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May 15, 2006
Doctor Who - Rise of the Cybermen
The Doctor, Rose and Mickey find themselves in London in a parallel universe
SPOILERS AHEAD
This episode defied my expectations once again. I expected it to be a gungho Cybermen adventure but it contained a lot of character development.
Firstly the Mickey as a spare part theme continues, with him being left out of all the Rose and Doctor banter. The Doctor seems very dismissive of Mickey, which makes me wonder why he didn't refuse his request to travel with them. Then we get the whole strand of Rose seeing her dad again, and wanting to be with him. And then we get some more information on Mickey and his home life, and get to feel sorry for him. I liked that. And then we see his resistance fighter counterpart which made me laugh.
The biggest problem I had with the episode was that Colin Ball who plays John Lumic will always be Trigger to me. But he played him quite nicely in an over the top baddie way.
I also thought that the Cybermen looked pretty cool. Interestingly in Doctor Who Confidential Russell T Davies said that they put Cybermen in the title to create a buzz, which worked.
To be concluded, so full thoughts next week....
Here's the BBC page for the episode.
The Cybermen are a far more interesting enemy for the Doctor than the Daleks, and I welcome their return in this and any other future appearances. Mickey is starting to get more likeable than Rose and I am waiting anxiously to learn her fate at the end of the current series.
Interesting, most people I know prefer the daleks.