Doctor Who Project "Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel"

Several episodes and a series after we first see a Cyberman referenced in "Dalek" we finally get a Cyberman story and on top of that we get a whole new Cyberman design. It's this new design that has come into all sorts of  criticism amongst fandom. The Cybermen are now 'robot-like', 'slow', the way they move is 'stompy' and 'deafening'. I however quite like the way they look.

I like the art deco styling and the way they move reflects their new bodies ie all heavy metal and moving parts. Ok there's less human parts on show. In the classic series you could see the jaw moving behind the mouthpiece which was cool as it showed that there was a human body that formed part of the Cyberman skeleton. There was also the suit they wore, in the Troughton story "The Invasion" which was basically a scuba diving suit with bits and bobs glued on. OK costume design and budgets have improved in the years to come but this scuba outfit design was kinda endearing and worked as it allowed the Cybermen to move quite easily as well as covering up the delicate human flesh. In fact you could argue that this material could be a more sophisticated soft metal that allows the Cybermen to move more freely. Anyhoo this new Cyberman has 2 handy get out clauses. Firstly The Doctor points out to Mrs Moore that the Cyberman body has an organic as well as a human brain and mostly importantly an emotion inhibitor which prohibits the Cybermen from feelings (not sure how that also stops them thinking freely?). Secondly these Cybermen were created in a parallel universe.

This last point is quite interesting as the new look Cybermen have cropped up again in the Steven Moffat era minus the Cybus Industries chest logo. Can't really get around that unless you were to say they sneaked through the cracks in the universe and fancied a re-brand. Should be interesting when the next design arrives in the Neil Gaiman penned episode sometime this year. I'm also really looking forward to seeing this episode as Neil Gaiman is one of my favourite authors although I would like to see Moffat tackle a Cyberman story. I want them to become scary villains again not comedy villains that they've been since the 70s/80s. Try as he might and to be fair this isn't a bad stab at trying to rectify that RTD fails in trying to make them a serious threat. This isn't a bad story and for the majority of it they are a credible threat, it's the series finale that dooms them to the fate of being comedy villains. An army of Cybermen put to waste by just 4 Daleks, it's not hard to see which bad guy Davies prefers. I'm surprised the Cyber Leader doesn't fist pump and say "Excellent!". Speaking of Cyber Leaders, what's the point in them? Cybermen are supposed to be uniform, why would they need someone commanding them if they all think the same? Oh well cyber rant over.

Anyway back to the story. I like how this story is set in an alternate universe. It reminds me so much of the Pertwee story "Inferno" although in this story there isn't a parallel threat to our world. It does however play with the idea of a parallel world via the support cast: Mickey/Ricky, Pete Tyler still being alive, Rose never being born and Mickey's gran (who hasn't even been mentioned until now) is still alive. The story also has a (not so) subtle sub-plot of how media communications controls our life. On top of that there's the point of clinging onto life via surgery or upgrades in this case.

I also like how this story gives Mickey something to do, he outgrows the 'Mickey the idiot' and becomes an integral part of the story, effectively saving The Doctor and Rose as well as destroying the Cyberman threat. This sudden character development seems a bit out of the blue but it allows Mickey to leave the TARDIS crew and have a happily ever after, fighting Cybermen and being able to see his beloved old gran.

Mickey drives off to Paris in a white van with his new best mate (RTD's gay agenda?) never to be seen again. Or is he? I'm sure that's not the last we'll see of Mickey the Idiot.

Doctor Who Project - "The Girl in the Fireplace"

Ok, going to try something different for this review, you may have noticed that my last few reviews have been a little different in format from the ones that proceeded them and I guess it's my way of being creative and finding a way of keeping the idea fresh (especially when you've got 50+ episodes to review). It's a mighty task but an enjoyable one (although not looking forward to the DVD that contains "Fear Her" and "Love and Monsters" on the same disc. Anyway back to the task in hand. I think for this review I am going to write it live as I'm watching the story, no edits (apart from grammatical ones) so what you'll probably get is unadulterated gibberish! I guess in a way it's kinda like a DVD commentary only in text format!  Nevertheless here we go.

Ooh space, oh nevermind it's a big state home. Madame de Pompadour, quite fancy her. Mistress? Queen? Shouting The Doctor's name into a fireplace, all the mystery!

Opening titles, STEVEN MOFFAT! Yay. Ok at this stage in time he's only written one Doctor Who story albeit one of the best so far.

lol Had to laugh at Mickey's first line, "Yes, spaceship on my first go". Funny that, Rose got one too. Well a space station at least.

Ooh fireplace on a spaceship and a girl on the other side of it.

TARDIS translation, bit of Doctor Who folk law thrown in there and a joke at Mickey's expense.

The Doctor finally meets the girl in person and it's weeks in her future, altogether now "wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey". Scary monster time and under the bed too! Moffat is going to terrify a generation! Once again he's made everyday things scary, in this case a ticking clock.

Fire extenguisher that looks like a gun. Another Doctor uses a gun but doesn't joke (see "Dalek" from the 1st series eg hairdryer that looks like a big gun).

Quite like Mickey's tshirt in this episode, old school Nintendo NES joypad. Ok that was a bit random.

Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey time again, Reinette is now fully grown. Ding dong.

Ah Reinette has known The Doctor since she was 7 years old and it's a Steven Moffat story too. Hmm where have I seen this before? Amy Pond anyone? I can see why people say the Amy Pond story arc is a more fleshed out tale of  "The Girl in the Fireplace".

Human body parts hard-wired into the spaceship, this shit got serious!

Wonder what the horse is called? Susan (series 7 joke)?!

Repair droid 7? Doesn't sound very threatening. The repetition of "we did not have the parts" sounds very similar to the "we are in a car" line (by K9) in the previous story. Why 18th century France indeed? Nice question by Rose, "why her?".

Haha the horse is called Arthur and he's allowed to keep the horse because Rose is allowed to keep Mickey.

I like how Mickey is referring to women in The Doctor's past. Jealous boyfriend, funny that he seemed to have come to terms with it in the last story although he's obviously trying to point out to Rose that he's (The Doctor) not perfect.

Nice little memory scene there with Reinette and The Doctor. Not sure about the whole 'Doctor Who?' line again. Another thing that Moffat seems to have revisited recently.

Haha The Doctor is pissed (drunk for all you non UK readers)! Or appears to be at least. "Always take a banana to a party", good advice! And The Doctor has figured it all out, the repair droids are after Reinette's brain to install into the spaceship and it has to be the same age as the ship, that's why she's not compatible yet.

Funny how the droids are all retro with the clockwork action but they can beam right out of the ship into an exact period of time in 18th century France. Convenient!

Interesting analysis, The Doctor and the monsters, can't have one without the other.

Madame de Pomadour is very composed in what may essentially be her last moments. Love how she's building up The Doctor, the nightmare returned and here he comes on horseback. Didn't David Tennant do that in Casanova?

How is The Doctor going to get back? Well pointed out Mickey. Rose on the overhand is devastated. Ooh nice pun there by the good Doctor, "I'm not winding you up". Do bad guys stop when they have no purpose? I suppose villains like the Cybermen and the Daleks can never stop as their purpose is to make others like them and destroy anything unlike them respectively.

The Doctor, the 'lonely angel' stuck on the slow path (love Moffat's way with words). He clearly knew there was no way back, do you think he did it out of love for Reinette (there is a lot of suggestion in this story after all that The Doctor could fall/is in love with her) or was he just being entirely selfless. Conveniently though the original fireplace has been transported brick by brick to this palace and it's The Doctor's way back to the TARDIS.

Once again The Doctor meets a young lady he wants to take onboard the TARDIS and she winds up dying (see Lynda with a Y). This time he just misses her, her coffin being taken to Paris to be buried.

Wonder what Reinette said to The Doctor in her letter? Hope it's explained as I can't remember it at all.

The Doctor is clearly upset, I'm guessing he could've loved her. Never did buy the whole he loved Rose thing but Madame de Pompadour definitely.

Just heard what she said in the letter, so sad and the light going out in the fireplace too very fitting.

And with the last shots of the episode we see a portrait of Reinette and the name of the ship clearing any confusion as to why they (clockwork repair droids) needed her at all.

And that's it my first (and possibly last! lol) live commentary review. Hope anyone reading this enjoyed it and didn't just read it as mindless drivel. Such a great episode and at this stage that's two great stories in two attempts from Steven Moffat. Someone should give him the show runner job. ;)

Next up the Cyberman 2 parter! Exciting times.