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The Tomb of

the Cybermen

2ND SEPTEMBER 1967 - 23RD SEPTEMBER 1967

(4 EPISODES)

Shrouded in myth, The Tomb of the Cybermen was returned to the BBC in late

1991 by the Hong Kong television company ATV, its commercial release on VHS awaited with bated breath. And I think it’s fair to say that news of the story’s DVD release generated its fair share of anticipation too, and rightly so. The VHS was rush-released and little cleanup work was done on the four episodes. Here, however, the serial is presented with stunning picture and sound quality. The Restoration Team are so proud of their work that they have even included a ‘Restoration’ featurette comparing the old film prints with the re-mastered episodes.

The DVD’s bonus material is also a cut above the usual standard. The Final End was a much anticipated special feature, and although short in length it is amazing to finally be able to see a close approximation of the last few minutes of The Evil of the Daleks; to see the Dalek race apparently perishing in civil war on Skaro. Tombwatch is basically a Q & A

panel featuring many of the cast and crew from the story that took place at the special 1992 screening of the story, and although it does not sound like much on the face of it, it’s actually rather entertaining.

Above: Deborah Watling and Frazer Hines in the "Tombwatch" documentary

And on top of that, we have Frazer Hines (Jamie) and Deborah Watling (Victoria) providing a lively commentary, bickering like siblings throughout;  production subtitles, which are even more informative than usual; and even director Morris Barry’s introduction to the original VHS release is included for posterity. A photo gallery, some title sequence tests, and a clip from Late Night Line-Up (which has dated ridiculously!) then round up the impressive set of extras. This DVD range really does seem to be improving with each and every release.

The Tomb of the Cybermen itself is widely regarded as a classic, perhaps even as the zenith of the Patrick Troughton era. And it certainly has some undeniably epic moments, the most famous of which sees the Cybermen emerge from their Ice Tombs on Telos. In fact,

this scene is more than epic; it’s downright iconic.

And what’s more, this serial introduces us to the mesmerising Cybercontroller - a fantastic concept on paper, although as one would expect from a late 1960s story, far from ideally realised.

“So why all the fuss?”

The Doctor shrugged. “Reputation.” 

- Justin Richards, “Theatre of War”    

However, whilst the rest of the story does not disappoint, I think to label it as one of the greatest Doctor Who serials ever is a fallacy. The first two episodes are rather slow and plodding, the Cybermen not even appearing until towards the end of the second episode. And, despite what the serial’s title implies, the Cybermen are not really the central villains here - that honour falls to Eric Klieg (though to be fair, Klieg is every bit as interesting as the silver giants are here, if not more so. George Pastell gives a truly spellbinding performance).

Nevertheless, at the end of the day this serial has never really grabbed me in the way that I expected it to and, although it’s deplorably impressive, in my view it does not warrant its colossal reputation.

Copyright © E.G. Wolverson 2006

E.G. Wolverson has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

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