The Tenth Planet: Episode 3

Part 3 (Review for all 4 parts):

This story from writer Kit Pedler is historic and thankfully the quality matches its importance. And important it really is because the idea of changing the actor playing the Doctor by having him 'regenerate' into a different version of the same character was incredible and untested. It is hard now to imagine how radical this idea was at the time. If it had failed Doctor Who would have been finished whereas as the time of writing we have just celebrated an amazing 50 years of Doctor Who with the show and most of its key elements still continuing as strongly as ever.

As a springboard for all that we have this excellent adventure which also has the historic first ever appearance by the Cybermen. I really like these prototype Cybermen and even their 'sing-song' voices. I think the concept behind them is great and the story itself has them involved in an exciting attempt to destroy humanity. Their unfeeling nature and the scares and action set them up as an iconic 'monster' to rival the Daleks.

All aspects of the production are very good indeed and any flaws are minor. The story unfortunately has the Doctor sidelined a lot of the time which was unnecessary and sad in Hartnell's last regular appearance. However, when he does get involved he is as good as ever, delivering his lines with his usual charisma and that magical touch Hartnell had for being somewhat other worldly and dangerous but also endearing and delightful.

This is a classic which all fans must see. All 4 episodes 10/10.

Average rating for all William Hartnell episodes 8.04/10.

Cutler wants to detonate the z bomb, not unlike The Osterhagen key that years later we would see Martha have to consider. The Doctor seemingly suffering from exhaustion leaves Ben and Polly to tackle Cutler, and take on the Cybermen.

The humans on show are certainly full of fight, not afraid to tackle the giant Cybermen head on, all except Polly, who offers to make coffee, it's such an awful and unnecessary line, it never fitted in with her character, she was so feisty, with all things bar yea and coffee that is.

It's a shame Hartnell couldn't take part in the episode, I felt it did miss his participation, he had been fantastic in previous episodes. It saddens me that Part four has never been found.

With so much of the fourth season missing, I didn't feel inclined to start this season for this and other reasons. It wasn't just that so little of it remained but also that episodes missing include the Doctor's first regeneration and I knew it would bug me not only to lose Hartnell but to lose him without even seeing it – not seeing the parade of temporary companions come and go in the third season was one thing, but this was different. Anyway, watching the film "An Adventure in Space & Time" inspired me to get over myself and start on this season and, after the whole first serial being missing, this 75% complete one is first – and sees the introduction of the Cybermen for the first time.

Ignoring the elephant in the room for the minute, this serial is really enjoyable. It has the feeling of real drama as it seems to have edited together more tightly and, to be honest, the American accents do add to the dramatic effect of the telling. The Cybermen look a bit bobbins compared to what I'm used to seeing, and their tone of voice is a bit "up" at the end of the sentence which I found offputting, but mostly they are solid characters and the link to Earth, although unexplored, is interesting. There is plenty of action and dramatic speaking and the whole serial has urgency to it that I liked.

I say "whole serial" but of course I mean the episodes that survive because crushingly the final episode does not exist. I am only a casual viewer of this show and this kills me, so I can only imagine how hardcore fans feel. This single episode closes this serial and closes Hartnell's time as the Doctor, leading to the first regeneration – and it doesn't exist. Having spent the last months watching through many hours of Hartnell's Doctor this is really a gap I feel – even with so many other episodes missing, this is the one I would wish back. As it is Hartnell is pretty much gone in the second episode since he doesn't really appear in the third (which An Adventure in Time & Space tells me is due to illness). It is a shame because Hartnell is really good here and he works well with the dramatic seriousness of Robert Beatty who, praise Jeebus, can do an American accent better than the shower in the OK Corral serial earlier. Craze is pretty good as a companion and is not all "cheeky geezer" but has some range – although Wills didn't make much of an impression on me. With all the missing episodes to come, and the rate of change of companions, who knows if I'll have the chance to see them consistently again?

Anyway, The Tenth Planet is a strong serial. The plot is interesting but a bit nonsensical but it carries it by virtue of the tough delivery and tone. Hartnell benefits from it and works well with Beatty. The loss of the final episode is really gutting for the place it holds in the history of the show, but it will only get worse before it gets better since so many episodes to come are missing. However Hartnell finishing only adds to the feeling of an end of an era that I got when Ian and Barbara left but it will be interesting to see what the next Doctor does with it.