Maybe a bit controversial, but lately I noticed whenever I see a Ranking of the 60s or Hartnell Stories that this one was always one of the highest. Personally, I kinda can’t see that, so I would be curious to hear from possibly people who do love or at least like that Story why they perhaps do.
(And yes I know due to it being the first Cybermen and first Regeneration Story, I am not surprised that it is seen in such high regards, for that I also respect the Story a lot, but personally I really can’t get along too well with the Story. It isn’t the worst or a bad one, but in my eyes it rather leaves a bitter taste.)
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I think you hit the nail on the head - first Cyberman story, first regeneration. It’s a Classic.
I’ve only seen it once and I gave it 4/5, extremely high for Classic Who for me. It was probably also because of how momentous it was. I can’t remember anything that really happened lol.
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It might also be because this has one of if not the best Cybermen design in the show. The Cybermen are also possibly at their scariest here. They are more human here than the emotionless robots they seem to devolve into.
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Yeah, that’s actually a great point. I do really love the Mondasian Cybermen, their Design and voice is superb, shame they weren’t able to stick with that Design in later stories
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I think there are better stories later, but the design and concept of the Cybermen are is at its best here.
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Honestly, one of the best Cybermen designs (though I do really like the redo of the design in World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls), it was the origin of the whole concept, and a lot of other Cybermen stories tend to treat them as if they were just robots.
And while there were definitely sections of the story that could have used improvement, a good, well-acted scene can do a lot, and we got this…
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I’m not that big a fan of this serial. Its ‘Fine’. This tied for the best Cybermen design, along with World Enough and Time. It gets a 3.5/5 from me.
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I love the Cyber design in this story and, as a story, it is hugely significant for obvious reasons but…
…I rewatched it very recently with my eldest and was really rather bored! There is a lot of people talking in only a couple of sets and it does seem to be a lot of scenes of the Cybermen repeatedly walking into the control room. Ben keeps crawling between sets through the ventilation and there are various people stuck in spaceships who can’t move talking about stuff too.
I do love Ben and Polly though.
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Yeah, I can see that, as I said I am not the best in articulating my complicated feelings, overall it’s a serial I respect for its significant rather than like it.
Great points you brought up!
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