Doctor Who: Wheel In Space [Audiobook]

"The Wheel in Space", by David Whitaker, after "The Tomb of the Cybermen", neatly bookends season five, Doctor Who's infamous "Monster season", with a second Cybermen story. Probably not as good as the first of the two, but still entertaining in a low-budget sort of way, "The Wheel in Space" also introduces a new companion, Wendy Padbury's character Zoe.
I've never been a Zoe fan (she's too smart and precocious for my liking, and tends to wind me up), but the character is better served here, apparently insecure about her own cleverness and feeling that her extensive scientific training has left her without a heart, which helps me to better understand the character. I find Zoe's role to be one of the strengths of the story.
In terms of weaknesses, well, effects are always one weakness of early Doctor Who: in the two surviving episodes, available on the "Lost in Time" DVD, we get to see the real special effects used for the deadly meteorite storm (which is otherwise a good way of adding to the menace conveyed by the story), and they are terrible. There are also, as ever, not quite enough Cybermen costumes available to really convince the viewer that a deadly army of the creatures lies in wait (this is reflected in the writing, as the Cybs actually take a back seat for much of the story, with their possessed human slaves doing more damage). The Cybermats are almost more menacing, because they are more numerous, and so insidious.
"The Wheel in Space" has a large cast, making the dialogue a bit harder to follow. However, for much of the time, who is saying what doesn't really matter, as many of the supporting characters are basically ciphers defined only by their various peculiar accents. The more interesting characters, unfortunately, have a tendency to die.
The story certainly has some inventive ideas, and brings the season to a satisfactory conclusion, albeit not going out with much of a bang. Props to the production team for the modelwork used for the ships and the space station as seen in the surviving episodes, which is actually quite good. Clear narration is provided on the CD by Wendy Padbury.

Perhaps it's because THE WHEEL IN SPACE has the reputation of being a plodding, unimaginative variant on the "isolated-group-of-humans-under-attack-by-alien-menace" plot, that it has taken so long for this 1968 soundtrack to see the light of day. Certainly, the 2 extant TV episodes (3 & 6) are by no means the greatest examples of '60s DR WHO you've ever seen. Even the presence of the popular Cybermen is not enough to make the story a favourite with fans.

Nevertheless,I rather like this one, and I feel the need to stick up for it. I suppose because I was expecting something far worse that I was pleasantly surprised by many aspects that do actually work.

First surprise was the sympathetic supporting cast. Gemma Corwyn, Leo Ryan, Tanya Lernov and others are by and large likeable and well-acted individuals who unlike say, the rather forgettable crew of THE MOONBASE (another Troughton tale of a space-base threatened by Cybermen)allow one to care about the fates of people other than the Doctor and his companions. Gemma Corwyn's death is genuinely affecting, especially as she is seen to be sharply intelligent as well as the person who seems to be most concerned about other people's well-being on the Wheel. One even has to feel pity for poor old Jarvis Bennett, the Wheel's controller. Unlike many other inflexible, disbelieving authority figures in charge of bases in DR WHO, Jarvis' problem is not that he's a grumpy old curmudgeon, or that he's possessed by extra-terrestrial mind control, but that he seems to have psychological problems. Now this may not be entirely credible for a man responsible for running a space station, but it does at least give us a character who's dramatically interesting.

Second surprise is how atmospheric the story appears as a soundtrack only. This is undoubtedly helped by the sound effects and background noises which double as the serial's music score. There is a real sense of the eerie mysteriousness of outer space. It is this creepy feeling which allowed this listener at least, to suspend disbelief about some of the less credible plot points: e.g. if the Cybermen can ionise stars, why do they need to take over the Wheel in order to invade Earth? Why do they need to go about their takeover in such an apparently over-complicated manner when they are clearly so technologically superior to humans in every way?

Third surprise: episode one which spends almost it's entire time concentrating on the Doctor and Jamie wandering round the deserted SILVER CARRIER rocket, is far less dull than I've heard it made out to be. In many ways it's a lovely little reminder of the soap opera style of the early William Hartnell stories. Here we have a welcome change of emphasis; a glimpse of Jamie's evident sadness at leaving Victoria is given to us. This focus on character, rather than on macabre menaces to humanity is refreshing because it's so unusual for the Troughton period. Also, it's a nice way for the audience to take a rest from weeks and weeks of bases under siege. Of course, in episode 2 we're straight back to business as usual...

Now I suppose that if you're not in the mood for this then yes, I've little doubt that some will find WHEEL IN SPACE a bit of a drag. Even I, with my charitable attitude, agree that the story would have been all the better for shedding at least one of it's 6 episodes. We don't get so much as a sniff of the Cybermen until right at the end of episode 2, and even then it takes them another episode and a half for them to sneak aboard the Wheel.

Again, the story's ending has the reputation of being disappointing. Rightly so, in my view. Someone closes an airlock door and the Cyberman spaceship is blown up by a laser gun...how absolutely thrilling. The real climax comes about halfway through the final episode where Troughton confronts 2 Cybs and frazzles one of them with a clever Cyb-frazzling device. Not exactly Chekhov I know, but we could have done with a bit more Troughton vs Cybermen action.

Nevertheless, despite its flaws, I rather like WHEEL..., not least because it introduces Wendy Padbury's uppity Zoe, a companion who I find it far easier to like than her predecessor; the rather hysterical Victoria. Padbury is an excellent narrator and I hope she'll be re-used for the soundtrack of THE INVASION, when the Beeb releases that.

Some fans see 'The Wheel In Space' as a story between seasons 5 and 6 and not belonging to either. This may be because the previous story 'Fury From The Deep' seems more like a season finale than 'The Wheel In Space due to the departure of Victoria.

However, this overshadows the fact that this is a really good story which works well on audio thanks to good narration by Wendy 'Padders' Padbury. The cyberman voices are more understandable than in 'Tomb Of The Cybermen' and maybe 'The Moonbase', and the characters are interesting and well written. The sound quality is consistently very good and episode 6 is crystal clear having been sourced from the surviving 35mm print. worth a listen