Rise of the Cybermen & The Age of Steel by: Tom MacRae and directed by: Graeme Harper

 

“Rise of the Cybermen” and “The Age of Steel” stars David Tennant as the Doctor and Billie Piper as Rose Tyler with Noel Clarke as Mickey Smith, Camille Coduri as Jackie Tyler, Shaun Dingwall as Pete Tyler, Roger Lloyd-Pack as John Lumic, Andrew Hayden-Smith as Jake, Hellen Griffin as Mrs. Moore, Paul Kasey as the Cyber-Leader, and Nicholas Briggs as the Cyber-Voices.  They were written by: Tom MacRae and directed by: Graeme Harper with Helen Raynor as Script Editor, Phil Collinson as Producer, and Russell T. Davies and Julie Gardner as Executive Producers.  They were originally broadcast on Saturdays from 13-20 May 2006 on BBC One.

 

Before going into production for the second series of Doctor Who, Billie Piper made it known to executive producers Russell T. Davies and Julie Gardner that she would be leaving the show after its second year.  Davies, as a fan of the show, knew that the classic series would often just attach a companion exit to the end of a serial once the actor’s contract was up, wished the first long term companion exit to set a new standard for the show.  Davies understood that physical separation would be important for Rose to actually leave the Doctor, the underlying romance being heavily woven through the first series and the second series already having established itself as a series of dates between the Doctor and Rose and was inspired by the classic serial Inferno with its parallel world.  “Parallel World” became the working title for the story that would sow the seeds of Rose’s exit in the series finale, as well as writing out Mickey Smith as a companion.  This would also be the first two part story of the second series, and in line with Davies’ desire to not write the majority of the scripts, Tom MacRae was approached to write and in addition Davies requested the villains of the episode would be a reworking of the Cybermen from the classic series, doing a Cybermen origin story on this parallel Earth.  One of the issues of the serial arises here, not because of the desire to show the origins of the Cybermen, but Davies specifically requested MacRae take inspiration from the 2002 audio drama, Spare Parts by Marc Platt.  Enough inspiration was taken that Platt was given a special thanks credit for the episodes yet was never actually approached to write these episodes like Robert Shearman was in the first series with “Dalek”.  This is not an issue with MacRae, who went through several lengths to make “Rise of the Cybermen” and “The Age of Steel” his own, but familiarity with Spare Parts will make it incredibly obvious what was lifted from that story.

 

“Rise of the Cybermen” is an episode that actually takes great lengths to explore the setting of the parallel universe and the changes that directly affect Rose and Mickey as characters.  In this universe, Rose doesn’t exist, but her father is alive and married to Jackie while Mickey in this universe is Rickey Smith and his grandmother who raised him is still alive.  Mickey is tempted by the fact that the woman who raised him would want him, and her being blind means she wouldn’t see any differences, though this temptation is actually more setup for Mickey meeting his parallel world counterpart, Rickey, working to take down the corporations of John Lumic, played by Roger Lloyd-Pack, with a ragtag group of outlaws, mainly Jake and Mrs. Moore, played by Andrew Hayden-Smith and Helen Griffin respectively.  This plotline for Mickey is meant to be the final steps of a transformation from coward to hero, however the way that MacRae (and more likely Davies’ rewrites and final polish of the scripts) feel like once again a step backwards.  Mickey throughout the first series already showed he could be a hero and earned the Doctor’s respect, so it is quite the shame the episode proper opens with a TARDIS scene where Mickey is forgotten about by the Doctor and Rose, being asked to hold a button down for a half hour, and releasing it is heavily implied to be the reason the team are stuck in the parallel world.  The episode has Mickey become a gibbering wreck while Clarke plays Rickey as incredibly confident and a natural born leader, the dichotomy of the characters just not working as well as MacRae and Davies are clearly hoping it will.

 

Rose’s temptation, and the plot the Doctor follows suit furthering the idea of their romance and this being just another date once the hope of the TARDIS not being dead is established early on, is of course her father.  Pete and Jackie, played once again by Shaun Dingwall and Camille Coduri, give incredibly distinct performances in the episode, their marriage quietly failing though outward appearances of success suggest otherwise to the general public.  Pete in this world is a success, something that Rose loves to see, but because of the success Jackie has become more selfish and less caring of others, a far less nuanced version of the character than the main universe’s version.  Coduri’s subtleties in the performance, especially in her scene acting against Billie Piper as Rose where there are flashes of a deeper person wishing to make genuine connections, but throwing those connections away when her public persona is called into the slightest question.  David Tennant as the Doctor is used incredibly well as a background figure in the episode, attempting to understand the technology of this world with its interconnectivity through ear pods and an expanded internet.  The idea of technology being an easy way to bring the Cybermen into existence is fascinating, MacRae being very aware of the dangers of cybersecurity breaches throughout the episode.  John Lumic as the originator of the Cybermen is already a commentary on corporations and Lloyd-Pack’s performance is on the surface sympathetic, but immediately that sympathy is turned away as you realize that as a capitalist and owner of such a large corporation, he literally gets away with murder.  This type of power exploration is fascinating as MacRae explores how people are willing to ignore their morals for convenience.  Lumic’s disability is a point against him, continuing the issues the show generally has had in portraying disabled characters as villains, but it’s also necessary for the desperation of someone who would create the Cybermen.  7/10.

 

“Rise of the Cybermen” is just that, the rise, so it is “The Age of Steel” that really explores the horror of their existence.  Unlike the Daleks, the Cybermen are a classic Doctor Who villain that doesn’t have one set look so the production team had a lot of freedom in terms of design, and honestly the design itself is great for what “The Age of Steel” establishes.  It’s just the brain and nervous system in the Cybermen suits in this version of the tale so there is more of a reliance on them being robotic and not converted humans.  This does mean that the body horror in the episode is actually shown through the conversion sequences and the moments where the Cybermen regain their emotions.  The design works specifically for this story, but not necessarily as a design for the entire new series as it is a design that remained stagnant until 2013’s “Nightmare in Silver” which introduced the first redesign.  The voices by Nicholas Briggs having that synthetic quality also work especially well, with Briggs being able to give them emotions once the inhibitor chips are broken for the infiltration sequence of Cybus Industries that makes up the bulk of the episode.  The only thing that doesn’t work across both episodes are the stomping sound effects that are used for each and every Cyberman, meaning that you always hear them coming and that repetitive noise just becomes a staccato annoyance when watching the episode.  While it is not a necessarily bad idea, the specific sound effect is the issue here, mixed into the episodes at an incredibly loud volume making it louder than some of the dialogue at points.  Now the main thrust of “The Age of Steel” being that infiltration means the stomping feels like an indicator of where the stealth is going wrong as well as the uniformity of the Cybermen, but a suitable sound effect could have been used without making it so difficult to listen to.  The episode and “Rise of the Cybermen” were directed by Graeme Harper, one of the few directors from the classic series who has returned for this and several other episodes.  His directorial style is already a progression of classic directors like Douglas Camfield and David Maloney, while fitting into the modern television landscape.

 

“The Age of Steel” is honestly the episode of the two parter where the Doctor is allowed to take center stage and the way that MacRae portrays the Doctor here is excellent.  Outside of the cliffhanger resolution which pulls itself out like magic of the power cell of the TARDIS being used to make a quick escape from the Cybermen, there is a real sense of the Doctor and company being the underdog.  Since this episode is largely separate from the baggage of Rose and Mickey’s connections to their dead loved ones, David Tennant as the Doctor is just able to really connect with Jake and Mrs. Moore, especially after Rickey is killed by the Cybermen while trying to escape.  The Doctor is allowed to be sarcastic and funny and put the Cyber Controller, a John Lumic converted against his will, at this point of threat while using a clever plan to get Mickey to save the day.  Mrs. Moore is also paired with the Doctor for the infiltration from below, Jake and Mickey going from above while Rose and Pete go in from the ground level through the conversion lines which I’m certain is an unintentional reflection of The Five Doctors.  Mrs. Moore’s backstory is fascinating as she is a normal person brought against Lumic and Cybus Industries as they targeted her and her family.

 

This is also where we get to see a Cyberman with emotions, a very small scene but one that truly sells the horror of losing one’s humanity to the Cybermen while the physical horror of being surgically operated on is done in suggestive sequences.  This is an episode that doesn’t show any of the blood or gore of the conversion, but like the costumes in The Tenth Planet and Earthshock and fluids in The Tomb of the Cybermen, it’s the little details that cause the viewer’s brain to fill in the horror.  MacRae also gives the episode time to breath after the Cybermen are defeated, an action sequence of everyone escaping and scenes of the TARDIS leaving in particular helping draw to the close character arcs of the two episodes.  These are scenes that would never be fully fleshed out in a single episode version of the story, something that clearly shows MacRae’s strengths as a character writer.  The human element is what really sells the horror of the situation and Mickey deciding to stay behind becomes one of Noel Clarke’s best scenes in the show, especially nice after the first episode framed him as such a coward.  8/10.

 

Overall, “Rise of the Cybermen” and “The Age of Steel” manages to do an excellent job of retelling the origins of a classic villain and the first time there was a necessary update for the villains for the modern era.  While classic Cybermen will eventually return, this first appearance being set up as a one off introduction really works as an examination of choice and what the characters’ lives would be like if different choices were made.  The performances are all excellent and having Tom MacRae’s flair for character work at the helm is what makes this work so well despite being lifted quite heavily from a different writer’s work.  7.5/10.