Doctor Who (1963) 5.01.04

Tomb of the Cybermen - Episode 4

Klieg shoots at the Doctor but hits Callum instead. Klieg is in charge now. He opens the entrance to the crypt. The Cyber Controller and Toberman, who has been given cybernetic arms, emerge from the crypt. Klieg keeps the gun trained on the Cyber Controller. It is weak. It needs to go to the regeneration chamber. Klieg orders the Doctor, Jamie, and Professor Parry to go with it.

The Doctor convinces the Cyber Controller that they will help it. The Doctor tries to lock it in the regeneration chamber but once it has grown stronger it breaks free. The Cyber Controller communicates with Toberman telepathically from the other room and gives him orders. Toberman attacks Klieg and seems to have killed him.

The Cyber Controller returns to the control room. Kaftan tries to shoot him but the Cyber Controller kills her and then opens the door to the crypt. The Doctor talks to Toberman and convinces him that he needs to stop taking orders from the Cyber Controller. Toberman attacks the Cyber Controller and seems to have destroyed it. The Doctor and Toberman descend into the crypt.

Klieg wakes up and when no one is looking grabs the gun and descends into the crypt. He prevents the Doctor from refreezing the Cybermen. Klieg is convinced that he can control them. He thaws one of the Cybermen but it attacks him when he has his back turned and kills him.

Toberman deals with the Cyberman while the Doctor makes sure that none of the other Cybermen emerge from their storage units. The Doctor and Toberman emerge from the crypt. The Doctor plans to seal everything up permanently but then the Cyber Controller comes back to life. They just barely get out of the tomb. Toberman saves them all by holding the doors closed until the Doctor's time delayed trap is sprung. The doors are electrified, killing Toberman and the Cyber Controller.

Thoughts

I don't understand why the Cyber Controller put all the other Cybermen back to sleep early in this episode. It was convenient for storytelling purposes but his reasons for doing aren't very clear.

They didn't make a big deal out of the fact that Toberman had cybernetic arms but if you watch closely who can clearly see that he does in this episode.

There is something about the way Toberman is treated in this story that rubs me the wrong way. The others just seem to give up on him after he has been overcome by the Cybermen in the previous episode. They leave his body behind at the end of this episode. He isn't the only one whose body gets left behind but the others bodies are sealed in the tomb.

This story had monsters and villains. The Cybermen were the monsters. Klieg and Kaftan were the villains.

This was on the whole a pretty good story although it is a little clunky. It is only the third 2nd Doctor story that I have seen. I would rank it up there with Enemy of the World and definitely ahead of Seeds of Death.