Earth's twin planet arrives and brings with it the Cybermen, a race of emotionless, metal monsters who's only aim is, as they put it "You will become like us!!". From their blank, empty, featureless eyes to their massive, metallic, motor on their bodies; everything about them screams their lack of emotion. In my opinion the thing that makes them so scary is when they open their mouths to talk, they stay open and the metallic voices come tumbling out like an echo from a cave. The voices are super effective and non-human created perfectly by Roy Skelton. I like how they change the pitch after every word although I don't know what happened but by episode 4 they seemed to be screaming for no reason so it became rather annoying after a while. Their most effective and best scene in the whole story was easily them coming out of the blizzard in part one, it creates a sense of vulnerability when you can't quite see them through the heavy snow, their features blurred, looking human in shape but so completely un-human. The setting of the story, the South pole gives the whole story a feeling of claustrophobia and as I've said acts as the perfect environment to reveal one of Doctor Who's most famous monsters. In the opening scenes, the setting is displayed perfectly, the lived in kind of feeling you'd expect from somewhere people are trapped for up to half a year. The fact one of the characters, Tito has half naked women next to his bed shows this well. I liked the small bits of comedy from the doctor such as him saying "Speak up I'm deaf" to someone shouting at him. Despite him suffering from ill health during the story like collapsing on set meaning he didn't appear in part 3, his regeneration scene was something to put you in awe. The noise of the TARDIS as he changed was very affective and added to the emotion I thought. The regeneration itself wasn't the best but was probably excellent for the 60's. My only problem with the regeneration is the black and white made it slightly unclear so to unsuspecting audience members they may not have even noticed the change. The animation of episode four was another major thing. It looked incredibly detailed although sometimes I felt they added just too much detail making it hard to believe but still good and the great cliff hanger to episode 3 is resolved well. Now to my problems with the story. First of all I don't quite understand why the Cybermen need to wear blankets over themselves as they don't feel things like that. Secondly, I feel the way of killing, with the torches attached to them isn't the most inventive was of killing and as we saw, the prisoners can easily got hold of them. Thirdly, it's slightly clichéd they don't kill the companion (Ben) when he points a gun at them but they kill someone else for just moving. Finally the strings are visible on the excellent model of the Cybermen spaceship landing on the again excellent model of the South Pole, but I don't normally judge on things like that. Overall a brilliant story with few flaws. This story is very important in the Doctor who world; the first regeneration, the first Cybermen story and it really lives up to it's potential. I also just wanted to mention the General character, I thought he was quite complex; on the one hand he want's his son back, on the other he would commit genocide and later becomes a villain. But anyway, a story that's nearly 50 years old yet still manages to be creepy and scary with a lovely conclusion!
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Quite an important episode in the world of doctor who; it features the first appearance of colonel (in this story) Lethbridge-Stuart who would go on to become on of the best loved characters in doctor who. We also have the second appearance of the Yeti who were amazing monster as well as the great intelligence who would later come back in series 7. And what an excellent story we have here. My new second favourite Troughton story. The 'base under siege' theme which ran through most of this season works especially well here creating an atmospheric, spooky story that's great to watch with the lights out. The fact that it's set in the London underground is quite scary in itself as it is very claustrophobic as well as being supposedly very haunted, they even have abandoned underground stations hidden throughout London. They didn't actually film in the London underground, but you really can't tell this. They have created a very authentic place that is very believable, they were even sent a letter by the underground that they were trespassing on their land, that's how believable it was (although I think the fact it was black and white helped). I loved especially the scenes at the beginning of episode one, the build up of music and directing creates quite a tense build up until the scary Yeti are revealed. Episode one and two are simply amazing but towards the middle it does get a little boring, there is just too much time spent wondering around the underground! Overall great script, great set's and some really great effects such as the foam coming though the underground, it's surprisingly believable for such an ambitious story. In the first episode of this story you can see they have got some very big ideas and that they are really trying to make this a good end of series. I can see this from of course the fire that they have, a great moment full of tension and it's one of the moments where you see just how fragile the doctor is and I think this scene is good at creating sympathy for the doctor. The fire looks very good, it is of course done by models but I think it would have looked brilliant back in 1964. William Hartnell's acting particularly stands out in this scene and in most of the story really. The story is really accurate and shows how horrible that era is, and it also shows how nobody really trusts each other. The set's are just brilliant in this episode, they are incredibly detailed and well made. The plot is also quite smart too, and it doesn't really get boring anywhere which 6 parters sometimes do. Overall a tense, and ambitious episode and that's what makes it so great. The only problem I really had in this episode was Susan , I though she was way too screamy, and it just got annoying after a while, but only a minor thing and doesn't ruin the episode. This episode I think really defines the second doctor especially in the first part, those opening scenes really show how fun, and happy and the love for travelling through the stars the second doctor is. Also it shows the fabulous acting skills of Pat Troughton as he shows how he can play a villain whilst also showing off how he can change his voice so brilliantly. The plot is really quite brilliant although there are some areas which I find a little boring (which is why it took me so long to review this story). With the DVD the cover is brilliant and the slipcase is the icing on the cake (although mine was slightly dented). My biggest problem with this release is the special features, mainly the fact there isn't any. There is only a next time trailer (Web of fear) and that is it. So I am hoping there will be a whole lot of special features on the Web of fear, or maybe this story will be in a box set or something. I also think that because of this, it's a little unnecessary that this story has a slipcase, I just think it doesn't really deserve a slipcase (just my opinion) anyway, the story is great, and the acting is one of Troughton's finest. It is a great story but a little disappointing there aren't any special features. Yes it's here, complete at last with two animated episodes! Now first off I am not here to tell you about the plot, you've got to find that out yourself! The cover is just absolutely amazing, and I feel so happy to be holding it here in my hand, 'The Ice Warriors' glimmering across the cover, an episode that hasn't been fully watched really for 46 years, it makes me feel really exited (you'll understand when you buy it). Everything about the cover relays how important the episode is, the colours look perfect and overall it's just amazing! My only fault is that the ice warriors here are the same ones as on the cover of 'Silent stars go by' (the book by Dan Abnett) but that's only a small thing. The Ice Warriors are in their element here, as you should know this is the first time we meet them and they are as creepy as hell! Which they have to be so that everybody loves them and we finally see them return in the 50th anniversary year which kind of shows how this episode impacted people when they first watched it. The Ice Warrior voices are the worst, they cut through you like a knife through butter. Way more scary than the voices used in 'Cold war'. The animating I just love, for some reason the animating used in doctor who just seems so amazing, it simple yet so detailed, by simple I mean I could probably draw the doctor in the way they have but somehow they also make it seem so complex, they take a lot of care and time into this so well done them! The set's are a bit rubbish but the interior set's look brilliant! The Ice Warrior costume has some flaws like the hands but they still were good for the budget they had. There were some really realistic effects like the avalanche. I could go on forever writing about how great this episode was but I am running out of room. So overall a great episode and you need to buy it!!!! The first part of this story was amazing and the story is easy to follow with great acting from everyone. The next three parts weren't as good I thought because I thought they dragged on a little. Firstly though, the cover. The cover is really good it has the right amount of things on it and is very fitting for the first ever serial of doctor who. It shows Susan, the junkyard and the TARDIS in the stone age. The first part of the story as I said above was amazing, it introduced all the characters well and made sense (kind of.) One thing I didn't like about this episode was when it shows the flashbacks of Susan doing weird things at school, they didn't really look very good. Another thing was I didn't think Carole Ann Ford's acting was all that good, she could have played it a little better. The next three parts were slightly boring and the set's weren't that great. They didn't need 3 episodes basically showing the cavemen discovering fire. Still these episodes made sense and the plot was good but just needed more adventure and excitement. Overall, not my favourite episode ever but still a good way to kick off doctor who. Let's start with the cover, it is very good but I just think it's a bit too much for the eye if you know what I mean, there is too much on there I mean there are 3 Cybermen, the doctor, Cybermats and the tombs I personally think they should have toned it down a little. Anyway, never judge a book by it's cover or in this case DVD. The episode is brilliant, easily my best Troughton era DVD. The plot is easy to follow unlike some classic doctor who DVD's, the actors and actresses are a very good range of people and the Cybermen are as creepy as ever. The only thing I didn't like about this episode is the fact that the human villains are so obvious, you just have to look at them and say 'they are the villains' I think they could have been more subtle with who the villains were therefore it would have been a surprise, but this didn't really effect how good the episode was. The comedy is also very good; Victoria is worried about going into the caves in a skirt and the doctor say's 'Well, look at Jamie' I found this very original and just great writing. First off what a great cover, very eye catching and colourful, much better than the last DVD release of 'the Aztecs' which was dated and boring. Secondly the actual episode. As soon as you begin to watch this episode you see this episode is very much about Barbara, this episode is hers and I like the way they show this straight away. Another thing I like about this episode is that the only villains are humans, in this episode we don't see one bug eyed monster and that shows how this episodes is one of the greats, but it is great because it shows just how savage humans can be. This episode first aired 23rd May 1964 and you really can't tell that (apart from the black and white) because the effects are amazing (and not just because of how it was beautifully re-mastered), it really does look like they are in Mexico. Another thing is when The doctor and Ian get trapped in this section that is filling with water, that must have scared the kids to death when they first watched it is likely they had never seen anything like it before, I can't imagine what it must have been like watching it for the first time. This episode in one word: amazing. |
About this areaThis area will be where I write reviews on Doctor Who DVD's classic and new. The area is split up into episodes of the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's and new who to make it easier for me and you to see them. Enjoy! Archives
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