C+Q - The Moonbase (1967)

It's my second 60th anniversary Who review! I knew I wanted to do a Patrick Troughton next. I knew I wanted to do Cybermen because I want to write about all the major villains at some point this year and the Second Doctor fought them so many times. I knew I wanted to do a base under siege story since the format was such a big part of Troughton's run. And, on top of all that, I knew I didn't want to do The Tomb of the Cybermen because everyone does that one. So here's a favourite of mine, The Moonbase.

Part One (Animation)

We begin with an episode that does not exist. Maybe this is why everyone does The Tomb of the Cybermen. We're very early in the Second Doctor's run - Jamie is still new to this whole time and space thing. This is also the final story to use the original opening titles.

Immediately, the vibes are powerful. The designs of the spacesuits are brilliantly 60s and the music is eerie and dangerous. Ben, Polly, and Jamie feel like a group of friends hanging out, much more relaxed than the teacher/student relationship of Ian, Barbara, and Susan we discussed previously.

The moonbase itself is a great 60s sci-fi idea - a station on the moon controlling Earth's weather. The implication that every time one of these workers collapses on their controls it creates some major weather event on Earth sets the stakes while also being maybe intentionally funny? The head of the base, Hobson, makes a good first impression, sternly mocking the Doctor for not knowing the date but not tediously getting in his way. The highlight of this crew though is obviously Benoit. He's French and he has a necktie to prove it. The necktie is such a perfect detail. A hoot, as RTD might say.

The discovery that someone has been listening in to the moonbase's transmissions is a nice creepy moment, as is the reveal of the Cyberman's hand. There's no way to know this is a Cyberman's hand because it looks completely different from the last time we saw one in The Tenth Planet, which certainly adds to the mystery. I like the Cybermen with three pointy fingers. It's clearly the optimum shape for maximum efficiency. The Cybermen lurking in the darkness, picking people off is cool and creepy. The Cybermen can lurk in a way the Daleks can't, especially in this era of silent non-stompy Cybermen.

I don't know how all the Cyberman shadows play in the actual episode because, you know, the actual episode is lost, but in the animation it's wonderfully creepy. The first time we see the shadow of a head with handles in the store room is our first real indication this is a Cyberman story, the handles being the most striking design element kept for the new version. By the way, in the absence of the real episode, this animation is a great substitute. It's a very unique style with hyper-detailed shadows. These animations are such a gift and they make the history of the show so much more accessible.

The cliffhanger to Part 1 is stunning. Space Adventure Part 2 will always be an iconic music track - truly the All the Strange, Strange Creatures of the 60s.

Part Two

Ah good, an actual episode of Doctor Who. I knew there had to be one around here somewhere. I love how strong the Cyberman is, just grabbing that guy off the bed and carrying him under one arm. This story really emphasises their brute power. The Moonbase is only their second appearance and it's a bit of a difference from their first, The Tenth Planet, where they posed more of a philosophical threat. Cybermen are still clearly people but they're mostly used as big scary robots here. I like that Polly is the one who first identifies the threat as Cybermen since her screams had earlier been dismissed as her nerves getting the better of her. It's also a nice bit of worldbuilding that people in the 2070s know what Cybermen are.

Now that we can actually see him, Patrick Troughton steals the show. "There are some corners of the universe which have bred the most terrible things. Things which act against everything we believe in. They must be fought." Dr Who has come a long way since his ordeal in the cave of skulls in An Unearthly Child. Since our first 60th anniversary review, the show has evolved from being about surviving to saving the day. From escaping cavemen to fighting Cybermen. When Ben says they should just leave, the Doctor says no. They have a duty to combat evil. The direction on this monologue is great too, with Troughton moving into the foreground of shot for a close-up, taking over the screen, then turning to the side to let Hobson back into frame when he has dialogue. Great stuff.

We spend quite a bit of time without the TARDIS crew, just Hobson and his moonbase team as they deal with a problem in the Gravitron. The stakes are high and communicated well, although the line about how one of them has a wife and family on Earth is funny. We can't let Earth be destroyed - I know people there! The drama on the moonbase functions perfectly without the Doctor, so when he re-emerges, following people around as they work, silently picking hairs off them for testing, it's great fun. The Doctor doing comedy bits in the middle of serious sci-fi drama while trying to solve a slightly more fantastical problem is perfect.

The silent jumpscare of the Cyberman at the foot of Jamie's bed is, to use a Cyberman's favourite word, excellent. Also, the approaching shadows of the Cybermen with their head handles knocking out the two men outside is even more effective seeing it in live action. In just the Cybermen's second appearance they're really doing a lot with the most iconic part of their design. The dark nerves spreading across the hand is also really creepy in live action - the animation did it justice. Ending the second episode on the reveal that it's the sugar causing the illness rather than dragging it out to nearer the story's climax definitely keeps the momentum up and stops the TARDIS team being treated with tedious suspicion the whole time. It also cues up the real climax of the story to be a big confrontation with the Cybermen.

Which brings us to the Part 2 cliffhanger. It's absolutely stunning - a Cyberman hiding in plain sight the whole time, lying under a sheet in the sick bay where our heroes have been spending a large chunk of the episode. Such a Steven Moffat twist, and Troughton sells the rising panic. The iconic Space Adventure Part 2 getting louder in the background as the presence of a monster is felt even if it's not yet marching towards us. Then the shot of the silver boots under the cloth and the Cyberman waking up - it's perfect. Just a stunning end to the episode.

Part Three (Animation)

Back to animation. Very fun that the Cybermen have little aerials on their chest units that need to be pulled up to communicate with each other.

Here we get the 'have you no emotions sir' moment, with the Cybermen not understanding revenge. In fact Benoit literally asks 'have you no mercy?'. It's the closest the episode gets to wrestling with the psychological horror of the Cybermen, and that's about as far as it goes. It's noteworthy that members of the crew get taken over by the Cybermen but not actually turned into Cybermen - it's shown to be reversable just by taking the control things off their heads. A lot less horrific.

I like that Ben, Polly, and Jamie are the ones coming up with a plan to take down the threat, and their contributions to the plan are each unique to their characters. Ben and Polly both have a history with the Cybermen, so speculate about using radiation on them again, but Ben with his technical knowledge knows they're going to have to try something else this time. Jamie provides a magical, superstitious solution about holy water, and while Ben dismisses it, Polly takes the basic idea and applies it logically, thinking about the way nail polish remover dissolves plastic. They all have their own areas of expertise. It's just fantastic stuff.

Dr Who talking to himself is a fun little moment, getting the exposition across in a unique, memorable way. As good as this animation is, I do wish we could actually see Troughton's performance. The Doctor is mostly silent during the scenes of everyone in the control room, so it would be nice to be able to see what he's up to, sneaking around in the background. The companions bursting in and saving the day is a really satisfying moment, especially since Jamie has been unconscious for most of the story before this.

Part 3 ends with the base being, as Hobson literally says, under siege. It's a staple of the Second Doctor's era, along with a greater focus on monsters as a selling point of the show. The Moonbase marks the first time in the show's history that a monster other than the Daleks returned, and throughout Troughton's run the Ice Warriors and Yeti are added to the roster of recurring enemies. The Cybermen marching across the moon's surface is iconic, and what better music could you choose than the one and only Space Adventure Part 2? I'd lose my mind if this track appeared in the 60th. Honestly, it should.

Part Four

I'm glad we actually have the final episode of this story. We actually get to see all the Cybermen marching across the moon! The costume department made an impressive number of those suits. Sometimes in New Who it can feel like they're shooting around the fact they only have three Cyberman suits max but here in 1967 there are times when I count 11 of them on screen at once. The stakes of the base under siege are established - help is on the way, it's just a matter of holding out until then. It gives the story a fresh new energy and tension, which is then turned on its head when help doesn't arrive. The music continues to be wonderfully atmospheric and creepy, focusing on slow, creeping discomfort rather than bombast. That's what makes the bombastic Space Adventure Part 2 moments so fun.

The crew member being taken over and controlled inside the base, breaking the rules of a typical base under siege, is a great idea, and the shot of him turning around to reveal himself with the lines on his face in the crowded control room is great. Lots of good 'hidden in plain sight' bits in this story. Deflecting the rescue rocket onto an inevitable week-long journey into the sun is the sort of thing that just couldn't happen in Doctor Who these days since the Doctor now knows how to pilot the TARDIS. We're in the era of the TARDIS just being the thing that gets us from one story to another. It's not yet being thought of as something that can solve problems within a story. A more knowledgeable Doctor could hop into the TARDIS and evacuate that rocket at the end. Sucks for the people on that ship that they're dealing with such an early incarnation I guess.

Of course the Gravitron had to be what ultimately defeated the Cybermen in the end. It's not a big twist that the big fancy machine this whole thing is focused around ends up solving the problem but hey, not everything has to be a big twist. It does seem like Dr Who could have maybe thought to use the Gravitron earlier though, especially since he spends a lot of time in the background of the control room scenes not really doing anything else, but never mind. Seeing the Cybermen and their ships float off the moon is good fun. The Gravitron itself and the control room set are all really well done, incidentally, very immersive. Good model shots too.

The Doctor, Jamie, Ben, and Polly leaving once the day is saved without saying goodbye is of course classic stuff, as is Hobson referring to the Doctor as a madman. It's nice to see the team's 60s spacesuits in live action right at the end. We end on a terrifying glimpse of the future - the claw of a Macra!

Overall

The Moonbase is a fun story. It's not the most Earth-shatteringly original or unique. There are many bases in Doctor Who suffering under a lot of sieges. We've seen monsters marching across alien planets and scientific gizmos saving the day. Thing is, The Moonbase does all of the standard stuff from this era perfectly competently, then occasionally throws in an absolute gem of a moment. Corners of the universe which have bred the most terrible things. The Cyberman under the sheet hiding in plain sight. This is a great adventure and one I'm always in the mood to rewatch.

Since the first story I covered for the 60th anniversary, An Unearthly Child, Doctor Who has become a lot more light-hearted in its action. It's less of a harrowing fight for survival in a big scary world and more about trying to protect the world from evil. Dr Who is a much more heroic figure who feels he has a duty to stand and fight the forces of darkness, and his companions seem to have a lot more fun when they haven't been kidnapped. The Doctor's second incarnation is a lot kinder thanks to the journey his predecessor went on, but he's also a lot more eccentric. He's still got an edge of unpredictability but it feels whimsical now rather than dangerous. Patrick Troughton is just a joy to watch, which makes it all the more tragic that so much of his era is missing. Still, let's be happy we got this guy as the Doctor at all.

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