Whilst this two part episode from season two doesn't quite match up with the Moffatt written one in the first series, this second episode is an improvement over the first and allows for all of team Tardis to show what they can do.
With London overrun by Cybermen, Lumic (Roger Lloyd Pack) engages the next phase of his plan, and has the earpods take control of their human hosts, and have them trudge to Battersea Power Station for upgrading. The Doctor (David Tennant), Rose (Billie Piper), Pete (Shaun Dingwall), Jake, (Andrew Hayden-Smith), Mrs. Moore (Helen Griffen) Mickey and Ricky (Noel Clarke) head to the Station themselves, with a desperate plan to save as much of the population as they can, expose Lumic's villainy and destroy the conversion chambers.
The episode is better admittedly because of the legwork that the first half did in establishing who the characters were, which pays off here as several of them are killed and it's a little more effecting than it would have been, as we've gotten to know them. There's even more genuinely melancholy in the death of a converted woman, who was due to get married the following day. But I do like that this is worth something, as it provides the Doctor with the key knowledge to defeat this foe.
There's the odd bit of CGI naffness, generally with explosions but as most of the rest of the effects are practical and the cybermen are at their most visually Iconic here, there's lots of striking imagery. Rose is a little light on stuff to do in this one, given the wider cast of heroes. I can remember enough to know that this is not the last we see of Mickey, so I'm not too sad - but his arc of self-realisation is complete.
Excellent, if not quite top tier.
With London overrun by Cybermen, Lumic (Roger Lloyd Pack) engages the next phase of his plan, and has the earpods take control of their human hosts, and have them trudge to Battersea Power Station for upgrading. The Doctor (David Tennant), Rose (Billie Piper), Pete (Shaun Dingwall), Jake, (Andrew Hayden-Smith), Mrs. Moore (Helen Griffen) Mickey and Ricky (Noel Clarke) head to the Station themselves, with a desperate plan to save as much of the population as they can, expose Lumic's villainy and destroy the conversion chambers.
The episode is better admittedly because of the legwork that the first half did in establishing who the characters were, which pays off here as several of them are killed and it's a little more effecting than it would have been, as we've gotten to know them. There's even more genuinely melancholy in the death of a converted woman, who was due to get married the following day. But I do like that this is worth something, as it provides the Doctor with the key knowledge to defeat this foe.
There's the odd bit of CGI naffness, generally with explosions but as most of the rest of the effects are practical and the cybermen are at their most visually Iconic here, there's lots of striking imagery. Rose is a little light on stuff to do in this one, given the wider cast of heroes. I can remember enough to know that this is not the last we see of Mickey, so I'm not too sad - but his arc of self-realisation is complete.
Excellent, if not quite top tier.