Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4545 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-01-14
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Black & White, Full Screen, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 96 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Tomb of the Cybermen brought the Doctor, Patrick Troughton, into conflict with his silver cyborg nemeses for a third time, following The Tenth Planet (1966) and The Moonbase (1967). The Doctor, Jamie (Frazer Hines) and Victoria (Deborah Watling) join an archaeological expedition on the planet Telos, where they encounter deathtraps, betrayal and a waiting army of frozen Cybermen. Scripted by Kit Pedlar and Gerry Davis, who would later write Doomwatch (1970-72), many of the essentials of the plot anticipate James Cameron's blockbusting Aliens (1986): the barren planet with abandoned city, the tense wait for a rescue ship, the human traitors, the implacable, more powerful enemy. Unfortunately for a story so centred on logic the characters display a worrying lack of sense; the supposedly highly logical villains assume the Cybermen will just do what they tell them, and the Doctor locks the chief human traitor in a room without first checking it for ray guns! There's also an astonishingly crass racial stereotype with the one black character, Toberman (Roy Stewart) being a muscle-bound, slave-like henchman. Flaws aside this is a superior Doctor Who adventure and a thoroughly entertaining piece of classic television.

On the DVD: as ever the BBC have done a fabulous job bringing Doctor Who to DVD, with fully restored sound and picture making Tomb Of The Cybermen the best it has ever looked. A short feature on the disc notes there have been over 16,000 repairs to the image, and includes comparison footage with the unrestored prints. The black and white 4:3 picture is as good as low-budget 1960's television is ever going to look and the mono sound is excellent. The commentary by Frazer Hines and Deborah Watling is a little stilted and takes time to get going--often they just don't know what to say--but contains some interesting trivia for serious fans. Rather more information comes from the detailed production background subtitles, and from a 28-minute convention style panel filmed in 1992 with Hines, Watling and many of the production crew. Also included is 8 mm footage from the end of the previous story, the long lost Evil of the Daleks (1967), 3 minutes of alternative main title tests, a photo gallery, a short introduction by director Morris Barry and a two-minute clip from Late Night Line-up (1967) with Joan Bakewell profiling the BBC Visual Effects department, including unique footage of the Cybermats in colour.--Gary S Dalkin

Video Description
DVD Special Features: Commentary by Frazer Hines and Deborah Watling
Introduction by Morris Barry, Director
Behind-the-scenes at BBC Visual Effects
Exclusive "Tombwatch" Documentary
Unused Title Sequence Tests and 8mm Cine Footage
Photo Gallery and On-Screen Production Notes

Dolby Digital mono
Anamorphic 4.3
Subtitles English SDH

Synopsis
Doctor Who (Patrick Troughton) and his mates bring the TARDIS to Telos, where lies the ancient tomb of the notorious Cybermen. A team of archaeologists are in the midst of excavating, trying to determine just why the mysterious race went extinct. Of course, it isn't long before a traitorous member of the team "accidentally" defrosts a horrible secret that could spell doom for the Doctor.

Customer Reviews

I saw this the first time around
Good for nostalgia freaks, and Patrick Troughton always was a fine doctor. People who criticise the current Dr. Who should watch this, it is full of plot holes, wobbly sets and such, but it's definitely good Dr. Who.

It's very cheesy, and more than a bit clunky, and the suits of the cybermen have plastic childrens balls on them painted silvery. It's only black and white too, that's all there was at the time probably, but it will jar if you're used to Dr. Who in colour.

I thought the cybermats were eyeless, from my fading memory, but they were eyed here, and they also came in at least two sizes which I didn't remember either.

First older Who...
Ok, so this was the first time I stepped out of my Doctor Who comfort zone: first old-OLD episode, first Black and White episode, first non-Tom Baker episode.

I loved it.

Yes the costumes are crap and sometimes the Cyber-voices are hard to understand but that's enough to look over.

Patrick Troughton is extremely watchable and makes you think that an older Doctor might still work in the current series.
The Companions Jamie and Victoria are both very watchable.

It's also interesting to see the Cybermen used in a very low-key way. They do not, for example, come across the Doctor as they try to destroy the universe. They are simply there to make for an excellent story, and show you don't have to be BIG to be scary.

All in all, it's a must watch.

What a show
What really annoys me is people who view this story and say things like: 'It's not as good as it's supposed to be.' No doubt they would say the same thing about Power of the Daleks if it turned up. You know, you really have to place this yarn in the context of when it was made. Of course the effects aren't Star Wars, they didn't have the technology back then! But the mood, the setting and the characters make this great. It was never going to live up to the hype, wasn't possible... But it remains a classic example of sixties Dr Who at its best, and more power to it.