Mark Watches ‘Doctor Who’: S02E05 – Rise of the Cybermen

In the fifth episode of the second series of Doctor Who, our travelers become stranded in an alternate universe with a broken TARDIS. When they split up to explore this strange world, they stumble on a devious plan and an old foe. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Doctor Who.

Ok, let me first get the most obvious thing out of the way: BARTY CROUCH, SR. AND BARTY CROUCH, JR. WERE BOTH IN THE SAME EPISODE. How distracting was this??? Oh god, when they interact in the next episode, I’m just going to assume Tennant will start doing that weird tongue thing. That’s fair, right?

Also GODDAMN IT, I HATE WHEN I AM WATCHING A TWO-PARTER AND HAVE NO IDEA. But I suppose that telling me that ahead of time ruins the suspense, so I’m just being silly.

I liked “Rise of the Cybermen.” Want to hear me repeat myself? The emotional moments of Mickey and Rose, as they confront their parallel-universe-counterparts, are far more interesting to me than the plot. IT HAPPENS. It’s Doctor Who. The show isn’t really about dense and complex plotting. It’s about the Doctor and the people he takes with him.

I have always liked Mickey as a character and loved the chance to learn more about his life here in “Rise of the Cybermen,” but if you follow me on Twitter, then you also know that this is the episode that I also developed a strange attraction to Noel Clarke. Was it the haircut? Was it him being half naked? Was it the scowly alternate version of himself? WHO EVEN KNOWS. I have decided to embrace this bizarre crush because I NEVER GET TO DO THIS IN REVIEWS, so there. DILL WITH IT.

Comic books are what initially got me obsessed with the concept of parallel universes. Despite being written recently, I’ll still defend House of M done by Marvel as one of the best comic series ever written. Has a parallel universe ever been so fascinating and so tragic? But a combination of comic books and The Twilight Zone both gave me a healthy interest in the concept. It’s just like my love for time travel: once you include parallel worlds in a story line, you’ve got my attention. (Thank you, Fringe.)

It’s not really so much that “Rise of the Cybermen” does things differently from any other form that’s tackled the idea, but writer Tom MacRae is clever enough to make us laugh, wince, and feel sad for what this parallel world brings out in Rose and Mickey. After discovering a method to recharge a lone power cell over the course of 24 hours, Mickey separates from Rose and the Doctor when he realizes that it is possible that his grandmother might still be alive. It was uncomfortable to deal with, but I’m glad MacRae addresses the fact that Mickey is constantly left out of things. Obviously, the Doctor and Rose are going to have a close relationship because they’ve been traveling together for some time now; I don’t think Mickey ignores that. But he still can’t escape the feeling that even though he’s now a companion, he’ll never be able to compete with the Doctor for Rose’s attention. And I don’t even think that’s an entirely irrational thought. Could you compete with an alien who can travel through all space and time in a police box?

I wasn’t surprised that the Doctor stuck with Rose while she visited her father’s house, since her father never died in the alternate universe. It would have been neat to see the Doctor and Mickey interact more, but Rose has a tendency to…well, she fucks things up. She’s going to see her family, possibly even herself, in this alternate universe. I would probably go with her too.

The character development given to Mickey in “Rise of the Cybermen” concerns the fact that his single mother couldn’t really raise him, so he was raised by his grandmother, who tragically died five years before. It is simply too tempting for Mickey not to see if she is alive, so he goes to visit her. And not only is she alive, but she calls him something very specific: Ricky.

Ricky. Wait a second, isn’t that the exact name that the Ninth Doctor INSISTED Mickey actually was?

In the alternate world, Mickey is actually Ricky. And still alive. And Ricky’s friends come to “retrieve” him so they can continue to spy on John Lumic, the owner of Cybus Industries, WHO IS TURNING  HOMELESS PEOPLE INTO ROBOT THINGS. Ok, look, I’m new to this, so until the end, I had no context for the Cybermen returning to Doctor Who. It wasn’t until they electrocuted THE PRESIDENT that I thought, “OH. I SHOULD BE AFRAID OF THESE THINGS.”

I’m ahead of myself. Let’s talk about Rose’s adventure. I mean, we have to state the best part: ROSE IS A DOG IN THE ALTERNATE UNIVERSE. I can understand why she doesn’t think it’s funny, but I, like the Doctor, burst out laughing as soon as I saw that Rose was a terrier in this world. That being said, watching Rose interact with yet another version of her family isn’t pleasant at all. You know, after the events of “Father’s Day,” I figured that Rose would be done trying to see her family in alternate scenarios. She was subject to a lot of heartbreak in that episode, especially when she learned that her family was not as happy as she had been told.

Here, we see yet another version of that mistrust and ire, as Peter and Jackie are, again, experiencing relationship problems. They’ve separated in this world and when Rose tries to intervene, she’s met with indifference in her father and nothing but righteous anger from Jackie. I’m curious why Rose feels the need to “fix” her family over and over again. I know a lot of you referred to Rose’s selfish nature in the comments of my last review, and I think that might be at work here. She does want her mom and Peter to be happy, but I think there’s a selfish motivation to it, too. It helps her. It makes her feel better about herself. She can’t seem to resist meddling, even with the best of intentions, and I sort of wish she wouldn’t, only because the inevitable heartbreak in this episode is even worse the second time around.

So, I haven’t much commented on the actual PLOT here. I feel like the second part of this story will address that more and I’m ok with that. They’ve set up a pretty decent emotional ground that should pay off in part two, so now I’m more interested in what Barty Crouch is planning with the Cybermen. I mean Lumic. How did he get them? Why are they so terrifying to the Doctor? Are we going to find out why the Ninth Doctor insisted that Mickey was actually Ricky?

THOUGHTS:

• “You’re a very smart man. I’d call you genius except I’m in the room.”
• The Cybermen’s cry of DELETE reminds me too much of EXTERMINATE. Actually, it even sounds a lot like that voice too.
• The only really scary thing in this episode is the Doctor surrendering and the Cybermen ignoring it. FUCKED UP.
• I’m sorry, but WHAT PERSON WOULD GET INSIDE THAT SKETCHY TRAILER FOR FREE FOOD? No one. NO ONE EVER. Seriously, that scene was laughable.
• “Why no emotion?” “Because it hurts.” The Doctor gets goth on us!
• EarPods. It’s not a stretch to think of iPods, right?
• Zeppelins and Fringe. That is all I will say for those who will get that.
• Ok, so we hear Torchwood again in this episode, once during the news report and once from Pete. Torchwood exists in the parallel universe too??? How is that possible when the Doctor only exists in one world and essentially caused its creation?