- Title: Doctor Who – Attack of the Cybermen
- wiki: link
Kicking off the show’s 22nd Season in January 1985, the two-part “Attack of the Cybermen” features The Doctor (Colin Baker) and Peri (Nicola Bryant) returning both to Earth and the planet Telos where he must stop the creatures from using a captured time ship to alter a fixed point breaking the laws of time.
Along with the return of the Cybermen, the episode also introduces the Cryons, the natives to Telos who the Cybermen are destroying while waging their war to bring back their destroyed homeworld. The limited production values are noticeable both in the fitting of some of the Cybermen’s costumes and in the design of the Cryons whose ability to help is limited by their inability to survive in above-freezing temperatures.
Maurice Colbourne makes another appearance of Lytton, the criminal last seen helping the Daleks and now working with the Cybermen (although this will work out even worse for him). Terry Molloy, best remembered for his depiction of Davros, also appears as a London cop who The Doctor and Peri encounter on Earth.
Far from the best Cyberman story, the episodes still work fairly well (with “Part One” being the stronger of the two as the logic of the conclusion, which substitutes action for explanation, being more than a bit muddled). The episodes drew the ire of some fans for the violent attacks on Lytton by the Cybermen who literally crush his hands on-camera.
“Attack of the Cybermen” marks the first time the Sixth Doctor uses a sonic lance and the closest attempt of The Doctor ever gets to fixing the TARDIS’ chameleon circuit (as it is shown in the form of both a pipe organ and wardrobe before returning to the classic police box).
