one has to say it is the humour of this tale that is at the fore. "They will eat us" still cracks me up to this day every time I see it. And though my Dad thinks the chess castling scene with the Cybermen makes them look stupid, I think it is flipping funny!!!
But this story does bring the mystery back to the character of the Doctor. Leaving it open to debate was a good idea....he is half human...and what else more is to come? I dont know. I just hope they continue to make stories as good as these two stories for a long time to come...or at least for another 3 years til the shows fiftieth anniversary...it really doesnt seem possible...
| By: | Francis Salvi, Chester, United Kingdom |
|
| Date: | Sunday 12 September 2010 |
|
| Rating: | 10 |
At long last, Revenge of the Cybermen and Silver Nemesis come to DVD. Packaged in a stylish purple slipcase, the stories are every bit as enjoyable as i remember them.
I've only ever seen Revenge in an omnibus format, and enjoyed it on a certain level. Watching the story in episodic formast made me like the story even more. The location work is excellent, as are the Cybermen, back to their old tricks of taking over space stations.
Silver Nemesis doesn't actually feature the Cybermen a great deal, focussing more on the character of Lady Peinforte, and her knowledge of the Doctor's secrets. This story poses the question 'Who is the Doctor'? a scene which sticks in the mind long after the credits roll on episode 3.
All in all, two very under-rated stories in one quality boxset. Looking forward to Time and the Rani.
| | |
| Cyberman DVD boxset? Excellent... |
|
| | |
| By: | Huw Davies, Taunton, United Kingdom |
|
| Date: | Sunday 16 January 2011 |
|
| Rating: | 9 |
The fact that these two Cybermen stories have been released together is a blessing - the metal men from Telos (or Mondas, depending on your outlook) haven't appeared on shiny discs since March of 2009. Then we had the disappointingly average 'Attack of the Cybermen', but here we have two more substantial stories.
'Revenge of the Cybermen' is a clever piece, reusing sets from 'The Ark in Space' but setting the story thousands of years earlier. The story is well thought-out and every character is nicely portrayed, Jeremy "Virgil from Thunderbirds" Wilkin is especially menacing as Kellman. The main gripe with this story is the realisation of the Vogans, and the studio parts of Voga - "silly old men" sums up the costumes nicely!
'Silver Nemesis' is set in present-day England, and tells of the search for the legendary Nemesis statue by 4 different parties: Herr de Flores and his neo-Nazis, medieval sorceress Lady Peinforte, the Doctor and Ace and of course the Cybermen. These several threads of story are a double-edged sword: though they keep the story zipping along with pace, they unfortunately can make the story seem confusing. One other gripe I have is with Lady Peinforte - she is incredibly annoyingly portrayed and she seems to be so up herself: maybe the author intended this but it is something I don't believe works!
