The Tenth Planet [TV/1966.10.8 ~ 10.29]

★★★☆☆

  Let's just say I appreciate a lot of The Tenth Planet. I can't come out of the woodworks and claim I love it or anything, but it's enjoyable and it's pretty ambitious. I don't think this base-under-siege tale is the best of its subgenre because the base itself fails to be interesting and the tension of the evil monsters sizzles down because they're perhaps a bit too patient as the villains, spending way too much time before another group is sent to take over... but at least I can say with confidence that the Cybermen are (obviously) the standout element. The design in outward appearance and in-universe functions may be very different from what we are used to now, but even these prototype Mondasian Cybermen (prone to shrivel up as soon as their connection to the home planet is severed) are beautifully made and, as intended, absolutely terrifying. David Banks may be my favourite Cyberman voice, but I cannot deny that these trilling tunes are the best these cyborgs have ever sounded. They're just so different, so unnerving because they're a tantalising mix between the human and the mechanical. They open their mouths like humans do, but they don't articulate their mouths -- no tongues as far as we can see from the screen -- and out comes this voice that's a perfect mix of wacky and bone-chilling. The first ever Cyberman design is its cruelest, and that's perhaps why they're still my favourite design in its 57-year history. No wonder they became as popular as the Daleks.

  Revolutionary monsters aside, The Tenth Planet suffers from pacing issues (which become very bad to endure come episode 3) and a severely diminished participation rate from the ill William Hartnell. He gets to recite a few memorable lines, but much of his role is relegated to Ben as the actor proved to be too frail for a full showing. It's a bittersweet swansong to my favourite Doctor, to see him be such a small part of his own regeneration story, but at least it's been "explained" in future adventures that the 1980s Cyberman invasion of the Antarctic is a fixed point in time and therefore the Doctor was deliberately taking a backseat role. The Tenth Planet remains an interesting curio not so much for the narrative itself, but rather for the timeless elements it introduces. The Cybermen, one of Dr. Who's most iconic villains, are not the only long-lasting thing introduced in this serial; Who as a show would be changed forever by the very first regeneration sequence, giving viewers of 1964 the ultimate cliffhanger: what has happened to the Doctor -- and who is this new man?