The Wheel in Space Episode 5

The one where the Cybermen kill the best character in the story...

I'll never forgive them. Never. It happens right at the end of the episode, but I'm going to address it straight away here: the Cybermen kill Dr Gemma Corwyn. She dies. The best character in the story, the best written and acted by far, and the silver giants go and murder her. I'm not happy.

These Cybermen are a pale imitation of their former glory. The best Cybermen so far for me were in The Moonbase, because they had a very definite and clear plan, and they didn't allow anything or anyone to divert their course. If the humans hit back in some way, they merely regrouped and returned in greater force. If help came from another source, they merely destroyed that help. But here, they lurk off-stage, never getting anywhere very fast. Some might say they're more threatening for the fact we don't see them as much, or that they are backstage rather than front and centre. I disagree. They're Cybermen, they're Doctor Who monsters, they need to smash through some doors or take over a control room or something. But instead they merely loiter.

I mean, nobody except the Doctor and Jamie have actually seen a Cyberman and lived to tell the tale, so when the Doctor demands that Gemma seal all airlock doors because he's seen a Cyberman, I see no real reason why he should be believed. From the humans' perspective, everything that's happened could very easily be a result of the Doctor and Jamie's tampering, and perhaps some unseen Back to Earth campaigners shacked up on the Silver Carrier.

The fact Gemma is Jarvis's second in command is a little odd, seeing as she's the chief medical officer, but to be fair, she has been the best woman for the job all along. For some reason not explained all that well, Jarvis has retreated into a catatonic state, withdrawn from reality, apparently threatened by the string of inconsistencies and mysteries that have unfolded. Talk about a fragile psyche! So while it's puzzling that a doctor is in charge now (and not, say, Leo Ryan, or Tanya Lernov), I'm glad, because maybe now they'll get something done. The fact she's murdered by the Cybermen hits home hard, and I'll never forgive them.

Another thing with these Cybermen is their voice. I found the voices they were given in The Moonbase and The Tomb of the Cybermen quite chilling, and the sing-song ones of The Tenth Planet fittingly unusual. But here, they just sound like sleepy Daleks. And as for that Cyber-planner microphone thing, I still can't make out 50% of what it's saying.

Aside from Dr Gemma Corwyn (RIP), my other hero of this episode is Sean Flannigan (he's Irish, you know), a man not to be trifled with! He's a dab hand at the "noble and manly arts", so when he's set upon by Cyber-controlled Elton Laleham and Armand Vallance, he fends them off with fisticuffs and wrestling moves like a pro. Or a bucko, perhaps. Sadly, he's overwhelmed by a Cyberman's wiggly hypno-beam, but I'm glad he puts up a fight, showing more spirit than most of the Wheel's crew. And there's a lovely little moment after Vallance accidentally shoots Laleham, and Armand recognises what he's done to his old friend, briefly bursting free of his conditioning.

The end of the episode just descends into a mess of nonsense. The Doctor suggests that the Cybermen caused a nova, which sent the meteorite storm hurtling toward the Wheel, which they hoped would then prompt the Wheel to use its x-ray laser to defend itself. But look! The Cybermats have eaten all the bernalium rods which fuelled the laser, so the only thing left to do is for the humans to venture over to the Silver Carrier to look for more supplies, where two Cybermen await transportation back to the Wheel hidden in bernalium crates. So the Cybermen destroyed the laser (or would have done if Jamie hadn't already) knowing the humans would need it. Their entire plan is crazy in the extreme and displays next to no logical thought at all! They buzz on about "Phase Six" and "Plan Three" like they're little kids making things up in the playground.

The Doctor says the only way the Cybermen could get into the Wheel is by smuggling themselves over in packing crates? Not true: the Cybermats were able to do it perfectly well.

And then the Doctor makes one of the barmiest decisions yet. He chooses now to realise that the time vector generator has been left on the Silver Carrier, so insists that Jamie (a Highlander from the 17th century with minimal spacewalking experience) and Zoe (a super-intelligent teenager with minimal spacewalking experience) bob over to the ship to fetch it. Right now, when there's a meteorite storm hurtling towards them. Plus, as Leo Ryan points out, the added dangers of debris, radiation and thermal shock. I'm sorry, but I think the Doctor's lost his mind, along with David Whitaker and Kit Pedler.

This is bunkum on a grand scale. Plus, the Cybermen kill Dr Gemma Corwyn, and that is even more unforgivable than the script.

First broadcast: May 25th, 1968

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: Sean Flannigan's lesson in the "noble and manly arts".
The Bad: The death of Dr Gemma Corwyn. The fact she died as a meteorite storm approaches, and her late husband died in the asteroid belt, just makes it even more unjust.
Overall score for episode: ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

NEXT TIME: Episode 6 (thankfully the last)...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Episode 1; Episode 2; Episode 3; Episode 4; Episode 6

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: http://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/the-wheel-in-space.html

The Wheel in Space is available on BBC soundtrack CD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Wheel-Wendy-Padbury/dp/0563535075/.