It starts well, I’ll give it that. I was trying hard to like this story (or at least, judge it fairly), due to its apparent popularity. The music is very eerie and atmospheric, and starts things off nicely. The amusement of Ben and Polly to find that the Doctor has missed Mars by such a distance is funny, and their eagerness for the Doctor to let them explore when he decides there’s no need to stay is very sweet. Their excitement as they play about is good fun, too, until Jamie “knocks himself out or something”. It does feel very similar to the Tenth Planet already, though, an isolated base with many differing clichéd nationalities. The one major difference so far is “Hobby”. Cutler was a maniac, but at least he kept some sort of order. Hobson’s barely bothered, and welcomes our regulars incredibly quickly. “Is this someone’s idea of a particularly bad joke?” is a terrible line, too.
Polly would make a lovely nurse. Her statement that the machine being used on Jamie that will do nearly everything, “can’t be nice to him” is very sweet, as is her later, “with a ward full of sick men and no doctors, somebody has to do something”. A moment later in this story is often for some insane reason used as an example of sexism with Polly offering to make coffee while the Doctor thinks, even if a moment’s thought destroys that argument, or even just watching the first episode, as while Polly’s being brilliant in the sickbay, Jamie is unconscious and Ben is being made to clear away coffee cups. One thing I love this story for is the interaction between the Doctor and Polly, which is played in such a lovely way by Troughton and Wills. The way she teases him when he’s trying to explain about the artificial day and night on the moon is very sweet and for me one of the highlights of the story.
One of my major problems with this plot is the sheer stupidity of humans in relying on the Gravitron. Controlling the weather might be nice enough, but to have got to the point where you can’t cope without it? And it’s mentioned that the Gravitron can destroy London or raise the Atlantic. So at least it’s safe. I can’t think of any flaws in that plan! It’s ridiculous, although I shouldn’t really complain, since my second favourite story, the Seeds of Death, has an even more silly and extreme example of it.
This isn’t a perfect episode, by any means, and it’s a little slow in places, but it’s an intriguing enough opening episode, even if it does feel similar to the Tenth Planet. The death of Ralph so early is good, it helps emphasise the threat of the Cybermen, particularly as the cliffhanger involves one advancing on Jamie. 7/10
Episode Two
I find it interesting that Polly recognises the Cyberman, but doesn't make any comment about the new design, as these don't look a thing like the Tenth Planet version. Polly's great in this episode. She's the Doctor's sidekick while Ben and Jamie are sidelined. They're so good together. The Doctor's panicked, "look busy," as Hobson appears is very amusing, as is the way the Doctor pretends he has the answer just to get Hobson off their backs. It is quite funny the way the Doctor pokes around the Moonbase team getting samples for his research and getting in the way, but that whole scene with the Gravitron is one I find rather dull, really. It feels like it goes on for such a long time, and essentially it's just watching people at work doing their pretty dull job. Maybe I'm being unfair. Back then it possibly would have been exciting to see people working on the Moon as if it were the most normal thing you could think of, but now it just feels like we're watching a bunch of people in an office, and like the Office, it isn't particularly interesting.
Ben wants to leave. Poor old Ben, never wanting to stay anywhere. This season seems to have a number of recurring themes, such as the Doctor and hats, and running away quickly at the end of an adventure, and one of them is Ben wanting to leave in the TARDIS whenever things get difficult. What he really needed was to be in an early Hartnell story where he wouldn't have the choice! Of course, here at least, he's only doing it to set up the Doctor's speech about how the evil must be fought. Which is a nice opening line for the Doctor manifesto. I'm not convinced by the Cyber sugar attack. It seems an extremely haphazard plan on their part. And why does that man suddenly want sugar in his coffee? Presumably he never has wanted it before, otherwise he'd have been poisoned? Or he just hasn't had any coffee since the whole thing started. Same goes for Hobson, actually, who asks for sugar.
The cliffhanger is a bit silly, too, finding the Cyberman in the sickbay since it's the only place that hasn't been searched. It could have been a bit of a disaster really, but the scene is saved by Troughton, who is absolutely brilliant at selling (or creating, even) the tension. He's terrific here, but the episode itself was far less engaging than the first, for me. 5/10
Episode Three
This is the first time in the story we actually hear the Cybermen, which is interesting since it’s only their second story. And oh dear! What have they done to them? In the Tenth Planet, their voices were interesting and unique, and fitted them perfectly. I don’t like this version at all. It’s grating and unpleasant to listen to. Luckily they don’t have a great deal to say, although I would also say these aren’t the best looking Cybermen, either. It’s quite funny that the Cybermen talk about stupid Earth brains in this episode, considering how even at this point, their second appearance, we know they can’t stand radiation or gravity. Or even Polly cocktails. When you start adding gold allergies and winks from Sophie Aldred being fatal to them, they’re really very easily defeatable.
The Cybermen claim they aren’t interested in getting revenge, just in destroying threats. As if. But it’s a nice touch that Ben remembers they don’t like radiation. The disease is a way of readying people for conversation, which is a bit odd. The Polly cocktail is great. It’s a bit silly, but it does inject some fun into proceedings, and provides yet another example that Polly is pro-active and great, though people trying to find sexism conveniently “miss” such things. Okay, Ben does tell her that, “this is men’s work,” when they go off to use the cocktail, but he’s just being protective, which is fair enough all things considered (wouldn’t you be protective of those you care about in such a situation?), and she ignores him and comes along anyway. And it works and drives the Cybermen away. So in essence, Polly has single handedly saved the day. For now. Which is rather nice.
The scene of the Doctor chatting to himself is interesting too, except for the conclusion that the Cybermen don’t like gravity, which is a bit useless. Also, the scene of Benoit going out onto the Moon’s surface just so we can have a chase scene is a bit silly. Also, I’m not convinced by the cliffhanger, or at least, I’m not convinced by it if it’s the same as the reprisal at the start of the next episode. The Cybermen don’t look particularly menacing. More just...bored. 5/10
Episode Four
There's another scene in here that I find a bit dull, as the Moonbase crew watch a scanner showing the course of the ship from Earth for a while. It's interesting to see that so soon after coming on board the TARDIS, Jamie is already reading scanners and talking about how spaceships have gone off course. It's funny really, that by the Faceless Ones, Jamie has been exposed to all sorts of things, including spaceships, but he's still baffled by a plane. I'm not even going to bother talking about how they patch up holes in the glass with a jacket and with a tray, since it's too ridiculous to give any thought to. The build up to the conclusion is a bit slow, though. It feels like we're just waiting, now, for the Doctor to think up a way out before the Cybermen can overwhelm the Moonbase.
The use of the Gravitron to defeat the Cybermen is a fairly elegant solution. It's an obvious one, but one that makes sense within the context of the story. It's quite a satisfying one, too, and it looks quite good. I like the way the Doctor and companions run off quickly at the end. That's twice in four Troughton stories they've done that, and will soon be three out of five. The bookending of the story with the regulars on the moon surface is nicely done, too, though the cliffhanger is a little forced. A time scanner? That sounds like a very convenient device considering it's never seen or heard of again. And it doesn't make any sense, either, as everybody suddenly forgets it at the start of the next story. Quite a poor conclusion to a fairly bland story. 4/10
Conclusion
The Moonbase is okay. It's pretty average Doctor Who, really. It's not the most engaging story in the world, but there's more than enough in there to keep it entertaining for most of its duration. Jamie is sidelined a bit, but the Doctor and Polly are used brilliantly, and Ben has some good moments. Troughton continues to be remarkably impressive as the new Doctor. It's difficult to believe this is only his fourth story. He just is the Doctor. It's incredible how quickly he's settled in to the role and made it his own. I'm not impressed with the re-jigged Cybermen, and especially not with their voices, but they didn't really say or do all that much in this story anyway. The more I watch Ben and Polly, the more I'm convinced they're criminally overlooked these days. It's such a shame they only have one complete story remaining, they deserved better.
Average rating: 5.25
Old rating: 4
New rating: 5
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