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Doctor Who: BBC Radio Collection
Doctor Who: The Moonbase
Patrick Troughton plays the second Doctor in this four-episode adventure from 1967, set on Earth's moon and featuring a return appearance by the emotionless Cybermen.
The year is 2070, and Earth's weather is controlled by a device called the Gravitron, based on the Moon and manned by an international team of experts. The TARDIS arrives to find the base in the grip of a plague epidemic which is drastically reducing the personnel. Before long an even greater menace is proved to be responsible - an invasion force from the planet Mondas, home of the Cybermen...
The soundtrack presented here includes linking narration by Frazer Hines, who played Jamie in the story itself. It includes the only surviving versions of episodes 1 and 3, whose film recordings no longer exist in the BBC Television Archives.
Playing alongside Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines are Michael Craze as Ben, Anneke Wills as Polly, and Patrick Barr as Hobson.
2 pages, MP3 Book
First published January 1, 2001
About the author
Kit Pedler
29 books6 followersChristopher Magnus Howard "Kit" Pedler was a British medical scientist, science fiction author and writer on science in general.
He was the head of the electron microscopy department at the Institute of Ophthalmology, University of London, where he published a number of papers. Pedler's first television contribution was for the BBC programme Tomorrow's World.
In the mid-1960s, Pedler became the unofficial scientific adviser to the Doctor Who production team. Hired by Innes Lloyd to inject more hard science into the stories, Pedler formed a particular writing partnership with Gerry Davis, the programme's story editor. Their interest in the problems of science changing and endangering human life led them to create the Cybermen.
Pedler wrote three scripts for Doctor Who: The Tenth Planet, The Moonbase and The Tomb of the Cybermen. He also submitted the story outlines that became The War Machines, The Wheel in Space and The Invasion.
Pedler and Davis devised and co-wrote Doomwatch, a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme which ran on BBC One for three seasons from 1970 to 1972 (37 50-minute episodes plus one unshown) covered a government department that worked to combat technological and environmental disasters. Pedler and Davis contributed to only the first two series.
Pedler and Davis re-used the plot of the first episode of the series, The Plastic Eaters, for their 1971 novel Mutant 59: The Plastic Eaters.
His non-fiction book The Quest for Gaia gave practical advice on creating an ecologically sustainable lifestyle, using James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis.
He died of a heart attack at his home in Doddington, Kent, while completing production of Mind Over Matter, a series for Thames Television on the paranormal that he presented with Tony Bastable.
Pedler is buried at All Saints' Church in the Kent village of Graveney, where he lived before moving to nearby Doddington.
His daughter is novelist Carol Topolski
He was the head of the electron microscopy department at the Institute of Ophthalmology, University of London, where he published a number of papers. Pedler's first television contribution was for the BBC programme Tomorrow's World.
In the mid-1960s, Pedler became the unofficial scientific adviser to the Doctor Who production team. Hired by Innes Lloyd to inject more hard science into the stories, Pedler formed a particular writing partnership with Gerry Davis, the programme's story editor. Their interest in the problems of science changing and endangering human life led them to create the Cybermen.
Pedler wrote three scripts for Doctor Who: The Tenth Planet, The Moonbase and The Tomb of the Cybermen. He also submitted the story outlines that became The War Machines, The Wheel in Space and The Invasion.
Pedler and Davis devised and co-wrote Doomwatch, a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme which ran on BBC One for three seasons from 1970 to 1972 (37 50-minute episodes plus one unshown) covered a government department that worked to combat technological and environmental disasters. Pedler and Davis contributed to only the first two series.
Pedler and Davis re-used the plot of the first episode of the series, The Plastic Eaters, for their 1971 novel Mutant 59: The Plastic Eaters.
His non-fiction book The Quest for Gaia gave practical advice on creating an ecologically sustainable lifestyle, using James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis.
He died of a heart attack at his home in Doddington, Kent, while completing production of Mind Over Matter, a series for Thames Television on the paranormal that he presented with Tony Bastable.
Pedler is buried at All Saints' Church in the Kent village of Graveney, where he lived before moving to nearby Doddington.
His daughter is novelist Carol Topolski
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 4, 2018
I always loved Patrick Troughton's Doctor he that mad genius style .I also think he off all the Doctors who went on to play the part the most difficult because this was the first regen here we see him in his best in this missing story.
It is most as it was broadcast with all narration & the sound eff Cybermen on the Moon .
Eps 2 & 4 exist but 1 & 3 doest .
It is most as it was broadcast with all narration & the sound eff Cybermen on the Moon .
Eps 2 & 4 exist but 1 & 3 doest .
February 18, 2024
This was an interesting story based on the Classic Doctor Who. The Doctor and his companions land on the moon that has a base with some sort of powerful device used to control the world's weather. The world has started to rely on this station for world prosperity.
Shortly after the Doctor arrives several members of the moon base keep falling ill and it is taxing the resources of the base. The illness and the Doctor's arrival are so close together that the leader of the base thinks that the Doctor's arrival is responsible for his team going ill.
The Doctor convinces him to give him time to see if he can find out why the team members are going ill. After a while, they discover that the sugar has some sort of substance that was placed there by the cybermen. It is used to convert the members of the team into cybermen. They are the survivors of the cyber men's attack in the Planet 10 story which is also a lost episode. The cybermen intend to take over the base to use the weather control station to destroy the earth. Of coarse the doctor and his companions save the day. It was a fun story.
Shortly after the Doctor arrives several members of the moon base keep falling ill and it is taxing the resources of the base. The illness and the Doctor's arrival are so close together that the leader of the base thinks that the Doctor's arrival is responsible for his team going ill.
The Doctor convinces him to give him time to see if he can find out why the team members are going ill. After a while, they discover that the sugar has some sort of substance that was placed there by the cybermen. It is used to convert the members of the team into cybermen. They are the survivors of the cyber men's attack in the Planet 10 story which is also a lost episode. The cybermen intend to take over the base to use the weather control station to destroy the earth. Of coarse the doctor and his companions save the day. It was a fun story.
January 11, 2022
My favorite kinds of Doctor Who stories are the surreal ones (The Celestial Toymaker, The Mind Robber, Warrior's Gate) and the assault ones (The Wheel In Space, Earthshock, The Curse Of Fenric). The Moonbase is tense and does not insult the listener's intelligence. Furthermore, we do not get stereotypes and stock characters. The Moonbase commander, for instance, is rather open-minded and not prone to rash or stupid actions. The other characters are intelligent scientists and technicians who put their minds to solving problems, not to panicky hysteria. The one big problem in the story is Jamie, clearly an afterthought and left hallucinate phantom pipers and other pseudo-scots silliness.
June 16, 2016
Once again, a Doctor Who episode that makes me glad I am a fan. The science may be iffy, the dialogue may be over-the-top, and the sets may be evidence of a small budget, but it is fun, exciting, and a wonderful way to enjoy a few hours.
The Cybermen return very soon, after their introduction just a few episodes ago, to end the First Doctor's tenure. They've advanced in appearance, and slightly improved their techniques. I am always pleased when a series keeps the continuity, and builds upon it. I do get a bit irritated if such things are drastically changed, without a really strong reason, rather than a fantastical exposition given to explain it away.
They still have it out for the Earth, and want possession. Now, learning from 10th Planet that they were once like us, as well as their planet is very Earth-like, this obsession makes more sense.
The Cybermen return very soon, after their introduction just a few episodes ago, to end the First Doctor's tenure. They've advanced in appearance, and slightly improved their techniques. I am always pleased when a series keeps the continuity, and builds upon it. I do get a bit irritated if such things are drastically changed, without a really strong reason, rather than a fantastical exposition given to explain it away.
They still have it out for the Earth, and want possession. Now, learning from 10th Planet that they were once like us, as well as their planet is very Earth-like, this obsession makes more sense.
July 1, 2016
I am still really struggling to get a feel for Patrick Troughton as the Doctor in these rescued audios of the TV series. It suggests that his performance must have been much more heavily visual than I had realised.
I'm not enjoying these companions. Jamie has so little to do and the cockney and the posh gets wearisome although they do come up with some good ideas to help defeat the cybermen. Who, it turns out, can be utterly rubbish and still quite unnerving and scary at the same time.
I'm not enjoying these companions. Jamie has so little to do and the cockney and the posh gets wearisome although they do come up with some good ideas to help defeat the cybermen. Who, it turns out, can be utterly rubbish and still quite unnerving and scary at the same time.
April 12, 2016
The Doctor, Ben, Polly, and Jaime land on a moonrise that the cybermen are trying to take over to conquer and convert Earth.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews