Doctor Who: The Scripts: The Tomb of the Cybermen

Doctor Who: The Scripts #2

by Gerry Davis, Kit Pedler, John McElroy

Script for the Doctor Who TV episodes/story titled "Tomb of the Cybermen".The once-feared Cybermen have disappeared from the universe without trace. An expedition from Earth arrives on Telos — homeworld of the Cybermen — to try and discover exactly what has become of the silver giants.Soon after the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria join the archaeological party, the first mysterious death occurs. With the group now stranded on Telos, it becomes clear that the Cybermen may not be as 'dead' as it was first thought...Beneath the planet's surface, giant ice-tombs hold the last remains of the Cybermen in a frozen sleep. And someone is working to re-activate them from their slumber...

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction

Paperback

First published August 1, 1989

About the author

Gerry Davis was a British television writer, best known for his contributions to the science-fiction genre. He also wrote for the soap operas Coronation Street and United!.

From 1966 until the following year, he was the script editor on the popular BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who, for which he co-created the popular cybernetic monsters known as the Cybermen, who made several appearances in the series over the following twenty-two years. His fellow co-creator of these creatures was the programme's unofficial scientific adviser Dr. Kit Pedler, and following their work on Doctor Who, the pair teamed up again in 1970 when they created a science-fiction programme of their own, Doomwatch. Doomwatch ran for three seasons on BBC One from 1970 to 1972, and also spawned a novel written by Davis and Pedler, and later a cinema film and a 1999 revival on Channel 5.

Davis briefly returned to writing Doctor Who, penning the original script for Revenge of the Cybermen, in 1975, though the transmitted version was heavily rewritten by the then script-editor Robert Holmes. He also adapted several of his scripts into novelisations for Target Books. With Kit Pedler, he wrote the science-fiction novels Mutant 59: The Plastic Eaters (1971), Brainrack (1974) and The Dynostar Menace (1975).

In the 1980s Davis worked in America both in television and on feature films such as The Final Countdown (1980). In late 1989 he and Terry Nation made a joint but unsuccessful bid to take over production of Doctor Who and reformat the series mainly for the American market. Gerry Davis died on August 31 1991.

Reviews

[Andy Hickman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Original Airdate: 2 Sep, 1967
Episode One
[Tardis]
(The Doctor and Victoria enter.)
DOCTOR: There we are. Well, what do you think?
VICTORIA: I don't know. I can't believe it. It's so big. Where are we?
DOCTOR: Oh, it's the Tardis. It's my home. At least, it has been for a considerable number of years.
VICTORIA: What are all these knobs?
DOCTOR: What, these?
JAMIE: Instruments. These are for controlling our flight.
VICTORIA: Flight?
JAMIE: Well, yes. You see, we travel around in here through time and space.
DOCTOR: Oh no, no, no, no. Don't laugh. It's true. Your father and Maxtible were working on the same problem, but I have perfected a rather special model, which enables me to travel through the universe of time.
VICTORIA: How can you? I mean, if what you say is true then you must be, er, well, how old?
DOCTOR: Well, if we count in Earth terms, I suppose I must be about four hundred, yes, about four hundred and fifty years old. Yes, well, quite. Now, I think Victoria might find that dress a little impracticable if she's going to join us in our adventures. Jamie, show her where she can find some new ones, will you?
JAMIE: Aye, right. This way, Victoria. Try to give us a smooth take off, Doctor? We don't want to frighten her.
(Jamie leaves.)
DOCTOR: A smooth take off? A smooth take off! What a nerve!
(The Tardis dematerialises.)
[Telos]
(A simple yet elegant curved space rocket sits on three spindly legs on the only flat piece of land available. It's only visible markings are a chequered pattern around it. Up on a nearby cliff, a there is a dark-skinned man.)
PARRY [OC]: Hey, Toberman! Get that big head down!
… continued

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1999423.html[return][return][return]The script of what is still the best Cyberman story, published in 1989 at a time when the episodes were still lost. There's a brief introductory interview with Davis (and a few words also with script editor Victor Pemberton) pointing out the roots of the story in Erich von D�niken, and the advantages of using very few sets and of not giving too much away. Though actually what struck me was that this is partially a reboot, the first time a season had opened without William Hartnell, and so there are a couple of background information moments - the Doctor's age, and his thoughts about his family - that we don't often get. Victoria also gets more action than usual, though Jamie is more comic relief and Doctor's boyfriend. Interesting to approach it from a different angle.

[Nicky Pugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone who is a Doctor Who fan and enjoys the earlier shows will love this. A lot of the Second Doctor's TV shows have been destroyed so having scripts like this really brings the show back to life. This script is from arguably one of the best surviving shows available and features the Cybermen's debut. Wonderful!