Slight Spoilers To All Four Episodes
Revenge Of The Cybermen had its genesis under the producership of Barry Letts . The prozine DWB published the original script in its entirety in the early 1990s . Reading though it you become aware how it would perfectly fit in with the style brought to the show by Hincliffe and Holmes . It's a grim tale of a bunch of miners trapped on an asteroid thinking they've been abandoned by the inhabitants of a space station but for some reason script editor Robert Holmes heavily rewrote the story in to being an action fest . In many ways it's a story produced in a manner similar to the previous era
It's not a bad story but it's also that's not wholly successful either . People aboard a space beacon are dying from a " space plague " which is quickly explained then totally forgotten about once the Doctor knows what's going on which typical of how the plotting takes place in the classic series . It's not necessarily a criticism but this type of mystery means that it's not really the type of story that stands up to repeated viewing
Perhaps the biggest problem is the Cybermen themselves . Once a monster is introduced to the show it then becomes difficult trying to find any new to do with them . This is the problem with many Dalek stories and the Daleks in every Pertwee tale could have been any alien race . Likewise in most Cybermen tales and here they could be any alien race that you care to mention . . Well any bulletproof alien race since the third episode revolves around their trip to Voga where they're involved in a firefight with the inhabitants and unfortunately director Michael Briant isn't able to top his action scenes from The Sea Devils
All in all Revenge Of The Cybermen is an okay adventure but a rather forgettable one from the early Tom Baker era , not helped by the fact its surrounded by so many genuine classics . It holds the distinction of being the very first DOCTOR WHO video released in 1983 and a combination of Tom Baker and Cybermen might on paper seem a winning combination but from a storytelling point of view it may disappoint
Revenge Of The Cybermen had its genesis under the producership of Barry Letts . The prozine DWB published the original script in its entirety in the early 1990s . Reading though it you become aware how it would perfectly fit in with the style brought to the show by Hincliffe and Holmes . It's a grim tale of a bunch of miners trapped on an asteroid thinking they've been abandoned by the inhabitants of a space station but for some reason script editor Robert Holmes heavily rewrote the story in to being an action fest . In many ways it's a story produced in a manner similar to the previous era
It's not a bad story but it's also that's not wholly successful either . People aboard a space beacon are dying from a " space plague " which is quickly explained then totally forgotten about once the Doctor knows what's going on which typical of how the plotting takes place in the classic series . It's not necessarily a criticism but this type of mystery means that it's not really the type of story that stands up to repeated viewing
Perhaps the biggest problem is the Cybermen themselves . Once a monster is introduced to the show it then becomes difficult trying to find any new to do with them . This is the problem with many Dalek stories and the Daleks in every Pertwee tale could have been any alien race . Likewise in most Cybermen tales and here they could be any alien race that you care to mention . . Well any bulletproof alien race since the third episode revolves around their trip to Voga where they're involved in a firefight with the inhabitants and unfortunately director Michael Briant isn't able to top his action scenes from The Sea Devils
All in all Revenge Of The Cybermen is an okay adventure but a rather forgettable one from the early Tom Baker era , not helped by the fact its surrounded by so many genuine classics . It holds the distinction of being the very first DOCTOR WHO video released in 1983 and a combination of Tom Baker and Cybermen might on paper seem a winning combination but from a storytelling point of view it may disappoint