Day 105 — April 15th 2021
The Wheel in Space Episodes Three and Four
The Wheel in Space — Episode Three
My father-in-law dropped off some shopping while I was drawing to the end of this episode, and we had a brief Doctor Who chat. He related some of him childhood memories — the Giant Robot, Maggots, and Linx who he referred to by name which I thought was impressive given he’d not seen The Time Warrior in almost 50 years…!
He was less impressed by the five minutes of The Wheel in Space which he watched from the doorway. ‘Oh that’s sad,’ he said upon seeing the Silver Carrier for the first time. He wasn’t keen on the two Wheel crew members doing their space walk across to the rocket, either. ‘It’s like they’re trying to walk in slow motion but just not getting it,’ was his reaction to that. He didn’t pass much comment on the Cybermen when they rocked up, he just laughed at their voices.
On the whole I was glad he turned up during this episode, and not for the Cybermen’s own attempt at a space walk in Episode Six. All the same, why couldn’t he have popped round the other day for the big Yeti battle in The Web of Fear?!
I’m sorry to say that I’ve not enjoyed this episode any more than he did, either. I don’t know if I’ve just disengaged by not being over keen on the two episodes from yesterday, but everything just seems a little more boring than usual. I’m gutted because I was hoping Whittaker could do for the Cybermen what he did for the Daleks in Power.
In many ways this is a bit of a ‘greatest hits’ for the Cybermen, and the story features elements from all their 1960s stories. We’ve got Cybermats making a return from Tomb, the first appearance of the Cyberplanner who’ll show up again in The Invasion and the Cybermen infiltrate a ‘close to Earth’ space base manned by humans, just like The Moonbase. The only one missing so far is The Tenth Planet, but we’ve still got three more episodes to go so I’ll not count any chickens yet.
Speaking of chickens, the Cybermen hatch from eggs in this one. I feel like I should be sat here saying how ridiculous and silly that is… but I actually quite like it! The only thing which throws me is what size the eggs are supposed to be. When the Servo Robot sets them loose in Episode One they seem to be tiny bubbles, but are they full size now that the Cybermen are hatching? Do the Cybermen grow inside them? I feel like I need more answers on that. But as an idea I love it; it’s so very Doctor Who.
Zoe continues to be a little unbearable throughout this one, but I’m pleased to say that Jamie’s undercutting of her pompousness has worked much better, especially in the following exchange;
Zoe: ‘You didn’t answer my question.’
Doctor Who: ‘What question?’
Jamie: ‘You know, I’m surprised you didn’t know the answer. Now don’t tell me there’s something you can’t work out.’
Later in the same scene we also get a lovely couple of lines between Doctor Who and Zoe, and one which I find myself quoting every so often for no real reason;
Zoe: ‘Oh, it isn’t a theory. You can’t disprove the facts. It’s pure logic.’
Doctor Who: ‘Logic my dear Zoe, merely enables one to be wrong with authority.’
It’s also the first time I’e noticed another strange trend with the Troughton companions. In both this story and The Evil of the Daleks the new companion is absent from Episode One, introduced in Episode Two, and then meets Jamie at least one episode before they meet Doctor Who. Both these stories were written by David Whittaker, so I’m wondering if it was a conscious choice to do that?
Another 3/10, I’m afraid. The survival of this episode has sadly not done anything to help boost the story in my estimations.
The Wheel in Space — Episode Four
Doctor Who’s description of the Cybermen in this episode is rather brilliant, and feels more like the kind of lovely dialogue that I’d expect from a David Whittaker script;
Bennett: ‘Well, what are these Cybermen then?’
Doctor Who: ‘They were once men, human beings like yourself, from the planet Mondas, but now they’re more robot then man.’
Bennett: ‘You mean half and half?’
Doctor Who: ‘Oh no, more than that. Their entire bodies are mechanical and their brains have been treated neuro-surgically to remove all human emotions, all sense of pain. They’re ruthless, inhuman killers!’
Bennett: ‘You really expect me to believe that rubbish!’
Doctor Who: ‘It’s not rubbish! They’ll kill anyone who stands in their path. You’ve got to believe me. You’ve just got to!’
I feel like the aspect of Cybermen having their emotions removed has been a little lost in the most recent stories, so it’s nice to see it referenced again here. And a reference to Mondas can be our link to The Tenth Planet in my theory that this story is the nexus of all the 60s Cyberman adventures.
Elsewhere, though… Oh, I really don’t have very much to say about The Wheel in Space. It’s just not grabbing me at all. I think I’ve made up my mind that it’s not very good and that’s the end of the road for the whole story. It’s even at the point where my criticisms are in direct contradiction to what we’re actually getting on screen.
Take, for example, the guest cast. I was ready to write today that I’ve little interest in any of them and that they’re only very loosely sketched in characters, with not a lot of defining detail. I was going to compare them poorly against the cast of The Ice Warriors as an example, who felt like they had full lives.
But these characters do have lives and interpersonal interactions. In the last episode two characters openly flirted with each other, and today we get a bit of backstory about Gemma;
Doctor Who: ‘I’m so glad there is no damage. Miss Corwyn.’
Gemma: ‘Mrs.’
Doctor Who: ‘Oh. Oh, forgive me.’
Gemma: ‘My husband died in the asteroid belt three years ago.’
Doctor Who: ‘Oh. I’m so sorry.’
It’s only a throwaway moment but it adds a little something more to both the character and the world in which this story is set. It has no bearing on the plot, and would be easily cut. In a story that I was enjoying I’d be sat here praising this line for adding something extra to the story. See also the talk in both of today’s episodes about people who want to ‘pull back to Earth’; literally put a stop to space exploration. That feels like a really interesting idea which doesn’t get explored but adds a little something to the world we see here.
My biggest concern in this episode is Jamie. During my last marathon I’d grown very tired of him by the end of the Troughton era, to the point that I actively disliked the character. I’ve been enjoying him so far this time around and hoping that I’ll feel differently during Season Six on this occasion.
My major complaint, as far as I remember, was that he’d become incredibly stupid and dumbed down, and there’s already hints of that creeping in with this episode, where he totally fails to understand the idea that Zoe can record her voice. I feel like he’s seen and done enough by this stage that it feels totally wrong for him to be so baffled. I’m crossing my fingers that it’s a temporary blip, but I worry that history is going to repeat and I’m going to enjoy Season Six less because of him…
I was going to drop this one down to a 2/10, but I think I’m probably being unfair. As I’ve said there’s lots of nice details in there that I think I’m just failing to appreciate. I’m going to go for a 3/10 instead. It’s still not exactly a glowing review, but…!
