Doctor Who: The Tomb of the Cybermen (Story 37) - Special Edition

The Doctor and Jamie show young Victoria Waterfield the TARDIS. In the previous episode, "The Evil of the Daleks", Victoria was held hostage by the Daleks and her father killed. So the Doctor has offered her a home on the TARDIS, and they set off on her first time/travel trip.But where are they going? We get there first and see a group of archeologists set to blow the face off a cliff. The leader says, "According to the map reference, that should be the entrance to the City of Telos"; the planet and city of Telos, home of the supposedly extinct Cybermen.Everybody cheers when giant doors are revealed, framed by the images of Cybermen. But the first man to try to open the doors is electrocuted. That's when the Doctor, Jamie, and Victoria arrive. Expedition member John Viner mutters, "I think this fellow must be a member of a rival expedition.... Look at him, archeologist written all over him."The Doctor shows his worth by deactivating the doors, and everyone troops in, the Doctor fretting about additional booby-traps. But there's not just possible Cybermen traps to worry about. Someone on the expedition is ready to kill people, too. To what purpose, though?"Tomb of the Cybermen" is a black & white 4-episode series that first aired September 1967. The plot is very good, even if the acting isn't always. I can't make up my mind whether Captain Hopper is a John Wayne imitator or a graduate of the William Shatner school of acting.But the sequences with the five-story Cyberman tomb are outstanding. This is an example of how black & white can be effective, evocative and chilling. The long shot of them climbing down the ladders on each side, drums and horns banging in the background, is fantastic.This is a review of the 2002 one-disc DVD release and the 2012 2-disc Special Edition. Picture and sound were re-remastered for the Special Edition.First I'll list the extras, on Disc 1 and Disc 2 of the Special Edition, noting which ones are carried forward from the 2002 DVD. The first three new extras, on disc 2, are great.At the end, I'll give a short list of the extras that were on the 2002 DVD, but not carried forward to the 2012 Special Edition.Disc 1 Extras:1. Morris Barry Intro (on the 2002 DVD, 2 minutes) Among other reminisces, Barry remembers that just one of the reasons he wanted Mike Kilgarriff for the Cybercontroller was that he is 6'4". Mike took some convincing, though, as he'd never seen a Doctor Who series before.2. Title Sequence Tests (2002, 4 minutes) Samples showing different fonts and electronic patterns3. "Late Night Line-Up: Special Effects" (2002, 2 minutes) This is a interview with a man in BBC Special Effects, who feels that, compared to other shows, "Doctor Who is a bit of a romp."4. "The Final End" (2002, 2 minutes) During the filming of the previous series "The Evil of the Daleks", Tony Cornell shot a silent 8 mm film behind the scenes.5. Audio Options - Two Commentary TracksA) Commentary Track 1 (2002) Commentators are Deborah Watling (plays Victoria) and Frazer Hines (plays Jamie). Of Patrick Troughton, Deborah says, "He had a wonderful sense of humor. You could see the twinkle in his eye."B) Commentary Track 2 (new) Toby Hadoke moderates with commentators Victor Pemberton (script editor), Bernard Holley (plays Peter Haydon), Shirley Cooklin (plays Kaftan), Deborah Watling, Frazer Hines and Reg Whitehead (plays a Cyberman).Holley compares these early days of TV with playing on TV today: "I think when you watch something like this, the difference between ... filming drama then and now - there was much more of that kind of shouting going on.... Not exactly overacting, but bigger and bolder." This probably has a lot to do with how new TV was - most of the actors already had careers on the stage, where emoting and projecting has to be more outsize.Hodoke admits to being a super-fan: "For years it was a lost classic.... People remember where they were when Kennedy was shot. I remember where I was when I got a phone call saying `The Tomb of the Cybermen' had been returned."6. Info Text (2002) Interesting trivia. In one scene, the Doctor tells Victoria he is 450 years old, which is younger than the age William Hartnell's Doctor Who has given. This is because the concept of regeneration, of being the same person with a different face, wasn't really thought out, yet.7. Coming Soon (new, 2 minutes) This is a trailer, not the best trailer they've done, for the fabulous Tom Baker series, "The Face of Evil"Disc 2 Extras:8. "The Lost Giants: The Making of Tomb of the Cybermen" (new, 27 minutes) Commentators are Shirley Cooklin, Victor Pemberton, Frazer Hines, Bernard Holley, Deborah Watling, Michael Kilgarriff (plays Cybercontroller) and Peter Day (visual effects designer).Pemberton remembers: "The casting was really quite perfect, I thought. For instance, ... George Pastell [plays Klieg]. Now, he was the wonderful arch villain of all time. I'd see him in Hammer Films and he was always a foreign nasty. He had a presence."Holley has a laugh remembering that he was in 2 episodes, and he played dead throughout the second: "It was during that production that I realized that I DID want to be a television actor, because I was paid for being a corpse."9. "The Curse of the Cybermen's Tomb" (new, 14 minutes) This is a very fun comparison between the story of the Cybermen's Tomb and the saga of King Tutankhamen. It begins with a great cartouche for Doctor Who. Commentators are Sir Christopher Frayling (Emeritus Professor of Cultural History, Royal College of Art) and Dr. Debbie Challis (The Petrie Museum).Frayling, tongue in cheek: "That's where the cybermats came from. Great-great-grandsons of the scarab beetle found in King Tut's tomb."Challis ends with: " `The Tomb of the Cybermen' is one of the most historical Doctor Whos."10. "Cybermen Extended Edition" (new, 32 minutes) This is hilarious! Written and presented by Matthew Sweet, this is a look at the whys and wherefors of Cybermen. It includes many clips from their Doctor Who series.For "Revenge of the Cyberman", Sweet notes: "This is the worst managerial decision the Cybermen ever make - forming an alliance with the Master."I got a kick out of Sweet's take on how baroque the Cybermen's master plans are. Apparently, the logic of which they are so proud is not simple logic.11. Subtitles, are available in Engish12. "The Magic of VidFIRE" (new, 7 minutes) This is not the same as the 2002 extra, "Remastering for DVD", which covers the improvement from VHS to DVD. This new extra is about the processes used to improve on the 2002 DVD for the Special Edition.VidFIRE = video field interpolation restoration effect13. "Sky Ray Advert" (new, 30 seconds) A TV advertisement for a frozen treat14. Photo Gallery (3 minutes) The 2002 DVD has a Photo Gallery, also, but it was redone for the Special Edition.15. PDF files to see on your computer: Radio Times LIstings and a Walls Sky Ray PromotionCan you hear the TINNY VOICE saying: "You belong to us: You shall be like us."///////////////////////////Special Features on the 2002 DVD which are not included in the Special Edition extras:1. "Tombwatch" (35 minutes) This is excerpts from a panel of Doctor Who veterans speaking before a 1992 London audience at BAFTA (the non-profit British Academy of Film and Television Arts ). The panel was gathered to accompany the screening of "The Tomb of the Cybermen", a copy of which had recently been discovered after BBC thought it was lost for 25 years. Panelists include Michael Kilgariff (plays the Cybercontroller), Deborah Watling (plays Victoria), Peter Bryant (producer), Shirley Cooklin (plays Kaftan), Frazer Hines (plays Jamie), Victor Pemberton (story editor), George Roubicek (plays Captain Hopper), Morris Barry (director) and Clive Merrison (plays Jim Callum)The director mentions one regret. He wished he'd had more time to dub metallic noises for the steps. It still bothers him that they're supposed to be metal, yet sound distinctly like wood when someone steps on them.2. "Remastering for DVD" (8 minutes) Thought long-lost, in 1992, BBC recovered an original 35mm film of the series from Hong Kong. This was released pretty much untouched for the 1992 VHS, and restored for the DVD. Split screen comparisons between the VHS and DVD show the improvement.3. Who's Who. Filmographies of 8 people, including a generic one for the Cybermen. In Classic Doctor Who, they are "the second most recurring monsters", featured in 10 stories and cameos in 3 more.Happy Reader

It okayed

I love this serial. I've watched it multiple times online and felt a desire to own it before it disappeared and I'm glad I got it.This serial was one of the "lost" batch of episodes they recovered in the early 1990s and is to date the earliest surviving Second Doctor that still exists in its entirety so they didn't have to do any reconstructions or animations for this release!Extras include TWO audio commentary tracks with the actors and production crew as well as documentaries about the making of the serial, the history of the Cybermen, and a recreation of a battle scene from The Evil of the Daleks, a later Second Doctor storyline.Patrick Troughton has become my second favorite Doctor after Tom Baker with his excellent eccentric performance which was later emulated with borrowed mannerisms and personality quirks resurfacing in the Tenth and especially Eleventh Doctors. Troughton is never boring as the lead and always gives his best even when the scripts aren't fantastic (see the reunion specials and later color episodes with the Second Doctor which did none of the lead actors any favors!). If you're a Cybermen fan and can't get of those creepy, unfeeling cyborgs, then his Doctor is the one to watch! After overusing the Daleks during the First Doctor's era AND overexposure through two unconnected Doctor Who feature films starring Peter Cushing, the Daleks were put to the side and the Cybermen became the Second Doctor's primary archnemesis.Easily the best Cybermen storylines occurred during the Second Doctor era and in fact the Second Doctor was born (regenerated) after the First Doctor was fatally injured during HIS first and only encounter with the Cybermen ("The Tenth Planet").Tomb of the Cybermen is the third serial featuring the evil cyborgs and probably the best-regarded Troughton serial featuring this menace. Besides the usual excellent standard of performance from Troughton and Frazer Hines (Jamie), Deborah Watling (Victoria) and the guest stars provide excellent backup. There is a particularly poignant moment between the Doctor and Victoria where they discuss their families and it's one of those scenes in Who continuity that's regarded as iconic.Besides the acting, the set design on this serial is excellent. The "tomb" of the Cybermen is eerie and more like a beehive for the cybernetic menace. Seeing the Cybermen come out of their tomb is one of the eeriest moments captured during the 1960s run of Doctor Who.I strongly recommend this DVD release for Second Doctor fans and especially for anyone who prefers the cybernetic menace over those pepperpots (the Daleks)! I would strongly recommend watching and perhaps buying "The Tenth Planet" and "The Moonbase" which have events that tie into this episode but they're not essential to see before you watch this serial. There is a continuity of the Cybermen encounters and events of the earlier serials are obliquely referred to in "The Tomb of the Cybermen."