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The Tenth Planet was the second story of Season 4 of Doctor Who, and introduced both the Cybermen and the concept of regeneration. It was the final regular appearance of William Hartnell as the First Doctor, and the first (uncredited) appearance of Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor.
- For the planet, see Mondas.
Synopsis
Many years ago, Earth's twin planet, Mondas, drifted away to the edge of space. Its inhabitants grew weak, so their scientists created spare parts for their bodies. Limbs and organs were slowly replaced by metal and plastic, and emotions were removed. The Cybermen were born.
The Doctor's TARDIS lands at the Snowcap space tracking station at the South Pole in 1986. A routine space mission starts going wrong. When the base personnel's suspicions are raised, the Doctor informs them that the space capsule is being affected by the gravitational pull of another planet. A tenth planet
The loss of a routine space mission and the appearance of a new planet in the sky herald the arrival of the Cybermen who are intent on the destruction of the Earth and the conversion of all Humans into Cybermen. Ben and Polly fight to save the world, but it is a battle that may prove too much for the Doctor.
The Doctor warns that a visit from Mondas's inhabitants is imminent. The Cybermen want Earth's power and resources for themselves. Only the Doctor offers the base any hope against these silver giants. But is this one battle too many for the time traveller?
Plot
Episode 1
The TARDIS lands at the South Pole where the 'Snowcap' space tracking station is monitoring the launch of the manned Zeus IV atmospheric testing probe into Earth orbit. The Doctor, Ben and Polly are apprehended just as the Zeus IV space capsule is drawn off-course by an unknown force that is draining the energy of both the ship and the two pilots, Schultz and Williams.
Observing the crisis, the Doctor announces that he believes he knows the cause of the problems. However, General Cutler, the commanding officer of the Snowcap, refuses to take the Doctor seriously. It soon becomes clear though, that the force effecting Zeus IV is what appears to be a new planet which bears an uncanny resemblance to Earth.
The Doctor’s prediction that they will soon receive visitors from the new world comes true when a spacecraft lands outside Snowcap. A detachment of soldiers sent from the base to investigate the TARDIS are attacked and ruthlessly killed by a group of tall, robot-like creatures with blank emotionless faces.
Episode 2
While everyone is distracted by their efforts to land Zeus IV safely, the alien invaders are easily able to take over the base and render General Cutler unconscious. The base personnel and Polly plead with the creatures to allow them to save the lives of the Zeus IV crew, but the aliens proclaim that the lives of the humans are irrelevant to them. They reveal that that they are known as Cybermen and were once like human beings, but gradually replaced their bodies with mechanical parts and eliminated the 'weakness' of emotion from their brains.
The Cybermen allow the Snowcap personnel to make contact with Zeus IV, but it is too late to save them as the ship is dragged further away from Earth by the new planet and explodes.
The Cybermen reveal that the new world is their home planet Mondas and that it is absorbing energy from Earth and will soon destroy it. They propose to take humans back to Mondas and turn them into Cybermen.
Ben, who has been imprisoned in the base’s cinema projection room after attempting to kill a Cyberman, rigs up the projector to blind his Cyberman guard. Ben steals the Cyberman’s weapon and kills him. Sneaking back into the tracking room, he hands the cyberweapon to the revived Cutler, who kills the remaining two Cybermen. Cutler contacts Secretary General Wigner at Space Command HQ in Geneva and is informed that his son, Lieutenant Terry Cutler, has been sent on a mission to rescue the doomed Zeus IV.
As Cutler makes plans to secure Snowcap from further Cyberman invasions, the radar technician announces that a fleet of Cyberman spacecraft have been detected and they are approaching Earth!
Episode 3
Apparently suffering from exhaustion, the Doctor collapses and is taken to the crew quarters to rest.
Cutler decides it is time to take the fight to the Cybermen, and contacts Geneva for permission to launch the powerful Z-bomb to destroy Mondas. Secretary Wigner at Geneva refuses permission, but Cutler decides to proceed anyway. Ben and Polly argue against using the bomb, Ben saying that the Doctor believed that Mondas would destroy itself anyway when it absorbs too much energy. The chief scientist at Snowcap, Doctor Barclay, is also concerned, saying that the radiation caused by the exploding planet would cause great loss of life on Earth. Unswayed by the arguments and annoyed by the interruptions, Cutler orders Ben to be imprisoned with the Doctor.
Polly manages to persuade Dr. Barclay to help them stop the bomb being launched. Barclay tells Ben how to sabotage the rocket to prevent it from reaching Mondas, but Cutler notices Barclay's absence, and going to investigate, catches Ben while he is sabotaging the rocket, knocking him unconscious.
A second Cyberman ship lands near Snowcap, but Cutler is prepared for them this time and the attacking Cybermen are repelled by the General's men using the stolen cyberweapons.
Meanwhile, the countdown to the launch of the Z-bomb has started. Ben regains consciousness but is disorientated and is unable to remember if he was able to successfully sabotage the rocket before being discovered by Cutler. The countdown approaches zero.
Episode 4
As the countdown to launch the Z-bomb reaches zero, the engines fail on the launch pad. Cutler, enraged, threatens to kill Ben, Barclay, and the Doctor, who has now regained consciousness and returned to the tracking room. Driven mad with grief by the apparent death of his son in the Zeus V rescue capsule, Cutler is oblivious to the warnings that another force of Cybermen are attacking the base. As he is about to carry out his threat and kill the Doctor, Cutler is killed by the invading Cybermen. The Doctor is taken prisoner by the Cybermen. Earth's proximity to Mondas causes the twin planet's energy to drain, and Mondas begins to break apart. The Cybermen all collapse, their energy source destroyed. Ben rescues Polly and the Doctor. The weary Doctor returns to the TARDIS, and collapses to the floor. Ben and Polly watch as the Doctor's features begin to blur and transform into a younger man... This was all due to The Doctor's body being aged rapidly by the energy draining properties of Mondas.
Cast
- The Doctor - William Hartnell
- The Doctor - Patrick Troughton (uncredited at the end of Episode 4 only.)
- Polly Wright - Anneke Wills
- Ben Jackson - Michael Craze
- General Cutler - Robert Beatty
- Dyson - Dudley Jones
- Barclay - David Dodimead
- Schultz - Alan White
- Williams - Earl Cameron
- Tito - Shane Shelton
- American Sergeant - John Brandon
- Wigner - Steve Plytas
- Radar Technician - Christopher Matthews
- Krail & Jarl - Reg Whitehead
- Talon & Krang - Harry Brooks
- Shav & Gern - Gregg Palmer
- Geneva Technician - Ellen Cullen
- TV Announcer - Glenn Beck
- Cyberman Voices - Roy Skelton, Peter Hawkins
- R/T Technician - Christopher Dunham
- Terry Cutler - Callen Angelo
Crew
- Assistant Floor Manager - Jenny McArthur
- Costumes - Sandra Reid
- Designer - Peter Kindred
- Make-Up - Gillian James
- Producer - Innes Lloyd
- Production Assistant - Edwina Verner
- Script Editor - Gerry Davis
- Special Sounds - Brian Hodgson
- Studio Lighting - Howard King
- Studio Sound - Adrian Bishop-Laggett
- Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
- Title Music - Ron Grainer
References
Biology
Foods and Beverages
- Polly makes several cups of coffee.
Locations
- International Space Command is based in Geneva
- Jodrell Bank
- Snowcap
- Barclay says that he designed some of the base, and that he couldn't fit into the ventilation shaft, but it is broad enough to accommodate Geoff Capes.
Organisations
- Space flights are governed by a multinational body known as International Space Command.
- International Television News
Planets
- Mondas is Earth's twin planet.
- An Earth expedition has just returned from the Moon.
- A Mondas day appears to only be a few Earth seconds.
Races and species
- Cybermen are what remains of Mondas' inhabitants.
Technology
- Retinascope
- Nuclear Z-Bombs can be launched via a Demeter rocket.
Vehicles
Story notes
- This is the first regeneration (though the term is never used), from William Hartnell's Doctor into Patrick Troughton's Doctor.
- Episode 4 is missing from the BBC archives. Only several short clips of footage exist, among which are the regeneration sequence itself; the sequence exists through being used on a contemporary entertainment news programme to discuss the transition to the new Doctor.
- William Hartnell left Doctor Who due to bad health, but upon leaving had said "If there is one man in England, who can replace me as the Doctor, it's Patrick Troughton!" Troughton took over the role of the Doctor when Hartnell regenerated into Troughton. Hartnell returned in The Three Doctors in 1973 to celebrate the show's 10th anniversary, but died two years later.
- The Doctor does not appear in Episode 3, as William Hartnell was unwell during the week when it was recorded.
- Special "computer tape"-style opening and closing title graphics were created for this story by graphic designer Bernard Lodge.
- This is the only story to give Cybermen characters individual names (Krang, Jarl, etc). After this, Cybermen were only ever named by rank (Cyberleader, Cybercontroller, etc).
- At the time of the serial's original broadcast, as well as the timeframe of the serial (1986), Pluto was still considered a planet and therefore the story title and dialogue referring to Mondas as the solar system's tenth planet was correct. In 2006, Pluto lost its planetary status, which would make Mondas officially the ninth planet, not the tenth. Note: By the newly-adopted criteria which excludes Pluto, Mondas would technically not be considered a planet either.
- In Episode 4, the Doctor is credited as "Doctor Who" instead of the usual "Dr. Who".
- The Doctor's regeneration was supposed to have been triggered by the energy drain from Mondas sucking his life-force away although this did not come across clearly on screen. The old age theory actually has no solid ground, Time Lords don't die of old age, it takes them decades just to look a day older and the dialogue casts doubt on it also as when Polly asks the Doctor why he was ill he says "It comes from an outside influence, perhaps this old body of mine is wearing a bit thin", and finally the astronauts were depleted of their energy by their close proximity to Mondas. Gerry Davis has stated that these were the pointers, the clues as to why he was going to change. (It has been further suggested by fans that the Doctor's exposure to the Time Destructor was a factor in his regeneration.)
Ratings
- Episode 1 - 5.5 million viewers
- Episode 2 - 6.4 million viewers
- Episode 3 - 7.6 million viewers
- Episode 4 - 7.5 million viewers
Myths
- An attempt was once made to colourise parts of this story. (This was an April Fool's joke in Doctor Who Magazine.)
- A test regeneration was filmed during production of DW: The Smugglers. (This too was an April Fool's joke in Doctor Who Magazine.)
- The master copy of Episode 4 was lost in 1973 after being lent out to the BBC's children's magazine programme Blue Peter for use in a feature that they were compiling about the series. (It is unknown how this episode came to be lost; the episode that was lost after being lent out to Blue Peter was The Daleks' Master Plan: The Traitors.)
Filming locations
Production errors
- The eyes of the actors playing the Cybermen can be clearly seen through the eye holes.
- The writing credit for Episode 1 has Kit Pedler as "Kitt Pedler" and title music is credited to "Byron Grainer"; for Episode 3, Gerry Davis becomes "Gerry Davies".
- Sometimes the Cybermen start to talk before their mouths open.
- In Episode 1, when one of the Cybermen is shot his "ears" flap about.
- The script requires the Cybermen to pass for human in their parkas, an effect ruined by the lamps on their heads.
- The Cyberman helmets were held together with Sellotape, which can clearly be seen in this episode.
- When the Cybermen are ambushed outside, one of them has part of his headpiece (one of the "jug handles") come loose.
- The dialogue between Cutler and the technician at the beginning of Episode 3 is slightly different from that which closed Episode 2.
Continuity
- Mondas' origins prior to this story are explored in BFA: Spare Parts.
- The Cybermen attempt to travel back in time and save Mondas in DW: Attack of the Cybermen.
Timeline
- This story occurs after: ST: The Three Paths
- This story occurs before: DW: The Power of the Daleks
Home video and audio releases
- This was released on VHS video, with a reconstruction of the missing Episode 4.
- Editing and reconstruction for release completed by Doctor Who Restoration Team.
- As of July 2010 no DVD release of this story has occurred, nor annouced, either utilizing the reconstruction from the VHS release, or an animated reconstruction such as that executed for The Invasion.
Novelisation and its audiobook
- Main article: Doctor Who and the Tenth Planet
- Novelised as Doctor Who and the Tenth Planet by Gerry Davis in 1986. In the novelisation, the regeneration is treated differently. Instead of having the Doctor collapse in the console room as in the televised story, he regenerates with the help of a device aboard the TARDIS called a sleep compressor. After he and his companions leave Snowcap base, he enters the compressor and emerges as the new Doctor. Also, unlike the televised story, the "new Doctor" asks for a mirror as there are said to be none in the TARDIS.