The Tomb of the Cybermen
The Tomb of the Cybermen is the first serial of the fifth season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was originally broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 2 to 23 September 1967.
The financiers of the expedition, Eric Klieg (George Pastell) and Kaftan (Shirley Cooklin), intend to revitalise the Cybermen that are buried on Telos in underground tombs, hoping they will share their power.
Landing on the planet Telos, the Doctor, Jamie, and Victoria meet Parry, the leader of an archeological expedition.
Funded by Kaftan, who is accompanied by her colleague Klieg and her servant Toberman, the group have found and seek to explore the tomb of the Cybermen, who died out five centuries before.
After another crewman is killed by a cybergun-testing machine, Parry decides to call off the expedition, only to be informed that someone has sabotaged the rocket ship, stranding them until repairs are completed.
The crew open and enter the crypt; leaving Kaftan and Victoria behind, they find a small army of frozen Cybermen.
The group disarm and imprison Kaftan and Klieg, only for them to repair the cybergun, hoping to force the Cybermen into their alliance.
With their energy levels running low, the Cybermen return to the crypt whilst their Controller and Toberman meet with the group.
While he, the Doctor, and Jamie return to refreeze the crypt, Klieg, unable to accept that the Cybermen will not forge an alliance, tries to stop them, only to be murdered by a Cyberman.
[1] Toberman was originally intended to be deaf, hence his lack of significant speech; his hearing aid would foreshadow his transformation into a Cyberman.
[6] On 24 February 2013, the episode aired in the United States on BBC America as part of a year-long celebration and acknowledgement of the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who.
On 26 September 1967, Kit Pedler appeared on the BBC series Talkback, hosted by David Coleman, to defend the serial against parents who thought it was too violent.
[11] Paul Cornell, Martin Day, and Keith Topping wrote favourably of the serial in The Discontinuity Guide (1995), despite some criticism, "The first two episodes are wonderful, a well directed and expensive looking restating of the series' basics, but once the Cybermen are released from the Tombs, they go back in again.
"[12] In The Television Companion (1998), David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker stated that it was similar to previous Cybermen stories, but "manages to develop the idea to greater advantage and, as a result, achieves a considerable success" and was "well-paced, gripping and, in places, genuinely frightening".
They praised the Cybermen, but said the noise they made while being attacked was "silly", and also criticised some of the direction and Deborah Watling's Victoria, who they felt was an inconsistent character.
[15] In a review of the special edition DVD for the same website, John Sinnott gave The Tomb of the Cybermen four stars.
Bahn was positive towards Troughton and the plot's buildup, but felt that the rest "just kind of peters out" and the villains' motivations were "convoluted".
[23][24] Library tracks used in The Tomb of the Cybermen but missing from this CD include Univers Sidéral by Paul Bonneau, assorted Synchro-Stings by Trevor Duncan, Sting Tintabuloid 1 by Desmond Leslie, Eerie Vaults by Steve Race, Suspended Animation, Galaxy and Hypnosis by Eric Siday, Dramatic Brass Chords by Wolf Droysen, and from Frank Talley's Off Center Suite: Dark Pursuit, Off Center and Panic in the Streets.
