C04S06 The Moonbase

Synopsis

In 2070 Earth's weather is controlled with ease from the Moon.  When the TARDIS arrives at the Moonbase, the Doctor, along with his friends Polly, Ben and Jamie, is accused of starting a plague that is killing off the base's crew.  It's not long, however, before the time travellers discover the true cause of the deaths - a powerful, unstoppable race that the Doctor has met before: the Cybermen.

Cover notes

In July 1969 man landed on the Moon for the first time.  Doctor Who, however, got there before that in February 1967 with a four-part adventure called The Moonbase.  But unlike Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, the Doctor and his friends found a dangerous old enemy waiting there...

The Cybermen proved popular when they appeared in William Hartnell's final story, The Tenth Planet.  The production team recognised the potential of these monsters as a successful alternative to the Daleks.  Their return story was therefore commissioned almost as soon as The Tenth Planet had broadcast.  For The Moonbase, the Cyber race was given a new, more robotic design and this successful reappearance ensured that these monsters would go on to return again and again to fight the Doctor.

To save money but make the story look big, writer Kit Pedler was asked to write a script that would feature one large set, a few smaller ones, plus a relatively small cast; the result is a clastrophobic base-under-siege adventure - and a formula that has been used successfully in Doctor Who to this day.

Also, this wasn't the last time the Doctor would visit the Moon.  He ended up back there in 1969, where he bumped into Ice Warriors in The Seeds of Death and also in 2007, when he met Judoon in Smith and Jones.

Two episodes of The Moonbase are still missing from the archives but have been animated for this DVD release so it can be enjoyed in full.

Cast

Crew

DVD Extras

Special Edition DVD Extras

BluRay Extras

Loose Canon Extras

Commentary