Doctor Who - The Tenth Planet [VHS]

Doctor Who - The Tenth Planet [VHS]

Doctor Who - The Tenth Planet [VHS]

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Product details

Actor: Jon Pertwee, Patrick Troughton, Peter Davison, Tom Baker, William Hartnell
Editor: Glenn Hyde
Editor: John Dunstan
Producer: Peter Bryant
Writer: Sydney Newman
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Color, NTSC
Running Time: 94 minutes
Release Date: 2001-05-08
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: BBC Warner
Studio: BBC Warner

VHS Movie Reviews of Doctor Who - The Tenth Planet [VHS]

Movie Review: The Tenth Planet: The First Doctor's Farewell.
Summary: 5 Stars

The Tenth Planet: The First Doctor's Farewell.

The Tenth Planet was broadcast as William Hartnell's last story. The story is a classic for two reasons. First, it marks the debut of The Cybermen. They debut as a terrifying opposition to humans. They have been physically transformed into robots and have had their emotions removed. Given their cybernetic make over they are all powerful. This makes their debut trully memorable. Second, this marks the First Doctor's farewell. His last story features him at his best. He is forceful, compassionate and brave. In the final episode he suddenly falls ill and staggers into the TARDIS. The story ends with Patrick Troughton being introduced as the Second Doctor.

The visuals for the final episode are missing. Given this the video features the soundtrack combined with still photos and off air film coverage. Thankfully the regeneration is presented in its entirety. This video is a must have for fans of the Classic Series.

-Kaywyn T.S. Allison.

Movie Review: "It's far from being all over!"
Summary: 5 Stars

Says William Hartnell's Doctor in one of his final scenes, and he was right! It may have been the end of an era as William Hartnell was leaving the role, but as this story makes clear it's far from over. This story marks the first appearance of the Cybermen who would return in many latter stories and lots more during the Patrick Troughton era, and this episode also features the first regeneration ever!

It's a pitty that the final episode didn't survive, but the reconstruction of it was brilliant, and you do get a few surviving clips - including the Doctor's regeneration scene which is perfectly intact. When watching it, it feels as if you were actually watching the original episode itself. It hardly feels as if it's missing at all.

The story is top notch. The Doctor and his companions, Ben and Polly, arrive at the South Pole Tracking station late in 1986 just as a routine space mission starts going wrong. Soon a new planet suddenly appears out of nowhere and starts approaching Earth fast. The planet is almost identical to Earth in almost every aspect. It is Mondas - Earth's long lost twin that drifted away to the edge of the galaxy millions of years ago. It's inhabitants were advanced humanoids who were dying out, and to survive, they replaced their body parts with cybernetic parts. Eventually emotions were removed and the ruthless Cybermen were born. Now Mondas is dying out as well so the Cybermen have returned to their twin to drain its power so that Mondas will live and the Earth will die. The humans that are not killed will be turned into Cybermen. It's just great.

The only let down is that you don't see much of the Doctor in this story due to the fact that Hartnell was very ill at the time. But when he does make an appearance, he sure does make his presence known. His preformance is excellent, and his final regeneration scene was a very well done piece and is truly iconic. You also learn a lot more about the Cybermen history in this story than any other in the entire series. Highly recommended!

Movie Review: A "Legendary" End To The First Doctor?
Summary: 3 Stars

Watching the Tenth Planet some four plus decades after its original broadcast makes for some interesting viewing for any Doctor Who fan. This is for two reasons the first because of its legendary status it has in Doctor Who fandom because it contains two of the elements of the show's longevity: the Cybermen and the Doctor's ability to regenerate. The other is reason is to view it from the production values of the time and its realization of those two items of interests to fans. In fact it's those values that make this an interesting story to view. So how does The Tenth Planet actually rank so to speak?

This was William Hartnell's final Doctor Who story and judging from this story's three surviving episodes (and episode four reconstruction on this VHS release) his time had come. Whether it was by design in the script or the fact that Hartnell was ailing, the first Doctor does very little in his final story. In fact the first Doctor's final story consists almost entirely of him being either a captive or (as in the case of episode three) being unconscious. It's a shame really considering that Hartnell shows that even in his final story he is still capable of bringing authority to his Doctor with the emotions speech to the Cybermen in episode two. As I said it is a shame that the first Doctor can only react to the events around him and not be more proactive like in earlier stories.

The upside to the underwhelming Hartnell is that the companions get to shine. In particular Michael Craze gets to show some chops as Ben. This is no more evident then in fighting a Cyberman in episodes two or episode three where he in fact becomes the focus of the episode. Anneke Willis plays up her role as 60's secretary Polly for the most part though even she gets some good scenes like the scene with her and others in the tracking room talking to the Cybermen in episode two. While Hartnell might not have shinned very brightly in this story his companions sure did.

The supporting cast though is a mixed bunch. There is Robert Beatty's pompous and over the top General Cutler, who kills any realism of him being a military officer and more like a walking talking clich?. On the upside there is David Dodimead's wonderful Doctor Barclay who is as underplaying and believable in his role as Beatty is over the top. That in fact makes Dodimead the best of the supporting cast. While the supporting cast is mainly a group of really nameless technicians there is another group of supporting cast that stands out: the Cybermen.

These Cybermen may look rather silly physically with their cloth faces and car lights attached to their heads but there is potential in them that would later be realized and it is in fact these Cybermen's voices that really stand out some four plus decades later. These Cybermen may also lack the physicality of later stories like Doctor Who - The Invasion or Doctor Who - Earthshock (Episode 122) but one should keep in mind that these Cybermen are a product of their time. That said, while the Cybermen would have better stories later in the 60's (especially Doctor Who - The Tomb of the Cybermen and Doctor Who - The Invasion) they make a striking debut here.

In fact it is the Cybermen and the regeneration that raise up this whole story. Without both of them I suspect this would be just another average 1960's "Doctor / companions / supporting cast all under attack" story. Looking at the writing of this story in terms of both plotting and dialogue there is really little stand out material except the dialogue introducing the Cybermen's background and lack of emotions in episode two. While it is not a bad story by any means it lacks many elements of the "classic stories".

So how does The Tenth Planet hold up? Well it has an underwhelming final show by the first Doctor, a good showing by his companions, a mixed supporting cast, the first appearance of the Cybermen, the first regeneration and an average script. It is true that while The Tenth Planet doe shave some stand-out elemnts it is not a classic story. In fact is rather average in many ways and a little undeserving of its legendary status in my opinion. In short: average but not great.

Movie Review: DOCTOR WHO THE TENTH PLANET VHS mark
Summary: 5 Stars

Doctor who the tenth planet was very very good!! and I did like the
cybermen in doctor who it was a good!!! story the cybermen where trying to
take over the earth.
age
9
Mark
Thomann

Movie Review: A 5 star for true fans, for everyone else a 3
Summary: 4 Stars

As is usual in older Doctor Who episodes (and some of the later ones as well), you have to ignore the bad special effects and use your imagination. If you can do that in this one, it becomes one of the better episodes of the William Hartnell era, not to mention an intriguing look at all of the hopes and fears of America's then (1966) burgeoning space program and technological advances. The travelers have arrived at an arctic, military run space station in the year 1986. Fascinating to see how the folks at or working for the BBC in the '60's imagined what space travel would look like in 20 years. They obviously couldn't have imagined the advances in technology that would exist in a mere two decades. Even the cybermen, former humans who have technologically adapted themselves so as to have superior strength and no emotions, bear bulky technology, have difficulty speaking anything like normal humans, and are surprisingly easy to defeat. Yet they are, at the same time, if one uses one's imagination, as terrifying as the Borg of Star Trek Next Generation and even more alien than the Vulcans. Even the Cybermen's claim that "resistance is useless" seems to predict the Borg.

Technically speaking, this series is a little rough, particularly the sound, so careful viewing is required. But in many ways, it seems a more modern series of episodes than some of the later ones, as it still seems to be a realistic view of a remote space station, and the general who runs it, although seemingly a bad caricature of John Wayne, represents all too well the kind of cowboy American thinking to which many people can still relate to all too well! The sets are wonderfully realistic and claustrophobic, and the existence of a national agency run by a Swiss man whose native language is French seems a precursor of how in the future the world would need to work together more as one body and those bodies would not necessarily be run by England and America.

I agree with the other reviewers that it would have been nice to see more of William Hartnell in his last episode, but it's kind of exciting to see the first regeneration in the show, even though it's in the lost episode which is mostly just audio of the show over stills, with descriptive information in text at the bottom of the screen. By the time of the last episode, however, one is so into the story that it's easy to ignore the fact that it isn't playing out with full video.

If you're new to Dr. Who, this isn't the place to start, but for Who fans, this is really a must episode as it's not only a well-told story, but has the first appearance of the Cybermen and the first regeneration. It's a fitting final episode for William Hartnell, who really remains the quintessential Doctor. He may not be everyone's favorite (personally I find Tom Baker much more fun and warm), but he's what the creators had in mind and every other Doctor draws from him.

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Summary of Doctor Who - The Tenth Planet [VHS]

Originally broadcast in the UK in 1966, The Tenth Planet marks the last appearance of the highly popular first Doctor, William Hartnell. In the 1970's the final episode of The Tenth Planet was lost, so this story never aired in the U.S. However, this specially reconstructed version of the missing episode contains the first regeneration sequence. The story centers on the return of the tenth planet to Earth's solar system. The planet's inhabitants, the dreaded Cybermen, who make their first appearance in the Doctor Who series, may prove too much for the ailing Time Lord.

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