The Tenth Planet

The TARDIS lands at the South Pole in 1986. The Doctor, Ben and Polly are taken to the Snowcap Base space tracking station. Commanded by General Cutler, the base is monitoring a crewed space probe being drawn off-course by an unknown force, and they discover a new, unknown planet approaching Earth. Recognising identical landmasses to those of Earth, the Doctor reveals it is Mondas, the Earth's long-lost twin planet. A mysterious spaceship lands in the snow and three robotic creatures take control of Snowcap Base. They are Cybermen, former human beings who have replaced their bodies with mechanical parts, and no longer have the "weakness" of emotions. The base staff watch helplessly as the space probe is destroyed by the gravitational pull of Mondas. The Cybermen explain that Mondas is absorbing energy from Earth and will soon destroy it. They propose to take humans back to Mondas and turn them into Cybermen. The humans mount a resistance and kill the Cybermen with their own cyberweapons. Cutler plans to destroy Mondas using a Z-bomb nuclear missile. Space Command HQ in Geneva and Cutler’s chief scientist Dr. Barclay oppose Cutler, as the radiation from the exploding planet would cause immense loss of life on Earth. The Doctor, unwell, passes out. Cutler detains the Doctor and Ben in a cabin. Ben escapes, sabotages the rocket, and the Z-bomb launch fails. A new squadron of Cybermen arrive, kill Cutler, take control of the base, and order the Z-bomb to be disarmed. Cybermen invade Earth and take over Geneva Space Command. The Doctor realises that Mondas is absorbing too much energy and will be destroyed, and that the Cybermen plan to destroy the Earth with the international arsenal of Z-bombs to save Mondas. The Doctor and Polly are imprisoned on the Cybermen's spaceship. Ben and the base crewmembers overpower the Cybermen and regain control of the base. As more Cybermen enter the base, Mondas explodes. Disconnected from their power source on Mondas, all the invading Cybermen on Earth collapse and die, ending the invasion. Ben frees the Doctor and Polly. The Doctor, ill, returns to the TARDIS. Ben and Polly follow, and find the Doctor has collapsed unconscious on the floor. As the sound of the TARDIS engines is heard, the Doctor is covered in a luminous light and transforms into a younger man. ==Production==

) All four episodes of this story feature a specially designed graphics sequence used for the opening titles and closing credits. Designed by Bernard Lodge, they were intended to resemble a computer printout. In the opening credits of the first episode, Kit Pedler is incorrectly identified as "Kitt Pedler". In the opening credits of the third episode, Gerry Davis is incorrectly identified as "Gerry Davies". William Hartnell did not appear in the third episode. The First Doctor's final words were originally scripted as something similar to "No... no, I simply will not give in!" Time was running short towards the end of production, and director Derek Martinus opted not to record the line, wanting to ensure that the regeneration sequence was recorded as well as possible. As a result, the First Doctor's last words were simply "Ah! Yes. Thank you. That's good, keep warm." The line cut from the script by Martinus suggested that the Doctor was refusing to give in to the regeneration process. In 2017, Doctor Who writer Steven Moffat exploited this idea and created an extended narrative around the Doctor delaying his regeneration for the episode "Twice Upon a Time". The episode uses original footage from The Tenth Planet alongside new scenes with David Bradley portraying the First Doctor, encountering his future self, the Twelfth Doctor. Cast notes During the regeneration sequence at the end of the final episode, Patrick Troughton momentarily makes an appearance – uncredited – as the Second Doctor. This was William Hartnell's last regular appearance as the First Doctor; he would reprise the role for the tenth anniversary serial The Three Doctors. Both voice actors for the Cybermen, Roy Skelton and Peter Hawkins, were already veterans of the series, having voiced aliens—most notably the Daleks—in several previous serials. As a result of his role as the astronaut Williams in this serial, the Bermuda-born Earl Cameron reportedly became the first black actor ever to play an astronaut on television. Missing episode The last episode of this serial is missing from the BBC's archives. It is one of the most sought-after of the missing episodes, because it contains the historic first regeneration scene (even though a low-quality, truncated copy of this sequence survives and is held in the BBC Archives), and also because it is William Hartnell's final episode. As such, it is included in a list of the twenty most wanted missing programmes (as drawn up by the British National Film Theatre) alongside the BBC studio footage from the Apollo 11 landings (which is currently held only in soundtrack form). Popular myth has it that the only surviving telerecording copy of the fourth episode was lost when loaned out to the children's programme Blue Peter in 1973 when they wished to use a clip from it in a feature on the tenth anniversary of Doctor Who. ==Broadcast and reception==

Episode is missing In 2009, Patrick Mulkern of Radio Times found the original Cybermen design like "usherettes from some kinky, futuristic moviehouse", but praised the character of Cutler and Hartnell's Doctor. Den of Geek named the cliffhanger of Episode 4 as one of the programme's ten "classic" cliffhangers. Alasdair Wilkins of io9 described it as "a very solid, at times excellent story" and noted "The Cybermen have possibly been more intimidating in other stories, but they have never been creepier than they are here". He named it the fourth best regeneration and regeneration story. DVD Talk's John Sinnott gave the story four and a half out of five stars. He praised Hartnell's performance and the Cybermen. Ian Berriman of SFX was more mixed, giving the serial three out of five stars. He praised the Cybermen and the "palpable tension", but felt that the regeneration was tacked on and not enough background was given to make Mondas believable. ==Analysis==

, and considers that they have been deliberately crafted by Davis and Pedler to symbolise the Others in opposition to the human race. Decker states that this sense of Otherness is achieved by Pedler's focus on the theme of "dehumanising medicine" by presenting a race of humans who have replaced most of their flesh and organs with cybernetic parts. Decker also observes that The Tenth Planet plot is based on the "base under siege" scenario, a popular science-fiction device that has been reused in many subsequent Doctor Who stories, and that this serves as a metaphor for evil. Graham Sleight notes that The Tenth Planet was produced at a time when modern medicine was pioneering transplant surgery, lending a sense of topicality to Davis and Pedler's concept for malevolent cyborgs. He also finds contemporary significance with the 1960s rocket programmes, and notes that the multinational makeup of the Antarctic base crew is particularly noteworthy, having no precedent in earlier Doctor Who stories. However, he is disappointed by the overall execution of The Tenth Planet serial, finding the Cybermen "dull, stereotyped villains" and the portrayal of the Antarctic base staff dependent on "national stereotypes". The introduction of the concept of regeneration in The Tenth Planet is noted as a landmark in the show's history, and it has been credited with establishing the longevity of the television series by ensuring the survival of the character of The Doctor. Accounts differ as to the reason for Hartnell's departure from the programme; the actor's poor health is often cited, while other claims state that he was dissatisfied with the increasingly "adult" nature of the programme's scripts. Regardless of Hartnell's reasons to quit, Muir notes that while Hartnell's departure initially created a serious problem for the production team, they took the opportunity to create "an elegant, inspired solution to a casting problem" that has endured in the programme's folklore. ==Commercial releases==

In print A novelisation of this serial, written by Gerry Davis, was published by Target Books in February 1976. It was the first Hartnell-era serial novelisation to be commissioned by Target, and the first new adaptation of a Hartnell adventure to be published in nearly ten years. The novelisation largely follows the original script, but places the action in the year 2000 rather than 1986, as well as restoring the Doctor to the third episode. Also, in the first scene in which the Doctor, Ben and Polly appear (in the TARDIS), the Doctor is beginning to show signs of his failing health; sometimes mistakenly addressing Ben and Polly as "Ian" and "Barbara", thereby revealing signs that all is not as it should be. Also, the regeneration of the Doctor occurs in the TARDIS differently. The Doctor uses what appears to be a rejuvenation chamber that assists him in his regeneration. Home media The story was released on VHS in the UK in November 2000 from BBC Video, with the fourth episode reconstructed by the Doctor Who Restoration Team using still photos, existing clips and the surviving audio soundtrack. This release was a double-tape set entitled "Doctor Who: The Cybermen Box Set: The Tenth Planet and Attack of the Cybermen". In the U.S. and Canada both stories were released individually in 2001. The existing clips from the missing final episode – 8 mm film recordings made by an unknown Australian fan, and a 16mm film clip of the regeneration (from a 1973 edition of Blue Peter) – were included in the DVD release Lost in Time in 2004. The only surviving clip of the regeneration was also released as a special feature on the DVD releases for The Three Doctors and Castrovalva. The story was individually released on DVD on 14 October 2013, with the missing fourth episode animated along with additional extra features, including the original reconstruction of episode four from the 2000 VHS release, and a special documentary, Frozen Out, on the making of the story. The serial, along with the newly animated fourth episode, is also contained on the "Regenerations" box set, released on 24 June 2013. The soundtracks for The Tenth Planet and The Invasion, put together from fan-made recordings, along with a bonus disc, The Origins of the Cybermen, an audio essay by Cyberman actor David Banks, were released on CD in a collector's tin called Doctor Who: Cybermen. Music release }} A CD of stock music used in this serial was released in May 2000 to coincide with the video release in November. It was mastered from 1960s vinyl records rather than original archive tapes, resulting in reduced dynamic range with crackle and rumble present throughout. The release contains numerous cues that were not used in the story, and is missing one track that was used. Track listing ==Notes==