Product Details

• Actors: William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison
• Writers: Sydney Newman
• Format: Black & White, Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• VHS Release Date: May 31, 1995
• Run Time: 120 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302665205
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #285,404 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

In the early 1970s, the BBC shamefully erased most of their master tapes of black-and-white Doctor Who episodes from the 1960s, with only a few random episodes here and there surviving the purge. Hence the appearance of this compilation tape of two Patrick Troughton stories featuring the Cybermen--sort of low-tech versions of Star Trek's Borg--where fewer than half the episodes still exist. Hosted by the sixth Doctor, Colin Baker, and interspersed with interviews with series contributors at the time, there are two episodes (out of four) from "The Moonbase" from 1967, and two episodes (out of six) from 1968's "The Wheel in Space." The final episode of "The Wheel in Space" is an archivist's delight, perhaps the cleanest copy of a '60s episode that still exists (the rest rely on sometimes murky kinescopes).

Short excerpts are also included from "The Tenth Planet" (featuring the Cybermen's first-ever appearance), "Tomb of the Cybermen," and "The Invasion." What remains of the stories is still effective because it exploits the bleak black-and-white photography of the time, and the Cybermen's penchant for taking on isolated near-defenseless humans on futuristic outposts. It was a simpler time when monsters could still threaten without irony, "Resistance is useless" and "You will be destroyed!" But it has to be said that these partial representations are probably for die-hard completists only; casual fans would be better served by the excellent novelizations of the missing stories, or the few remaining (near) complete Cybermen stories like "Tomb of the Cybermen" and "The Invasion" also available on home video. --Ryan K. Johnson

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Behind the sofa again..., November 4, 1999

By 

William "williamnedblake" (Kansas City, MO, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Doctor Who - Cybermen, The Early Years [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Even in a fragmentary state, the four episodes (from 'The Moonbase' - episodes 2 and 4 - and 'The Wheel in Space' - episodes 3 and 6) on this tape represent two of the most genuinely eerie stories ever made. Don't believe me? Try watching in a darkened house at about 11pm with your suspension of disbelief lurking somewhere in the corner behind the cat. Still some of my all-time favourites, and something no fan of the early days of Doctor Who should miss. And after you've finished with Cybermen, go find 'Daleks: the Early Years' and 'the Troughton Years'. Well worth the time.

(by the bye, if you really enjoy these, search the web for 'doctor who telesnap reconstructions' if you'd like a taste of what the full stories were like...)

Support the BBC releases!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cyberman History 101 for Whovians, June 28, 2003

By 

Daniel J. Hamlow (Narita, Japan) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Doctor Who - Cybermen - The Early Years [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This special documentary was done in the same vein as the Dalek-The Early Years special. This time, Colin Baker, the Sixth Doctor, is the host, who like Davison, presented this in the Museum of the Moving Image, next to some Cybermen heads.

The Cybermen, the second most popular Dr. Who monsters after the Daleks, basically came about because then-producer Innes Lloyd wanted some new monsters. Enter Dr. Kit Pedler, whose scientific knowhow combined with storywriter Gerry Davis, and together they created the Cybermen, who were humans who replaced their bodies with mechanical parts, but at the cost of losing their human qualities. Roy Skelton again was assigned to do the Cyberman voices and the vocal talents of this man, who did the Dalek voices, cannot be understated. Other commentary comes from Morris Barry, director of the Cyber stories The Moonbase and Tomb Of The Cybermen.

The real treat is of course the episodes from incomplete stories. They are Episodes 2 and 4 from The Moonbase and Episodes 3 and 6 from The Wheel In Space. Judging from these stories, they seem to be among the best in the series. The Moonbase is about a weather station on the moon whose personnel are suffering from an unknown disease. These people then vanish! The station director Hobson suspects the Doctor and his companions, Jamie, Ben, and Polly. The Doctor is given 24 hours to find out what's going on. One of his best lines here: "There are some corners of the universe which have bred the most terrible things, things that act against everything we believe in. They must be fought." In Episode 4, the Cybermen attack from the lunar surface and from Moonbase personnel they control. The Cyber march music, consisting of booming kettle drums and staccato horns, makes its appearance at the beginning of this episode.

The Cybermen attack a space station, the "Wheel In Space" via Cybermats. It also sees the debut of the diminutive, super-smart astrophysicist, pure math major with honours, cute-as-a-button Zoe Herriot, played by Wendy Padbury. She is even criticized by the communications officer on that second attribute: "just like a computer, facts and figures... proper little brain child. All brain and no heart." The Doctor says it more gently: "Logic, my dear Zoe, merely enables one to be wrong with authority." Other interesting characters include a pretty Russian, Tanya, going on about her nose, and a practical doctor, Gemma Corwyn, who kind of resembles Glenda Jackson. The Cybermen's voices sound like Daleks with severe bronchitis, while their Coordinator Sphere maintains the Cyber voice heard in Tomb Of The Cybermen.

The personable Wendy Padbury gives her recollections and I don't know when this was taken, but she still has her looks, and is a remarkable contrast without the Zoe-style bangs and pear-shaped hairdo.

Despite being the second most famous Who monsters, the Cybermen did established their reputations in five adventures in less than three years--(1966-1968)--something to think about.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If you like Troughton and the Cybermen (and who doesn't?...), April 9, 1999

By 

Ian D. Smith (Bangor, ME United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Doctor Who - Cybermen, The Early Years [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The BBC were very shortsighted when they methodically erased a great number of old Doctor Who episodes one by one. But what's done is done, and until unknown copies rear their heads (just happened a couple months ago) this is a wonderful way to see incomplete stories. There is unfortunately nothing more than a couple clips from "The Tenth Planet", but what remains of "The Moonbase" and "The Wheel in Space" is very fun to watch. The Cybermen truly blossomed in the Troughton years and this documentary/compilation truly expresses that. This is a good video to ahve, particularly if you are one of the many who loves "Tomb of the Cybermen", "The Invasion" and the Cybermen in general.