The Age of Steel

Dear Gary—

Mickey: “You’re just making this up as you go along.”

Doctor: “Yep. But I do it brilliantly.”

The Age of Steel is a made up story in a made up universe, and it isn’t exactly brilliant, but it is pretty darn good.

Continuing the Saturday morning nature of the previous episode, The Age of Steel picks up the Perils of Pauline type cliffhanger from Rise of the Cybermen with the Doctor and company on the verge of deletion at the steely hands of the Cybermen. “Delete. Delete. Delete.” Death is imminent and seemingly inevitable when, voila, the Doctor whips out his handy power cell from the TARDIS and one magic wand wave later the Cybermen are extinguished. Mrs. Moore swoops in and scoops them all up in her getaway van.

“I thought I was broadcasting to the Security Services,” Pete Tyler says derisively to complete the cartoon connection. “What do I get? Scooby Doo and his gang. They’ve even got the van.” Of course it doesn’t say much for Pete either that he got it so wrong. Apparently it could have been anyone he was broadcasting to; he should count himself lucky.

The Age of Steel is the action packed conclusion to this two part story and from the marching Cybermen to the siege of London to the assembly line of victims to the three pronged infiltration of the Cybus factory it is a heart pounder.

It’s a good thing it is such a thrill ride because it tends to deflect the many questions that arise. Like who exactly is listening to the TV bulletins warning about the attacks? I can see why perhaps the anchorman isn’t wearing the entrancing ear pods, they are the competition after all, but is there really an audience for television news in this Cybus technology dependent culture? And if there are people out there minus the ear pods and listening, where are they and why isn’t there more organized resistance than merely the Doctor and his Scooby Doo gang? Surely there is a police and military presence that could be mustered. And since it is only London that is affected I’m sure authorities from around the country and indeed the world would be rallying a defense.

And then there is the question of John Lumic. The Cybermen are his babies. He pursued this technology for the express purpose of extending his own life. His ultimate goal is to become a Cyberman. So why is it that he resists conversion? “I will upgrade only with my last breath,” he declares, even while struggling with what appears to be his last breath due to the sabotage of his henchman Crane. Most puzzling of all, though, is why Lumic, once converted and fully Cyber, still needs his life support chair. Couldn’t the Cybermen spare a fully functional and upright Cyber body for their creator?

I do have to admit, however, that the upgraded Cyber Controller in his Cyber wheelchair is very comic book villain impressive.

But the action whizzes along and all doubts are swept aside.

Running through the occupied streets of London, Ricky is deleted leaving Mickey as a poor substitute in the eyes of Jake. Now I know that Mickey has long been set up as the butt of jokes and never taken seriously, but we’re really hit over the head in Age of Steel with the complete nonentity that the Doctor Who universe regards Mickey as. “You’re nothing, you are,” Jake tells him just to confirm this for us. I can take the repeated references to “Mickey the Idiot” because this is echoing what the Doctor has called him all along. Where things really get heavy handed is when the Doctor is handing out instructions but overlooks Mickey. “What about me?” Mickey asks, and the Doctor is at a complete loss. “What, stay out of trouble? Be the tin dog?” Mickey says just to emphasize his utter insignificance.

Mickey isn’t going to stand for it anymore and it’s about time. “I’m going with Jake,” he decides. Taking the above route in the Doctor’s three pronged attack plan of above, between, below (nice callback to The Five Doctors) Mickey emerges as the linchpin.

I’ll start with the below, though. The Doctor and Mrs. Moore enter through the cooling tunnels which are eerily lined with dormant Cybermen. It’s a nice chance for Mrs. Moore’s character to be rounded out, even though it is only to make her death that much more moving. Not to be outdone, however, is the death of Sally the Cyberman. Yes, The Age of Steel has humanized the Cybermen, making them tragically poignant when their emotional inhibitor is broken and their threat to humanity decidedly more devastating.

Mrs. Moore is dead and the Doctor’s intent to sneak up on the control center is thwarted. He does make it to the control center but only because he is captured. Interesting that the Cybermen can instantly detect he has two hearts and decide that he therefore needs further analysis. These are not the Cybermen of the Doctor’s known universe so they do not recognize him.

Reminder to myself, Gary, to keep an eye out for the Cybermen in upcoming serials. If future encounters are with these new Cybermen from the parallel universe with their new creation myth and new motivation, will they recognize the Doctor and all iterations thereof? How will we know if they are the new or the old? And wouldn’t it be interesting to have, say, Cyberman Alt Jackie Tyler meeting up with the real Jackie Tyler? Although presumably Cyberman Alt Jackie is destroyed along with the others in this episode. Oh well. Onward.

Between. Rose and Pete don defunct ear pods and enter through the front door. What their plan is from there I’m not sure. They seem to be on a straight path for conversion. It is only by the merest chance that Cyberman Jackie recognizes Pete. And it is only on the whim of the writer that she decides that Pete, and for some random reason Rose as well, should be taken to the control room rather than be made over.

Finally we have above. Mickey and Jake. Their mission is the only one accomplished: to take out the transmitter on the zeppelin. And it is Mickey who accomplishes this. Mickey the idiot who has rejected the opinion of others, makes his own assessment, and deems himself worthwhile. He starts with a lesson learned from the Doctor. “Don’t kill them,” he tells Jake of the two guards as he takes charge. “If you kill them, what’s the difference between you and the Cybermen?” Next he cleverly tricks a Cyberman into destroying the transmitter (after learning Jake hasn’t a clue what to do). Lastly and with some prompting from the Doctor, he cracks the cancellation code and sends all of the Cybermen, save Lumic for no particular reason, into a frenzy. Somehow this also causes all manner of explosions, but oh well, it makes for some exciting escape scenes as Mickey once again comes to the rescue in his trusty zeppelin.

Mickey has found his voice. He is in a parallel universe and decides to ditch the Doctor and Rose. He has a new mission—to hunt down and destroy all of the remaining Cyber factories scattered around the parallel Earth. He also has his grandmother, abusive though she is, alive in this world. I’m not sure when he is planning on fitting in fixing the carpet on his gran’s stair with his Cyberman hunting duties, but I’m sure he’ll manage somehow. He will always be second fiddle to the Doctor and Rose show, but here in his alternate reality he can make something of himself. Too bad he couldn’t find the courage to forge a new identity in his own.

All in all an exciting, thrilling, and emotive story that successfully revives the Cybermen for a new Doctor Who age.

Here’s hoping this reaches you, Gary, in whatever alternate reality you now dwell . . .