What has the modern series’ debut Cybermen story got going for it? It’s a solid introduction to The Doctor’s foes with a good redesign and a strong, suspenseful build up - they *feel* important. The introduction of a parallel universe is also a success, allowing the show to kill off a new version of Rose’s mum and introduce a living version of Rose’s Dad - that is what sci-fi is for surely? I like that writer Tom MacRae decides to make this universe’s Jackie Tyler a complete nightmare.

Why is this not a classic then? It’s poorly directed, I know Graeme Harper is a legend in Doctor Who circles, but this isn’t his finest work. A serviceable script falls flat on many an occasion here. I don’t think they got the casting quite right either, none of the introduced supporting cast are quite right - with the sole exception of Lumic’s henchman. Noel Clarke also hams it up a bit too much with Mickey’s alter ego Ricky.

MacRae’s script starts to completely unravel in the closing 15 minutes where I found myself eye rolling on numerous occasions. The ending is full of random leaps of logic, maximum suspension of disbelief and pure gobbledygook. It doesn’t undo the fact that the general plot of this story/ several memorable moments and ideas come across very well.

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.

📝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.

Disclaimer: This Review is the exact same, as my Review to 'The Age of Steel', both Episodes are Part of the same Story, both leave me with the same Thoughts

This one is very much frustrating, there are great things to it and I enjoy the parallel universe aspect of it all (while it’s far away from the best execution). I absolutely loathe this Cybermen Design, it’s horrible, not the worst but easily one I very much dislike. I don’t really want to repeat points others did, but yeah, the whole Origin story part of it. There are some great moments, that remember what Cybermen are, then we get stuff like the entire Catchphrase Thing with “Delete” feeling more appropriate for a generic robotic enemy not the Cybermen.
Part of me wonders if this Story should have focused more on the alternative Universe Part. Since that part does easily work for me the most, meanwhile the Cybermen Part of this entire Story leaves me mixed. It’s by far not the worst outing for them in NuWho (Shoutout to whatever they were in the Smith Era), but yet it does bring out some of the very worst aspects that later got used again and again.

New Who Review #20

The Age of Steel

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

This part is very action-based, which isn’t a bad thing. Everything in the plot comes in at full force with Cybus controlling the population of London and Cybermen roaming freely. Our band of heroes predictably infiltrate and destroy the warehouse/factory where everything is occurring. Mickey is at his best in this story and it’s a shame that his character didn’t get more chances to show himself like this. The small bits of humanity are also where the story shines, like the connections made between Mrs. Moore and Ten as well as the exchange with Sally. Things were tidied up a bit too quickly at the end but I understand why it was expedited.

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

I wish I liked this episode more. Everything’s setup for this to be a thrilling Cyberman story. I like that the team gets split up, as we have 3 separate missions. I even like that 2 of those missions fail and it’s all down to Jake and Mickey (more on him later) to save the day. So why am I scoring it so low. For me this episode feels too busy, too messy, too rushed and nothing about the Cyberman story lands with as much impact as I’d hoped.

In terms of action, there’s nothing exciting going on here really. Despite it feeling like it was being setup for an action filled second part, with our small group of resistance fighters taking on the Cybermen, this is actually more interested in being a horror story, except it’s not scary either. There’s some tension in the scene of the Doctor and Mrs Moore in the underground tunnel, but honestly not a lot. This episode does foreground the body horror aspect of the Cybermen. Except it’s a kids show so it (correctly) can’t go too far in that direction. But I’m sure they could’ve given me something more compelling than mindless human walks into a factory. We see a dodgy CGI scene (looking straight out of a 2000s video game, and not even a particularly good video game) of some needles and saws, then presumably we have a Cyberman. The CGI is so distractingly weird here. It’s not just that it’s not especially well rendered; it’s also just an odd shot. It at first appears to be a POV shot, but then the way the helmet comes down would make no sense. Also what are the needles and saws even doing? The other aspect of the mindless people being turned into Cybermen that I think is effective is the screams. I like how the people walk in like mindless zombies, but even in their pacified state they can’t help but recognise the horror of what is happening and scream in terror. It’s good stuff, but not enough.

So the Cybermen don’t satisfy in either an action or horror way. The episode also attempts to give them some tragedy and emotion. Sadly, I felt precious little of this either. I’m honestly not sure the episode is actually that interested in this side of things to be honest. Yes they have a scene where they give a Cyberman a name and a backstory. But just telling me this Cyberman is Sally and she was about to get married, isn’t particularly tragic, nor is it compelling. There’s a rule in storytelling called ‘show don’t tell’. It’s better to show the audience something, than it is to tell them something, as they’ll find it easier to connect with something they’ve seen. This scene is just telling me a name and a random fact about the human being inside the Cyber suit. The scene’s a little more elegant than just pointing to a random Cyberman and saying “that’s Bob, he was about to start his dream job” or “that’s Gloria, her cancer has just gone into remission”, but it’s not a great deal more effective either. It just feels a little tacked on or undercooked.

I think the Cyberman design here also hurts this aspect of the storytelling. These new Cybermen feel less human than other designs from the past. They really do feel like they’re just robots. They all look, sound and feel the same as each other. So when a robot tells you it’s Jackie, I don’t feel the impact that I should, because it’s not got any of Jackie’s personality. I understand that the point is that Jackie is gone, and what used to be Jackie is now this faceless, personality free robot that immediately gets lost in the crowd. But if there’s nothing that shows me that this is Jackie and the only reason I know it is her is because it tells me so, then I don’t feel the weight of that reveal. Also the Doctor and Mickey kill all of these Cybermen including Jackie, so the episode clearly doesn’t want you to get too invested. I have no issue with viewing the deaths of all of the Cybermen as an act of mercy, not murder. So I don’t take issue with their actions. It’s just that clearly it causes a problem where you can’t hit hard that Jackie is in one of those suits, when in 10 minutes time our heroes have to then kill everyone in those suits.

So no, none of the Cybermen stuff is particularly impactful to me. It’s not boring but it feels like it’s just, a thing happens and then another thing happens and then another thing happens, without ever giving me much reason to get invested in anything. But just because the plot isn’t that impactful, the characters have some impact here.

There’s not much to talk about regarding Rose and Pete here tbh. It’s not bad, and I like those two together, but it’s nothing we haven’t already seen before. The Doctor and Mrs Moore are a wonderful duo though. This episode often feels like it’s rushing a bit. But it slows down to let us get to know Mrs Moore, giving her a backstory and a personality. So of course she then dies. That’s compliment not a criticism btw. I cared when she died, it’s the only death in this episode that I think works.

But the star of this two-parter is of course one Mickey Smith. He and Jake are the only team that succeed in their mission. Then Mickey has to use his computer skills (with some fun prompting from a captured Doctor) to shut down the Cybermen’s emotional inhibiters, which cause them all to kill themselves basically.

It’s not just that he gets the big hero moment(s) in the episode though. There’s a nice idea explored with Mickey, where because he comes in and out of the show, there’s the clear implication that he hasn’t been sitting idle in between his adventures. I’m not sure if it’s so that he can compete with the Doctor, or if he’s been inspired by the Doctor (probably a bit of both), but it really feels like Mickey has been improving himself whilst off screen. Every appearance he feels more confident, more resourceful, and more capable. He still may not be the most natural companion for the Doctor, but he’s now a valuable ally to have when he’s around.

This along with the backstory he was given in the first part, mean that there’s a greater depth to his character as well as him being shown as a better man. For me this all helps explain why he’s now prepared to go off on his own, and stay on this parallel Earth. It’s just a shame, because even though it makes sense why he should, now I don’t want him to. I’ve got to the place where I like having Mickey around, and want him to stay on the TARDIS, just in time for him to leave.

(Note: this is for both parts)

I think this story is really good!

• The horror of cybermen was shown really well here. The scene where the Doctor and Mrs Moore look inside one of the cybermen and speak to it was, for me, one of the best cyberman scenes in the show
• However, I wish that the Doctor showed more conflict over breaking the cybermen's emotional inhibitors, I felt it wasn't portrayed like as much of a tragedy as I would have liked
• It was nice to see Mickey finally get some proper character work in this story, though I would have liked to have seen more of this earlier on. In fact, this made me realise just how little character work he'd had previously
• I liked the focus on the emotional journeys of Rose and Mickey in this story, in which the importance of emotions is such a key thing
• Finally, this is not my favourite cyberman design. I am not super against it, but I do think that cybermen have a stronger emotional effect when they appear more human and less robot-y, and so I do think the emotional aspects of this story are hindered a little by the cyberman design

The Cybermen usually got dealt a bad hand in the Classic Era. The body horror element that feels so essential to them seemed to get forgotten about after the 60s, leading to them becoming generic robot guys in 'Revenge of the Cybermen' and little more than space thugs in silver jumpsuits by their last appearance in 'Silver Nemesis'. The revival returned them to the nightmare they're meant to be, and I feel that they were explored very well in this relatively underrated story.