10.7: The Age of Steel

In which the pain is just too much to bear.

Broadcast: May 2006

Watched: August 2019

Well. That wasn’t very good, was it.

I think the key problem is that the monsters’ plan here – “Scoop people’s brains out in this horrible factory thing” – is *too* horrible, the show can’t cope with it. So it swerves the full horror. But it’s still sick, it just isn’t dramatic any more?

The scene with the cyber-bride, who the Doctor has to euthanise, sort of sums up the problem. It’s silly and cartoony because if the show actually Went There it’d be too horrible. So it becomes laughable instead.

Another problem: Tennant hasn’t quite got it yet. He’s not great this first season – not bad, but he isn’t what he’ll become, and he doesn’t nail it as fast as Eccleston did or Smith or Capaldi will. The bit where he’s telling Mickey what to do by monologuing at some cybermen really doesn’t work.

It’s really Mickey’s story, though, and... well, that doesn’t quite work, either. The Doctor totally forgets him, which feels unrealistic (his obvious pride in the fact Mickey wants to keep fighting the good fight at the end is far more convincing). Clark isn’t up to the big moments (“I’m coming to get you” is presumably a deliberate Bad Wolf parallel?)

Huh, Ricky isn’t gay, that was deleted scenes, it’s just they’ve leaked into my brain so much I thought they were real.

Other things don’t work, either. The “parking tickets” bit undermines plot logic for a joke. Crane’s betrayal of Lumic undermines plot logic for a twist. The Cybercontroller looks dumb as fuck, and it’s sick/weird/hilarious that the “Davros opens his eyes” bit is “Lumic stands up”.

God, I’m not normally this negative. I think it’s because I was expecting more. Maybe when I next watch it in five years time or whatever I’ll remember it as bad and enjoy it again, I dunno.

Some good things:

• I like how Pete and the Preachers both think they’re talking to someone more important than they actually are. I like that Pete is a hero, not a slimy sidekick.

• I love the way the Cybermen can’t cope with the hysteria that follows the transmitter going down, that actually feels quite realistic.

• Mrs Moore is great, albeit weirdly built up. Given that she’s Welsh, was she meant to be a Torchwood person? Same character as Yvonne, even?

• Pete refusing to accept Rose is his daughter and running away feels like a neat inversion of the ease with which he accepts that in Father’s Day.

• Rose running into Jackie’s arms at the end is a good moment... also, nicely inverted in season 5, when Amy wakes up and is relieved Rory isn’t dead, only then he actually dies. A lot.

Some, at best, neutral things:

• “Above, between, below” alright Tennant we know you’re a fan.

• “Factories on seven continents” why do you need one in Antarctica, John?

• There’s a bit on the South Bank at the end where Parliament looks unreal. Terrible green screen?