MovieChat Forums > Doctor Who (1963) Discussion > Attack Of The Cybermen

Attack Of The Cybermen

posted 8 years ago by raventhom
22 replies | jump to latest

Maybe it's because the Cybermen are my favorite "villains", and that the 6th Doctor seems to mellow a tad, or that Twin Delimma was so bad, but ok, I rather liked the story.
Lytton as a former bad guy turned out not so bad after all, a nice turn.
Too bad the Brigadier couldn't have had guns that killed Cybermen though lol
Then the Cryons, I love them, the loveliest of aliens I think.
I do wish they could have been saved.
Interestingly, weapons are able to be fired inside the TARDIS again, oh well
Peri is just perfect in her role, acting brave when called for, and scared when that is called for. I guess I like that this Doctor has a bit of 3rd Doctor in that he rather looks forward to defending himself, so, hopefully he improves.

[–] frosted_one 8 years ago

Too bad the Brigadier couldn't have had guns that killed Cybermen though lol

It's been some time but I don't remember UNIT being in AotC.

[–] bellatrix79 8 years ago

They're not

[–] frosted_one 8 years ago

Makes the OP's comment strange considering the next time we see Lethbridge-Stewart (Battlefield), talking about UNIT's tactical ability he states "We even have gold tipped bullets for you-know-who."

[–] paulbeardsley 8 years ago

As the OP is watching the stories in order, he might not know about this yet.

So this is permanence, love's shattered pride.
What once was innocence, turned on its side.

[–] frosted_one 8 years ago

I understand that I don't follow why he references UNIT in this story however.

[–] paulbeardsley 8 years ago

I think it's because, in pretty much all the previous UNIT stories, bullets tended to bounce off the baddies, including the Cybermen. If the Brig had been up against the Attack Cybs rather than the Invasion ones, he probably would have finished them off single-handed in two minutes.

So this is permanence, love's shattered pride.
What once was innocence, turned on its side.

[–] mindbait 8 years ago

Yeah I find it odd really that people complain about Silver Nemesis taking out Cybermen with gold coins, but this one doesn't get nearly as many complaints... despite the fact that gold had been set up as a weakness of the cybermen whereas they'd always shown to be impervious to bullets

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[–] paulbeardsley 8 years ago

I thought Attack got a lot of complaints from fans.

The trouble with Silver Nemesis, though, is that although the gold allergy was set up, it was never suggested that very brief contact with gold was instantly fatal to them. As a result, you have one of the biggest threats in the Whoniverse being slaughtered by a tomboyish schoolgirl with a kid's catapult.

So this is permanence, love's shattered pride.
What once was innocence, turned on its side.

[–] mindbait 8 years ago

It was supposed to clog their chest units, I guess you could see it being like a human choking on a grape, if you suck one of those bad boys down, you're going to be taken out of action tout de suite!

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New song "Breathless Love"

[–] paulbeardsley 8 years ago

Yeah, I get that, but...

If I used a catapult to shoot a grape at you while your mouth was open, and it got in your throat and you choked, that would be reasonably credible.

If I used the catapult to shoot a grape at your chest, and you dropped down dead, it would look ridiculous.

The whole allergy to gold thing is complete horses' hooves anyway. It occasionally amuses me that the Cybermen are all about logic, but they've never managed to do a Cyberman story that makes sense.

So this is permanence, love's shattered pride.
What once was innocence, turned on its side.

[–] mindbait 8 years ago

If I used the catapult to shoot a grape at your chest, and you dropped down dead, it would look ridiculous.

well... yes, because it wouldn't be going down my throat and I'm not allergic to grapes.... mmmmm grapes

https://soundcloud.com/coin-sides

New song "Breathless Love"

[–] paulbeardsley 8 years ago

I did some seasonal work with a very nice young lady who had a grape allergy. It was surprising how often it came up in conversation.

But the gold allergy makes no sense anyway. Cybs are supposed to be vulnerable to Au because it's non corrosive and blocks their respiratory units yadda yadda yadda, even though they don't actually breathe anyway. But that's not the same as an allergy. Humans are vulnerable to grapes because they are squidgy and esophagus-sized and they block humans' respiratory systems if aimed well and Heimlich isn't around, but even my former colleague could have coped with a grape very briefly touching her chest. I expect.

So this is permanence, love's shattered pride.
What once was innocence, turned on its side.

[–] ant-mac 8 years ago

"If I used a catapult to shoot a grape at you while your mouth was open, and it got in your throat and you choked, that would be reasonably credible."

That would be a hell of a shot.

"If I used the catapult to shoot a grape at your chest, and you dropped down dead, it would look ridiculous."

In which case, you shouldn't use grapes - you should use grapeshot.

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

"The whole allergy to gold thing is complete horses' hooves anyway. It occasionally amuses me that the Cybermen are all about logic, but they've never managed to do a Cyberman story that makes sense."

The Cybermen are my personal favourites, but I mostly agree with you on that point. They should be much more like Vulcans. If they truly were motivated solely by logic, then they would not always be cast in the role of the villain.

Sometimes they might be opposed to the good guys, sometimes they might work with them and sometimes there might well be no need for interaction between the separate groups at all. It would surely depend upon the particular circumstances in play - and the particular goals of the separate groups involved in a specific story.

ant-mac

[–] mindbait 8 years ago

The Cybermen are my personal favourites, but I mostly agree with you on that point. They should be much more like Vulcans. If they truly were motivated solely by logic, then they would not always be cast in the role of the villain.

Sometimes they might be opposed to the good guys, sometimes they might work with them and sometimes there might well be no need for interaction between the separate groups at all. It would surely depend upon the particular circumstances in play - and the particular goals of the separate groups involved in a specific story.

They were quite good in the eighth doctor strip 'the flood' there, they essentially had quite a morally abhorrent plan, but they were very logical and methodical about it.

https://soundcloud.com/coin-sides

New song "Breathless Love"

[–] frosted_one 8 years ago

it was never suggested that very brief contact with gold was instantly fatal to them.

Cyberleaders chest massage in Earthshock was brutal!

[–] paulbeardsley 8 years ago

Yes.

So this is permanence, love's shattered pride.
What once was innocence, turned on its side.

[–] mrmoo2001 8 years ago

Lytton as a former bad guy turned out not so bad after all, a nice turn

He's a mercenary, he just so happened to be fighting some guys that the Doctor didn't like this time.

He's not even slightly redeemed when for the right price he'd turn around and kill the Doctor, the Cryons and fifty starving orphans who you'd just told were going to get the biggest Christmas dinner they can imagine.

Take them to the security kitchen!

[–] mail-81278 8 years ago

Garbage.

[–] mindbait 8 years ago

Interestingly, weapons are able to be fired inside the TARDIS again, oh well

Perhaps because Eric wanted to squeeze in just a little more violence 

https://soundcloud.com/coin-sides

New song "Breathless Love"

[–] pferreira86 8 years ago

The trouble with Silver Nemesis, though, is that although the gold allergy was set up, it was never suggested that very brief contact with gold was instantly fatal to them. As a result, you have one of the biggest threats in the Whoniverse being slaughtered by a tomboyish schoolgirl with a kid's catapult.

The 5th Doctor got the Cyberman leader with Adric's gold star in Earthshock. That was quite direct. 

Perhaps because Eric wanted to squeeze in just a little more violence

Well as usual poor Terry gets the brunt of it. 

[–] paulbeardsley 8 years ago

The 5th Doctor got the Cyberman leader with Adric's gold star in Earthshock. That was quite direct.

Mentioned above.

The point being that here, the gold is really rubbed into the Cyberleader's chest unit, breaking it up and getting it into the works, we assume. Even then, the Cyb remains active and does quite a bit of damage, and it takes repeated shooting from his own gun before he's finally put down.

So this is permanence, love's shattered pride.
What once was innocence, turned on its side.

[–] pferreira86 8 years ago

The point being that here, the gold is really rubbed into the Cyberleader's chest unit, breaking it up and getting it into the works, we assume. Even then, the Cyb remains active and does quite a bit of damage, and it takes repeated shooting from his own gun before he's finally put down.

Those Silver Nemesis Cybermen and their weak chest plates, I don't know... 