The Moonbase is a menacing, claustrophobic story. It's certainly an improvement over The Tenth Planet in that while the plot is similar(Cybermen invade a base and try to use some of their equipment to attack Earth), the isolation is far greater(the guy on the other side of the phone is given no screentime) and there's no overacting involved. The costumes excluded, everyone here are just normal people. The moon itself looked beautiful and the base reminded me of Bowie Base One(then again, all interplanetary bases have those giant domes).
CHARACTERS
Patrick Troughton completely established his character and the way things are gonna go from now on with his magnificent speech about fighting evil. I still wish I could see more than the occasional real episode of him(next one's gonna be another full-on recon *sigh*).
Polly has completely devolved into the screamer girl. I bet this story is where most of her infamy comes from. And for good reason. And as Jamie's character grows, Ben's is phasing out. Although, I'm still not sure I'm ready for the pair to go, cause Anneke Wills, even at her weakest, maintains great likability.
As I said earlier, the characters in this story are quite normal. Hobson is very natural and immediately proves himself to be a trustworthy, if slightly too trustful guy. The French guy(Benoit. Lol, send Ben to save Benoit) shook things up a bit and added something new to the typically BBC English.
The Cyberman redesign is 50-50. While their horror has smoothly gone from "humanity screaming out from the technology" to "the cold dead coming to take us with them", their new voices are very hard to understand in recon. It's almost as bad as the Mechanoids. For some reason, though, I can understand them fine when it's a moving episode. I guess the brain works better if it can focus on something.
The highlight of the Cybermen here was their march across the moon. So intimidating!
PLOT
The TARDIS lands on the moon, in the year 2070 and the crew come across a moonbase, that for no real reason, just takes them in. A disease has struck the base and it turns out to be the work of the Cybermen, some of who somehow survived the destruction of Mondas(if it was explained, I missed it). In Episodes 1-2, the Doctor works on discovering the cause of the disease(the Cybers don't even talk). In Episodes 3-4, it's finally war which is ultimately resolved by using the giant Gravitron(LOLOLOL) to send the Cybermen into space(presumably into the sun).
Much of what happens is hokey and hard to believe(sugarbags blocking a hole into vacuum?), especially the details. Steven Moffat and Kit Pedler would've been great chums.
NOTES
*The fourth "Polly, go make some coffee" so far I believe. She also does it at the end herself. I loved Ben going to fight the Cybermen and telling her: "This is a man's job!".
*The first two instances of Polly running into a Cyberman look identical.
*I'm guessing the Cybermen want to form a new base on Earth, but what have they been doing between the 1980s and the 2070s?
*How come the TARDIS crew's spacesuits look less advanced than the Moonbase's?
*I'm pretty sure that the existence of the Time Scanner breaks a few Time Lord laws.
*It does explain the previous plot hole as to how the crew is able to see the moon's surface on the scanner before they actually land.
*Why does the Doctor use the Time Scanner anyway? Did they really waste that much of the budget that even a miniature shot of the TARDIS landing was a no-go?
*When are the crew gonna take a break? This is still Jamie's first day.
*The line "Clever, clever, clever." is totally out of character for even 1980s Cybermen.
*Why does the French guy have a small tie around his neck? When he's wearing a T-shirt!
*I'm not sure why they didn't just reuse the old one, but the new Cyber theme is the best piece of music so far in the series.
*And speaking of music, it ranges from very good(the moon stuff) to very bad(there's a part in the control room that sounds like something out of the Cushing movies).
BEST LINE
"There are some corners of the universe which have bred the most terrible things. Things, that act against everything we believe in. They must be fought."
CONCLUSION
My first Patrick Troughton Cyber-story. I am impressed. I hope they stop it with the hokey science, though.
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