The Moonbase

The Moonbase is one of my favourite early Doctor Who serials. In my opinion, it's the best 1960's Cybermen story, and it's a great pity two of the four episodes are missing.

The TARDIS crew land on the moon, where a team of scientists operate the Gravitron, a giant machine that can control the Earth's weather. But, soon, people start falling ill and it's revealed that the cybermen are to blame. They want to use the Gravitron to wipe out humanity and things are looking bleak.

This is certainly an action-oriented serial: perhaps the first of it's kind, and it's brilliant. The sets are limited but the cast is great, and it's got the right amount of plot, action, and scary moments to make a great story.

The characters of Hobson and Polly shine in this story, and it's just a pity that Jamie spends the first three episodes lying in bed moaning about an old Scottish legend. Once he gets involved in the story though, he does it with gusto and The Moonbase is better for it.

Finally, the cybermen are the scary monsters they're supposed to be, with a much improved look and better voices. Luckily, this style of cyberman continues to be used for quite a while to come.