"This old body of mine is wearing a bit thin."
TECHNICAL SPECS: Though a number of short clips from this episode exist, as a whole it has been lost. Reconstruction to the rescue. The DVD release includes an animated version of Part 4. First aired Oct.29 1966.
IN THIS ONE... Mondas and the Cybermen are destroyed, and the Doctor regenerates for the first time.
REVIEW: Wouldn't you know it, the most important episode of this serial has to be the one that's missing. Thankfully, we do have a number of clips that feature Hartnell's performance and the all-important regeneration scene. After a noticeable absence from the previous episode, the Doctor returns at just about the same time the Cybermen do, and Cutler, who by this point is a raving and ranting madman, get himself killed. It's a relief, really. Now we can concentrate on things that matter - the main threat and the Doctor taking a defiant stand against it. While Polly is relegated to playing the scared hostage (it seems like she's going to be assimilated, but then isn't), Ben a good share of the action and figures out the Cybermen's vulnerability to (a specific kind of?) radiation. It makes him a bit Doctorish, and not just because he fluffs the word Mondas into Mandos. Were some of Hartnell's bits re-written for Ben to give the unwell outgoing star a bit of a break?
The Cybermen's other weakness of course is that their plans are complete rubbish. Why are they the only ones who don't know their planet is about to "fry" from an excess of energy? Stealing Earth's place in orbit is a good Whovian objective (i.e. epically ridiculous), but do they really have to destroy Earth to cut off the power drain? Wouldn't an off switch have been safer? Especially considering that once their planet starts melting, so do the Cybermen landing parties on Earth. It's all a bit deus ex, isn't it? Structurally, Ben's solution should have been applied on a larger scale. Instead, an illogical, magic solution is put into effect that solves everything.
Thematically, however, the fate of Mondas is mirrored in the Doctor's. He, too, is worn out. The end section is a wonderful piece of television, with strange music and direction, made more so by the way many of the existing clips flicker (film shooting television). It's hard not to see Hartnell's own struggle with health issues in the disorientated, sweating Doctor almost ramming a camera, moaning "It's FAR from over!" He has to get back to the TARDIS as soon as possible, and once there, locks Polly and Ben out, like an animal who needs to be alone so it can die in peace. He does allow them to come in, but has collapsed by then, and a white-out effect turns Hartnell into Troughton (see Theories). Today, we take regeneration for granted, but in 1966, it would still be 8 years before the word "regeneration" was even used! What must the audience at the time have made of this? On the surface, this is no stranger a cliffhanger than the Doctor being made invisible by the Toymaker. That it would be a lasting thing was the real innovation. Did they realize at the time that this scene would ensure the longevity of the program?
THEORIES: If you're trying to track how regeneration works, best of luck to you. Not until the new series would there be any kind of consistency to it. It looks here like the TARDIS is part of the process. The Doctor can feel his body giving out and heads immediately for the TARDIS, where he operates some controls. The central column moves and the regeneration effect is accompanied by the dematerialization sound. Are they related, or is the regeneration just happening at the same time? In the future, featured Time Lords will regenerate in or near the TARDIS on all but two occasions, so it at least seems better if the TARDIS acts as a control for the process.
VERSIONS: The Target novelization makes a number of changes, and not all of them make sense. The story takes place in 2000 instead of 1986. The old western projected into a Cyberman's face by Ben turns into a Roger Moore Bond film Ben claims to have just seen (seeing as that would have been in 1966...). The ending is also changed to end with a renewed Doctor looking at himself in the mirror. The regeneration is played more like Romana's in The Destiny of the Daleks, matter-of-factly.
2017 update: They've animated Part 4, and while the regeneration scene is well handled, the creepy surviving footage cannot be replaced in my mind. Be that as it may, the rest of the episode definitely benefits from having moving visuals, in particular Ben's action scenes and the destruction on Mondas. Good likenesses throughout as well. The one flaw it highlights is the Doctor suddenly showing up aboard the Cybercraft, a discontinuity inherent to the original production the reconstruction more or less fudged over because it all feels a bit discontinuous.
REWATCHABILITY: High - Those last few minutes and Hartnell's last full performance alone are worth the viewing, even if the Cybermen plot turns out to be drivel.
STORY REWATCHABILITY: Medium-High - That The Tenth Planet is historically significant can hardly be debated. First Cybermen, first regeneration, last Hartnell story. The plot's just not very good is all.
TECHNICAL SPECS: Though a number of short clips from this episode exist, as a whole it has been lost. Reconstruction to the rescue. The DVD release includes an animated version of Part 4. First aired Oct.29 1966.IN THIS ONE... Mondas and the Cybermen are destroyed, and the Doctor regenerates for the first time.
REVIEW: Wouldn't you know it, the most important episode of this serial has to be the one that's missing. Thankfully, we do have a number of clips that feature Hartnell's performance and the all-important regeneration scene. After a noticeable absence from the previous episode, the Doctor returns at just about the same time the Cybermen do, and Cutler, who by this point is a raving and ranting madman, get himself killed. It's a relief, really. Now we can concentrate on things that matter - the main threat and the Doctor taking a defiant stand against it. While Polly is relegated to playing the scared hostage (it seems like she's going to be assimilated, but then isn't), Ben a good share of the action and figures out the Cybermen's vulnerability to (a specific kind of?) radiation. It makes him a bit Doctorish, and not just because he fluffs the word Mondas into Mandos. Were some of Hartnell's bits re-written for Ben to give the unwell outgoing star a bit of a break?
The Cybermen's other weakness of course is that their plans are complete rubbish. Why are they the only ones who don't know their planet is about to "fry" from an excess of energy? Stealing Earth's place in orbit is a good Whovian objective (i.e. epically ridiculous), but do they really have to destroy Earth to cut off the power drain? Wouldn't an off switch have been safer? Especially considering that once their planet starts melting, so do the Cybermen landing parties on Earth. It's all a bit deus ex, isn't it? Structurally, Ben's solution should have been applied on a larger scale. Instead, an illogical, magic solution is put into effect that solves everything.
Thematically, however, the fate of Mondas is mirrored in the Doctor's. He, too, is worn out. The end section is a wonderful piece of television, with strange music and direction, made more so by the way many of the existing clips flicker (film shooting television). It's hard not to see Hartnell's own struggle with health issues in the disorientated, sweating Doctor almost ramming a camera, moaning "It's FAR from over!" He has to get back to the TARDIS as soon as possible, and once there, locks Polly and Ben out, like an animal who needs to be alone so it can die in peace. He does allow them to come in, but has collapsed by then, and a white-out effect turns Hartnell into Troughton (see Theories). Today, we take regeneration for granted, but in 1966, it would still be 8 years before the word "regeneration" was even used! What must the audience at the time have made of this? On the surface, this is no stranger a cliffhanger than the Doctor being made invisible by the Toymaker. That it would be a lasting thing was the real innovation. Did they realize at the time that this scene would ensure the longevity of the program?
THEORIES: If you're trying to track how regeneration works, best of luck to you. Not until the new series would there be any kind of consistency to it. It looks here like the TARDIS is part of the process. The Doctor can feel his body giving out and heads immediately for the TARDIS, where he operates some controls. The central column moves and the regeneration effect is accompanied by the dematerialization sound. Are they related, or is the regeneration just happening at the same time? In the future, featured Time Lords will regenerate in or near the TARDIS on all but two occasions, so it at least seems better if the TARDIS acts as a control for the process.
VERSIONS: The Target novelization makes a number of changes, and not all of them make sense. The story takes place in 2000 instead of 1986. The old western projected into a Cyberman's face by Ben turns into a Roger Moore Bond film Ben claims to have just seen (seeing as that would have been in 1966...). The ending is also changed to end with a renewed Doctor looking at himself in the mirror. The regeneration is played more like Romana's in The Destiny of the Daleks, matter-of-factly.
2017 update: They've animated Part 4, and while the regeneration scene is well handled, the creepy surviving footage cannot be replaced in my mind. Be that as it may, the rest of the episode definitely benefits from having moving visuals, in particular Ben's action scenes and the destruction on Mondas. Good likenesses throughout as well. The one flaw it highlights is the Doctor suddenly showing up aboard the Cybercraft, a discontinuity inherent to the original production the reconstruction more or less fudged over because it all feels a bit discontinuous.
REWATCHABILITY: High - Those last few minutes and Hartnell's last full performance alone are worth the viewing, even if the Cybermen plot turns out to be drivel.
STORY REWATCHABILITY: Medium-High - That The Tenth Planet is historically significant can hardly be debated. First Cybermen, first regeneration, last Hartnell story. The plot's just not very good is all.
Comments
Possibly the Tardis itself has a lesser version of the Zero Room properties that is generally sufficient to manage a regeneration that starts there or gets there quickly enough...?
Does anyone get the idea that the Doctor is just rubbish at regeneration?
(Is this because he spent far, far too long in his first regeneration? Or because he's actually on his 2nd (or more) 13 already? [The Morbius thing] Or just a random personal incompetence?)
You could argue that the First Doctor had plenty of warning that his regeneration was upcoming, and he still waiting until the last minute before doing it. Same with the Tenth. They are no good at coming up with a schedule.
(Hey, the "email follow-up comments" option is back! Awesome!)
The fact that River Song can manage her regenerations so easily makes me wonder about the relationship between the human race and the Time Lords. I wonder if we're going to find out that the Doctor has unwittingly been putting the conditions in place where the Time Lords can emerge from humanity? Perhaps it will require descendants of Donna Noble and River Song to combine their genes.
Shame, really, because "It's not over. It's FAR from over" is a superb line that's only become better as the show's lifespan has gotten longer and longer. But instead, Wikipedia will forever quote the First Doctor's final line as "Keep warm". Which is a shame.
(Although better than "you're making me giddy", I'll grant you.)
Hey, at least it's not "carrot juice, carrot juice, carrot juice".
The War Doctor has to get some points here. THAT's what you get for not turning up for the 50th anniversary, Mr Eccleston.