Review #24

Return of the Cybermen part 2

The continuation of part 1. The army of Cybermen is patrolling the streets of London finding anyone and everyone to upgrade to build an army. The characters were all split up in pairs for this one. Rose & Pete went into the Cyber factory's in search of Jackie Tyler only to find she was upgraded by the Cybermen. The pure emotion from that scene made it intense. It really showed how much they cared about her. Jake & Mickey had the job of taking down the zeppelin. There's not much to say about this but noel Clarke performed really well. And The Doctor & Mrs Moore / Angel Price had to go into the cooling tunnels and deal with the Cybermen. The scene where one of the cybermen got their emotions back was so sad. We learn that her name was Sally and she was getting married. When I tell you this scene had me in tears i mean it. It was so sad to see a woman who was meant to be getting excited for the changes in her life to die like this. This is also Mickey's semi exit he will be back for the Finale. All things considered this story is a good one. It has some really high highs and some emotional scenes. This gets a 6/10 from me

The Cybermen are activated and The Doctor, Rose, and the rebels have to stop them

This episode does a good job showing how miserable the existence of the Cybermen is, and that ends up being key to defeating them

Lumic isnt a particularly strong villain, but the Cybermen army itself is pretty cool

Mickey decides to stay and fill the role of his alternate self, finally coming to terms with Rose's decision

2025 REWATCH (Posted on both parts)

• • This is the story, especially since listening to 'Spare Parts, that I wouldn't mind skipping. not sure it does it for me. I love the Cybermen, but not this tale for them
  • Mixed feelings about Mickey. Not that he was bad in this story- he was great, but it's taken so long for him to get this material. Serves Rose and 10 right for taking him for granted
  • The solution to the story seemed a tad underwhelming; just a quick text, sure? But the escape of the Cyber-Factory at least made for a thrilling ending
  • Maybe if this story had a hint of more body horror, something I know the show can't exactly dive into greatly, but something a little more like Ashad, it would have been cool. It's a Cyberman genesis story, like Go Wild
  • It was nice to see an alternate, Jackie, Pete, and Mickey, give the actors a chance to do something a little different

📝8/10

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

This time: Poor Man's Spare Parts II

MY SCATTERED AND TOTALLY IRRELEVANT NOTES:

I love how the group is split up in the second part, reminiscent of the style used in Classic Who. This dynamic gives the episode a heist-like feel, making it far more engaging and exciting than the first part.

Helen Griffin delivers a standout performance as a fierce and compelling female freedom fighter. Meanwhile, Mickey finally rises to the occasion and embraces the role of a hero. I really enjoyed seeing him team up with Jake—they work well together and their budding camaraderie adds a nice touch.

These two episodes are directed by Graeme Harper, whose first credited work was Warrior’s Gate (1981). He would go on to direct several high-energy episodes of Doctor Who, and his skill is evident here. He does an excellent job, particularly in maintaining the suspense of the Cyberman reveal right up until the cliffhanger.

That said, the visual depiction of the parallel Earth is somewhat underwhelming—it comes across as very low-budget and lacks imagination.

This episode also takes time to remind us of the tragic humanity trapped inside the Cybermen. The absence of emotions is a grim necessity, as the alternative—being fully aware of the eternal pain inside those metal shells—is truly horrifying.

The story builds to a satisfying finale, followed by a poignant ending as Mickey chooses to stay behind in Pete’s World. His realization that he’s just the 'tin dog' is a bittersweet moment of growth for his character. Rose’s emotional turmoil, as her parallel father rejects her and Mickey leaves, adds a gut punch to the conclusion. While you can argue she had it coming, it still hits hard.

I pretty much feel like Age of Steel arrives at the same place as Rise of the Cybermen does for me, but it is a little different.

The prominence of just how awful the Cybermen can be is a lot more present in this second episode, and I feel like we get a good sense of how terrible the conversion process really is here. Something I didn't mention in my last reviews but is relevant is that the story does make some interesting parallels between the Cybermen and the advent of mobile phones along with the culture around it. This is particularly elegant given that the Cybermen have always been an exploration of humanity's relationship to technology. Unfortunately, both this and the preceding episode suffers severely in terms of execution.

Also, it's something I haven't mentioned before because it really hadn't bothered me all that much until here, but knowing what kind of person Noel Clarke is makes it rough to care for his appearances here. Stuff like that feels like it detracts from the appeal of content like this that lean more on Mickey's character.