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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sophisticated, underrated adventure, February 19, 2002
This review is from: Doctor Who - Attack of the Cybermen [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Attack of the Cyberman starts Colin Baker's first full season off as the Doctor with a complex, if ultimately flawed, adventure. What makes the story work is the intelligent direction by Matthew Robinson, who really works to bring out the horrific qualities of Paula Moore's (more so Eric Saward's) script. Never before have the Cybermen been as horrific or fully realized as in this story, where they are allowed to be up front in their violent, quasi-emotional nature. The actual creation of the Cybermen is finally dealt with in its full, gothic nature, with plenty of information about body part manipulation and replacement. Even though the episode deals with an enourmous amount of Doctor Who mythology, it's still reasonably accessible for novice viewers, who will probably want to check out the other Cyber titles in the canon. Colin Baker's performance is one of his best, and Nicola Bryant manages to come across as less forced than usual. Where the story may fail is in its lack of motivation involving the characters. Lytton -- a fine, devious character introduced in Resurrection of the Daleks -- is never completely clear in his motives, and that makes some of his decisions seem a bit farfetched, especially his seeming change of mercenary heart. The subplot involving the two escaped prisoners attempting to steal the Cybermen's captured time ship is also a bit weak. Since the attempt seems to be doomed from the start, its only reason for existence seems to be to enhance the sense of dread that permeates this production. If there's a legitimate complaint, it's that Warner Brothers video has yet again decided on a less-than-perfect transfer, with colors bleeding and shading too dark. At least Fox Video seemed to care about its product. Obviously, if you enjoy this program, you should look into the other Cyber titles (except Silver Nemesis, which is a pure disaster). On the whole, Colin Baker never seemed to get the stories necessary for his Doctor to really break out. This season is similar to Tom Baker's first, with the return of some long-term monsters in an attempt to capture a new audience. What's missing are the masterpieces like Ark in Space, which solidified Tom Baker's Doctor in the minds of the audience. Unfortunately, Colin never got his masterpiece, the show was reworked for the worse, and then he was fired. Too bad. With more stories like this, he might have been able to emphasize his portrayal of the Doctor, and would have lasted longer than two seasons. As is, we get a few minor successes like this one and Vengeance on Varos, and then he's gone. Attack of the Cybermen is a fine story, one that overcomes its seeming reliance on previous mythology, and works as an attempt to recreate the gothic properties of some of Tom Baker's best. It doesn't always succeed, but is still very entertaining.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Tomb of the Cybermen II-the Cybercontroller strikes back!, March 2, 2002
This review is from: Doctor Who - Attack of the Cybermen [VHS] (VHS Tape)
"This looks familiar," says the Sixth Doctor, as he steps outside the TARDIS. It should be: he has come full circle to I.M. Foreman, 76 Totters Lane, site of his TV debut. When he sees that sign, he says to Peri "Look, Susan." Links to the past aren't too overdone in this story, which is kind of a sequel to Tomb Of The Cybermen. Or, given how we learn that the events of The Tenth Planet took place the following year, maybe a prequel to William Hartnell's last story. The Sixth Doctor's only encounter with the Cybermen has him answering a distress call beamed from Earth. He encounters the Cybermen as well as Lytton, the mercenary he first met in Resurrection Of The Daleks, as well as Lytton's bodyguards, disguised as constables like last time. He is taken to Telos, where during his second incarnation, he defeated the Cybermen and Cybercontroller. The 6'5" Michael Kilgariff, who played the Cybercontroller in Tomb and the title role in Robot, returns 18 years later as the Cybercontroller, where it's clear that he has gained a bit of weight in the tum-tum. Maybe that's one rare side effect of Cybercontroller repair. Colin Baker has his usual great dialogue as usual. He says that the chameleon circuit, which he is trying to repair, is capable of amazing things, not unlike himself. He berates the seemingly ungrateful Peri, telling her "A little gratitude wouldn't irretrievably damage my ego." He makes a pun when trapped in the freezing room with Flast, who tells him he's looking very blue. He asks, "Depressed or cold?" Prerequisites for this story include An Unearthly Child, The Tenth Planet, Tomb Of The Cybermen, Logopolis, and Resurrection Of The Daleks for the respective items: Totters Lane, Mondas, Telos, the chameleon circuit, and Lytton. One new thing we learn about the Cybermen here is that they share a quality with the Daleks, they have an inbuilt distress signal and come to the aid of one of their own (q.v. Planet Of The Daleks.) It is also the first time when we see people undergoing the Cybernization process. It's kind of like the robotization in Dalek Invasion Of Earth. The late Brian Glover, who plays Griffiths, appeared alongside Peter Davison (Fifth Doctor) in the brief series Campion as the detective's valet, Magersfontein Lugg. The Cyber march which first appeared in Earthshock comes out here as well. Also, this was the first story to be broken into 45 minute episodes, which don't work for Who. The concept of the Web of Time, finally mentioned here, is kind of referred to by Vicki in The Romans, when she accuses him of deliberately interfering with history (inspiring Nero to set fire to Rome) when she was expressly told not to. Earth was not destroyed by the Mondasian Cybermen, but the Doctor is still worried about the Cybercontroller's plans. Does this mean that history isn't set in stone by the Web, but can be altered, or will something happen that prevents the Web from being ruptured? Any story with the Daleks or Cybermen are bound to be winners, and this is no exception.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Nice Continuity, August 6, 2002
This review is from: Doctor Who - Attack of the Cybermen [VHS] (VHS Tape)
This is the 6th Doctor's Cybermen episode and while it is not a great story, it isn't bad either. As a stickler for continuity, I enjoy this episode for its ties to many previous episodes including "Unearthly Child" (1st Doctor), "10th Planet" (1st Doctor), "Tomb of the Cybermen" (2nd Doctor), "Resurection of the Daleks" (5th Doctor), and others. Storywise, the Cybermen are back on Telos where their "tombs" are located and where the Doctor had defeated them before. This time, they want to change history to prevent their original home planet (seen in "10th Planet") from being destroyed when it traveled to earth (they modified it to fly through space). The Doctor, with the help of unlikely ally Commander Litton (last seen in "Resurrection of the Daleks") do what they can to stop this plan. For those who are aware of previous Doctor Who episodes, all of the little nods to those episodes are much appreciated, especially the spot where the TARDIS lands -- 76 Totter's Lane. This was where the first Doctor kept his TARDIS in the 60's. For these little touches, I give this four stars.
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