Hour of the Cybermen

Main Range #240

Released: 12 July 2018

Listened: 6/1/20

This is the second portion of the “UNIT Trilogy” that started with “The Helliax Rift” with the Fifth Doctor. The Sixth Doctor part of these Five-Six-Seven trilogies often suffers from “middle episode syndrome,” and I think they made a definite effort to avoid that here. Both Daniel Hopkins and Colonel Price return, but they’re decidedly different than they were. Price has moderated his views, whereas Hopkins has suffered a personal tragedy and come out the worse for it. It also helps to explain why UNIT didn’t call on the Doctor much during the late 80s and early 90s. The Cybermen here are definitely the 80s versions, being played by David Banks and Mark Hardy, and they have a typically convoluted plan for taking over the Earth, involving a ray that destroys water. It’s some seriously dodgy science, and requires several actors to pretend to be dehydrated, which doesn’t come across quite as well as it would have on TV, especially with modern effects. Still, the Cybermen’s plan isn’t the important point here, but rather the idea of pain and loss, and whether they’re an acceptable price to pay for joy and happiness. On an emotional level, the story succeeds.