Who Reviews The Wheel in Space by Matt Rabjohns

 
The Wheel in Space always seems to be left overshadowed by the three other Cyberman stories of the Patrick Troughton era. One can expect this with the quality of Tomb of the Cybermen and the epic Invasion, but that doesn't mean that The Wheel in Space is a story to forget and pass over. In my book, you want to do the exact opposite with this story. 

The Wheel in Space contains everything that makes a story a classic. First it has an extremely distinctive use of soundscapes and effects that at times are really creepy and they add a huge amount of atmosphere to a claustrophobic story. The moments when the Cybermat pods begin to float away from the Silver Carrier towards the Wheel is enhanced by some great use of space age sound clips that truly gives the feel that this story is set in deep space, where no one can hear you scream! It's a very effective use of sound within this story. 

Secondly The Wheel In Space can't just be overlooked because it is the introductory story of one of the best companions to ever grace the show. Wendy Padbury's Zoe just clicked into place with Pat Troughton and Frazer Hines like she had already been playing the character for a couple of years! She has an amusing cheekiness, but also, she gives her somewhat know all character a streak of pathos in that she has scenes where she admits she wants to feel things to and not stay like a programmed machine. It makes her a believable and really likeable character, despite her sometimes hot-headedness when becoming smug with her advanced knowledge of other things in space. 

Thirdly the rest of the cast of this story is superbly placed. Every character is excellent and they all make the brew heady and engaging. 

In particular, Anne Ridler as Dr Gemma Corwyn is sensitively portrayed. She is a woman displayed with a good sensible head on her shoulders and it is sad that she has to fall victim to the Cybermen later in the story. Her interaction with Michael Turner's Jarvis Bennett too makes you think maybe there could be a relationship there underneath all the uneasy bickering and Jarvis's nervous and reckless state of mind. Michael's performance is never less than credible and believable, so much so that it is also sad to see him finally break and go to find the body of Gemma and he loses his life to a Cyberman whom he tries to tackle with his bare hands! 

There is also a lot of great and playful interaction between Eric Flynn's Leo Ryan and Clare Jenkins' Tanya Lernov. And Tanya also has her head screwed on as she is quick to sense something very very wrong with the situation of when the Wheel locates the Silver Carrier rocket ship. All the main characters seem to be fully formed and work so well together to make it totally believable they are the crew of an advanced space wheel. 

There are frequent superb scenes with the Cybermats too. In Tomb of the Cybermen they were perhaps just a tad cute, but here their eyes are set up to flash, and they look creepy as they home in on the terrified Kemel Rudkin in a brilliantly directed and acted scene where the man is cornered by several of the Mind attacking metal rodents. Honestly Kevork Malikyan's role is very small, but he gives a superb performance of open fear at his dilemma when faced with the nasty metal freaks. It's enough of a brilliant performance to ensure that this is a classic scene if ever there was one. 

The other superb scene is the Doctor's showdown with the two Cybermen in the power room. This is absolutely one of the most awesome scenes of Doctor Who I’ve ever seen, where the Doctor is actually skilfully devious is wheedling out the Cyberman's plan whilst knowing they will soon fall into his electric trap. This scene always will be one of my very favourite scenes of Pat Troughton's Doctor. 

In this story too there is one aspect that makes this story, at least for me, the finest Cyberman story ever on TV in the show. And the reason why is simple. The Cybermen here are mostly silent, they don't talk all the time. For me, the fearful height and look of a blank faced Cybernetic Horror is all the more unsettling when they do not talk much. And in The Wheel In Space there are several scenes where the massive Cybermen slip silently into view and don't speak a word before striking some poor man down. This for me makes the Cybermen far more chilling. Not that their voices in this story too aren't excellent, because they are really brilliant in this story. It's just the tower of a shadowy leviathan with a strange metal parody of a human face is even more freaksville when it is silent and looming. And The Wheel in Space utilised this aspect of creepiness of the Mondasians to perfection. No other Cyberman story ever has them being as downright menacing and formidable as they are here. 

So, in summation, the Wheel in Space is a superb piece of Doctor Who storytelling. It made meander sometimes and get a tad confusing in its scripting in places, but overall, it is extremely strong and a really decent season closer. To me the fifth season of the show couldn't have been ended any finer than it was with The Wheel in Space. 

Top this all off with a phenomenal performance by lead man and best Doctor ever Patrick Troughton and you have all the ingredients of yet another corker of a Cyberman story. Brilliant and wonderful space age stuff.