The Age of Steel

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176b - The Age of Steel
Doctor David Tennant (Tenth Doctor)
Writer Tom MacRae
Director Graeme Harper
Script editor Helen Raynor
Producer Phil Collinson
Executive producer(s) Russell T. Davies
Julie Gardner
Production code 2.6
Length 2 of 2 episodes, 46 mins
Transmission date May 20, 2006
Preceded by Rise of the Cybermen
Followed by The Idiot's Lantern
IMDb profile

The Age of Steel is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is the second part of a two-part story featuring the Cybermen, the first part being Rise of the Cybermen. The episode was first broadcast on May 20, 2006 and was the last to feature Mickey Smith, played by Noel Clarke, as a companion.

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

The plans of John Lumic to convert the world into Cybermen are now in full force. The Tenth Doctor, Rose, Mickey and the Preachers must find a way to stop him from enforcing his "ultimate upgrade".

[edit] Plot

"This is the Age of Steel and I am its creator."
"This is the Age of Steel and I am its creator."
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

As the Cybermen close in, the Doctor uses the charging TARDIS power cell hidden in his hand, sending tendrils of energy which disintegrate the cyborgs. Mrs Moore drives up in the Preachers' van, the Doctor and the others climbing aboard. Pete wants to go back for Jackie, but the Doctor tells him she is dead and they need to get away or she will have died in vain. Mrs Moore calls it "The Slowest Getaway I've ever seen in my life."

In the van, the Doctor tells Mickey that the power cell will recharge in about four hours. Jake suggests they execute Pete for working for Lumic, but Pete reveals that he is actually "Gemini", the source of the Preachers' inside information on Lumic. He only joined up with Lumic to feed information to the Security Services, but instead he got the Preachers. Ricky is indeed London's "most wanted" — but for parking tickets. The Doctor suggests Pete take off his EarPods in case Lumic is listening, and tells the Preachers that they need to get to the city and tell the authorities about Lumic. He promises them grimly that this ends tonight.

Lumic broadcasts a signal via the EarPods throughout London, taking hypnotic control of most of the population. Those affected, including Jackie, begin walking towards the Battersea Power Station factory to be upgraded. The rejected stock are to be incinerated. Lumic's henchman Crane, however, feels the signal coming through and takes his EarPods off. Cybermen begin stalking the streets as the city is sealed off; Rose suggests removing the EarPods from the entranced, but the Doctor warns that this would be too dangerous as it would cause a "brain storm".

Rose recognises the Cybermen from the head she saw in Henry van Statten's museum. The Doctor confirms that the Cybermen in their universe began on a small planet like this, and then swarmed across the galaxy. The group decides to split up to increase their chances of getting out of the city. However, in the process of fleeing, the Cybermen catch up with Ricky while he is climbing a fence. They kill him as Mickey watches helplessly from the other side.

Crane is brought before Lumic for his seeming treachery, but Crane requests for an upgrade. This is only a ruse to get him close to Lumic's wheelchair, and Crane manages to damage Lumic's vital life support systems before he is killed by the Cybermen. Despite the gasping Lumic's protests, the Cybermen urge him to be upgrade. Lumic says that he will only upgrade with his last breath, as he had told them earlier. The Cyberleader tells him to breathe no more, disconnecting his breathing apparatus and take him away.

Meeting up with the others, Mickey tells them of Ricky's demise; Jake reacts with a mixture of grief and anger, turning on Mickey. The Doctor says that they can mourn Ricky when London is safe. They go to view Battersea from across the river, and see Lumic's Zeppelin moored on the roof. Mrs Moore calls up a schematic of the factory, which shows old cooling tunnels that lead beneath it. Pete suggests another way in: through the front door, using dummy EarPods. Rose demands to go with Pete, even though to successfully infiltrate the building neither of them must show any emotion. The Doctor relents, and thinks of a third way, to sabotage the EarPod transmissions so the people do not walk to their deaths like sheep. He tells Jake to take out the transmitter, which the Doctor, using the sonic screwdriver, determines is on the Zeppelin. The Doctor and Mrs Moore will enter the factory from below, through the cooling tunnels.

The group then are about to set off, when Mickey realises that, once again, he has not been assigned a role, and complains about being the "tin dog". Mickey says he will go along with Jake, despite Jake's resentment at his survival. Ultimately, however, Jake lets Mickey go with him, and the Doctor wishes him luck.

The Doctor and Mrs Moore enter the cooling tunnels, which are filled with hundreds of unactivated Cybermen. He tells Mrs Moore to move carefully and keep an eye out for any trip devices. Meanwhile, Rose and Pete successfully join the line of humans entering the factory, while Mickey and Jake make it to the mooring station on the roof. The Zeppelin is guarded by two hypnotised guards, whom Jake and Mickey render unconscious with knock-out drops. Jake and Mickey climb into the airship.

As they move through the tunnels, Mrs Moore tells the Doctor that she used to work for Cybus Industries, until one day she read a file that she was not supposed to. As a result she was hunted by Lumic and went on the run, eventually finding the Preachers. She also reveals that her husband and two children think her dead and that her name is not really "Mrs Moore". She took that from a book, assuming the alias to bolster the impression that she had died and protect her family. Her real name is Angela Price, but she makes the Doctor promise not to tell a soul.

However, they do not notice a red light flashing at their passing. Above, an alarm alerts Cyber control to movement in deep storage 6. They activate the stored Cybermen to remove the intruders; the Doctor and Mrs Moore escape just in time through a hatch which the Doctor seals behind them. In the factory, Pete and Rose move towards the conversion chambers, keeping an eye out for Jackie. Suddenly a Cyberman approaches them, identifying Pete. To Pete and Rose's horror it reveals that it was once Jackie. Rose and Pete are captured and taken to Cyber Control as the Cyberman that was once Jackie fades back into the mass of identical steel creatures.

On the bridge of the Zeppelin, Jake and Mickey search for the transmitter controls, and find what seems to be an empty Cyberman shell. They dismiss it and continue to look. In the tunnels, the Doctor and Mrs Moore meet a Cyberman, which she deactivates with an EMP bomb. The Doctor opens the chest of the downed Cyberman, finding bits of an organic nervous system and an emotional inhibitor. The Doctor explains that if the Cybermen realised what they had become, they would go insane. The Cyberman stirs, and with its inhibitor broken, it remembers that it was once a bride-to-be named Sally Phelan. The Doctor apologises, and eases her into death with the sonic screwdriver.

The Doctor realises this is the solution: if they could find the cancellation code for the inhibitor and feed it throughout the system, the shock of realising what they are would probably kill them. He hesitates at the thought of this, but Mrs Moore convinces him that they have to do this before they kill anyone else. Suddenly a Cyberman appears from behind and kills Mrs Moore. The Doctor is outraged but the Cyberman's only response is to note his alien biology. The Doctor is to be taken to the factory's central command to be studied further.

On the Zeppelin, Mickey finds the transmitter control behind a steel plate, but with no way to cut through it. Jake suggests setting the autopilot of the ship to crash and then escaping. Mickey begins to hack into the ship's systems, but activates a silent alarm in the process.

The Doctor is brought to Cyber Control where he meets Pete and Rose. The Doctor asks where Lumic is, and a Cybermen tells him that Lumic has been upgraded. A wall slides back and reveals the former Lumic, now a specialised Cyber Controller with glowing eyes and a transparent brain case, seated upon a giant steel throne reminiscant of his former wheelchair.

The Cyberman on the Zeppelin comes to life in response to the silent alarm and tries to kill Mickey and Jake. Mickey goads the Cyberman into punching him, ducking out of the way at the last second so it punches through the steel plate protecting the transmitter control instead. Electricity crackles through the Cyberman's body and it falls at the same time the transmission is cut off. The humans in the factory snap out of their trances and begin to flee, screaming, flooding past the Cybermen trying to stop them.

The Doctor hears the cries and realises that his friends have succeeded. Lumic refuses to admit defeat, saying that he has factories around the world, and if he cannot use the EarPods, the conversions will take place by force. The Doctor sees a light on a camera activate and realises that Jake and Mickey are observing through a monitor in the Zeppelin. The Doctor then stalls Lumic, challenging his assertions of an emotionless utopia. The Doctor points out that Lumic is creating a world without imagination, emotion and creativity and that with such thinking humanity will cease to progress. Lumic may have an army, but he is forgetting about the ordinary people, and even an ordinary person — some "idiot" — can save the world.

Mickey, listening, realises the Doctor is referring to him and is dropping hints about finding a code that will shut down the emotional inhibitors. Mickey picks up on this, and searches the Lumic database to decrypt the code, which he sends to Rose's mobile phone. The Doctor points out to Lumic that in his drive for technological dominance, he made his systems able to interface with anything. The Doctor proves this by plugging Rose's phone into the console, sending the code across the Cyber system.

All over the factory, the Cybermen's inhibitors shut down; they see each other and realise what they have become, overloading from the emotions they start to feel. The Cybermen begin to malfunction and collapse, some even exploding. The Doctor, Rose and Pete run out of the control room as the factory begins to be consumed in fire. In the midst of the flames and seemingly unaffected by the transmitted code, Lumic frees himself from the chair.

Despite Jake's urgings, Mickey refuses to leave the others behind. He calls Rose and tells her to make for the roof, lowering a ladder from the Zeppelin for them. As the Doctor, Rose and Pete climb upward, the ladder is suddenly jerked by a great weight — the Cyber-Controller climbing up after them. The Doctor throws Pete his sonic screwdriver and tells him to use it on the rope. Pete says that this is for Jackie Tyler and cuts the ladder, sending the Cyber-Controller tumbling to his apparent death in the burning factory below.

The Doctor returns to the TARDIS with the fully charged power cell and restores power to the ship. Outside, Rose tries to persuade Pete into boarding the TARDIS but he refuses. She tries to explain about parallel universes and that she is his daughter, but Pete is unable to handle this information and leaves to tell the authorities about Lumic and the other factories.

The Doctor says they have only five minutes of power and have to leave. He tells Jake Mrs Moore's real name, asking him to find her family and tell them how she died saving the world. However, Mickey announces he is staying. This world lost its Ricky, and there are other Cybermen factories to destroy, as well as his blind grandmother who needs looking after. Rose promises that they will come back and see him, but the Doctor reminds her that they only arrived in this parallel universe by accident, and when they leave they must repair the hole in time, meaning they can never come back. The Doctor gives Mickey Rose's mobile phone, telling him to get the code out there and wishes "Mickey the Idiot" luck.

Rose and Mickey reminisce about their childhood and how they wondered what they would do with their lives, never imagining they would be travelling to the stars. They share an emotional farewell, and Rose tearfully returns to the TARDIS, which dematerialises before Jake's astonished eyes.

The TARDIS rematerialises in Jackie Tyler's flat. Rose breaks down on seeing her mother alive, and hugs her tightly. Jackie wonders where they went, and asks the Doctor where Mickey is. The Doctor simply responds that Mickey has "gone home."

On the parallel Earth, Mickey tells Jake that he does not intend to replace Ricky but be his own man. They can remember him by fighting in his name. Mickey wonders if there is a Cyber-factory in Paris, and suggests they go liberate the city. Jake is sceptical that they can do that with the two of them in a van. Mickey tells him there is nothing wrong with a van. After all, he once saved the universe with a big yellow truck…

[edit] Cast

[edit] Cast notes

[edit] Continuity

  • Lumic's expression of "Excellent!" is a reference to the off-key rendition of the word that the Cybermen have used in previous stories (beginning with the Fourth Doctor story, Revenge of the Cybermen).
  • The Doctor's comments about Cybermen in his universe confirms that the origin of the Cybermen in this universe is not a rewriting of the origins of the Cybermen on Mondas as established in The Tenth Planet. Similarly, this leaves the Big Finish Productions audio play Spare Parts intact.
  • Mickey refers to his "tin dog" status, as in School Reunion.
  • The Doctor refers to attacking Cybus's factory at three points: "Above, between, below." This echoes an ancient Gallifreyan nursery rhyme that refers to the three possible entrances to the Tomb of Rassilon (The Five Doctors).
  • The storage of the converted Cybermen in the cooling tunnels is similar to the events of The Invasion, where the Cyber-army was hidden in the sewers of London. Cybermen were also kept in cryogenic freeze in The Tomb of the Cybermen. In The Invasion the Doctor also used emotions to defeat the Cybermen.
  • This episode is also the first time since Attack of the Cybermen that gold has not been used as a weapon against the Cybermen. The Cybus Industries tie-in site makes reference to earlier prototypes having an "allergy" to gold, stating that this was eliminated after further improvements of the Cyberman body.[1]
  • This episode marks the first time that women are known to be converted into Cybermen in the television series. There is no visual difference between a Cyberman that was a male or female human (however, see also the Torchwood episode Cyberwoman).
  • Elements similar to Spare Parts include the converted Jackie being aware of her previous identity as a human (as Sisterman Constant and Thomas Dodd were in the play). Sally Phelan's moment of awareness is also similar to Yvonne Hartley in the play.
  • Although a Cyber-Director appeared in The Invasion, and was an immobile unit, the first Cyberman Controller appeared in The Tomb of the Cybermen as a differently designed Cyberman with an enlarged cranium. A Cyber Controller also appeared in Attack of the Cybermen.
  • The Doctor says, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," to the dying Cyberman, Sally Phelan. He has used these words before in the 2006 series, when discovering a diseased 'New Human' in New Earth. The President said this in the previous episode, Rise of the Cybermen. The phrase occurs again in subsequent episodes.
  • The scene in which the Doctor takes pity on and euthanizes the Sally Phelan Cyberman is similar to one in Revelation of the Daleks (1985) in which a character destroys the Dalek mutant her father has become.
  • The Doctor's speech to the Lumic Cyber-Controller while walking round in circles is reminiscent of the speech he used against the Sycorax in The Christmas Invasion and to the Clockwork Droids in The Girl in the Fireplace. It is also similar to a conversation about emotions between the Fifth Doctor and the Cyber Leader in Earthshock (1982).
  • Mickey leaves in this episode, choosing to assume the role of his deceased doppelgänger Ricky and continue his fight against the Cybermen, making him the first companion in the new series to leave the TARDIS crew by choice. Adam Mitchell was expelled from the TARDIS in The Long Game, and Jack Harkness was left behind at the end of The Parting of the Ways.
  • As the Doctor says goodbye to Mickey, he jokingly calls him "Mickey the Idiot". This was a nickname the Ninth Doctor used for him more harshly. The Doctor also refers to this nickname when, during his debate with Lumic, he continuously uses the word "idiot" while trying to drop clues to Mickey.
  • Mickey mentions that he "once saved the universe with a big yellow truck". This is a reference to The Parting of the Ways, when Mickey opens the time vortex on the TARDIS using a big yellow tow truck, thereby allowing Rose to return to the future and defeat the Daleks.
  • Mr. Crane tries to stop John Lumic by attacking the life support system on his wheelchair. In Genesis of the Daleks (1975), the Fourth Doctor threatens Davros by temporarily switching off the life support system on his chair.
  • When Rose recognises the Cybermen from the mask in Van Statten's museum (in Dalek) the Doctor says "there are cybermen in our universe",

[edit] Production

  • This episode, along with Rise of the Cybermen was produced in the same production block as series finale story, Army of Ghosts/Doomsday.
  • According to an interview with Andrew Hayden-Smith, and comments given by Russell T. Davies in a press conference, Ricky and Jake were initially intended to be lovers.[2][3] A deleted scene included in the Complete Series Two DVD box set confirms this.
  • Footage from Rose — specifically, the destruction of the Nestene Consciousness — was reused as part of the destruction of the Battersea Cyber-conversion facility.

[edit] Outside references

  • The marching of thousands of mind-controlled Londoners to Battersea (referred to by the Doctor as "sheep") echoes the Pink Floyd song "Sheep" from their album Animals, where the sheep are led into the "valley of steel" to be slaughtered. The album also features a shot of Battersea Power Station on its cover, with a pig floating above it just like Lumic's own airship. Pink Floyd is known for incorporating the Doctor Who theme music into live performances of the song "One of These Days".
  • As noted by Noel Clarke on the commentary, Mickey phones Rose and says "I'm coming to get you!", which echoes the Ninth Doctor's words to her at the climax of Bad Wolf. The words also constitute a catchphrase used by Davina McCall on the UK television programme Big Brother, the latest series of which started two days prior to the episode's broadcast and which also featured in Bad Wolf.
  • The climax of the episode echoes the climax of Casablanca with Mickey in the role of Rick Blaine and Rose as Ilsa Lund. Indeed, Mickey adopts the name "Ricky" and talk about freeing Paris.

[edit] Broadcast and DVD release

  • The average overnight viewing figure for this episode was 6.85 million (a 36% share), peaking at 7.7 million.
  • This episode was released together with Rise of the Cybermen and The Idiot's Lantern as a basic DVD with no special features.

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.cybusindustries.net/lumic.htm
  2. ^ Attitude, May 2006
  3. ^ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds32633.html

[edit] External links


[edit] Reviews

 v • d • e Cybermen television stories
First Doctor: The Tenth Planet
Second Doctor: The Moonbase • The Tomb of the Cybermen • The Wheel in Space • The Invasion
Fourth Doctor: Revenge of the Cybermen
Fifth Doctor: Earthshock • The Five Doctors
Sixth Doctor: Attack of the Cybermen
Seventh Doctor: Silver Nemesis
Tenth Doctor: Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel • Army of Ghosts/Doomsday
Torchwood: Cyberwoman
Minor appearances: The Mind of Evil | Carnival of Monsters | Dalek
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