Search - Doctor Who: Attack of the Cybermen (Story 138) on DVD

Get your popcorn ready for this ABSOLUTE CLASSIC!!!

David W. Curry | Philadelphia,Pa | 03/04/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This season opener from 1985 (season 22) has it all! Cybermen in the London underground, a new doctor, mercinaries, diamond robers, new aliens (the cryons), a working cameleon cirtut in the TARDIS, Haley's Comet, a return to the frozen Cyber tombs on Telos and even a return visit to the junk yard where Doctor Who all began in 1963... Whew!
The story grabs you from the first minute and never lets you go; Right up to the bloody, corpse filled final seconds. New doctor Colin Baker realy shines here. Everything we were hoping Colin Baker's doctor would be is evident here. He is brash and bold and taking on all comers including the Cyber Controller himself. The sixth doctor has no problem picking up a gun (or Cyber laser)and defending himself and the earth from who or what ever threatens. This is Colin Baker's best performance; I still find it regretable he was never really given a chance to grow into the role ( He was one of the scape goats for the 1986 hiatus).
You get excellent performances from the supporting cast as well which just adds to a gripping ending since none of them live to see the end of the episode. There are multiple reference to the show's past and a timely subplot envolving the Cyberman's plan to crash Haley's Comet into the Earth (Haley's Comet was in our "area" for real in 1985). I could go on and on about this episode but lets not spoil it for those who have not seen this episode yet. If you are one of them I say go for it and buy this one; Trust me! you will not be disapointed!
Ofcourse, every Doctor Who episode has it's nae sayers and this one is no exception. Some say the plot is too convoluted, the Cyber Controler is too "rotund", and the Cybermen in the frozen tombs on Telos do not look like the ones in the old Troughton episode "Tomb of the Cybermen". To these points I say keep in mind the BBC did not spend a ton of money on Doctor Who back in the day (1963 to1989). They would never spend money on two diferent styles of Cybermen. Infact they would never spent much money on the show at all...Isn't that what we loved about the show in the first place. For the short commings in this episode I say I would put this episode up against any in the show's history. Come July 7th I will be in front of my TV, popcorn in hand, and ejoying one of the most riviting yarns in Doctor Who history....Now where is my cat lapel pin????"

A good story, but not the best Cybermen one.

Jero Briggs | 03/16/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This one isn't that bad. Better than the Sylvester McCoy Cyberman story "Silver Nemesis", but I think the Tom Baker story "Revenge of the Cybermen" and the William Hartnell story "The Tenth Planet" should have been released first for they are better stories with better Doctors.

First of all, Colin Baker was my least favorite Doctor. But fortunately, he is a lot better in this one than in many of his other stories and he is certainly better in this one than in his premiere story. In fact, he's brilliant! Too bad about his other stories. The plot is decent with the Cybermen trying to alter history and prevent the destruction of their home planet Mondas which was destroyed in their very first story "The Tenth Planet". You've got some nice action pieces in this one. The Cybermen are once again turning people into Cybermen - something that hasn't been done since the Patrick Trougton story "The Invasion". You get to see the Doctor return to both the junkyard from "An Unearthly Child" and the planet Telos from "The Tomb of the Cybermen". Part One's cliffhanger is excellent. You've got a few scary parts in this one as well as a little bit of comedy.

Unfortunately, the tombs on Telos look like crap and nothing like the ones in "The Tomb of the Cybermen". The Cyber Controller is a little bit too fat to be a Cyberman. The Cryons look ridiculous (blame that on the costume designers). And the Cybermen are too easy to kill in this one. I would still recommend this one, but I would have rather seen a better Cyberman story released on DVD first like "Revenge of the Cybermen" or "The Tenth Planet"."

"I thought I looked like a psychedelic Hitler!"

Jason A. Miller | New York, New York USA | 08/09/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The plot of "Attack of the Cybermen" is very easy to describe, really. The Cybermen seek to travel back in time to Earth in 1985 to make sure that the events of Doctor Who - The Tenth Planet [VHS] in 1986 never take place.

Actually it's a little more complex than that. There are actually two factions of Cybermen, each led by familiar characters from the show's past history: there's the Cyber Leader (last seen in Doctor Who - Earthshock (Episode 122) and Doctor Who: The Five Doctors (Episode 130) (25th Anniversary Edition)) on Earth, and then there's the Cyber Controller (last seen in Doctor Who: The Tomb of the Cybermen (Episode 37)) on the Cyber home planet of Telos. And the Cybermen don't just have one scheme to change history -- they have three. First they've acquired a time machine that accidentally landed on Telos; then they accidentally walk into the TARDIS on Earth in 1985; and finally they plan to divert the course of Halley's Comet.

Sorry, that's not enough. I'm still not doing the story justice. The Cybermen aren't alone in this story -- they're opposed by the Cryons, a race of sub-zero female humanoids. One of the Cryons is played by a great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud; another is played by actress Sarah Berger, who on the DVD commentary track likens her mustachioed outer-space costume to a psychedelic Hitler. But because the Cryons are sub-zero, they can't act in their own interest and in fact don't show up until the story's three-quarter mark. Instead they've hired their own white knight: Lytton, last seen in Doctor Who - Resurrection of the Daleks (Episode 134). Lytton's a cold-blooded killer and here has seven different henchmen helping him out: two mute policemen left over from "Resurrection"; two half-Cybernized slaves on Telos; and three Earth-bound jewel thieves. Of the jewel thieves, one is actually an undercover cop out to arrest Lytton; another is played by Brian Glover, who gets off the episodes best lines. None of these seven characters come to happy ends.

And, lest we forget, the Doctor and Peri are in this story too. The Doctor doesn't have much to do with the plot -- he's still mentally unstable from the effects of his regeneration -- but he does temporarily fix the TARDIS's long-faulty chameleon circuit (which causes Brian Glover to query: "Time travel in an organ?!").

There's nothing wrong with an overly ambitious "Doctor Who" plot (witness Doctor Who - City of Death (Episode 105)). There's also nothing wrong with a pessimistic, downbeat script (see Doctor Who - The Caves of Androzani (Episode 136)). Here, however, "Attack of the Cybermen" never gels into a likeable story. Unlike "City of Death", there are here at least two more plot threads than the story can reasonably handle. And unlike "Androzani", where the Doctor served as the story's moral center (and tragic hero), and where Sharaz Jek was a lyrical hero/villain, in "Attack" the Doctor is largely peripheral to the plot, and Lytton (last seen slaughtering lots of humans in "Resurrection") is miscast as a morally ambiguous good guy.

The DVD extra features are plentiful. Anytime Eric Saward (series script editor and this episode's pseudonymous author) shows up, you know a fellow show contributor is about to get thrown under the bus. Here is ire is aimed not at show producer John Nathan-Turner, but rather at someone named Ian Levine. Levine, a figure well known in British fan circles about 25 years ago, claims to have co-written the episode -- to the extent that he suggested a lot of continuity-heavy plot devices. If true, Levine certainly did the story no favors. For example, it's nice to see Telos again, 18 years after its last appearance, but the Cyber Controller (played by the same actor from 18 years ago) has no plot utility. Ultimately it seems that "Attack" has no message or plot of its own -- all it seeks to do is recreate sequences from past Cybermen stories -- and once Brian Glover's character is offed, there's no-one left to root for."

Baker burnout?

A. Shapiro | Fl | 07/24/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I actually like Colin Baker. There, I've said it. A lot of people took exception to his portrayal of the Doctor, but I found him refreshing after Davison's all too human run. So this episode was a bit diapointing for me. It isn't a bad episode by any means, but it seems to be Who by Numbers. Still, Colin is charming and there are some very nice bits for fans of this incarnation of the Doctor"