#troughton

Hello Doctor

Patrick Troughton in Doctor Who as the Second Doctor.

"twinkle twinkle little star."

— Patrick Troughton as The Second Doctor in The Three Doctors, 1972

The Moonbase is arguably my favourite televised Cyberman story, but even this one shows that they are never really used to their full potential. It’s pretty close too, but we’ll start with the changes I would have made before going on to say why I love it.

Both changes would come in episode 3. When the Cybermen steal the ill humans (that they have infected) from their hospital beds they then begin to control them. But why not convert them? There are a few tactical reasons, but at least a partial conversion would have worked. That’s their gimmick, it’s what they do and it’s what makes them scary, so why not show that a bit more. Rather than just giving them mind control headpieces, give them a few nice robotic features, all at different levels of conversion (some even fully converted). Mild concession here though: the black veins showing the spread of the illness also looked great and really disturbing, so maybe I shouldn’t complain so much.

The second change would be to have the virus continue to spread ( maybe even becoming airborne). As well as adding some even higher stakes to the second half, it could lead us directly to the ultimate dilemma that’s being encountered in any Cyberman story, because then I would have the Cybermen offer to convert the humans to save them from the virus. Does the desire for survival outweigh the alarming cost that comes with conversion?

But these changes aren’t in the actual programme, and for the most part that’s okay. The Moonbase begins with some lovely fun with gravity on the moon before becoming a delightful atmosphere piece, everything from the production design (the Cybermen’s costume and voice, the sets, and those spacesuits) to what is probably my favourite piece of music from the show’s history, make it the best of retro sci-fi. And maybe just adoring the imagery of the Cybermen trekking eerily along the surface of the moon towards a classic base under siege setting is a shallow reason to enjoy something, but there are others.

The Moonbase shares a lot of ideas with another of my favourite Troughton stories - The Seeds of Death: An invading alien race taking advantage of humanity’s over reliance on one specific type of technology who’s base is set up on the moon (because of course it is, the moon is the best setting for anything). And, whilst The Seeds of Death does it better, it’s not a Cyberman story (and The Moonbase did it first), and it’s nice that Kit Peddler wrote a story for the Cybermen who’s central theme was still the dangers of reliance on technology (even if this was an extremely common sci-fi theme at the time so it might not even be an intentional consistency).

My favourite moment in the story comes in the episode 2 when the Doctor realises that the Cyberman is in the room with him, prompting him to edge around the room in search for it until it dramatically throws its sheet away and jumps from the bed in which it was hiding. Not only does this scene have some really great tension (wobbly bed aside), showing the advantage of atmospheric slow build stories that Troughton did so well, and leading to one of my all time favourite cliffhangers*, it’s also a continuation of a moment (is it pretentious to say motif?) in the Tenth Planet that I really like - which is their first scene in the North Pole (the hospital bed scene is also their first appearance in this story other than when they appear to a feverish Jamie as the Pied Piper and when Polly catches a glimpse of them as they leave). In the Tenth Planet, they’re wearing throws to cover their robotic appearance as they approach the humans through the snow. In both instances, beneath the bed sheets and beneath the cloths, they are disguising as humans before revealing their true nature - both times we are introduced to them they go from human to Cyberman, as if we’re witnessing their conversion before our eyes. (Converting their captives would have meant that this imagery was continued when they sent one in later as a saboteur but its far more poignant as their introductory scene anyway). These themes and ideas are here, even if not capitalised on exactly how I would have wanted.

The very fact that I want to change this story to make better use of its ideas means the ideas are present in the first place, and it deserves the credit for the things it decided to do with them. The Cybermen still feel like Cybermen (unlike in some later stories), with lines about not understanding human emotion and all that good stuff. The continuity reference to Tenth Planet is nice, and the Cyberman dialogue is very good.

*Best Cliffhangers in Doctor Who:

The War Games (episode 9)

The Time Meddler (episode 3)

The Seeds of Death (episode 5)

Utopia

The Moonbase (episode 2)

The Sensorites (episode 1)

Hello Doctor

Patrick Troughton

Patrick Troughton as The Second Doctor in Doctor Who.