- The Tomb of the Cybermen
-
037 – The Tomb of the Cybermen Doctor Who serial 
The Cybermen emerge from their tombsCast Others- Shirley Cooklin — Kaftan
- Roy Stewart — Toberman
- George Pastell — Eric Klieg
- Aubrey Richards — Professor Parry
- Cyril Shaps — Viner
- Bernard Holley — Peter Haydon
- George Roubicek — Captain Hopper
- Clive Merrison — Jim Callum
- Alan Johns — Ted Rogers
- Ray Grover — Crewman
- Peter Hawkins — Cybermen Voices
- Michael Kilgarriff — Cyberman Controller
- Hans de Vries, Tony Harwood, John Hogan, Richard Kerley, Ronald Lee, Charles Pemberton, Kenneth Seeger, Reg Whitehead — Cybermen
Production Writer Kit Pedler
Gerry DavisDirector Morris Barry Script editor Victor Pemberton Producer Peter Bryant Executive producer(s) None Production code MM Series Season 5 Length 4 episodes, 25 minutes each Originally broadcast September 2–September 23, 1967 Chronology ← Preceded by Followed by → The Evil of the Daleks The Abominable Snowmen The Tomb of the Cybermen is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who that originally aired in four weekly parts from September 2 to September 23, 1967 and is the earliest serial starring Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor to exist in its entirety. It stars Frazer Hines and Deborah Watling as companions Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield and features recurring villains the Cybermen, as well as the introduction of the Cyberman Controller and the Cybermats.
Contents
Plot
On the planet Telos, an archeological expedition uncovers a hidden entrance in a mountain. The TARDIS lands nearby, and the expedition is joined by the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria. Parry, the expedition's leader, explains that they are here to find the remains of the Cybermen, who apparently died out five centuries before. The expedition is funded by Kaftan, who is accompanied by her giant manservant Toberman and her colleague Klieg.
A man is electrocuted opening the doors, but the party manages to enter the chamber. They find a control panel and a large, sealed hatch. The Doctor is able to open two hidden doors in the walls, but the hatch remains sealed. Parry and Klieg continue to try and open it as Toberman slips out.
The remaining members of the expedition begin to explore. Victoria and Kaftan come across a chamber with a sarcophagus-like wall inset facing a projection device that was apparently used to revitalise the Cybermen. Victoria curiously climbs inside. Kaftan secretly seals Victoria in the sarcophagus and tries to activate the projector pointing at the sarcophagus but the Doctor, thinking Victoria had only accidentally locked herself in, frees her.
Meanwhile, Haydon and Jamie have been experimenting with a control panel in another room; a Cyberman slides into view and a gun fires, killing Haydon.
The Doctor points out that Haydon was shot in the back. Throwing the switches again, the Cyberman -in reality an empty shell - is destroyed by the gun which emerges from a hidden panel, showing that the room is actually a testing range.
Outside, Toberman reports to Kaftan that "It is done." Captain Hopper, the expedition's pilot, returns and angrily reveals that someone has sabotaged the rocket ship — they cannot leave the planet until repairs are made.
The hatch is finally opened. Leaving Kaftan and Victoria behind, the men descend through the hatch. They find a vast chamber beneath, with a multistorey structure containing cells of frozen Cybermen.
Back in the control room, Kaftan drugs Victoria and reseals the hatch. Inside it, Klieg activates more controls in the tomb and the ice begins to melt. When Viner tries to stop him, Klieg shoots him dead and holds the rest at bay as the Cybermen return to life. Klieg reveals that he and Kaftan belong to the Brotherhood of Logicians, who possess great intelligence but no physical power. He is certain the Cybermen will be grateful for their revival and will ally themselves with him.
Victoria awakes and confronts Kaftan, who threatens to shoot her if she tries opening the hatch. A small mechanical cybermat revives and attacks Kaftan, rendering her unconscious. Victoria grabs Kaftan's pistol and shoots the cybermat. Not knowing which lever opens the hatch, she leaves to find Hopper.
Down in the tombs, the Cybermen free their leader, the Cyberman Controller, from his cell. When Klieg steps forward to take the credit for reviving them, the Cybercontroller grabs and crushes his hand, declaring, "You belong to us; You shall be like us."
The Doctor realises that the tombs were an elaborate trap: the Cybermen were waiting for beings intelligent enough to decipher the controls to free them. The expedition will be converted into Cybermen in preparation for a new invasion of Earth.
In the control room, Capt. Hopper and Callum have figured out how to open the hatch. Hopper descends into the tombs, and uses smoke grenades to distract the Cybermen while the humans make their escape - all but Toberman, who has his arms cybernetically converted.
Klieg and Kaftan are moved into the testing range to keep them out of mischief while the others decide on their next course of action. Klieg extricates the weapon from wall, an X-ray laser he calls a cybergun, to coerce the Cybermen to do their bidding. Meanwhile, the others fend off an attack by cybermats.
Klieg and Kaftan step out, and Klieg fires the laser in the direction of the Doctor.
Klieg misses, wounding Callum. He opens the hatch, and calls for the Cyberman Controller. The Controller climbs up, accompanied by Toberman, who has been partially cyberconverted and is under Cyberman control. The Controller moves slowly, as his energy is running low — most of the Cybermen have been ordered back to their tombs to conserve power. Klieg says he will allow the Controller to be revitalised if the Cybermen help him conquer the Earth. It agrees. The Doctor helps the Controller into the sarcophagus in an attempt to trap it there, but the revitalised Controller is too strong and breaks free. Toberman knocks Klieg unconscious. The Controller picks up Klieg's cybergun and kills Kaftan when she tries to block its return to the tombs.
The death of Kaftan and the urging of the Doctor shake Toberman out of his controlled state. He struggles with the Controller and hurls it into a control panel, apparently killing it. The Doctor, wanting to make sure the Cybermen are no longer a threat, goes back down into the tombs with Toberman. Klieg regains consciousness and sneaks down with the cybergun and revives the Cybermen once again. Klieg expects to control them now that the Controller is dead, but a revived Cyberman throttles Klieg from behind and kills him. Toberman fights and kills this Cyberman by tearing open its breathing apparatus, while the Doctor and Jamie refreeze the others in their cells.
Hopper's crew have repaired the ship, and the Doctor rewires the controls to the station so they can't be used. He then sets up a circuit to electrify the doors again along with the control panels. The Controller, still alive, lurches forward. Everyone tries to shut the outer doors, but the Controller is too strong. Toberman comes forward, pushes the others aside and uses his bare hands to shut the doors. He succeeds, completing the circuit, and both he and the Controller are electrocuted.
The expedition members say good-bye to the Doctor and his companions and return to the TARDIS. No one notices a lone cybermat, moving along the ground toward Toberman's body.
Continuity
- The iconography of this serial, in particular the image of Cybermen breaking through plastic sheeting to escape their tombs, has had an influence on nearly all subsequent Cyberman stories. Likewise, the idea of Cybermen being kept in cold storage has since been a continuing theme.
- The Doctor returns to Telos in the Sixth Doctor serial Attack of the Cybermen, where he also encounters the Cryons, the original inhabitants of the planet.[1]
- The story contains a rare reference to the Doctor's family. When Victoria doubts he can remember his family because of "being so ancient", the Doctor says that he can when he really wants to and "the rest of the time they sleep in my mind" because he has "so much else to think about, to remember".
- The Doctor mentions here that he is about 450 years old.
- Eleventh Doctor actor Matt Smith has stated that it was watching this serial that inspired his own costume as the Doctor.[2]
Production
Serial details by episode Episode Broadcast date Run time Viewership
(in millions)Archive "Episode 1" 2 September 1967 23:58 6.0 16mm t/r "Episode 2" 9 September 1967 24:44 6.4 16mm t/r "Episode 3" 16 September 1967 24:14 7.2 16mm t/r "Episode 4" 23 September 1967 23:22 7.4 16mm t/r [3][4][5] Writing
- The working titles for this story were The Ice Tombs of Telos and The Cybermen Planet.[6]
- Peter Bryant, who had previously been assistant to Gerry Davis and been newly promoted to script editor on the preceding story, was allowed to produce this serial in order to prove that he could take over from Innes Lloyd as producer later on in the season. Bryant's own assistant, Victor Pemberton acted as script editor on this serial, but left the series after production of the serial was finished, deciding that he didn't want to be a script editor. When Bryant's eventual promotion to producer came, Derrick Sherwin would become script editor.
- Toberman was originally intended to be deaf, hence his lack of significant speech; his hearing aid would foreshadow his transformation into a Cyberman.[6]
Recording
- The cybermats were controlled by various means - some by wires, some by wind-up clockwork, some by radio control, and some by simply being shoved into the shot.[7] The scene of the Cybermen breaking out of their tombs was filmed entirely in one take.[8]
In print
A novelisation of this serial, written by Gerry Davis, was published by Target Books in 1978, entitled Doctor Who and The Tomb of the Cybermen.
Doctor Who book 
Doctor Who and the Tomb of the Cybermen Series Target novelisations Release number 66 Writer Gerry Davis Publisher Target Books Cover artist Jeff Cummins ISBN 0-426-11076-5 Release date 18 May 1978 Preceded by ' Followed by ' VHS, DVD and CD releases
- When the BBC's film archive was first properly audited in 1978, this serial was one of many believed missing (although it is absent in earlier 1976 listings). This story was prepared for release in early 1991 on cassette as part of the "Missing Stories" collection, with narration by Jon Pertwee. Then in late 1991, film telerecordings of all four episodes were returned to the BBC from the Hong Kong-based ATV television company. In May 1992, the serial was released on VHS, to much fan excitement and with a special introduction from director Morris Barry. The VHS release topped the sales charts throughout the country. This was the only original Doctor Who episode from the original era to top the UK charts.[citation needed]
- With the recovery of the film prints, the planned soundtrack release was delayed until 1993, when contractual obligations forced its release. See List of Doctor Who audio releases.
UK DVD front cover
- In the UK the DVD was released 13 January 2002.
- A special edition of the DVD, with new bonus features, is to be released in 2012 in the third of the ongoing Revisitations DVD box sets.
- Following the 1993 cassette release, on 1 May 2006 the soundtrack was released on a 2-CD set with linking narration by and a bonus interview with Frazer Hines. This was the first existing story to be released on audio in the same format as the missing story range.
Music release
Music from The Tomb of the Cybermen 
Soundtrack album Released 1997 Genre Soundtrack Length 22:40 Label Via Satellite Records Doctor Who soundtrack chronology Doctor Who: 30 Years at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop
(1993)Music from the Tomb of the Cybermen Doctor Who: Original Soundtrack Recording
(1997)Stock music and sound effects from this story was released on a "mini-album" by Via Satellite in 1997. It is composed of 2 versions of the Doctor Who theme music, sound effects from Doctor Who: 30 Years at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and stock music used in the story. It was planned to be the first in a series of mini-albums, with The Faceless Ones and Inside the Spaceship being mooted as future albums. Neither were produced.[9][10]
Track listing
Track # Composer Track name 1 Ron Grainer
(realised by Delia Derbyshire)"Dr. Who Theme"[a] 2 Brian Hodgson "Tardis Interior"[a] 3 "Tardis Landing"[a] 4 Dick Mills "Tardis Doors Opening"[a] 5 M. Slavin "Space Adventures (Parts 1-3)" 6 J. Scott "Palpitations" 7 E. Sendel "Astronautics Theme (Parts 1-7)" 8 H. Fleischer "Desert Storm" 9 Wilfred Josephs "Space Time Music (Parts 1-4) 10 Brian Hodgson "Tardis Take Off"[a] 11 Ron Grainer
(realised by Delia Derbyshire)"Dr. Who Theme (A New Beginning)"[a] See also: Dr Who - Music from the Tenth Planet and Space Adventures - Music from 'Doctor Who' 1963–1968References
- ^ Attack of the Cybermen. Writer "Paula Moore" (Paula Woolsey), Director Matthew Robinson, Producer John Nathan-Turner. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC1, London. 5 January 1985–12 January 1985.
- ^ Doctor Who Magazine (Panini Comics) (418). 3 February 2010.
- ^ Shaun Lyon et al. (2007-03-31). "The Tomb of the Cybermen". Outpost Gallifrey. Archived from the original on 2008-06-18. http://web.archive.org/web/20080618190301/http://www.gallifreyone.com/episode.php?id=mm. Retrieved 2008-08-30.
- ^ "The Tomb of the Cybermen". Doctor Who Reference Guide. http://www.drwhoguide.com/who_2m.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-30.
- ^ Sullivan, Shannon (2008-03-22). "The Tomb of the Cybermen". A Brief History of Time Travel. http://www.shannonsullivan.com/drwho/serials/mm.html. Retrieved 2008-08-30.
- ^ a b Howe, Walker, p 184
- ^ Morris Barry. Tombwatch. Event occurs at 8:20.
- ^ Morris Barry. Tombwatch. Event occurs at 15:13.
- ^ (1997) Album notes for Music from The Tomb of the Cybermen [CD Booklet]. Glasgow, Scotland: Via Satellite Recordings (V-Sat ASTRA 3967).
- ^ Ayres, Mark. "Doctor Who Compact Disc Catalogue". Archived from the original on 2007-10-12. http://web.archive.org/web/20071012165221/http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Mark_Ayres/DWCDcat.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-11.
- ^ "The Millennium Effect". Archived from the original on 2007-12-06. http://web.archive.org/web/20071206155324/http://www.millenniumeffect.co.uk/audio/stock.html. Retrieved 2007-12-11.
Bibliography
- Andrew Beech (Producer), Peter Finklestone (Editor) (January 22). Tombwatch (Documentary; Special feature on The Tomb of the Cyberman DVD release). London, England: BBC Video. http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0408270/combined. Retrieved 2008-01-12.
- Howe, David J & Walker, Stephen James (23). The Television Companion: The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to DOCTOR WHO (2nd ed. ed.). Surrey, UK: Telos Publishing Ltd.. ISBN 1-903889-51-0.
- The Tomb of the Cybermen. Writers Kit Pedler, Gerry Davis, Director Morris Barry, Producer Peter Bryant. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC1, London. 2 September 1967–23 September 1967.
External links
- The Tomb of the Cybermen at BBC Online
- The Tomb of the Cybermen at Doctor Who: A Brief History Of Time (Travel)
- The Tomb of the Cybermen at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- Doctor Who Locations - The Tomb of the Cybermen
Reviews
- The Tomb of the Cybermen reviews at Outpost Gallifrey
- The Tomb of the Cybermen reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide
Target novelisation
- The Tomb of the Cybermen reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide
- On Target — Doctor Who and the Tomb of the Cybermen
Doctor Who season 5 serials - The Tomb of the Cybermen
- The Abominable Snowmen
- The Ice Warriors
- The Enemy of the World
- The Web of Fear
- Fury from the Deep
- The Wheel in Space
Doctor Who: Cybermen stories First Doctor Second Doctor Fourth Doctor Fifth Doctor Sixth Doctor Seventh Doctor Tenth Doctor Eleventh Doctor "The Pandorica Opens" • "Closing Time"Torchwood Minor appearances Categories:- Second Doctor serials
- Cybermen television stories
- 1967 television episodes
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