The Doctor's Greatest Adventures Week: Attack of the Cybermen

Welcome one and all back to Day 3 of The Doctor's Greatest Adventures Week and we really haven't focused on Colin Baker (Sixth Doctor) aside from his regeneration cycle and there are more than a few fun adventures but a bit of the dark follows him as well.  Travelling with him is his companion the ample and ever perky Peri, a girl that manages to keep the Doctor in his place and not let him snark at the entire universe.  This is Attack of the Cybermen.

Colin in the sky... with diamonds??

Russell: Who are you?
The Doctor: I've already told you. I am known as the Doctor. I'm also a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous.
Russell: You're spoiled.
The Doctor: That's debatable.


 Deep underground the streets of London, two workers go about their jobs only to be attacked by some unknown force.  The Doctor (Colin Baker of Swallows and Amazons Forever!: Coot Club, Swallows and Amazons Forever!: The Big Six, Doctor Who, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, The Airzone Solution and Breach of the Peace) is tearing through the TARDIS's systems in order to repair it, including the chameleon circuit which alters the ship's appearance to blend in to its surroundings and it might be a damn sight better than appearing as a 1960's public police box when the ship behaves rather erratically in-flight.  Wrestling the controls the Doctor manages to pilot the TARDIS once more heading to the year 1985 to show Peri (Nicola Bryant of Doctor Who, Blackadder's Christmas Carol, The Stranger: In Memory Alone, The Biz, Parting Shots and Doctors) Haley's Comet at a close enough proximity that Peri is terrified of them crashing into it.

Peri, what are these round things anyway?

Meanwhile on Earth former mercenary Lytton (Maurice Colbourne of The Duelists, Gangsters, The Littlest Horse Thieves and Howards' Way)  is now a top level gangster plotting a 10 million pound heist by taking the sewers directly under the Bank of London while the Doctor lands the TARDIS in 76 Totter's Lane which is now for some reason a wood stove, following a transmission.  Lytton holds a transmitter that seems to have an effect on the human brain as he steers two coppers under his thumb.  The plan goes askew when entering the heist is a Cyberman,  One of Lytton's cronies takes a pot shot at the Cyberman when they are completely surrounded by at least 5 Cybermen.

The Doctor and Peri encounter one of Lytton's men who turns out to be undercover getting the goods on a bank heist when the Cybermen came into play.  Naturally curious to what the Cybermen would be doing here and let alone in this timeline the Doctor immediately strolls out into danger and dives into the legwork at hand.

Will the Doctor be able to stop the Cybermen before it is too late?  Will Peri let out a blood curdling scream that will cause your brain to ooze out of the side of your ear?  Will Russell demand a reassignment if he lives??

Now a few fun facts about this 2 part story.  This is the first time Doctor Who episodes were 45 minutes long versus the 22 minute  4 to 6 parters.  7.2 million folks saw this particular episode in 1985.  Actress/model/photographer Koo Stark was cast as Varne but she apparently did not care for the costume she had to wear and decided a pass.  76 Totter's Lane is the same junkyard William Hartnell had parked his TARDIS in An Unearthly Child in 1963 so it was nice to have a little hat tip to.

Cybermen's vacation in Atlantic City go awry.