STORY: The Doctor and Leslie go for a little holiday to a small town in the English countryside. Little do they know, the Cybermen have taken over, and soon, they and the entire world will be in danger…

REVIEW: Oh no, the Cybermen are up to their old tricks again! This time, they’ve isolated a small town as part of a larger infiltration and takeover scheme. The Doctor and Leslie separately stumble onto the plot quite by accident, and from there on, the story proceeds as the Doctor slowly works out their plot and plays a cat and mouse game with the Cybermen.

This is Timebase’s epic. A four part serial, done up in the classic style, and done well. It was, by far, Time Base’s most ambitious production. Perhaps almost too ambitious. Within the context of Timebase’s story arc, this is the technically second adventure. But it came out fourth in (1997) – after the first story Regenesis (1994), should have preceded Paradise in Chains (1995), and Long Shadows (1995).

From what I can tell, production seems to have started following Regenesis, but there was so much work – so many model shots, so many scenes, so many effects and props, that it’s shooting and post-production simply dragged on and on, and in the meantime, the stories that were to come later were finished and released first. My advice to you is to watch them in the order that I think they were intended, rather than the order of release. The Doctor and his companions are going through an arc over the course of the Timebase adventures, and watching in proper order adds a lot more to the experience.

Where was I? It’s a big story, and it feels big. It could have felt small, god knows, it’s an easy thing to blow. A handful of Cybermen take over a small town, scenes shot in the woods or someone’s living room…

But no, this feels big. The town streets are empty, there’s a lot of extras willing to lay around playing dead bodies. Or maybe it’s just the usual suspects doing double duty over and over again. But regardless, you get the sense of an entire community taken over, a population laid down and out. There’s a sense of scope.

That’s magnified by the settings and sets. One thing I’ll say about Timebase consistently, is that they have a really good eye for choosing locations that enhance the story.

In Regenesis, there were establishing shots of a brick building that conveyed ‘Mental Institution’, or a ruined building that reflected the Tribus’ own physical wreckage, or a filter saturated beach standing in for another dimension. In each case, effective location shots.

This time the shoot covers a lot of ground – country roads, the woods, a church interior, the cybermen’s space ship, even the Tardis Interior, and they’re able to consistently make it interesting. At one point, the Doctor shows up on a country road – boring – except that there’s a peculiar little vehicle, a kind of mini-farm tractor and wagon, that drives up to give the Doctor a ride. A scene where two characters fight over a cloaking device takes place in impenetrable woods, mirroring the action.

The Cybermen’s spaceship is seen both as a exteriors and interiors, there’s a sense of place there. The exteriors are competent model work. The interiors, maybe not so great, but serviceable.

Much more impressive, we get to see the Tardis interior and Time Rotor, and it’s amazingly well done. The walls with the ‘round things’ and the door are authentic to the series. It’s all a dead replica of the original Hartnell/Troughton Tardis console and interior.

The Tardis console is a particularly amazing prop, it lights up properly, it moves, it’s simply extraordinary. For Timebase, it appeared in only one of their other productions – Hidden Faces. But it’s been used in at least one other fan film, Tyranny of the Daleks.

The most impressive setting is the Cybermen’s base on Earth. They’ve taken over an Anglican church, and while the cast struggle a bit with the pews, the visuals of the church interior are amazing. Churchs are built that way, you know, stained glass, vaulted ceilings, the whole nine yards. But to fill it with Cybermen and make it their command center, that’s just brilliant. There is a juxtaposition of traditional, religious and mystical with the high tech, sci-fi and utilitarian which is unforgettable.

The Cybermen are appropriately menacing, not least because they’re omnipresent. The Cybermen are the Troughton ‘Tomb of the Cybermen’ version, and the costumes are spot on – these are dead accurate and BBC quality.

The Cyberman have always needed to be handled carefully. The voices are monotone, costumes are bulky, visibility is limited, so Cybermen tend to move slowly and with a certain amount of caution. It’s very easy for them to turn into a joke. It all depends on how you handle them.

Daleks are scary because they’re always on the edge of freaking out, they’re twitchy, inaccessible and vicious. Daleks are very interactive, they exhibit a lot of personality, blinking their lights, swivelling their guns and plungers and eye stalks and whirling about.

Cybermen, in contrast, are passionless and expressionless, their moves are slow and deliberate, they don’t interract much, they give nothing away. Their intimidation comes from being relentless. No matter what you do, the Cybermen will get you. Fight, run away, hide, it’s all the same to them really. They’re unstoppable, or they should be. They don’t hesitate, can’t be dissuaded, they don’t react, or interract, they’re just implacable. Even if they’re slow, they will eventually run you down

This quality comes across well. Phase Four’s Cybermen, as they all are, are slow. But these are clearly relentless and unstoppable. The Doctor throws up hurdles, but each time, sooner or later they get through it. They just do their thing, and it doesn’t matter whether we resist or flee or trick them. Implacable.

The Cybermen are actually true to their conceptual character. No hard feelings on their part, they’ve got a situation, they’re taking the most logical course of action. The Doctor ultimately defeats them by understanding their situation, and then using its logic against them. When he ruins their plan, there’s no shaking of metal fists. It’s just – time to move on.

What works especially well here is that there are a lot of them. I counted at least five Cybermen in a number of shots, plus a Cyber-Leader and Cyber-Controller. The costumes are used effectively, showing up in so many scenes and so many places it looks and feels like there’s an actual army, dozens on dozens, of them roaming around, leaving no place to hide. That’s a trick that sometimes the original series didn’t carry off successfully. In one scene, I counted fifteen or so, which I think is a composite shot. But the point is, it feels like there’s a lot of them, that they’re everywhere, and they’re dangerous.

This is a serious story, both the Doctor and Leslie have their witty moments, but the Cybermen are never played for laughs. Of the five principle supporting characters (apart from the Cybermen themselves) three of them end up dead.

All of the supporting cast turns in strong performances, even quirky at points. With four episodes to spread over, they’re allowed to develop as characters and identities, even subplots. They’re physically distinctive in looks – the businessman, the biker, the everyman and his wife, and they inhabit those looks and personas – they don’t seem like kids playing dress up. The relative youth of the cast doesn’t work against them, because they all so clearly come across as people from various walks of life.

The Doctor through the serial goes through a character arc, which is handled very well. Again, props to Rupert Booth, for playing the Doctor with depth – his character is alternately questing, thoughtful, sneaky, witty and even dejected. His performance is utterly fluid. There’s a blink and you’ll miss it moment when the Doctor is a prisoner of the Cybermen, utterly crushed and dejected, radiating apathy, and manages to reprogram their teleport right under their noses without them noticing. There’s a moment when the Doctor examines a victim, pronounces them finished, and then an instant later, tells the victim’s spouse that ‘she’ll be fine’ with convincing certainty. Booth is an amazingly expressive actor, you can tell what the Doctor is thinking, but he can also use it to have the Doctor lie, manipulate and plot effectively. He’s got a fey sense of humour and a wonderfully deadpan delivery, there’s not a moment when his performance rings hollow.

The battle with the Cybermen is a cat and mouse game, with the Doctor subverting their technology, and the Cybermen fixing it. He’s mostly one jump ahead of them, but there’s a lot of dramatic tension, because it’s only ever one jump, and sometimes it’s not one jump ahead at all, and he’s not ahead of them.

I don’t really want to give too much of the story away. I want you to watch it, hopefully, watch the whole Timebase series, and in proper order. There are things I want to point out and emphasize, so when you do watch it, you might appreciate it a bit more. Sometimes, when I do these things, I’ll point out flaws or problems, maybe to warn of them, or perhaps to explain.

But I’ll say that along with the main Cyberman story, everyone gets a story arc, and in particular, the Doctor and Leslie get a profoundly moving arc as their relationship develops. It’s a serial that works on several levels.

And finally, as to the Cybermen themselves, in the end, there’s a sort of easter egg, a big reveal that turns what you thought you knew about the Cybermen on its head.

That’s about it. I could site the usual caveats – bits where the sound drops, or cybermen voices are too muzzy, or a shot that doesn’t quite work. But why bother. This is classic Doctor Who.

Cast

Rupert Booth, Doctor, Cyberman, Cyber voices; Christine Potter – Leslie; Lisa Gledhill, Marie; Steve Palace, Martin; Chris Bevis, Royston; Ian Patterson, Miles, Cyberman; Barry Vaughn, Cyber Controller; Cyberleader, Philip T. Robinson; Cyber Voices, Rupert Booth; Cybermen – Richard Knapper, Graeme Nattress, Arthur Banks, Rupert Booth, Philip Robinson, Shaun Whiteheart, Julian Eales, Kevin Crennell, Kristian Wharton, Steven Palace; Convertees – Ian Patterson, Richard Knapper, Graeme Nattress, Peter Nattress

Crew

Rupert Booth – Writer, Director, Camera, Lighting, Hardware, Rupert Booth, Titles, set construction, set builder, props, video effects, special sound, incidental music, dubbing, VT Editor, production manager, designer, model builder; Philip T. Robinson – Producer, Camera, Lighting, Cyber Costumes Sculptor, Make Up, set construction, props, production manager, matte paintings; Richard Knapper – Producer, Camera, Costumes, set assistant, props, production manager, Ian Patterson – Director, Camera, Lighting, Costumes, Credits, Set construction, props, video effects, special sound, incidental music, dubbing, CGI animation, production manager, mechanical design, pyrotechnics; Neil Johnson – Lighting, set assistant

Arthur Banks – Lighting, CGI animation; Paul Ferry – Script Editor, set assistant; Sylvia Brown – assistant, special thanks; Barry Williams – assistant, set assistant, production manager

Claire Williams – assistant; Malcolm Herron – assistant; Peter Nattress – assistant

Lisa Gledhill – Make Up, set assistants; Selina Lock – costume, set assistant; Peter Herron – costume; Gavin Chilvers – titles; Philip Robinson – titles; Brian Moss – set construction, electronics, mechanical design, pyrotechnics; Arthur Banks – set construction; Malcolm Herron – set construction; Scott Goodman – set assistant; David Burke – set assistant; Emma Seager – set assistant; Barry Vaughn – set assistant, electronics; Sara Price – special thanks

Scott Talbot – special thanks; Allen Memorial Methodist Church

Copyright, 1997

WATCH IT

Part 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs7ooQmXdTE

Part 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvTJzylGGns

Part 3

Part 4