Mysterious events on the Moon draw the Doctor, Polly, Ben and Jamie into a rematch with the Cybermen. TV Club visits The Moonbase!
Watch the two existing episode of this story along with animated versions of the missing episodes on BBC iPlayer:
Or purchase the story on DVD:
Rate and review below:
A rehash of The Tenth Planet but with a worse side cast and an even more plodding story.
I’ve watched this three times but could not tell you a single thing that happens in it.
4/10
I actually fell asleep first time I watched this. Not terrible, nowhere near great imo.
(copied from different thread)
Wow, I really liked this one, though there are a few flaws that are unfortunately kinda major, but I’ll get to that lejtör.
Really interesting to see a story set on the moon before the real life moon landing of 1969, this is my first and only story with Ben and Polly, they were fine, I guess. I think them together work well and their best parts in this story is creating the anti-Cybermen spray or whatever one should call it. It’s also Polly’s best contribution (figuring the formula out) as outside of that she doesn’t get to do all that much.
Jamie’s also here and he unfortunately sits this story out for most of the first half, but when he comes back he’s good, though not as strong as in the other Second Doctor stories I’ve watched. Two doesn’t actually do all that much in this story, but he still has good moments like collecting the samples, which was funny as hell, him working out where the Cybermen are coming from, figuring out how to stop the Cybermen, and the mini-speech about fighting evil beings.I think the Moonbase crew stand out the most though, mainly Hobson, Nils (although it’s a shame he’s Danish /j) and Benoît. We get to see their relationships and how they work and care for one-another.
The Cybermen are a true highlight here in their second ever story. I can confidently say that the design here, which also is used in Tomb, is my favourite Cyberman design. The soulless look, the tape around the mouth and eyes and the iron mesh in the eyeholes, the hatch in the mouth area, the chest units don’t look too large like what I’ve seen of images from the previous design, and THAT voice. The voice in Moonbase and Tomb is perfect, it’s creepy and robotic but has a smidge of humanity behind it which makes it so terrifying. The idea that a humanoid person is within this suit is just really disturbing.
And the Cybermen are properly threatening and smart here. They could technically just invade the base but instead opt for a stealthier method using the virus, one of them even almost brags about it which you could argue is too emotional for a Cyberman to do and I partially agree but it still works with the Cybermen’s logical worldview, if they have one feeling it’s one of superiority due to possessing no emotions. And then they manage to infiltrate and kidnap multiple base crew members for their plan, and when things go awry, they have plan B.
They fail to take control of the Gravitron, so they cut communications between the base and Earth, and when they learn of the rescue shuttle, they redirect that to its doom. When they are locked out of the base, they then retake control over their previous subjects and put pressure on the crew by puncturing the dome. They even bring their own reinforcements and new weapons, they’re always one step ahead. I just really like how the Cybermen are depicted here, I haven’t even talked about how they’re “shown” before they’re properly revealed, it’s really creepy and imposing, with just a shadow or an arm. The scene in the food storage is particularly well-made, feeling like it’s out of a horror movie almost.
Now for the negatives. There are a few bigger ones and a few smaller ones. The bigger issues are first the Cybermen’s plan. It’s a bit too murder-y for them in my opinion, although I guess it sort of makes sense since the multiple spaceships they have indicate that they’re a larger force, and the Moonbase itself knows about them, so it could be that they see Earth as a threat to their “domain” or “empire” or whatever. Kinda like in Earthshock, where they try to do something similar to stop a potential interstellar coalition forming against them. I still think it would have been better if they wanted to use the Gravitron to destroy parts of Earth and use that to blackmail humanity into surrendering to the Cybermen so they can convert everyone. The other negative is that they’re defeated a bit too easily and it occurs without much fanfare, making the climax rather weak, also there’s that “angular cut-out” bit which was just pointless fluff.
For smaller negatives, the tray stopping the puncture, I don’t know and don’t really care if it makes sense or not scientifically, I just wonder why the Cybermen don’t counter this by just creating more holes in the dome. Then there’s the fact that there’s one black member of the base crew, Ralph, and he’s the first one to “die” which is sad (as good and creepy as that food storage scene is). Finally, the members who are reawakened (minus Evans) are blocked by Jamie and Ben and are then never seen again. I’d assume that when the Cybermen are blasted away, the control thingy eventually went out of bounds or broke and so the control of those broke as well… but it is unfortunately something that’s just dropped. It’d be better if they did break through and got into the main room, adding tension to the climax, and then they’re stopped when the Cybermen are defeated.
Overall, it’s kinda funny. I think the Cybermen are more active and more threatening in this story than in the next story (Tomb), but said follow-up story is stronger than this one. I still really liked The Moonbase though. 8/10.
Also quick final note on the animation for episodes 1 and 3: it’s fine, definitely better done than in The Reign of Terror (same animation team I believe).
Wasn’t the biggest fan of the Moonbase, but not sure I’ve got much to say about it either, since I was rather cranking out watching Classic when I watched it, and have watched a number of episodes since then…
I read the novelization back in 2018, no prior knowledge of the characters, the Doctor, or the setting.
I imagined a very 1940s/1950s retro aesthetic, where instead of sleek, polished, white futuristic walls, it was more like an Atompunk hotel. Where Jamie slept was actually furnished with red carpets, he was laying in a typical hospital bed, there were colour-tiled glass windows beside his bed, where he could see out into the moon-landscape. Otherwise though, the room was dark, and designed more like an asylum, albeit one that tried to be comforting. Less clinical, less nauseating.
In my head it was visually stunning, and more like something out of The Doctor Dances/Empty Child. And then I watched the episode about a month ago and preferred the way I imagined it.
Edit: this sick ward also had long, draping red curtains, antique-medical equipment, a more art-deco style. Like humanity was trying to pretend the Moon isn’t an inhospitable nightmare in reality. And then the scene where the Cyberman is in the room, pretending to be a patient, where all the patients are in the dark, slightly red glow of the moon’s night. They were otherwise indistinguishable, and it made for an awful moment in my imagination where your heart sank. Whereas in the episode it was just, very quick, very snappy.
I really struggle with this one. There are real moments when it works, but I just end up falling asleep half way through the story. There isn’t enough here to grip me, and as other have said, it is a rehash of The Tenth Planet.
3/5 (but really it should be a 2.5/5).
I’ll be honest and say I prefer it to The Tenth Planet. I just find that one to be a bit boring with a lot of people sitting around talking and the Cybermen constantly re-entering the control room.
At least The Moonbase has a Cyberman hiding in plain sight - which I always find hilarious!
I will probably be in a minority here, but I absolutely love this episode and think The Moonbase is my favourite Kit Pedler-penned story
I have a lot of love for this one, including the Cyberman design and the animated episodes.
One of the things I love about this story is that if you’re watching the animation and the live action combined, your first look at the cybermen is them stomping across the moon in animation, and then the next episode repeats the same shot but in live action! It’s like the monsters have come to life!
Now you see this story is kind of peak and severely underrated.
I love this story and think that it is a great base under siege story, and that is one of my favourite kinds of story. I know that it is very similar to the Tenth Planet, but I like them both equally 
The first time I watched this story was on the lost in time box set as a kid and that box set gave me so much nostalgia that I sometimes just put that on instead of the actual episode of this story 
But however this has probs got the best most accurate animation of the missing stories I’ve seen like 10/10 I fear
I really enjoy this one, it’s not without its Flaws and yes it´s certainly isn’t very Original, but it’s quite entertaining to me.
For further Thoughts feel free to read my Thoughts on the Story, as well as my seperate Thoughts on the Animation: