TV Review: Doctor Who: Revenge of the Cybermen (1975)

Doctor Who: Revenge of the Cybermen (1975) written by Gerry Davis and directed by Michael E. Briant

Fourth Doctor Tom Baker and his companions Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) and Harry Sullivan (Ian Marter) have returned to the Ark in Space to pick up the TARDIS, only to find themselves thousands of years before their last visit. At this point, the Ark is a space beacon guiding ships through the solar system. But a plague has broken out, leaving a handful of crew and one scientist, Kellerman (Jeremy Wilkin). Kellermen is interested in an asteroid nearby that is really the home of the Voga, a race of beings once at war with the Cybermen. Their asteroid is called the "planet of gold" because it is basically a chunk of gold ore floating in space. Gold is a weakness of the Cybermen--if their suits are contaminated they die quickly. Naturally, the Cyberman want to destroy Voga. The Vogans naturally don't want to die. Plenty of conflict is set up for the Doctor to resolve.

The plot moves along at a good pace with some mystery about who is on whose side among the humans on the space station. The typical cliffhangers abound in this four-episode storyline. The special effects are also typical for the classic Doctor Who (not very good). The story falls apart a bit when the Cybermen go to Voga to plant bombs. The Vogans fight them with rifles rather than using the plentiful gold all around. What the heck? Baker is charming as usual and has good chemistry with Sladen and Marter.

Mildly recommended--this is a typical, not great, story.

TV Review: Doctor Who: The Green Death (1973)

Doctor Who: The Green Death (1973) written by Robert Sloman and directed by Michael E. Briant

The Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) has finally gotten permission from the Time Lords to leave Earth. He tries to convince his companion, U.N.I.T. employee Jo Grant (Katy Manning), to go off-world but she wants to go to Wales. She sees news of a fatal mining accident seemingly caused by Global Chemicals. She wants to join in the protests and leaves the Doctor behind. The mining accident turns out to be much more bizarre and sinister--a man was brought up with glowing green patches on his skin. Global Chemicals is in charge of the mine site and doesn't want anyone investigating what's in the mine. The Doctor eventually catches up to Jo, though he has to go down into the mine since she's gone to help out another miner trapped down there. They find some creepy crawlies down there. But is the subterranean threat worse than Global Chemicals, which has been brainwashing its employees and is run by an unseen character called "The Boss"?

The story is an early 1970s cautionary tale about the evils of fossil fuel. Jo teams up with a local professor who's developing mushrooms as meat substitutes when he's not protesting Global Chemicals's activities. The ambiguity about the villain of the piece is interesting and keeps the viewer engaged. I found the revelation of who "The Boss" is disappointing. The evil maggots from the underground actually look decent though the episode has a lot of low-budget-looking green screen work that I found distracting.

Mildly recommended--this is a fairly run-of-the-mill classic Doctor Who series.

TV Review: Doctor Who: The Robots of Death (1977)

Doctor Who: The Robots of Death (1977) written by Chris Boucher and directed by Michael E. Briant

The Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) has a new companion, Leela (Louise Jameson). The TARDIS lands in a gigantic sand miner that's run mostly by robots. The handful of humans on board get massages and snacks from the robots. When the vehicle hits a rich vein of minerals, the crew gets to work. But mostly they relax. Until they start dying! Since the Doctor and Leela are newly arrived strangers, suspicion naturally falls on them. But, as is clear from the title and from the viewers getting to witness the first murder, the killers are the robots. No one wants to believe that since robots are programmed not to harm humans. A mystery with an ever-increasing body count ensues.

The story is fun but fairly familiar, with the Doctor and the companion getting captured and freed many times, usually for the cliffhanger ending of an episode (this was a four-parter). The writing is entertaining and the robots look pretty good for 1970s Doctor Who. The show does a good job hiding the human baddie till late. The story is not great but also not bad.

Slightly recommended.