The Moonbase (TV story)

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The Moonbase was the sixth story of Season 4 of Doctor Who. The return appearance of the Cybermen solidified their place as one of the series' key villains. This story was the first in Doctor Who history with sequences taking place on Earth's Moon.

Synopsis

The TARDIS arrives in 2070 AD on the Moon, where a weather control station under the command of a man named Hobson is in the grip of a plague epidemic - in reality the result of an alien poison planted by the Cybermen. Jamie is knocked unconscious and lapses into a delirium, leaving the Doctor, Ben and Polly to fight off a mass Cyberman attack.

Plot

Episode One

The TARDIS makes a bumpy landing on the moon in the year 2070. They go outside in spacesuits and Jamie is injured when they fool around. They discover the Moonbase- a weather control station that keeps Earth's weather in check. It is staffed by international crew under Hobson the controller. They are using a gravity machine called the gravitron to control the weather. The Doctor investigates a mystery: patients have collapsed in comas and have been infected by a virus, all victims are confined to the sickbay. Jamie is put in the medical wing until his fever subsides. International Space Control responds to the crisis by quarantining the Moonbase-- a precaution made more valid as a patient starts to die. Soon a crew member disappears in the food stores without a trace. Jamie, delirious, begins to mumble about the phantom piper; his clan's variant of the Grim Reaper. A Cyberman appears in the medical wing.

Episode Two

The Cyberman abducts a patient which Polly witnesses. She informs the Doctor and the others, but is disbelieved by Hobson due to lack of evidence. Hobson soon notices the Moonbase's radio transmissions are being monitered. More people are infected by the virus and the Cybermen abduct them all. The Doctor soon works out the Cybermen have infected the sugar in the food stores to make the virus spread, thus explaining the virus' seemingly random attack pattern; depending on the crew's preference for sugar in their food or drink. They contact base but the radio transmissions are blocked. Later in the medical wing a Cyberman appears and advances towards the Doctor and his friends with a gun.

Episode Three

Bob, a crew member, is killed and the Cybermen contact the cyber fleet. The leader reveals the dead crew members have been augmented and are under Cyber control. More Cybermen emerge from hiding and take over central control. They intend to use the gravitron to destroy life on Earth and send Doctor Evans, the first victim, to operate it. Ben, Polly and Jamie (now recovered) use a cocktail of several chemicals, each of which attack a certain type of plastic, to dissolve the Cybermen's chest units. The fleet land and deploy reinforcements, which advance in force across the lunar surface toward the moonbase.

Episode Four

The Cybermen destroy a relief craft and use radio controlled beams to reactivate the augmented crew members. They are soon killed by the crew. The Cyberleader threatens that if their resistance continues they will fire. They use a large cannon to fire shots at the moonbase, which are deflected by the gravitron. The Doctor aims the gravitron at the surface and the Cybermen and fleet are cast off into space. Hobson repairs the gravitron and the Doctor and his companions slip away. The TARDIS scanner reveals a large claw...

Cast

Crew

References

Cybermen

Earth technology

Foods and Beverages

Planets

Science

  • The Cybermen shoot a hole in the Moonbase, suddenly making it lose oxygen.
  • The Cybermen's chest unit appears to be made of a kind of plastic.
  • Ben is quite knowledgeable about certain things on the moonbase; he knows that the Gravitron uses thermonuclear power, that interferon is a viral antibody, that acetone is present in nail varnish remover, and that the spray from the fire extinguishers would evaporate in a vacuum.

Timeline

Story notes

  • Working title: The Return of the Cybermen.
  • This is the first story in which John Levene (who later played Sergeant Benton) appears.
  • In an early edit of the script the Cybermen had names.
  • Talkback from the headphones of the crew on the studio floor is clearly audible at times during Episode 4 (the same problem as had earlier caused the opening episode of the first Dalek story to have to be remounted) - for example, a voice can be clearly heard saying "Cue" at the start of the scene where the controlled scientists are first activated by the Cybermen.
  • Alan Rowe is credited as Voice from Space Control and Dr. Evans (separate on-screen captions) for Episodes 1 and 3, only as Voice from Space Control for Episode 2 and only as Dr. Evans for Episode 4. He is billed as Voice from Space Control/Dr. Evans in Radio Times for Episode 3.
  • All of the actors playing the scientists were credited without specific role under the heading 'Others in Cast' in Radio Times.
  • Mark Heath is credited as Ralph for Episode 1, and as Scientist for Episode 3. He is billed without specific role under the heading 'Others in Cast' in Radio Times for Episode 3.
  • John Wills and Sonnie Willis, playing Cybermen, are credited without specific role under the heading 'Others in Cast' in Radio Times for Episode 1.

Ratings

  • Episode 1 - 8.1 million viewers
  • Episode 2 - 8.9 million viewers
  • Episode 3 - 8.2 million viewers
  • Episode 4 - 8.1 million viewers

Myths

to be added

Filming locations

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.
  • Episode 2's cliffhanger involves the discovery of a Cyberman who has been hiding under a sheet in the medicentre for the last 25 minutes. When he gets off the sickbay bed, he nearly takes the whole thing with him.
  • In Episode 2, when a Cyberman tries to zap Polly while she tends to Jamie, he misses, but she falls anyway.
  • Hobson notes they need to keep a hurricane in the Pacific Ocean. However, the Gravitron is pointed at the Atlantic and the hurricane is threatening Miami.
  • Closeups of the transparent dome from the outside only show the Gravitron, not any of the desks, controls, people, etc.
  • The examination tables in the sickbay are very light and wobble frequently. The most obvious cases are when the Cyberman takes one of the crew off one and later when he hops up off the table, almost knocking it over completely.
  • When Evans sneaks into the Gravitron control room, he puts the cloth helmet on back to front (in the next scene it's the right way round).

Continuity

Timeline

Home video and audio releases

Novelisation and its audiobook

Cybermen novel.jpg
Main article: Doctor Who and the Cybermen

See also

External links


v • e
Cyberman stories
For the purposes of this list, a "Cyberman story" is one in which one living, authentic Cyberman plays a part within the confines of the story, outside of flashbacks to previous stories and cliffhangers that lead into the following story. For this reason, stories such as Dalek are absent due to only featuring deceased Cybermen on display. Stories like Carnival of Monsters, A Good Man Goes to War and The Vanquishers are also not included due to the Cybermen's appearance being of little consequence to the plot of the story.
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