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TARDIS Guide

Overview

First aired

Saturday, February 11, 1967

Production Code

HH

Written by

Kit Pedler

Directed by

Morris Barry

Runtime

100 minutes

Time Travel

Future

Tropes (Potential Spoilers!)

Base Under Siege, Disease, Quarantine, Spiked drink

Inventory (Potential Spoilers!)

Five Hundred Year Diary, Space Suits

Location (Potential Spoilers!)

The Moon

Synopsis

The TARDIS arrives in 2070 on the Moon, where a weather control station under the command of a man named Hobson is in the grip of a plague epidemic — in reality the result of an alien poison planted by the Cybermen. Jamie is knocked unconscious and lapses into a delirium, leaving the Second Doctor, Ben, and Polly to fight off a massive Cyberman attack.

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4 Episodes

Episode 1  Missing

First aired

Saturday, February 11, 1967

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Kit Pedler

Directed by

Morris Barry

UK Viewers

8.1 million

Appreciation Index

50

Synopsis

The TARDIS arrives on the Moon in the year 2070.When Jamie is injured, the other travellers are forced to seek the help of a moonbase afflicted with a space plague.


Episode 2

First aired

Saturday, February 18, 1967

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Kit Pedler

Directed by

Morris Barry

UK Viewers

8.9 million

Appreciation Index

49

Synopsis

The Doctor and his friends attempt to convince the Moonbase crew that the Cybermen are responsible for the disappearances and find a cure for the plague.


Episode 3  Missing

First aired

Saturday, February 25, 1967

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Kit Pedler

Directed by

Morris Barry

UK Viewers

8.2 million

Appreciation Index

53

Synopsis

The Cybermen take over the Moonbase and begin using the Gravitron to attack Earth but Polly, Ben and Jamie come up with a way to fight back.


Episode 4

First aired

Saturday, March 4, 1967

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Kit Pedler

Directed by

Morris Barry

UK Viewers

8.1 million

Appreciation Index

58

Synopsis

With the Cybermen preparing to launch a full attack, the Doctor and his friends must keep the Moonbase and the Gravitron out of their hands until help arrives from Earth.



Characters

How to watch The Moonbase:

Reviews

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8 reviews

While I do prefer the Mondasian versions, the Cybermen here are still effective as they are in most of the 60s. The first two episodes are the strongest with the build up, but the way the Cybers are defeated is a bit disappointing.


Scottybguud

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This review contains spoilers!

The Tenth Planet... 2! (or should that be the Twentieth Planet?) Base under siege story. The Cybermen are here. We know how this one goes by now.

The Cyberman motivations were somewhat interesting, but I'm not a fan of the new designs. The old ones looked cheap but in a way that got across that They Were Once Humans; the new ones just looked cheap. Polly had a couple of good moments, but mostly got reduced to making the coffee. Jamie got knocked out in a manner that I can only assume was to free the writer from having to deal with putting a historical character in a future sci-fi setting. The Moonbase was fine, I guess?


greenLetterT

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This review contains spoilers!

“There are some corners of the universe which have bred the most terrible things.”

 

Tout le dernier acte est un triomphe.

Les Cybermen ne seront jamais aussi drôles qu’ici, et ont carrément de l’air de poupées sans vie qui volent dans le ciel.

Mais surtout comme ils sont devenus des robots certes agréablement silencieux mais vides, cette seule fin les rend bizarres à nouveau. (...)

The Moonbase n’est peut-être alors jamais aussi bon que chaque moment grandiose qu'il copie de The Tenth Planet, il y a quand même un peu de magie qui en surgit.

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Dogtor

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This review contains spoilers!

The suspense. The music is quiet, eerie and gets the viewer in the right frame of mind for the show ahead. There is a small base of scientists in 2070 controlling Earth weather - and an infection picking off staff one by one. Yes, another base under siege - and I love it. They aren't sent a relief rocket as hoped and left to fend for themselves against this mystery illness. The Doctor has a challenge on his hands - which becomes far more considerable when we realise that the Cybermen are back, and are in control.

The use of the Cyberman’s shadows is frightening and very effective. They are strong and fierce, impossible to reason with and feel like a genuine threat.

Kit Pedler clearly knows our four main characters inside out. Though I was gobsmacked that Polly was once again reduced to making tea for everyone.

I loved the little strand about Jamie's "Phantom Piper" and Polly and The Doctor's varying reactions to it. I was delighted to see Polly discovering a way to defeat the Cybermen using the scientific tools at her disposal. Even more delighted when she headed out with Jamie and Ben to defeat the Cybermen.

It was nice to see a grittier side to the 2nd Doctor in this story, following the silliness of The Underwater Menace.


15thDoctor

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One of the strongest cybermen stories love the effects in this story wish the whole thing survived so we could see what the foaming of the cybermen looked like but the animation is just as good


Rock_Angel

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Statistics

AVG. Rating437 members
3.59 / 5

Trakt.tv

AVG. Rating271 votes
3.55 / 5

Member Statistics

Watched

761

Favourited

57

Reviewed

8

Saved

3

Skipped

4

Quotes

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DOCTOR: There are some corners of the universe which have bred the most terrible things. They must be fought.

— Second Doctor, The Moonbase

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Transcript Needs checking

(Transcribers note - episodes 1 + 3 exist in audio only)

Episode One

[TARDIS]

(The TARDIS is going haywire.)

JAMIE: What's he done?
BEN: Doctor, do something!
DOCTOR: I'm trying to!
JAMIE: We're not going to make it.


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