The Great Cyber-War Part 1

Doctor Who – The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Audacity

#3.02. The Great Cyber-War: Part One ~ 10/10

◆ An Introduction

The Cybermen have always been one of my favourite villains, though they’ve definitely experienced their fair share of awful stories. Tom Baker only went up against the silver terrors once in his eight year tenure… and some would argue even that was one time too many!

‘Revenge of the Cybermen’ has long been considered the weak-link in a pretty decent season of Who. It was also plagued by a series of problems when location filming took place inside the Wookey Hole Caves. The assistant floor manager suffered a severe attack of claustrophobia, another crew member fell ill, and an electrician suffered a broken leg when his ladder collapsed. That’s not even taking into account the water skimmer scene that very nearly went wrong, almost killing the late Elisabeth Sladen!

Despite being a colossal mess, there were some genuinely good things that came out of the serial. Cybermen were made vulnerable to gold dust as it could be used to clog their breathing apparatus and suffocate them, which explains why they wanted to detonate a planet chock full of the stuff. Then there were the new costumes for the tin soldiers: they appeared bulkier than in previous stories, and their weaponry was now mounted to their heads.

Time to revisit the planet of gold… but are we in prequel or sequel territory? Strap yourselves in, folks, because the Fourth Doctor era Cybermen have been brought out of retirement!

◆ Publisher’s Summary

The Great Cyber-War. Humanity and her allies versus the horror of the Cybermen. This is no place for the Doctor to take his new best friend. But on the Aurum, the war seems far away. There are parties and cupcakes and all the gold of Voga – and not a Cyberman to be seen…

◆ The Eighth Doctor

For a good five minutes at the beginning of the episode, the Doctor is revelling in the chance to showcase the best of the cosmos to his new companion; to share in her astonishment at the priceless views beyond the Aurum. Although he becomes suitably horrified when he realises that they’ve landed in the midst of the Great-Cyber War… and right above the tin soldiers’ biggest target! Tim Foley has given the Doctor some excellent material here.

Paul McGann is clearly enjoying himself with such a magnificent script. You can practically hear the glee in his voice during the first few scenes, as the Doctor and Audacity wander around this gleaming gold space-station.

He enjoys a bit of chaos. The Doctor likes to show his friends the best of the cosmos; something he is clearly succeeding at if his companion’s gobsmacked reaction is anything to go by. He likes to believe that everyone is a friend until they demonstrate otherwise. He doesn’t like to stare too deep into the abyss of humanity. There’s a reason why he’s never met Oppenheimer, at least he thinks he hasn’t met him. The Doctor doesn’t like weapons with silly names; he doesn’t like weapons at all.

◆ Lady Audacity Montague

A companion’s first trip in the Tardis will always be an important one. It’s a baptism of fire that introduces them to the marvels of space and time, and the horrors to be fought on a regular basis. Some companions have been extremely unlucky with their first adventures: C’rizz and Hex were both flung directly into avant-garde pieces with little room for character development. Other companions have been extremely lucky. Take Erimem for instance, whose first trip through the space-time continuum landed her in a rip-roaring pure historical that dealt with Musketeers and the differences between the Church and the Crown. It’s vitally important for a companion’s first trip in the Tardis to be memorable. Tim Foley more than achieves that with ‘The Great Cyber-War’. Seeing space from the viewing deck of the Aurum leaves Audacity utterly gobsmacked; wondering why anyone would bother with a solid gold space-station when they are surrounded by such a priceless vista. It’s a great moment.

Jaye Griffiths is settling into her role very nicely. Her character has bravery in abundance – running after a would-be-assassin in the hopes of taking her on, despite being completely unarmed herself – and that really shines through in the performance.

Audacity thinks the Tardis is magnificent, and that the Doctor has more suites than the Prince Regent himself. She’ll understand all the ship’s levers in time, of course. She recently purchased all twenty volumes of the new Encyclopedia Britannica for Iggy’s enlightenment and wonders what he would make of the Aurum. Audacity is all for redistribution from the rich, but attempted murder on the other hand, that requires justification.

◆ Story Recap

Setting the co-ordinates to random, our travellers find themselves on the Aurum, a space station seemingly constructed from solid gold and orbiting a planet the Doctor recognises. They’ve arrived during a party in honour of Oberon Fix, a human scientist working to end the Great Cyber-War… meaning that the planet below is none other than Voga.

Whilst the great and the good avail themselves of riches aboard the Aurum, the planet below is suffering. Audacity – having unintentionally sabotaged an assassination attempt on Fix, and been forced to accompany the would-be assassin to Voga – discovers that whole caverns beneath the planet have been converted into sick bays. The Vogans are suffering from a strange “mining sickness” that seemingly has no cure.

Unfortunately, things are about to get a lot more complicated. One of the rebels had made contact with potential allies, sending them a copy of the Aurum’s schematics using alien technology. But she didn’t realise that said allies were in fact the Cybermen…

◆ The Causeway

Upon our first proper encounter with Fix, it’s revealed that time travellers have been visiting him for some time now, all claiming to have originated from a shadowy organisation known as the Causeway.

I suspect that we have the makings of a story arc here, which has got me theorising about who could be pulling this group’s strings. My immediate thought was that it would be another renegade Time Lord, and because the Causeway’s activities seem more meddlesome than actively hostile I would go with the Monk. Could this be leading to a grand return for Graeme Garden? I really hope so.

The only information we currently have on the Causeway is their logo: three parallel lines, which have been printed on several business cards to be distributed by their agents. I will be discussing this shadowy organisation every-time they are mentioned, in hopes that we can build up a clearer picture of who they are.

◆ Sound Design

Benji Clifford clearly had a blast with this episode, whisking us away to a location made of glittering solid gold. The fixtures and fittings are suitably decadent too; light shades, vents and even dado rails which catch the light. Sparkling information terminals line the grand corridors of the Aurum, whilst food being served at the party is gold plated. Splendour has been prioritised over practicality on this grand space-station, but it allows for some gorgeous sound design and world-building.

◆ Music

Taking inspiration from the episode’s setting, Carter has made his score glisten as though the instruments were made from solid gold. Sparkling and opulent, this is absolutely stunning!

I’d also like to mention what a massive fan I am of the metallic motif that has appeared in every Carter scored Cyberman adventure since ‘Monsters in Metropolis’. Instantly recognisable and sends chills down your spine. So happy that it’s become a recurring thing.

◆ Conclusion

“We must stop Oberon Fix and acquire his weapon.”

Humanity and her allies versus the horror of the Cybermen. Aboard a golden space-station, light-years from the front lines, one man is constructing a weapon that will wipe the tin soldiers from the face of the cosmos. Unfortunately, rebel forces from Voga have just tried to assassinate him!

Some people would argue that this whole adventure should be condensed down into a single episode, but then we wouldn’t have time for the exquisite world-building aboard the Aurum. Given the Cybermen’s historic vulnerability to gold, it almost seems like humanity are giving them a giant middle finger by constructing an entire space-station out of it.

Of course, this episode also introduced us to a time travelling organisation who are currently shrouded in mystery. I look forward to seeing where the writers go with the Causeway, because all roads are currently pointing towards a potential return for the Meddling Monk.

‘The Great Cyber-War’ has gotten off to an excellent start, and we can only hope that the action packed second half will keep up the high standards.