Original air dates November through December 1968. Long serial with eight episodes. I see animation to replace this lost one, which is better thatn slide shows.
The TARDIS appears in orbit of the dark side of the Moon. A missile is launched at them, and the Doctor bangs frantically at a control to unstick it. The missile explodes! The TARDIS vanishes!
After a commercial, the TARDIS lands on Earth. The Doctor will need some spares made, so he pulls a circuit to replace. The TARDIS goes invisible, and they catch a ride in a truck to London. They stop and are shooed away from the truck.
They find out about the Community and the Company who are taking over things.
They get a lift to London and meet Miss Watkins, who isn’t related to Professor Travers. Professor Watkins has gone to work for The Company, and can’t be reched. The Doctor railing at the automatic answering system was hilarious and all too true – if impossible in the 1960’s.
The Doctor winds up unable to get past the computerized receptionist.
They sneak in only to get gassed then hauled into speak to a person, which is what they wanted anyway. Jaimie leaks word that they need help with electronic circuits, and gets them from the Doctor to replace. The executive is very interested in the circuits.
The Doctor suspects the exeuctive – Vaughn – as he doesn’t blink enough. Something is up. As soon as he’s alone Vaughn opens a secret panel and revals a blinky machine and some credits. Upon second glance, the blinky machine strongly resembles a quantum computer; it’s cylindrical and covered in tinfoil. Sadly I am too lazy for screenshots.
Zoe has stayed behind to be a model for a photographer who thinks she’s amazing. Zoe’s worried about Doctor and Jaimie, who are now being chased about.
Vaughn gives the circuits to his research guy who has never seen anything like them. He’s given an hour – a whole hour! – to figure them out.
Doctor and Jaimie are taken to a high-tech control room with maps and computers. Leftbridge-Stewart is there, a Brigadier now. Brigadier is now in charge of UNIT.
The two rather pretty girls to up to the International Electromatic HQ, and go in, to find the computerized receptionist, “This is probably the same idiot machine that answers the telephone when you ring up.”
The circular computer recognizes photos of the Doctor and Jaimie, and demands their destruction.
Zoe tries to program the receptionist in verbal ALGOL, which is pretty high tech. She smokes the receptionist. Vaughn is watching via CC, and asks for the girls to be brought to him.
Leftbridge-Stewart can’t help much, but offers a transciever they can call for help.
Doctor and Jaimie return to the Watkins residence, and find their note. They rush off to find them.
At the IE offices, Vaughn has the two girls kept to induce Professor Watkins to work.
The Doctor calls the Brigadier and finds out the girls are there.
Vaughn gets his report on the TARDIS circuits, and they make no sense. He wants the Doctor now, even if his computer brain wants the Doctor destroyed. All the computer says is that he is hostile, and won’t answer questions. Finally gets some questions answered, but nothing very concrete. Lack of information. We hear “The Invasion must succeed.”
Doctor and Jaimie find a man moving boxes. He hucks them around trivially, even though they’re very heavy. They get picked up when they hear Zoe and Miss whatshername scream and Jaimie rushes to their aid. The credits roll.
Next story opens with them being captured by security, and trying to inspect the “empty” crates. They miss the train, and Vaughn gives them a ride to the factory to “check” them. Stewart’s people follow them via helicopter.
Doctor and Jaimie are taken into the IE compound via a lift to an identical office in his compound. The circuits are returned to the Doctor.
Vaughn shows himself to be genteel evil by threatening the Professor with his niece’s safety. The Doctor and Jaimie are about to spill everything until the Doctor blocks the cameras. They get a minute to talk before Vaughn shows up.
Vaughn offers a choice: Zoe for the TARDIS.
Doctor and Jaimie get away.
The baddies have fancy wrist-based radios. I think my Google Watch is fancier, but it is similar.
Doctor and Jaimie climb up the lift shaft while they are chased by the baddies. It takes Vaughn to think of the shaft via the roof.
Written in the lift shaft, “Killroy was here!” Heh.
Doctor and Jaimie take the fire escape down the building then jump a train to leave. Jaimie hides in a crate with something scary, that is interrupted by credits rolling.
Vaughn has terrible teeth, as do many of the actors.
Sneaking about. Jaimie and the Doctor get the UNIT helicopter to rescue the girls. The girls block the door of the room they’re being held in. They make it to the helicopter in the nick of time.
Vaughn plans to move the invasion up. Doctor and Jaimie get a canoe and sneak back in via water. They find a container containing a Cyberman, as the credits roll.
Next episode, they see the Cybermen – a more modern looking one, thankfully – and they try to get the Brigadeir involved, but he’s thwarted by the general or whoever it is above him.
These new cyberment have tighter costumes and nice asses instead of looking like bags.
The general calls IE and gets called in for fresh brainwashing and questioning.
The Invasion is moved up to dawn tomorrow, and Cybermen are let loose in the sewers.
Leftbridge-Stewart won’t let whatshername help because she’s a woman, and she lets him have it with both feminist barrels.
They get to the tunnels and are followed by a policeman, who finds Cyberment to his detriment. The crazed cyberman follows Jaimie, whatshername, and Zoe. Credits roll. After the credits, the crazed cyberman goes right past them, still screaming.
UNIT troops go down the sewer after the kids, and are set upon by two cybermen. The crazed cyberman comes up behind them, and the UNIT troops throw grenades at them. They fall. One survives to chase them out of the sewer, while UNIT and the troops make a retreat.
The Doctor borrows the Professors lab to examine the circuits in everything, and finds aliern tech he can’t decipher.
The Professor has finished his machine, and its tested on him. It works. Vaughn forces the Professor back to the compound and to work on putting the machines in production.
UNIT are no fools.
Cybermen under London, massing for an attack.
The Doctor figures out the IE chips will cause the cyber-signal to take over the world. The Doctor and Zoe remember how to defeat them and set up a quick assembly line to protect the Brigadier and UNIT. Parts are scarce.
Cyber-signal disables people and hundreds of Cybermen come out of the sewers, as credits roll.
Cybermen on the march through London! The Brigadeir is covered, as are half of his men. They’re going to send transport for them.
Vaughn tries to keep control of the Cyberman army that’s on Earth, but looks like he’s failing.
Our heroes try to leave, but are stopped by IE troops. The professor is shot, as is Jaimie. Or so it looks.
Brigadier, and UNIT troops go to find a rocket to stop the Cybermen. Doctor goes to talk to Vaughn via the hopefully now empty sewers. He gets there. He challengs Vaughn, who will not consider giving up.
UNIT gets to a missile base and can take out 90% of them, with Zoe’s help. They are not fools and listen and do so.
Cyber control will take over and destroy life on Earth completly because the invasion fleet has been attaked.
Doctor gets Vaughn to help. Chopper on the way. Tense music ensues.
This looks like one of the factory maps from City of Heroes.
UNIT comes in with a platoon of heavily armed men. Guns are not very effective but grenades do the trick. They’ve got a rocket launcher which works too. They make good progress inwards, laying waste to a dozen Cybermen.
The Cybermen move in close, and the Russian missile turns; it’ll be twelve minutes to reach target. A long twelve minutes.
The bomb shows on radar, and we get missiles on it. Missiles hit the bomb, and the Cyberman spaceship. Happy ever after. The crew gets dropped off in the field they left in, and rather to the amusement of the soldiers and whatshername pile into a police box, which fades away.
Tags: doctorwho