The Tenth Planet (TV story)

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The Tenth Planet was the second story of Season 4 of Doctor Who, and introduced both the Cybermen and 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.

Synopsis

The Doctor's TARDIS lands at the Snowcap space tracking station at the South Pole in 1986. 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.

Plot

Episode 1

Schultz and Williams in the Zeus IV

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 in to 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 soon 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

The Cybermen invade the Snowcap

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 eliminating 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 at Space Command HQ in Geneva and is informed that they 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.

Polly asks Doctor Barclay for help

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 they 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

Ben deduces the Cybermen's weakness

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 Cybermen who have invaded the base.

The Cybermen insist that the rocket pointed at Mondas be dismantled. The Doctor suggests that it would be a good idea to go along with this, and tells the others to play for time, as Mondas cannot take much more energy now. Ben, Barclay and Dyson are sent to remove the Z-bomb warhead from the rocket. The Cybermen take Polly back to their spaceship as a hostage.

As the Cybermen take over the world, the Doctor realises that their plan is to destroy the Earth with the Z-bomb, thus saving Mondas from destruction. He manages to communicate this revelation to Ben and the others over the intercom before he is also imprisoned with Polly in the Cybermen’s spaceship.

File:Tenth Planet 4 002.jpg
The Doctor becomes a new man

In the radiation room, Ben deduces that the reason why the Cybermen need to use humans to remove the Z-bomb rather than doing it themselves is that they are highly susceptible to radiation. Barclay suggests using the rods from the reactor chamber as a portable weapon against the Cybermen. This proves successful, allowing Ben, Barclay, and the others to regain control of the base. The Cybermen launch a counter-attack and once again invade the tracking room. Just at that moment though, Mondas finally succumbs to the energy drain and is destroyed. The Cybermen, who were reliant on Mondas for their power, are also destroyed. Cutler's son contacts the base from Zeus V, telling them that his ship is now back to full power, and Geneva tells Barclay that the Cyberman threat is over all over the world.

Meanwhile, Ben has made his way back to the Cybermen's ship, to rescue the Doctor and Polly. The Doctor appears to be very ill and confused and makes his way back to the TARDIS. Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor falls to the floor, and before the astonished eyes of his companions his whole physical form transforms in to that of a younger man.

Cast

Doctor Who:


William Hartnell


Doctor Who:


Patrick Troughton

Crew

Story Notes

  • Episode 4 is missing from the BBC archives.
  • This is the first Regeneration

The First Doctor collapses to the Tardis floor and dies. Ben and Polly watch as The Doctor regenerates for the very first time.

Ratings

  • Episode 1 - 5.5m viewers
  • Episode 2 - 6.4m viewers
  • Episode 3 - 7.6m viewers
  • Episode 4 - 7.5m viewers

References

Individuals

Races and Species

Planets

Locations

Organizations

Vehicles

Technology

Biology

See Also

External links

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