Running Time: Approx. 101 minutes. Written by: Gerry Davis. Adapted by: John Dorney. Directed by: Nicholas Briggs. Produced by: David Richardson.
THE PLOT:
The Time Ring returns the Doctor, Harry, and Sarah Jane to Space Station Nerva. But they arrive long after their previous visit. Now the station is being used to steer traffic away from an asteroid that poses a hazard to space navigation. But all is not well on the station. It has been ravaged by plague, with only a handful of its original staff still alive.
The Doctor suspects that this is no simple disease. After a metallic worm attacks Sarah, his fears are confirmed. Her attacker is a Cybermat, which injects its victims with poison to simulate plague. The Cybermen are hiding on the station, and they have a plan to ensure total conquest!
CHARACTERS:
The Doctor: This is easily the best of Tom Baker's "alternative Season 12" performances, with him injecting both humor and dramatic intensity at multiple points. It's not quite the Fourth Doctor of Season 12 - It's closer in characterization to the Second Doctor, with him making a show of being absent-minded while plotting to undermine the Cybermen. Baker seems fully engaged, though, and there are even points at which I could hear his Doctor grinning while making grave pronouncements.
Sarah Jane Smith: In this version, there's no immediate fix to her illness, resulting in her being all but absent for Episode Two. Despite this, I actually think she has a stronger role than in the television version. She shows initiative, finding the control unit for the Cybermats and attempting to use them. Her attempt fails, but it sets the stage for a more refined effort by the Doctor. This was Sadie Miller's first recorded story as Sarah Jane, and the differences between her voice and her mother's are more apparent than in later entries. She does a creditable job in the role, though, and it took little time for me to mentally adjust to the difference.
Harry Sullivan: He's consistently ready to put himself in harm's way to protect the Doctor or Sarah. He (ill-advisedly) attacks a Cyberman at the start of Episode Two to defend his friends, and he capably executes the plan to disrupt the Cybermen in Part Four. I'll admit that I kind of miss the Doctor bellowing, "Harry Sullivan is an imbecile," directly into his face, though.
Cybermen: Gone is the emotional, camp Cyberleader from Revenge of the Cybermen. The cyborg baddies are emotionless, logical, and ruthless. They keep a few members of the crew alive because they need them to execute their plan (in a way that's far more plausibly presented than in the televised story). The hostages who are surplus to requirements, such as Sarah and Harry, are kept alive to ensure the good behavior of the crew members they actually need, but they are prepared to kill them if provoked.
THOUGHTS:
Revenge of the Cybermen, the final serial of Season 12, was credited to Gerry Davis, but it was so heavily rewritten that it would be at least as accurate to call it a Robert Holmes story.
It wasn't the total rewrite that The Ark in Space was to John Lucarotti's The Ark. Revenge of the Cybermen followed the same basic structure as Davis's submission: Space Station Nerva is afflicted by a mysterious plague, with only a few crew members surviving. Its job is to direct traffic around an asteroid that contains a remarkable amount of gold, something known only by the duplicitous Professor Kellman (here played by Nicholas Asbury). Kellman has worked with the Cybermen to spread the plague, but he also plans to betray them. The resolution is even quite similar.
But the execution of Return of the Cybermen is entirely differently. Davis's story is mostly confined to Nerva. The Doctor and Kellman transmat to the asteroid in Part Three, where the Doctor discovers the nature of Kellman's deception (which is quite different here than in Revenge) - but that's the only episode with any substantial screen time away from the station, which means that the overall atmosphere is more claustrophobic. There's less focus on action and more on tension.
The Vogans aren't in this version. As a result, the serial is tighter and structurally cleaner, with no need to constantly cut away to sketch in Vogan politics. The Cybermen also don't arrive in a separate ship; they've been hiding on Nerva all along, which is creepier and - again - a bit cleaner in storytelling terms. Finally, Davis's scripts make better use of the ensemble. Revenge of the Cybermen's Sarah mainly exists to be rescued (multiple times). Return's Sarah is an active participant. Oh, and Harry Sullivan is decidedly not an imbecile.
Special mention to the music. Nicholas Briggs (who also directed) captures the spirit of Revenge's incidental score, while also tailoring it to the specific tone of this version. That score goes a long way toward making this such an effective story.
OVERALL:
I'm quite fond of Revenge of the Cybermen, for all its faults. But after hearing this adaptation of the original scripts, I think just about every change made for television was for the worse. I also don't really understand why it was so heavily changed. Return of the Cybermen seems altogether more budget-friendly, with fewer major characters, no need for alien makeup, and no large-scale action sequences.
Big Finish's production is excellent, and Tom Baker is in particularly fine form. I would highly recommend this one - and I'm not sure that I won't replace Revenge with this version for future re-watches of Season 12!
Overall Rating: 8/10.
Alternate Version: Revenge of the Cybermen
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