The Tenth Planet is a story that logically shouldn’t work.

Think about it for a second. It is a story entirely set within a very, very small base. Its main character doesn’t show up for half of the episodes. None of the main characters have an influence on the events that take place. And all the while this is supposed to be a sort of soft reboot for the program! That’s madness!

Yet it has become one of the most mythologized pieces of Doctor Who history. A milestone for its further success. How did that happen?

Our party lands on the North Pole, where they soon come across a small underground base made to trace the trajectory of rockets and space stations. Problems arise, however, when the base loses contact with one of their rockets. On top of that, they discover a new planet in our own solar system. And its inhabitants are on their way…

Those “inhabitants” are the now iconic cybermen. Showing up for the first time. Their original look has gotten a lot of praise in recent years and it is easy to see why. Their depiction of a human race that has destroyed themselves shows in every little detail. When they talk, they sometimes stretch out vowels, which makes you feel like they have a lobotomized brain. When you see their human hands or spot an eye, it doesn’t feel like not a budget constraint, but a glimpse at what they once were. It all adds up to an eerily familiar creature that feels uncanny in an oddly familiar way.

They are an obvious highlight, which is kind of surprising because it is mostly on principle. Their mythology carries them through the story. On screen, they mostly do the standard monster behavior. Be threatening, shoot stuff. But their background gives you an image of a society that completely imploded on a planetary scale. And now that awful planet is bringing its ideals to earth. In person no less.

The sense of dread the planet brings is further strengthened by the resolution. In the end, neither side has truly won. The cybermen may run on logic, but their lack of urgency destroys them. On the other side, General Cutler almost destroys the entire planet because he wants to save his son as quickly as possible. This eventually costs him his life. It promotes the idea of balance. Humans are both logical and emotional, and can’t succeed unless they accept both parts of themselves.

Maybe that’s me reading to deep into things. But I think that’s exactly why this story has its reputation. Its ambiguity allows for watchers to speculate. To think deeper about the subject matter presented. It makes you ask questions and think about things in a new light.

Hell, that even extends to the Doctor, who suddenly changes face as the credits roll. Maybe the already established sense of inquiry allowed viewers to accept the change a bit more readily? To be less judgmental as the status quo changes?

The Tenth Planet is a story that logically shouldn’t work. But luckily, it is a story that works on an emotional level. It uses a sense of dread, mystery and ambiguity to lodge itself into your brain. And once it has wormed its way in there, it might just make you a little bit more introspective. A message of growth hidden between the brain-butchering cybermen. What’s more human than that?