Doctor Who: The Moonbase [Audio Download]

The Moonbase- a true Doctor Who classic from the golden age of the Patrick Troughton era and what better way for the series to enforce its science fictional elements then have the story set on the moon.

Here you get a tense, mystery filled space chiller featuring the return of some very effective villains: The Cybermen!
Their reasons and motives for their actions are just as chilling as their monotonous metallic voices.
They are relentless in their mission to invade and take control of the moonbase.

Here you can see how truly effective these silver giants are when told about revenge and other human concepts.
'We know of this weakness of yours, we are fortunate. We do not possess feelings!'

So if you there's nothing on the box in the evening, plug in your CD player and slip on the headphones and stare up at the night sky and the moon high above. Then picture the Doctor and his friends as they battle against the evil menace of the Cybermen...

Featuring the return of the Cybermen (previously seen in 'The Tenth Planet'), this story is the first of many in the Second Doctor's era to feature these metal monsters. The story also continues the Doctor Who semi-utopian view of the future - the moonbase is inhabitted by a multi-nationality crew. In some respects, the story anticipated things like the current international space station.

The story gives each member of the TARDIS crew something to do (although Polly and Jamie come off worse than Ben and the Doctor), and the Cybermen seem more competent this time than previously.

The pace of the story is probably a little slow compared to current science fiction TV and movies, but it is a good example of an average Doctor Who story at the time. It does, however, come from one of the less interesting periods in the show's history - which got more interesting in the following year.

A story from the 'cross-over season' when Hartnell relinquished the role, sees Troughton firmly settled into his new role, unlike previous stories - i.e. Power of the Daleks and The Highlanders, this story establishes Troughton's character as was continued for the remainder of the actors' time with the show.

Whilst some have argued that the Moonbase is merely a re-write of the Tenth Planet several months earlier, I would urge listeners to ignore that, true the story is about a base under-seige (but most Doctor Who stories at that time used similar plots!) but the characters and the content of the story are different.

Presumably most fans will have seen the two surviving episodes, however, listening to the complete audio soundtrack, allows the storyline to develop comfortably across the four episodes whilst hiding disasterous holes that were apparent on the visual material i.e. The Cyberman hiding like a Scooby-Doo villian at the end of an episode!!

The cast themselves come across well on audio, Troughton, as ever, having settled into the role, is excellent and the supporting cast are reasonable. However, the only nag might be that the introduction of Fraser Hines as Jamie has limited the dialogue of Craze and Willkes, and some of the base personnel are hardly represented.

Obviously the return of the Cybermen is a welcome for fans, and this story, being their second outing, is still fresh and effective. Being written by their original creator, Peddler, the story is well thought out. Furthermore, the new Cybermen voices give them a greater sense of power, unlike the 'sing-song' voices of The Tenth Planet.

Overall, the story comes across well on audio, the background music is chilling and helps to give the story suspsense on the audio medium. The narration is good, although at times it is lacking in places, and the Cybervoices are difficult to distinguish at times. Not a bad place to start for Troughton adventures, and the price is fairly reasonable.