Doctor Who: Series 22, Episodes 1-2 – “Attack of the Cybermen” (1985)

After the Sixth Doctor’s first story, “The Twin Dilemma,” which is a rough debut for him, “Attack of the Cybermen” brings it back around a little.  It’s still reflective of the very different direction the show takes with this Doctor, but it’s a better representation of the Six era than “The Twin Dilemma.”

In 1985 London, the Sixth Doctor and Peri discover a platoon of Cybermen prowling around the sewers.  They have a dastardly plot involving Halley’s Comet, and our heroes’ mission to thwart them offers up some familiar faces and locales for the Doctor.

You can tell the show feels it veered too far off-centre with Six’s introduction in “The Twin Dilemma,” and this story is an attempt to win people back over to the new Doctor.  He’s still being Six, still arrogant and brusque, but hey, he’s not trying to strangle his companion in a fit of regeneration-induced psychosis!  While he remains unpredictable, he doesn’t make me want to stage an intervention to get Peri away from him, so progress?

Beyond that slight softening of Six, the serial also does its best to endear itself to viewers with copious amounts of fan service.  In addition to Peri listing the names of various past companions the Doctor has mistakenly called her in post-regeneration confusion, the story is crammed with additional references to past episodes.  We see the original Totter’s Lane junkyard, the story incorporates aspects of “The Tenth Planet” and “The Tomb of the Cybermen,” and there’s a big tie-in with “Resurrection of the Daleks.”  A number of later-season stories tap into the “glory days” with winks and references, but the sheer volume of callbacks here feels especially strategic.

One more bit of shameless fan service?  The Doctor’s attempt to finally fix the TARDIS chameleon circuit.  While probably no less strategic than all the references to old stories, this is so much fun that no part of me can be cynical about it.  I love watching the Doctor and Peri’s reactions to what’s happening with the TARDIS, which gets progressively wilder and more entertaining. 

Aside from all that, the serial has its ups and downs.  It’s the first story to be split into two hour-long episodes instead of half-hour installments, and I maintain that this was a bad move for classic Who.  The hour length is perfect for new Who, but for the classic series, it makes the episodes drag, making it harder for them to hold my attention.  On the plus side, I do like the introduction of the Cryons, a cool (literally, heh) new race of aliens on the show.  I especially like the one-on-one scenes between the Doctor and the captured Flast.