Holistic Review: Widely regarded as a classic, and for good reason: it's creepy, fast-paced, and one of the best Cyberman stories.

Part of me is sad that Tomb was returned to us so long ago. You see, at the time, I didn't appreciate just how miraculous its return was. I even remember it distinctly, mainly thanks to the picture of Debbie Watling on the cover of DWM. I was even into organized fandom by that point, but the sheer wonderfulness of it - missing episodes returned, and a whole story, no less - somehow escaped me. Today, I'd be jumping for joy if we got a whole story returned... every single episode is a cause for major celebration, as far as I'm concerned. So I'm sorry that I didn't appreciate it enough at the time, and pretty please, could we have another one back so I can do it right this time? Nevertheless, this remains one of the greatest missing-episode-recovery success stories to date, all four episodes of a much-beloved lost classic returned at once, so it's a real pleasure to be able to review it. This story has a lot of "earliest complete _________ story" tags attached to it: Troughton, Jamie, Victoria (in her case, "only" complete!), Cyberman, take your pick. All in all, I love being able to watch this story. I appreciate all the 60s stories for simply existing, but this one more so than most, because we so nearly didn't have it.

And, of course, it's adored by fandom for having achieved "lost classic" status during the years when it was missing. In a lot of ways, it seems to have lived up to that name, but in others it seems to have been downgraded a bit. Personally, it was never a favorite story of mine (although I remember Gray really liking it when we were little, and being very excited when I found a copy of the Target novelization for him), so I feel a little more objective in reviewing it.

Before I discuss the titular Cybermen, I'd like to talk about the atmosphere of this story, because I think that's where its real strength lies. Tomb evokes a number of different genres, and works all the better because of it. The beginning, when the tomb is uncovered, has a very creepy feel to it, much like an Egyptian mummy movie when the explorers come across a lost pyramid. As the party begins to explore the tomb, it starts to feel more like a haunted-house movie, and the tension moves from 'fear of the unknown' to 'fear of the lethal booby traps'. The tone is set by the Cube-like feel of the first death-by-electrocution; we simply don't know what in the tomb might be deadly, or how. (Ultimately, I think, this element is a bit of a letdown, because nothing in the tomb is actually deadly, unless you stand in the path of the weapons test or try to catch a few winks in the revitalization chamber.) This is combined with a very intriguing exploration feel, as the crews work to investigate the various rooms of the tomb and decipher the workings of the machinery. Then we move down into the hatch, where the exploration phase reaches its climax and the story transforms into all-out horror: sleeping zombies are awoken, at which point they begin stalking the corridors and pursuing the humans with the intention, basically, of killing them. (Actually, the real horror is deeper and more disturbing than that, but in practical terms it works out to the same thing.)

The reason the Cybermen work so well in this is that they come across as a very serious threat. They're implacable, unstoppable, very strong, eerily inhuman, and the only reason they don't completely overrun the humans is that only a few have been revived in a weakened state. They look quite good, with their round unblinking eyes, rough semblance of a mouth and three thick fingers. The Controller, with his brain-like dome and amazingly tall stature, is also very impressive. Their threat is also made very real here, as they threaten to dehumanize and convert various humans (a fate worse than death, some might say), and actually begin the procedure on Toberman. Their voices are variable - on one hand, they sound both human and mechanical, which is both appropriate and very creepy, and I love the Controller's intonation on the line "The energy levels are low." On the other hand, they buzz a bit, they link consonants in a way that sounds very unusual, and they're constantly inserting vowels at the ends of their sentences (which makes them sound like stereotypical Italians, or Pentecostal preachers), all of which combines to make them quite difficult to understand at times. Also, they make an odd quacking noise when they're attacked. But despite the slight reduction in menace that this causes, they're still great. There's also something effective about the way that in this story, they aren't a horde of invaders trying to take over some isolated outpost; they're like a nest of deadly hornets that the humans are in danger of awakening, so the threat comes from inside rather than outside, and the point is to contain them rather than repel them. It gives this story a different feel from most other Cyberman stories, and makes it unique.

The sets also combine to make this effective. It's amazing to consider that there are really only four sets in the entire story, two of which get used extensively (the control room and the tomb) and two of which only see moderate use (the weapons-testing room and the revitalization chamber) - not counting, of course, the tomb exterior and the warrens leading to the tomb. In this case, less is definitely more, and it helps the story seem more claustrophobic. The control room set is nice, with an impressive bank of controls and an imposing-looking hatch; likewise, the tomb set really looks cold, and the tall tomb itself is even more imposing than the hatch. The only thing that makes this set less than wonderful is that the tomb we see holds a mere 16 Cybermen plus the Controller, and there's no sign anywhere of further tombs elsewhere in the complex. They have to exist somewhere, and I certainly understand the budgetary limitations in showing them, but a line of dialogue referencing them wouldn't have been amiss.

As the secondary monsters of the story, the Cybermats are a mixed bag. I actually really love them - the way they move is fantastic, evoking worms and snakes and fish and rats all at once, their little mandibles (despite looking as though they were cut out of felt, which they probably were) move in a disturbing way, and the moments when they zip across the floor like little rockets are pretty scary (although they don't work quite as well when they're asked to move up a runway - instead, they sort of run into each other and gradually start pushing each other up). I also love the fact that they can right themselves when toppled, which makes them seem more unstoppable. And, waking up to find a Cybermat on your chest takes me right back to when I was around eight, and woke up to find an enormous spider crouching on my chest. Blearrrrgh. The thing that really hurts them is that their threat is never made clear (unless you know what they can do in later stories) - they keep jumping on people, and people keep screaming at them and running away from them, but we never really understand what makes them scary, aside from the fact that they look kind of icky. The lack of threat also makes it seem ludicrous that one lone Cybermat by the main doors makes everybody run away, when clearly they could just run around it.

It's an interesting story for the regulars, who are well characterized but seem more subdued than usual. The Doctor only cracks a few jokes, and displays far less manic energy than usual - instead, he seems quite somber, which is effective at helping the audience understand the extent of the threat. But when Troughton does get to be funny, he shines - aside from several lines with Jamie, which I will mention later, I really love the moment when he's trying to compare the Cybermat with the drawing in what appears to be his 500-Year Diary, and repositions it in Victoria's hand so that it's facing the same way as his sketch. His new cloak is great, too; it's a dignified addition to his costume, and gives the Doctor an interesting air in this story. Jamie gets to be the loyal sidekick, but aside from sticking by the Doctor's side the whole time, he doesn't really get that much to do. Troughton and Hines do get several nice moments demonstrating the close friendship between the Doctor and Jamie; I particularly like them holding hands as they enter the tomb. As for Victoria, her role in the story is even more crucial, since it's her first full story as a companion, and these days, it's the only one we've got with which to really assess her. Unfortunately, while her role in the story is stronger than Jamie's, she still feels largely sidelined. This story is actually highly sexist, with all the male characters constantly insisting that the women stay behind and out of danger, and/or stop distracting them. (The highly independent and capable Kaftan actually seems to be partly a reaction to this mindset, but she's an evil villain, so I really don't think she counts.) Therefore, Victoria spends a lot of time standing around out of the way, asking someone else for help or looking frightened. Just to take one example, at the very end of the story, when everyone flees the tomb, Jamie bravely stays behind. When Victoria calls his name, and he tells her he's staying, does she volunteer to stand bravely beside him? No! She says "Oh, all right," smiles sunnily, and swans off! Happily, she does get a few good scenes - notably, when she stands up to and/or distracts Kaftan, and when she attacks a Cyberman (albeit with a plastic thermos, which looks both silly and hopeless). Debbie Watling gives a nice performance, making Victoria seem both plucky and easily frightened, as well as sweet, innocent, endearing, and just a bit foolish (picking up the dormant Cybermat, getting in the revitalization chamber ["Revitalization is just what I need"] and drinking Kaftan's spiked coffee). What's nice is that it gives Victoria room for growth, and it makes us cheer when she does something clever or brave. I love the look that Watling gets on her face when the Doctor admits his age; her cry of "Mercy! Look at this place!" when they enter the tomb, a nice reminder of her Victorian origins; the way she sobs "I didn't like that very much, Doctor!" upon being released from the revitalization chamber; and her reaction when she wakes up to discover the hatch is closed, which progresses very naturally from surprise, to assuming that the exploration party has returned, to dawning realization that something is wrong. Watling also looks astonishingly young in some shots! Ultimately she's also very likeable and makes a welcome addition to the crew.

The other actors are all good, but none stand out as being particularly great. If he had more lines, Roy Stewart as Toberman might qualify, but since you could practically fit all his lines on the palm of one hand, I'm not sure I can really count him; but he does make the most of his limited role. The British crew are all pretty forgettable, although Cyril Shaps is good as the petrified Viner, and I liked Bernard Holley as the friendly and reliable, but doomed, Haydon. The Americans are hilarious swaggering macho 60s types, with broad cowboy accents to match, but I did enjoy Hopper's sarcastic sense of humor. The real standouts are George Pastell as Kleig and Shirley Cooklin as Kaftan, but the impression they make is not entirely positive. They're both vibrant characters and they scheme wonderfully, but they also seem pretty much like stock megalomaniacs. This is notable in the way they deliver their lines - Pastell gets glossy-eyed and rants about supreme power, whereas Cooklin spits lines like venom (notable offenders include the unsubtle villainy of "Of course, it was quite clear. Was it not, Eric?" and the oddly triumphant "Everything yields to logic! Our basic assumption, Doctor."). Pastell also has a tendency to step on other people's lines - it happens in rapid succession with the Doctor and Kaftan. But, despite this, they're compelling. Pastell, for all his ranting, imbues Klieg with a calculating and sadistic personality, and Cooklin has very exotic looks, a silver tongue and an almost sensual air.

I like Morris Barry's direction, particularly the way he composes shots: the Doctor and Jamie walking into the tomb holding hands, with Victoria hanging behind in the background, is great, as is the shot of the Controller stepping from the hatchway into the shot as Kleig rants to the others. There are, though, a few shots that don't quite work - this episode (not unusually) suffers from the '60s problem of framing a shot too tightly, which results in characters getting their heads cut off when they move and the camera having to rocket around to get them back in the frame. There's another problem unique to this story, which is Toberman's cybernetic arm: thanks to a costume that doesn't fully hide it, you can glimpse it fairly clearly at several moments before the big reveal, and when that finally comes, his cloak conceals it and by the time it's uncovered, it's also gone out of frame. I'll also briefly mention the incidental music, which is overall very nice (aside from a brief moment when it threatens to obscure the dialogue, as the Doctor and Jamie prepare to run past the Controller in the control room), and I like the quirky composition that accompanies the Cybermen.

Effects-wise, this story does really well. The only two that don't look so hot are the ones everybody mentions - the wires that are clearly supporting Roy Stewart when the Controller lifts Toberman, and the dummy Controller sans Michael Kilgarriff that Toberman throws onto the control panel. Otherwise, the lightning-like effect when Cybermen zap people looks cool, as does the oscillating wave that represents their telepathic communication. The shot of the foam oozing out of the Cyberman's chest unit is inexplicably gory, particularly the way the Cybermen helplessly clenches at it, as if trying futilely to hold in its guts. I also adore the Cyberguns, most particularly the whooshing sound they make when fired.

Generally, as the plot goes, I don't have a lot to say except that I praise this story for being an interesting tale, well-told, with a quick pace and a whole lot of surprises to keep things exciting. It's got a few plot holes, but what Doctor Who story doesn't? I do really like the way that the story uses its characters to contrast and complement the Cybermen, notably Kleig (whose logical background leads him to be first a hopeful ally, and then the proposed first victim, of the Cybermen) and Toberman (whose strength makes him a formidable foe, but also an ideal convert).

A final general note, concerning a point that's often raised in reference to this story: the implicit racism, in that Toberman is the sole black character, who is a servant and almost never speaks. I personally think these criticisms are misplaced - yes, that is perhaps a fault, and I wish they'd stuck with the original idea of giving Toberman a hearing aid (which would have made him seem more well-rounded as a character), but people seem to be ignoring the fact that of all the non-regular characters, Toberman is arguably the most important, and certainly the one with the most dramatic character arc. He starts out as the servant of an evil character, but undergoes a moral awakening when the Cybermen try to convert him, and in the end he defends the Doctor, kills a Cyberman with his bare hands, attacks the Controller, saves the entire group of humans, and gives his own life to seal the Cybermen in forever. He's not only the most sympathetic of the guest characters, he's also just as much the hero as the Doctor is! For a black actor in the late '60s, it strikes me as a pretty awesome role.

Minor points:

• Kaftan offers a reward of £50 to the first person who opens the doors. Whoo! Even today, that's pitiful. Maybe inflation really hits the future hard.

• It's amusing that because the Doctor sounds English, he becomes automatically trustworthy (at least momentarily)!

• I wonder why exactly the crew would think, even for a second, that the Doctor was involved in the crewman's death? He wasn't anywhere around at the time the man was electrocuted, and if he had been responsible, would he have gone strolling up to them immediately afterwards?

• A great delivery by Troughton:

  Doctor: (re: Toberman) "Unless of course he's afraid. - No, no, he's not afraid."

• One of my favorite quotes from this story:

  Doctor: "You look very nice in that dress, Victoria."
  Victoria: (primly) "Thank you. Don't you think it's a bit, uh..."
  Doctor: "A bit short? Oh, I shouldn't worry about that, uh - look at Jamie!"

• How exactly did the party fail to notice the two giant doors flanking the control console?! If they'd been sliding doors flush with the wall, sure - but they're inset in the wall with bright silver doorframes!

• One of those very satisfying "mwahaha" type moments, when the Doctor figures out how to operate the control panel:

  Klieg: "But how did you know in the first place?"
  Doctor: "I used my own special technique."
  Klieg: (mocking) "Oh really, Doctor? And may we know what that is?"
  Doctor: (pointedly) "Keeping my eyes open, and my mouth shut."

• Giggle, giggle. When the main group splits up into smaller parties:

  Victoria: "Well, what about us?"
  Parry: (sexist!) "I think the women had better remain here."
  Victoria: (laughs) "Rubbish! We can make a party!"

  I think Parry should have said "Sure, a tea party!" You know, just to make sure we really hated him.

• Another great panicky Troughton delivery, and just check out the way he handles this (what I presume to be) technobabble:

  Doctor: "You see, if you take any progressive series, it can be converted into binary notation. If you take the, the sum of the integrates and express the result as a power series, then the interces show the basic binary blocks. Only I wouldn't do it if I were you. Oh, no, I really wouldn't do it!"

• How is it that Kaftan seems to immediately be familiar with the operation of the controls in the revitalization room? (I do like the fact that the Doctor treats her much as he would later treat Turlough: with implied suspicion, but without confrontation.)

• One really bad scene: when Jamie and Haydon are in the weapons testing room, and the focusing pattern is displayed, inexplicably mesmerizing Jamie, who protests at first before deciding, "I don't want to take my eyes off it!" Groan... yeah, right, whatever. That's the kind of thing that's much better shown rather than told, and even then you're treading a fine line.

• The Doctor asks Jamie, "Can you remember exactly what you did, what sequence you used?" Well, it shouldn't be too difficult, as all Jamie did was press a button.

• The next amusing Troughton delivery, which demonstrates how well he and Hines play off each other:

  Doctor: "Now, there is a distinct element of risk in what I'm asking you all to do, so if anyone wishes to leave, they must do so at once."
  Jamie: (heads off)
  Doctor: "Not you, Jamie."

• When Haydon is shot, nobody seems to know why, and they are therefore forced to recreate the incident. But the second time, when the Cyberman is shot, the gun doesn't retract back into the wall like it did the first time. Is there any reason for this, other than initial narrative tension and padding out the plot a little?

• To be honest, the whole idea of the weapons training room doesn't make sense to me. I get that it's a place for the Cybermen to get used to focusing on a target; what I don't get is the business with the gun and the fake Cyberman. It's great as a cliffhanger, but practically... why? Did they periodically replace the big gun with the newest model, or a more advanced weapon, to test on the empty Cyberman shells? 'Cause if not, then I can't figure out what the purpose of it is.

• Cute exchange between the Doctor and Victoria:

  Doctor: "It's a Cybermat."
  Victoria: "What's a Cybermat?"
  Doctor: (dithers momentarily, then points) "It's one of those."

• Parry decides that the expedition has failed, and they should come back when they have more men - but it wasn't a lack of men that caused the deaths so far; they would've died even if Parry had had a team of a hundred men.

• Hopper shows a new funny side:

  Hopper: "Look, I can't afford to waste any more time with you guys, but I'll give it to you just once more, all right? Now, you may not know this, but we practically have to pull that ship apart to fix the damage, and there just isn't room for all of you on board, especially with you -" (to Viner) "- insisting all over the place."

• I like the way the Doctor calls Kaftan's bluff over whether Toberman stayed with her or went with the exploratory party. That was very nicely done, and of course Kaftan didn't handle it gracefully at all.

• When Victoria falls asleep from the drugged coffee, she looks like she's just died.

• When Jamie is trying to escape the tombs, he ducks around a column, watches some Cybermen pass, then walks all the way back around the column, looking around the whole time, and then makes for the hatch when he is suddenly struck from behind by a Cyberman. Now, putting aside the fact that it was kind of odd for him to circle the column when he was apparently standing right next to the hatch stairway in the first place... how did he not notice that Cyberman when he glanced down the corridor?

• One of my other favorite lines from this story (possibly because it was one of the ones I downloaded during a free trial month at AOL way back when sound clips were a new and exciting thing), when Kaftan holds a gun on Victoria and the spaceship crew:

  Victoria: (screams!)
  Kaftan turns to see what frightened her; Hopper jumps her and subdues her.
  Hopper: "Watch her, Jim. If she moves, blast her."
  Callum: "Right!"
  Hopper: "Well, you scream real good, Vic. Thanks a lot."

• A very scary moment for the Cybermen, when Klieg tries to persuade them to hear his plan for joint world domination:

  Cyberman: "We will listen. But first you will be altered."
  Klieg: "A- altered?"
  Controller: "You have fear. We will eliminate fear from your brain. You - you will be the first. [...] You will be like us."

• The Toberman vs. Cyberman battle is way cool - they're well-matched as opponents.

• It's kind of amazing that the scene of Klieg trying to quietly get the others' attention and escape the underground tombs is so tense. Shouldn't I want the Cybermen to catch and kill / convert him?

• The scene in episode 3 in which Victoria and the Doctor discuss their families is definitely the high point of this story, and a truly all-time-classic moment. It does, however, have one low point:

  Victoria: "You can't understand, being so ancient."
  Doctor: "Eh?!"
  Victoria: (hurriedly) "I mean, old."
  Doctor: (mollified) "Oh."

  As if that wording is any better! Fortunately this is followed by the exquisite:

  Doctor: "Our lives are different to anybody else's. That's the exciting thing. There's nobody in the universe can do what we're doing."

  That line sums up one of the key things that makes this series so wonderful.

• Another delightful Troughton / Hines double-act:

  Doctor: (re: Cybermats) "The power cable generated an electrical field and confused their tiny metal minds. You might almost say they've had a complete metal breakdown."
  Jamie: (winces) "Ooh."
  Doctor: "I'm so sorry, Jamie."

• The cliffhanger to episode 3, with Klieg firing the Cyberman gun at the Doctor, is wonderful - a real "how is he going to get out of this one?" moment.

• How exactly do the Cybermen re-seal the plastic over their tombs when they go back to sleep? Is it magical self-healing plastic? (Yeah, yeah, reversing the film, whatever.)

• And a plot hole... just why is the revitalization chamber so far from the tombs, if it's vital that the Cybermen get to it straightaway once revived? For that matter, why do they seem completely unable to open the hatch from within the tomb? That basically means that it would be impossible for them to get to the revitalization chamber unless someone else was in the tomb to open the hatch for them (although maybe that part is fair, since they were waiting for someone else to come along and activate their revivification - but it still seems like a risky way to handle the situation, as demonstrated here by the fact that they do get trapped in their tomb and their Controller destroyed).

• Why does the Doctor start the revitalizer? The Controller was clearly at the point of exhaustion, and while I can see the benefit of having him trapped in the chamber, if it can't be done without activating the machine, I don't think it was worth it. Outside the chamber, it would certainly die before long (and probably would be too weak to attack the Doctor et al.). Inside the chamber, it may be trapped, but it's also going to be reinvigorated (which, as shown, makes it easily strong enough to break out of its little prison). Jamie's flimsy attempt at tying a rope around the chamber to trap the Cyberman also seems risible in concept and even worse in execution.

• However, in favor of this scene, there is a great moment when the Controller buzzes "We will survive. We will sur-" as the door slams shut on it.

• Klieg's continued insistence on trying to control the Cybermen, even after their equally determined attempts to trick and convert him, gets wearisome. Why does he keep thinking that he can control them, when they continually prove to be far superior to him in this respect?

• Another good "mwahahahaha" moment for the Doctor, as he somehow manages to convince Klieg that he has suddenly and inexplicably changed sides:

  Klieg: "Brilliant! Yes! Yes, you're right... master of the world."
  Doctor: "Well, now I know you're mad. I just wanted to make sure."

• So Klieg finally has the Doctor and company at his mercy, and has no particular need for them any more... but, at the last moment, he decides not to kill them after all. Why??? Why does he choose to leave them to the Cybermen when he could simply do away with them? He doesn't seem to think that it will ingratiate him to the Cybermen. Could it perhaps be more than a touch of sadism? Given his reaction to the idea, that actually might explain it very well.

• Less easily explained is the Doctor's astonishing decision to seal up the tombs not by re-burying the entrance, or blowing up the control room, but by fatally electrifying the control panel and the exterior doors! A fine idea, assuming there's a sign there warning people away, but in the end it backfires and kills poor Toberman (a death which can, despite the involvement of the Controller that precipitates the situation, be attributed directly to the Doctor). And, having now zapped Toberman, do the doors then automatically re-electrify (so that they can kill someone else), or is the power drained away again as it was in the beginning, leaving the tomb totally exposed?

• The shot of the doors closing at the end is odd - from the inside, the edges of the doors appear to angle inward, rather than lying flush. It always looks to me like the doors weren't aligned quite right, and they don't form a barrier until they've been pushed slightly inwards.

I'm surprised to find myself giving Tomb such a glowing review, because it isn't one of my all-time favorite stories (probably due to the mostly unexciting characters, the unusually serious tone, the lack of action for Jamie and Victoria, and my lack of devotion to the Cybermen), but it's just so well executed that there seems to be relatively little room for criticism. And I cannot deny that it's a very solid piece of entertainment. All of the criticisms that I mentioned above are ameliorated hugely by the atmosphere of the piece, and although it may not be my favorite story, it's not difficult to get caught up in the excitement of it all. And on top of everything else, the miracle of its existence makes it a very special story indeed.