Cybermen make their first appearance on Doctor Who, and William Hartnell his last (for a while), in this legendary classic serial.
A crazy billionaire creates the Cybermen in a bizarro London, and alternate-universe-Mickey (aka Ricky) is really angry.
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When the TARDIS suddenly malfunctions, the Tenth Doctor, Rose and Mickey crash into a parallel universe. All of a sudden they find that they’ve materialised in an alternate version of London (obviously), where Pete Tyler – last seen in N008 Father’s Day – is still alive, Jackie Tyler is super-high maintenance, and evil genius John Lumic is not so surreptitiously kidnapping homeless men and turning them into Cybermen.
No spoiler alert necessary here. You’ve all read the title. That’s right, the Cybermen are getting their own reboot here! And while Doc & Co race to save the day, here are some of the things we’re treated to:
- Parallel Mickey, aka Ricky, and his facial spasms
- Mickey’s origin story
- Rose having a heart-to-heart with her dad
- The Doc blowing on a TARDIS crystal
- Mickey getting his groin scanned (see screenshot here below)
- And so on…
This is the first instalment in a Doctor Who double-feature, and the story is continued and concluded in N020 The Age of Steel (our review of which will drop in the next couple of days).
“Meanwhile, the resistance scans Ricky’s groin” – It our review of RISE OF THE CYBERMEN! Get it now! http://t.co/HSNapxiXUI #newwho #DrWho
RT @ponken: “Meanwhile, the resistance scans Ricky’s groin” – It our review of RISE OF THE CYBERMEN! Get it now! http://t.co/HSNapxiXUI #ne…
Cybermen invade Bizarro London in our latest #NewWho review! Check it out at: http://t.co/5mSSmNNvKe #DoctorWho #DrWho #Cybermen #podcast
RT @whobackwhen: Cybermen invade Bizarro London in our latest #NewWho review! Check it out at: http://t.co/5mSSmNNvKe #DoctorWho #DrWho #Cy…
RT @ponken: “Meanwhile, the resistance scans Ricky’s groin” – It our review of RISE OF THE CYBERMEN! Get it now! http://t.co/HSNapxiXUI #ne…
RT @whobackwhen: Cybermen invade Bizarro London in our latest #NewWho review! Check it out at: http://t.co/5mSSmNNvKe #DoctorWho #DrWho #Cy…
Who Back When N019: Rise of the Cybermen: WHOOGLE shared this story from… http://t.co/vsqwwKIXLh #doctorwho #drwho http://t.co/bHjWlwBO1z
RT @WhoogleNews: Who Back When N019: Rise of the Cybermen: WHOOGLE shared this story from… http://t.co/vsqwwKIXLh #doctorwho #drwho http://…
RT @WhoogleNews: Who Back When N019: Rise of the Cybermen: WHOOGLE shared this story from… http://t.co/vsqwwKIXLh #doctorwho #drwho http://…
Who Back When takes a look back at the Tenth Doctor episode Rise of the Cybermen in their latest podcast. http://t.co/kDQ6zrOtyJ
The first 10 minutes of this are great, just a little ropey. As the maniacal force embodying everything evil about capitalism, I don’t mind Lumic cutting corners, then exploiting his subordinates. As for no risk log, maybe they don’t have Prince II in bizarro London? Value Stream Maps are as alien a concept to them as zeppelin mass transport is to us. Planned to plop your brain in a metal shell, ended up building an army of robo-hobos? Simple mission creep. Lumic’s wastrel-wrangling henchman is great. The daily download scene is too, just a parallel version of 2017 where it happens once a day instead of 100 times, so it’s actually preferable to our reality. Rose’s arc and desperate desire to find Pete are very well done. The President says “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!” OK, the Cybermen have all the subtlety and nuance of a sledgehammer. Why is Doc carrying around the power cell? They didn’t need so many close-ups of Roger Lloyd-Pack. But, albeit the episode’s quite simple, the pace never relents and builds to an amazing cliffhanger! Jackie’s boobs are never better. Why would you remove 3 full points for Ricky and zeppelins?
Show Notes: 1) Lumic is trying to survive, he’s paranoid or he knows he’ll meet resistance, hence the killing machines. And for him humanity resides entirely in the brain. He and his Cybermen make sense to me, but then I love supervillains with their mania gauge set to 100. 2) How realistic is Pete Tyler’s bus ad right now! We’re not past the age of video advertising on bus stops, it’s of the moment. 3) Ricky’s facial spasms mean I never once confused him for Mickey; well done, Noel Clarke!
Rating: 3.7.