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Tomb of Cybermen, Part 3 & 4 Gallifrey Gals Get Wibbly Wobbly!

🕑 Added 2022-01-13 18:01:01 +0000 UTC

Comments

Greg Athorne

Katrina is controller. She found Paula and made her like us.

Keith Goodnight

Interesting! I've never heard that before, but it doesn't surprise me. RTD was a long-standing fan of the Classic series and it's the way a true fan of the show would have thought!

tal goren

I think I read somewhere that RTD was actually worried that people wouldn't like the show if the special effects were too good.

hrcaffee

I never saw that story but I read the novelization :) not quite as pivotal as the yoedling in Mars Attacks but ya :)

Mark Ten

Love how often characters put down their guns and ignore them until the bad guys/good guys pick them up

Lloyd B

Funny you mentioned Victoria’s scream. Originally Victoria wasn’t meant to be a continuing character/companion, but just a one off in the previous story. Production had hoped to have Sam Briggs, played by Pauline Collins in the story The Faceless Ones, be the female companion, but had Victoria in the next story as a stopgap. But Collins turned down the offer to stay on as she had other commitments (she later returned as Queen Victoria in the New Who story Tooth and Claw, series 2 episode 2). Another actress was initially cast as Victoria, Denise Buckley, but having lost Pauline Collins they felt Deborah Watling would better in the role as an ongoing character. So they dropped Buckley (on full pay) and cast Watling as Victoria. Apparently one defining characteristic of Deborah Watling that made her suitable was that she was a great screamer, something that comes in very handy in a future story!

Aaron Funnell

That is a beautiful scene. Patrick Troughton and Deborah Watling performed it so well too.

Aaron Funnell

Ropey special effects will always be a thing in Doctor Who. Even the modern programme just doesn't have as large a budget as comparable US shows. TV itself was still pretty new in the UK in the 1960s. During WWII, for example, TV broadcasting was switched off so it was really only about ten years old. A lot of programming was still being broadcast live in the 1960s and in general TV was made in a sort of recorded stage play style. The effects are often laughable but in a way you've got the history of British TV science fiction being told throughout Doctor Who, all the way through to the modern day. Hopefully as the two of you watch more classic stories you can see that evolution. I really enjoyed watching the reaction to this story, Katrina and Paula. A lovely video.

Nicole Mazza

Funny, I never even noticed the wire until they pointed it out and I've seen the serial many times. I guess I'm just so used to 'filtering out' that sort of thing when watching the Classic series. 🤷‍♀

Colin 3of5

Arthur , you are right about Tomb filmed in 405 definition. It was one of the last to be filmed in 405. Filming in 625 definition started the year after tomb in 1968

Arthur Gatward

625! I Think it was 405 when this was first shown, but your point still is correct, you would not have been able to have seen the wire.

Nicole Mazza

Also, I ADORE Cybermats. My old Roomba is called Cyber-Matt in their honor and even has stick-on googly-eyes in honor of the Classic Series version. THEY ARE JUST SOOOO CUTE! <3 <3

Nicole Mazza

The scene with the Doctor and Victoria where they're talking about her missing her father and the Doctor's memories of his family has always been one of my fave scenes from the Classic series. It's just such a sweet, tender moment and makes me cry every time. <3

Keith Goodnight

Funny you should mention the idea of people who criticize the effects in New Who's first season needing to take a look at Classic: even at the time (never mind in comparison to later effects technology) Eccleston's season drew some complaints, but Dr Who Magazine's review summed it up this way: "Let's face it, it just wouldn't be Doctor Who without dodgy special effects." So long as the writing and acting is on point, that's always been a paradoxical part of Dr Who's charm.

Martyn Hill

At the time this was made most televisions would have been only 625 line definition with probably a 16" or 18" screen and the wire would not then have been noticeable