Revenge of the Cybermen was the final story of Tom Baker’s first season as the Doctor. Following on the heals of Genesis of the Daleks which is arguably the best of Tom’s stories. It was the first time since 1968 that they had appeared in Doctor Who and would eight years before they would appear again. The most interesting fact is that Revenge of the Cybermen was the first story to be released on VHS (remember them?). It wasn’t until it was rereleased in 1999 that I first got to see it and watched it constantly. The first thing that should be pointed out is the title. Considering that Cybermen don’t have emotions, how can they have revenge?
The problem with this story is that had it featured an alien menace that wasn’t the Cybermen then it would be good four part adventure. However as it was the Cybermen’s first appearance in such a long time it’s a shame that nothing more is made of them. The story itself is slow and dull and the scenes in the caves whilst looking visually stunning at first become repetitive and ultimately stops me from becoming involved in the story. The Vogans whilst have some interesting characteristics are let down by how stupid their masks are. The Cybermen are also disappointing in appearance. They don’t sound right and also the fact they have guns at the top of their heads was something that was a bit silly. Also they walk a bit odd.
All the action on the Beacon was quite interesting. The plague is quite a good plot pushing device because once the regulars become infected (or one in this case) it adds to the drama. In fact all of the scenes on the Ark (sorry Beacon) are well directed and do move the story on a bit, it’s just a shame that the stuff on Voga was so dull. The different heights meant that there some scenes where the Cybermen would have to duck and that slightly ruins the menace of the Cybermen. I am reminded of the helmet that Colin Baker wore in Arc of Infinity and always carried it in his arm because it was thought he would look stupid if he bad to keep ducking every time he walked in or out of a room. It’s the same with the Cybermen. Credit to Michael Briant who did a good job trying to hide this fact.
Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen and Ian Marter put in a usual performance. It seems like their relationship has pretty much gelled and for fans that have only seen later Tom performances it seems quite a held back outing. As it was when Baker was still trying to find his feet its not surprising that it’s quite subdue. This story has many instances where you could see that the Doctor doesn’t like Harry particularly. The “Harry Sullivan is an imbecile!” remains one of my favourite lines. It’s also a rare thing that the companion is appropriately dressed for the drama (Sarah). This story also saw Kevin Stoney return for this third and final outing. After playing the sinister Mavic Chen in the Daleks Master Plan (1965-66) and as the brilliant Tobias Vaughn in The Invasion (1968). He is hidden behind the mask but puts in a good performance although it’s not quite up their with his other two.
Something that didn’t strike me for sometime afterwards was how silly the plan of the Cybermen’s was. By crashing the Nova Beacon into Voga would contradict the events of The Ark in Space which is set sometime after the events of Revenge. Ultimately the critiscm that this story has received is one of those rare occasions where I agree with it. There is no tension and really you don’t fear the Cybermen. Its not surprising that it was ranked 130th in the Mighty 200 DWM poll of 2009 but it is surprising that Silver Nemesis is ranked lower (176th). Hopefully this release on DVD will help people see that Silver Nemesis will rank higher than Revenge.
CHEQUES, LIES & VIDEOTAPE
Cheques, Lies and Videotape is probably the highlight of the Revenge of the Cybermen/Silver Nemesis boxset.
Before the easy access of DVD’s and the internet and the notion of regular repeats it was very difficult for Doctor Who fans to watch old episodes of Doctor Who. It got to such levels that fans were paying what would be extortionate amounts of money to watch a story. The makers of this documentary thankfully highlighted this by showing how much it would amount to in today’s money. The one eye-watering fact was when it was revealed that one fan and his friends paid £250 for Doctor Who and the Silurians but in today’s money it amounted to nearly £1000. The lengths that people would go to included begging fans in Australia to send over copies. In many ways it’s a anti-piracy commercial. Showing that just because you’ve got something before anyone else it doesn’t mean that the quality is going to be good. The example was showing how ‘generation’ copies gets worse and worse. By the 11th generation it becomes unwatchable and the narrator says that they could do a worse version because the signal couldn’t be picked up.
The feature runs for about 30 minutes and every single second was enjoyable. It’s an interesting and often unknown part of Doctor Who fandom that shows what it really took to be a true die-hard Doctor Who fan. If this isn’t the best feature of the year then I will buy a hat and eat it.
COMMENTARY
The commentary is the usual interesting affair. It’s not as funny as the Davison commentaries with Philip Hinchcliffe (producer) and Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith). Hinchcliffe’s comments are always informative and never viscious or sugar coated with the passing of some 30 years. David Collings (Vorus) also contributes some interesting stuff along the four episodes.
THE TIN MAN AND THE WITCH CAST
The making of documentary is unfortunately over shadowed by the Cheques, Lies and Videotape feature. There is a lot of stuff about filming in the caves and a lot of time is spent going on about the Witch and how after someone had played around with it by putting a hat and broomstick on it there were mysterious accidents that occurred. All well and good but as this story isnt a particularly memorable story its left to Michael Briant (director) to justify stuff like why the Cybermen shoot things out of their heads.
The problem with this story is that had it featured an alien menace that wasn’t the Cybermen then it would be good four part adventure. However as it was the Cybermen’s first appearance in such a long time it’s a shame that nothing more is made of them. The story itself is slow and dull and the scenes in the caves whilst looking visually stunning at first become repetitive and ultimately stops me from becoming involved in the story. The Vogans whilst have some interesting characteristics are let down by how stupid their masks are. The Cybermen are also disappointing in appearance. They don’t sound right and also the fact they have guns at the top of their heads was something that was a bit silly. Also they walk a bit odd.
All the action on the Beacon was quite interesting. The plague is quite a good plot pushing device because once the regulars become infected (or one in this case) it adds to the drama. In fact all of the scenes on the Ark (sorry Beacon) are well directed and do move the story on a bit, it’s just a shame that the stuff on Voga was so dull. The different heights meant that there some scenes where the Cybermen would have to duck and that slightly ruins the menace of the Cybermen. I am reminded of the helmet that Colin Baker wore in Arc of Infinity and always carried it in his arm because it was thought he would look stupid if he bad to keep ducking every time he walked in or out of a room. It’s the same with the Cybermen. Credit to Michael Briant who did a good job trying to hide this fact.
Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen and Ian Marter put in a usual performance. It seems like their relationship has pretty much gelled and for fans that have only seen later Tom performances it seems quite a held back outing. As it was when Baker was still trying to find his feet its not surprising that it’s quite subdue. This story has many instances where you could see that the Doctor doesn’t like Harry particularly. The “Harry Sullivan is an imbecile!” remains one of my favourite lines. It’s also a rare thing that the companion is appropriately dressed for the drama (Sarah). This story also saw Kevin Stoney return for this third and final outing. After playing the sinister Mavic Chen in the Daleks Master Plan (1965-66) and as the brilliant Tobias Vaughn in The Invasion (1968). He is hidden behind the mask but puts in a good performance although it’s not quite up their with his other two.
Something that didn’t strike me for sometime afterwards was how silly the plan of the Cybermen’s was. By crashing the Nova Beacon into Voga would contradict the events of The Ark in Space which is set sometime after the events of Revenge. Ultimately the critiscm that this story has received is one of those rare occasions where I agree with it. There is no tension and really you don’t fear the Cybermen. Its not surprising that it was ranked 130th in the Mighty 200 DWM poll of 2009 but it is surprising that Silver Nemesis is ranked lower (176th). Hopefully this release on DVD will help people see that Silver Nemesis will rank higher than Revenge.
CHEQUES, LIES & VIDEOTAPE
Cheques, Lies and Videotape is probably the highlight of the Revenge of the Cybermen/Silver Nemesis boxset.
Before the easy access of DVD’s and the internet and the notion of regular repeats it was very difficult for Doctor Who fans to watch old episodes of Doctor Who. It got to such levels that fans were paying what would be extortionate amounts of money to watch a story. The makers of this documentary thankfully highlighted this by showing how much it would amount to in today’s money. The one eye-watering fact was when it was revealed that one fan and his friends paid £250 for Doctor Who and the Silurians but in today’s money it amounted to nearly £1000. The lengths that people would go to included begging fans in Australia to send over copies. In many ways it’s a anti-piracy commercial. Showing that just because you’ve got something before anyone else it doesn’t mean that the quality is going to be good. The example was showing how ‘generation’ copies gets worse and worse. By the 11th generation it becomes unwatchable and the narrator says that they could do a worse version because the signal couldn’t be picked up.
The feature runs for about 30 minutes and every single second was enjoyable. It’s an interesting and often unknown part of Doctor Who fandom that shows what it really took to be a true die-hard Doctor Who fan. If this isn’t the best feature of the year then I will buy a hat and eat it.
COMMENTARY
The commentary is the usual interesting affair. It’s not as funny as the Davison commentaries with Philip Hinchcliffe (producer) and Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith). Hinchcliffe’s comments are always informative and never viscious or sugar coated with the passing of some 30 years. David Collings (Vorus) also contributes some interesting stuff along the four episodes.
THE TIN MAN AND THE WITCH CAST
The making of documentary is unfortunately over shadowed by the Cheques, Lies and Videotape feature. There is a lot of stuff about filming in the caves and a lot of time is spent going on about the Witch and how after someone had played around with it by putting a hat and broomstick on it there were mysterious accidents that occurred. All well and good but as this story isnt a particularly memorable story its left to Michael Briant (director) to justify stuff like why the Cybermen shoot things out of their heads.
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