BOOK OF LISTS: TOP FIVE CYBERMEN STORIES - NUMBER TWO

For Number Two, we go back to the 60s....

The Invasion, I'm sure, makes it onto most peoples' list of Top Five Cybermen Stories. I almost feel like a cliche for including it in mine. But it really deserves to be here. And, impressively enough, it made it up to the Number Two ranking. 

Two things about this story really stand out for me: 

1) This is an eight part long Monster! When a story has that many episodes, it should drag somewhere. Even the Great Inferno - which runs at 7 parts - has a bit of a sag in a later episode. There's a solid handful of minutes that could be completely taken out and it wouldn't affect the story in the slightest. Naturally, because they are still there, it drags things down for a bit. Really obvious filler has a tendency of doing that. 

Inferno is one of my all-time favorite stories. It almost, but doesn't quite, make it into my Top Ten Favorite Stories Ever. But I get why it has the problems it has. Seven episodes is a lot of content to create! 

The Invasion is one episode longer. That should mean more blatant filler that bores the Hell out of us, right? And yet, somehow, this doesn't happen. Every minute of this story is completely engaging. Even Part One - where a whole lot of nothing happens - still keeps me captivated. 

2) The Invasion was made in 1969. The older Who gets, the more it has to be "viewed contextually". We have to understand that TV, back then, was made in an entirely different way. It was meant to entertain a very different kind of audience. These factors can make a story from this period legitimately difficult to stay with. A modern day audience will just find the pace of things too different from the way TV now flows. 

I do sincerely feel that Invasion, for the most part, transcends its years. That, no matter what generation looks at it, they will be hooked. Again, it's just so damned engaging! 

The long running time and outdated nature of this tale should be huge obstacles that cause the story to fail. And yet, somehow, the story overcomes this. It is an absolutely wonderful adventure full of all sorts of great moments. 

On top of that, though, the Cybermen are really awesome in it!  

A WHOLE HALF OF THE STORY WITHOUT THEM

Probably the biggest thing that works to the detriment of this being a good Cybermen story is their lack of presence in the first half of the adventure. The production team was trying to create that same effect that I discussed in the reviews of so many stories involving the Master. They wanted to insert the monsters into the plot at a very succinct moment and create a huge Reveal. 

While this does give us a marvellous Cliffhanger at the end of Part Four, it also creates a problem. It means we get an entire four episodes of a Cybermen Story without any actual Cybermen! Sure, there's all kinds of great stuff with Tobias Vaughn and UNIT and even some fun with Zoe and Isobel (so much pantie flashing!).  But it's still a hard sell to call this a great Cybermen Story when they are absent from the plot for so much time. 

Fans are quick to point this sort of thing out, of course. "How can we truly call this a Cybermen Story?!" some will claim, "When the Cybermen take so long to finally join the story?!" 

Admittedly, they have a bit of a point. But, as if often the case with Fan Opinion, things get a little exaggerated. There is a big 'ole Cyber Planner who gets scenes regularly with Kevin Stoney. He is, essentially, a Cyber Controller who can't get around. The production team was smart enough to make sure he didn't resemble the Cyber Planner from Wheel in Space too much so that the audience wouldn't guess that the Cybermen were behind the whole plot. But the Cyber Planner is a Cyberman. He's  more logical and strategic and doesn't actually have a real body to speak of. But a Cyberman, nonetheless. 

It should also be noted that there are all kinds of dormant Cybermen lying around all over International Electromatics' property. Jamie has a bit of a close encounter with one of them at the end of Part Two. And it would seem that some of the employees of the company are partially converted Cybermen since they seem capable of incredible feats of strength. 

Finally, on a more abstract note: Packer and Vaughn really start talking about "their allies" just a short while before we get their Reveal at the end of Part Four. This helps to establish more and more that this isn't just some great plot by International Electormatics. There is a deeper, more sinister force lurking behind the company.Which establishes a foothold in the story for the Cybermen so that, when they start emerging from cocoons, this doesn't seem to come from nowhere.

Which means that - to me, at least - the Cybermen have a presence in those first four parts. It's a very stealthy one so that we can still have that big Reveal at the end of Part Four (a Reveal worthy of any of the awesome ones I described during my Top Five Master Story Countdown) but they are still there. Skulking about in the shadows (or, more appropriately, in the sewers). This is still, very much, a Cybermen Story through all of those first four episodes. We just don't realize it on the first watch. 

THE OTHER HALF

Of course, once the Cybermen do come into the story, some great awesomeness ensues! 

Vaughn's counterplot with the Cerebron Mentor creates an extremely cool concept that we hadn't really seen up until that point in the show: We get an insane Cybermen. It's actually quite terrifying. He gives us a great Cliffhanger when he re-appears later in the story 

Those sewer scenes are some more really great action sequences. I tend to sing high praises for Cybermen fight scenes. They are, quite frequently, very well-executed. For some reason, they are best the monsters for this sort of thing. When violence is inflicted against them, it's not too disturbing for family viewing. We detach from it enough because they're so mechanistic. But they can still writhe in pain in all kinds of gratuitous ways that a Dalek can't because they're just not as flexible! 

Even a modern day audience can look at that battle in the sewers and be quite enthralled by it. Overall, it still looks really good. It's equally impressive when the Doctor and Tobias Vaughn are running around taking out Cybermen with the Cerebron Mentor in the final episode. Things really heat up as UNIT arrives with bazookas blazing, The fights all look amazing. 

And then, of course, there's the truly iconic moments. People becoming zombified as Cybermen emerge from the sewers at the end of Part Six looks incredible. It's a moment that I had thought for sure was being overhyped by the fans. But as I watched the full sequence for the first time, I could see why it gets talked about so much. It really does contain some great imagery. 

Even if we want to say that the Cybermen weren't truly present during the first half of the story, I find that those latter four parts have so many great moments involving them that it compensates for their absence. What truly amazes me, though, is how awesome all of it looks. Even if it was all shot way back in the 60s, suspending one's disbelief really isn't all that difficult most of the time. 

THE MAIN SOURCE OF GREATNESS 

There are several factors that really help to make this story shine. Kevin Stoney is probably a big one. He is an absolutely wonderful villain to watch (here's how much I love him: https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2018/04/book-of-lists-top-5-one-time-only_23.html). Everyone else is putting in a great performance, too. Nicholas Courtney is definitely earning his way into the recurring character status that he will get for the rest of Classic Series. The TARDIS crew are all doing a stellar job, too. I do think Jamie and Zoe were the best companions for Two. 

It is a very well-written story, too. It really does manage to fill those eight episodes with drama that remains gripping the whole time. Even very deliberate attempts to mark time are still enjoyable. Jamie and the Doctor trying to escape through the elevator shaft is a great example of this. It's done clearly as a digression from the main plot to pad things out a bit. One might even call it a capture-and-escape. But it's still quite the exciting sequence to watch. 

I would even go so far to say that the actual design of this model of Cybermen has a bearing on the story's success. These are some of the best costumes ever made for them. It's the first time we see an "earmuff version" and they look really good.

But the strongest accolades must go to the director. Many who worked with Douglas Camfield on Doctor Who speak of how amazing he was. They say, with great fondness, how he was incredible with the way he handled any project that came his way. How, because of his background as a soldier, he treated any production he was assigned to as if it were a military operation. This seemed to get him great results. 

Classic Who was often shot on a very rigorously short schedule. Which meant many stories were made with a bit of a "just get it in the can" attitude. Even in its last few seasons, we see instances where a scene really needed an extra take to get it to look better. But there was just no time to do it.  

We don't really see this sort of thing from Camfield. His military efficiency seems to have really paid off. Many of the shots in Invasion are extremely well-composed. Some of his location work looks like something you might find in a feature film rather than a low-budget sci fi TV series. 

There are all kinds of talented people involved in this story but it's Camfield that brings it all together and really gets it to fire on all cylinders. He was perfectly-suited to take on such a massive story. After all, he'd handled a tale that was four episodes longer only a few seasons previously (and used Kevin Stoney in that one too!). 

But I do really believe that Invasion remains as engaging as it is because of the way Camfield cosntructs it and makes it all so watchable. I'm particularly impressed with how well he handles things in the later episodes. A good chunk of Parts Seven and Eight are just shots of actors pretending to be officers shouting excitedly from various bases as stock footage of missiles and rockets are interspersed between their scenes. This all could have finished up very static and boring. But Camfield gets it to work. In fact, it's just as gripping as the fight sequences that are going on at the same time at the Guiness factory. 

LONG-LASTING IMPACT

Perhaps one of the strongest testaments to the success of The Invasion is how often it gets referenced in future stories. The image of Cybermen stomping around in the sewers of London made such a strong impression that the effect is re-created during Part One of Attack of the Cybermen. International Electromatics gets mentioned a handful of times during Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel. And, of course, the Cybermen are seen marching out in front of St. Paul's Cathedral once again during Dark Water/Death in Heaven. 

While Easter Eggs were, at one point, starting to happen a little too frequently during the New Series - I can understand why they're hard to resist.  Particularly when they involve a truly great story like The Invasion.

I have mentioned before how some like to refer to me as The Great Contrarion. I do love to contradict Popular Fan Opinion on many issues. But you'll get no argument from me when you discuss the merits of The Invasion. It is an absolute masterpiece that deserves all the respect and fondness that it receives.

And, as 2021 reaches its conclusion, we arrive at the Number One Cybermen Story. Hopefully, I'll get that last entry in before the year is over.