TV Club: Doctor Who, “Tomb of the Cybermen”

“Tomb of the Cybermen” (series 5, episodes 1-4; originally aired 9/2/1967-9/23/1967)

We’re jumping forward in time for the second installment of this look back at the early days of Doctor Who, and much like a certain drifting Time Lord, I’m not able to land exactly where I’d really like to. My plan for the first eight of these writeups is to visit the debut episode of each actor to play the Doctor, but history has conspired against me. Many of the episodes from the black-and-white of the show are gone, erased by the BBC so they could re-use the videotape—this was considered disposable entertainment, and nothing that would be of any lasting interest or marketability. Copies of some of those shows were rediscovered later, including the one we’re about to dive into, but a large portion of the shows starring William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton as the Doctor exist today only as still pictures, scripts, and audio. Troughton’s entire first season is affected by this, so I’ve opted to spring ahead to the start of his second season (the show’s fifth overall), for his earliest complete serial, “Tomb of the Cybermen.”

For a long time, “Tomb” enjoyed a reputation as one of the triumphs of this era of Doctor Who, but this was while the show was still missing, and fans were basing their opinions mainly on memory. Its flaws are awfully apparent today, with huge gaps in story logic and some really unfortunate racial stereotyping, but it has plenty of good moments as well.

Chief among the good bits is the solid performance by Troughton, whose new take on the Doctor was by this point firmly established. And it’s still the dominant one, particularly now that Matt Smith has based a lot of his Eleventh Doctor specifically on Troughton’s Second. That’s partly due to Troughton’s undeniable talent—he’s always watchable and often fascinatingly subtle, even when the stories themselves don’t hold up.

Originally published June 12, 2011 on avclub.com. Read the complete article.