The Moonbase

Dear Gary—

“There are some corners of the universe which have bred the most terrible things; things which act against everything that we believe in. They must be fought.”

In the case of The Moonbase, these things are Cybermen.

We start our story as we ended The Underwater Menace, with the Doctor making the remarkable claim that he can indeed control where the TARDIS travels; it’s just that he never wanted to do it before. Now if we believe him, we have to believe that he therefore lied to Barbara and Ian when he told them he could not return them to their own place and time. No, I can’t believe that. I prefer to think that this is merely his pride talking as he tries to impress his young companions. And in fact his attempt to land them on Mars does go awry and we have a moon landing instead.

I find it rather amusing, Gary, that as our quartet readies themselves to go out onto the moon surface the Doctor hands out space suits that turn out to be remarkably similar to those used by the inhabitants of this 2070 moonbase.

I also find it amusing that this 2070 moonbase is set up in order to control the Earth’s weather through the use of a Gravitron machine. This seems a rather foolish thing to do. Granted, a little weather control sounds like a good idea as we are in the midst of a prolonged drought and an unusual hot spell, but when you consider that “five units off center we’d lift half London into space; five more and the Atlantic water level goes up three feet,” well a couple of weeks of hot dry weather doesn’t seem so bad.

Add to this the threat of the Cybermen gaining control of the Gravitron and you have a worldwide disaster served up on a silver platter.

Good thing the Doctor is there to save the day.

The Doctor and his companions. But now I have to say something about his companions in this story, Gary. Jamie is somehow knocked unconscious and spends the first half of The Moonbase passed out in the infirmary. Polly meantime swings back and forth between her two personas, one minute screaming helplessly and the next coming up with valuable ideas like the ‘Polly Cocktail’ which decommissions the Cybermen. Ben seems to be the only steady companion, always around when needed.

To be fair to Polly, half of her trouble is the way in which she is treated. When she expresses a wish to help she is told “Why not make some coffee to keep them all happy,” or “Not you, Polly; this is men’s work.” No wonder she stands around uselessly so much of the time.

The Doctor, on the other hand, never stands around. He always seems to be on the go, even in the limited space of The Moonbase. Patrick Troughton is definitely a more energetic Doctor than William Hartnell.

And now we have yet another contradiction. Back in An Unearthly Child the Doctor states that he is not a medical doctor. Later, in The Rescue, he says, “Pity I didn’t get that degree.” In The Moonbase, however, when Polly asks if he is really a doctor, the Doctor replies, “I think I was once, Polly; I think I took a degree once in Glasgow . . . 1888 . . . I think . . . Lister.” Interesting. Which, I wonder is the truth? Or are they both true? Hartnell’s Doctor made definite statements whereas Troughton’s is unsure. But are these memories that are being recovered after the trauma of regeneration? Or perhaps with the mysteries of time travel, could these memories be from a life not yet lived?

That is the beauty of Doctor Who and of the brilliant concept of ‘renewal’ (later to be termed regeneration) that can bring in a new actor with a new persona to play the same part. Even while staying true to the history and nature of the character, fresh perspectives and novel interpretations can be explored.

This brings us back to the statement I started with: “There are some corners of the universe which have bred the most terrible things; things which act against everything that we believe in. They must be fought.” The journey from An Unearthly Child to The Moonbase has brought us to this statement. It evolved slowly, but now emerges as a core principle of Doctor Who and of the Doctor. This central idea binds each Doctor through the years, from William Hartnell to Matt Smith. And each will have his own monsters; his own beliefs; his own way of fighting.

“You are known to us.” The Cybermen, like the Daleks, recognize Patrick Troughton as the Doctor, and perhaps it is this basic conviction that they recognize more than the chameleon face of the Doctor.

Of course the Doctor will win his fight with the Cybermen, even if we’re left scratching our heads when it’s over. Somehow he uses the Graviton to blast the advancing army and their ships off of the surface of the moon and congratulations are handed all around. But will that really stop the Cybermen? Can’t they regroup and come again? OK, at least the base is now warned and on guard, but really, if the Cybermen are determined I’m sure they will be back.

But that is left for future stories. For now we have our celebrations and our departures.  And speaking of future—we get a new element of the TARDIS introduced: the time scanner which gives a glimpse of the future, or as Jamie says, “second sight—very dangerous.” Apparently it isn’t very reliable (shocker there) and that is why the Doctor doesn’t use it very much. However it does give us a peak at our next story; a peak into the future.

And so I take my leave, Gary, leaving the future to the future.