The Moonbase

The Doctor and his companions arrive on an isolated base to find that the Cybermen are back. The villainous cyborgs plan to use a human invention to destroy the world, and the only thing that stops them is the discovery of a weakness and exploiting it. Yes, it’s pretty much the same plot as The Tenth Planet, but if it ain’t broke, then don’t fix it. Ah.

To be fair, The Moonbase has a better script than its predecessor, but that only really means that it is stupid on fewer levels. The Cyber-plan is still unnecessarily complex- why did they go to the trouble of spreading a virus in such a random and ineffective manner? The moon-base has a small complement composed entirely of scientists- would it have not been easier to tunnel in, subdue and convert the personnel directly and then take control of the Gravitron. However they eventually succeed- and then suddenly change their plan to destroy the Earth (the reason for which is never given!) If the Cybermen are a logical race, they must base their behaviour on Logic lecturers who are, by and large, utterly barmy. The script contains some good lines, but a cornucopia of terrible ones.

The guest performances are adequate, but at least there aren’t any egregiously bad ones. Again, Pedler and Davis try to show a multi-racial future, with the Nigerian geologist Ralph Adebayo. Unfortunately, he is dragged away by the Cybermen half-way through the first episode, which is a pity, as Mark Heath seems to give one of the better performances amongst the guest cast. However, characterisation is non-existent and it is only the differing nationalities that give the base personnel any individuality (poor André Maranne again being a professional Frenchman). The regulars put in good work as usual- I love the scenes where Troughton is trying to collect specimens from people while they are still working.

The Cybermen have been given the first of many makeovers and they might, at the time, have looked more impressive than their Tenth Planet forbears. Forty years later, however, I personally think the original Cybermen look better, if only for the fact that they don’t have flares and lace-up boots! More seriously, I don’t think the idea of the Cybermen being humans who have violated their own bodies has ever been visualised better than the original design. The voices, though, are very effective (although still a bit hard to understand). The set design and costuming is fine, but the special effects for the Cyber-ships leave a great deal to be desired, being amongst the worst ever seen in the programme- at least the wires holding up the Dalek ship in The Dalek Invasion of Earth didn’t snap halfway through the shot. Morris Barry directs with panache, except for the laughable scene where the Gravitron is used on the Cybermen.

As said, this is a better story than The Tenth Planet, but it lacks the significance of the earlier story making the grievous flaws in plotting and dialogue all too obvious.

NEXT: The Macra Terror