The Tenth Planet
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2008-07-15T23:17:20Z
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{{Doctorwhobox|
|number=029
|image=[[Image:tenthplanet.jpg|250px]]
|caption=The Cybermen take over the Snowcap base from General Cutler
|serial_name= The Tenth Planet
|show=DW
|type=serial
|doctor=[[William Hartnell]] ([[First Doctor]])<br>[[Patrick Troughton]] ([[Second Doctor]]) (uncredited)
|companion=[[Anneke Wills]] ([[Polly (Doctor Who)|Polly]])
|companion2=[[Michael Craze]] ([[Ben Jackson (Doctor Who)|Ben Jackson]])
|writer=[[Kit Pedler]]<br>[[Gerry Davis (screenwriter)|Gerry Davis]] (episodes 3, 4)
|director=Derek Martinus
|script_editor=Gerry Davis
|producer=[[Innes Lloyd]]
|executive_producer=None
|production_code=DD
|series=[[List of Doctor Who serials#Season 4 (1966-67)|Season 4]]
|length=4 episodes, 25 minutes each
|missing_eps=1 episode (4)
|date=[[October 8]]–[[October 29]], [[1966]]
|preceding=''[[The Smugglers]]''
|following=''[[The Power of the Daleks]]''
|}}
{{two other uses||real "tenth planets"|Tenth planet|fictional "tenth planets"|Outer planets of the Solar System in fiction}}
'''''The Tenth Planet''''' is a [[list of Doctor Who serials|serial]] in the [[United Kingdom|British]] [[science fiction on television|science fiction television]] series ''[[Doctor Who]]'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from [[October 8]] to [[October 29]], [[1966]]. It was [[William Hartnell]]'s last regular appearance as the [[First Doctor]], and the first story to feature the [[Cyberman|Cybermen]]. [[Patrick Troughton]] also makes his first, uncredited appearance as the [[Second Doctor]].
==Synopsis==
It is 1986, and [[Earth]]'s sister planet has come home, bringing with it the emotionless, unstoppable [[Cyberman|Cybermen]]. At the Snowcap base in [[Antarctica]], the invasion begins, but the Cybermen have not reckoned on the [[First Doctor]] and his companions. However, the Doctor's body seems to be wearing a bit thin...
==Plot==
[[Doctor (Doctor Who)|The Doctor]] and his companions [[Ben Jackson (Doctor Who)|Ben]] and [[Polly (Doctor Who)|Polly]] arrive in the [[TARDIS]] at the [[South Pole]] in the year 1986, near the Snowcap base. The base is supervising the mission of the ''Zeus IV'' spaceship, running a routine probe on the [[Earth]]'s atmosphere.
Unusual readings on the spaceship's instruments lead to the discovery of a new planet suddenly approaching Earth. The spaceship begins to experience power losses, and Snowcap personnel begin arrangements to abort its mission.
Back on the base, the Doctor reveals what he knows about the [[tenth planet]]: it is [[Mondas (Doctor Who)|Mondas]], Earth's former sister planet, and its inhabitants will soon be visiting Earth. True to his prediction, three robotic creatures land outside, killing the guards and disguising themselves in the dead men's furs to gain access.
While everyone is distracted by their efforts to land ''Zeus IV'' safely, the creatures are easily able to take over the base. The base personnel and Polly plead with the invaders to allow them to save the lives of the ''Zeus IV'' crew, but the creatures say that their lives are irrelevant to them. They explain that they are [[Cyberman|Cybermen]], who were once like human beings, but gradually replaced their bodies with mechanical parts, including eliminating the "weakness" of [[emotion]] from their [[brain]]s. The Cybermen allow the men to make contact with ''Zeus IV'', but it is too late as the ship is dragged away by Mondas and explodes.
The Cybermen explain that Mondas is absorbing energy from Earth and will soon destroy it. They propose to take humans back to Mondas and turn them into Cybermen.
Ben, who has been imprisoned in the projection room after attempting to kill a Cyberman, rigs up the projector to blind incoming Cybermen, allowing him to steal his guard's weapon and kill him. Sneaking back into the Tracking Room, he hands the cyberweapon to General Cutler, the base commander, who kills the remaining two Cybermen. Cutler contacts Space Command HQ in [[Geneva]] and is informed that they have sent his son on a mission to rescue the doomed ''Zeus IV''.
Cutler decides it is time to take the fight to the Cybermen and decideds to use the powerful Z-bomb to destroy Mondas. Ben argues against using the bomb, saying that Mondas might destroy itself anyway when it absorbs too much energy. The chief scientist at Snowcap, Dr. Barclay, is also concerned, saying that the [[radioactive contamination|radiation]] caused by the exploding planet would cause great loss of life on Earth. Unswayed, Cutler orders Ben to be imprisoned in a cabin with the Doctor, who is unconscious and seemingly ill.
Barclay goes to Ben and tells him how to sabotage the rocket to prevent it from reaching Mondas, but Cutler notices Barclay's absence and catches Ben in the act. Cutler attempts to fire the Z-bomb, but the engines fail on the launchpad thanks to Ben's sabotage. Cutler, enraged, threatens to kill Ben, Barclay, and the Doctor, who has now regained consciousness. Before he can shoot the Doctor, Cutler is killed by the leader of a newly arrived squad of Cybermen.
The Cybermen insist that the rocket pointed at Mondas be dismantled. The Doctor suggests that it would be a good idea to go along with this, and tells the others to play for time, as Mondas cannot take much more energy now. The Cybermen take Polly back to their spaceship as a hostage.
As the Cybermen take over the world, the Doctor realises that their plan is to destroy the Earth with the Z-bombs, thus saving Mondas. He manages to communicate this revelation to Ben and the others over the intercom before the Cybermen take him prisoner. In the radiation room, Ben surmises that the reason why they need to use humans to do this work rather than doing it themselves is that they are highly susceptible to radiation. Barclay suggests using the rods from the reactor chamber as a portable weapon against the Cybermen. This proves successful, allowing Ben, Barclay, and the others to regain control of the base. More Cybermen enter the Tracking Room, but just at that moment Mondas explodes, disabling all the remaining Cybermen.
Cutler's son contacts the base from ''Zeus V'', telling them that his ship is now back to full power, and Geneva tells Barclay that the Cyberman threat has ended all over the world.
Meanwhile, Ben has made his way back to the Cybermen's ship to rescue the Doctor and Polly. The Doctor appears to be very ill and confused and makes his way back to the TARDIS. Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor falls to the floor, and before the astonished eyes of his companions, he [[Regeneration (Doctor Who)|transforms]] into a younger man.
==Cast==
*[[First Doctor|The Doctor]]: [[William Hartnell]] and [[Patrick Troughton]] (Episode 4 only.)
*[[Polly (Doctor Who)|Polly]] — [[Anneke Wills]]
*[[Ben Jackson (Doctor Who)|Ben]] — [[Michael Craze]]
*General Cutler — [[Robert Beatty]]
*Barclay — [[David Dodimead]]
*Dyson — [[Dudley Jones]]
*Schultz — [[Alan White (actor)|Alan White]]
*Williams — [[Earl Cameron (actor)|Earl Cameron]]
*Terry Cutler — [[Callen Angelo]]
*American Sergeant — [[John Brandon]]
*Tito — [[Shane Sheldon]]
*Wigner — [[Steve Plytas]]
*Radar Technician — [[Christopher Matthews (actor)|Christopher Matthews]]
*Geneva Technician — [[Ellen Culler]]
*R/T Technician — [[Christopher Dunham]]
*TV Announcer — [[Glenn Beck (actor)|Glenn Beck]]
*Cybermen Voices — [[Roy Skelton]], [[Peter Hawkins]]
*Cybermen — [[Harry Brooks (actor)|Harry Brooks]], [[Reg Whitehead]], [[Gregg Palmer]]
===Cast notes===
*[[Patrick Troughton]] appears in the final episode, uncredited, as the new Doctor.
*William Hartnell would reprise the role of the First Doctor on only one occasion: the tenth anniversary serial ''[[The Three Doctors]]'', although a clip of him would be seen briefly at the start of Troughton's first serial, ''[[Power of the Daleks]]'', as well as at the beginning of the 20th anniversary special, ''[[The Five Doctors]]'' (where [[Richard Hurndall]] would play the First Doctor during most of the episode).
==Continuity==
*The [[Sixth Doctor]] serial, ''[[Attack of the Cybermen]]'', takes place in 1985, a year before the events of ''The Tenth Planet''.
*Ben and Polly, having returned to their own lives in 1966, meet again in 1986 to sit through the same events in the [[Doctor Who spin-offs|spin-off]] short story "[[BBC Short Trips#Short Trips|Mondas Passing]]" by Paul Grice.
===Regeneration===
{{main|Regeneration (Doctor Who)}}
[[Image:10thplanet.jpg|thumb|250px|right|The First Doctor collapses prior to his regeneration]]
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Regen1.gif|thumb|Colourised version of the regeneration]] -->
While the Doctor regenerates at the end of this story, the process was unnamed. In the subsequent programme, ''[[The Power of the Daleks]]'', the Doctor stated that he had been "renewed", implying a restoration of youth rather than a change of body. The concept was not called "regeneration" until ''[[Planet of the Spiders]]''. (The Doctor would again use the term "renewal" as a synonym for "regeneration" in ''[[The Twin Dilemma]]''.)
Script Editor Gerry Davis later stated that it was intended for the energy drain from Mondas to be the cause of the regeneration, but that it didn't come across clearly on screen.
==Production==
{{DoctorWhoEpisodeHead
|Archive=Y
|
{{DoctorWhoEpisodeBody|Episode 1|08 Oct 1966|23'08""|5.5|16mm t/r|Archive=y}}<!--29-->
{{DoctorWhoEpisodeBody|Episode 2|15 Oct 1966|23'15""|6.4|16mm t/r|Archive=y}}<!--29-->
{{DoctorWhoEpisodeBody|Episode 3|22 Oct 1966|23'31"|7.6|16mm t/r|Archive=y}}<!--29-->
{{DoctorWhoEpisodeBody|Episode 4|29 Oct 1966|24'02"|7.5|Archive=y|Fragment=y}}<!--29-->
}}
*In the opening credits for the first episode, Kit Pedler is incorrectly identified as "Kitt Pedler". In the opening credits for the third episode, Gerry Davis is incorrectly identified as "Gerry Davies."
*William Hartnell did not appear in the third episode. On the Monday before the programme was due to be recorded, he sent a telegram to the production team informing them that he was too ill to work. Gerry Davis rewrote the script to explain the Doctor's absence (his sudden collapse) and gave his dialogue to other characters, most noticeably Ben. This was not as much of an interruption to the episode's production as it would seem, as all four episodes had been written so that Hartnell would have relatively little to do in case of just such an event.
*The First Doctor's last words were originally scripted as something similar to "No... no, I simply will not give in!" Time was running short towards the end of production, and director [[Derek Martinus]] opted not to record the line, wanting to ensure that the regeneration sequence was recorded as well as possible. As a result, the First Doctor's last words were simply "Yes, that's good, keep warm."
*All four episodes of this story feature a specially designed graphics sequence used for the opening titles and closing credits. Designed by Bernard Lodge, they were intended to resemble a computer print-out.
===Missing episodes===
The last episode of this serial is [[Doctor Who missing episodes|missing]]. It is possibly the most sought-after of the missing episodes, because it contains the historic first regeneration scene (even though a low-quality, truncated copy of this sequence survives and is held in the BBC Archives), and also because it is William Hartnell's final episode. In fact, it is included in a list of the ten most wanted missing programmes, alongside the BBC studio footage from the [[Apollo 11]] landings (which is currently held only in soundtrack form).
Popular myth has it that the only surviving [[telerecording]] copy of the fourth episode was lost when loaned out to the children's programme ''[[Blue Peter]]'' in 1973 when they wished to use a clip from it in a feature on the tenth anniversary of ''Doctor Who''. Although a print of ''[[The Daleks' Master Plan]]'' Episode 4 ("The Traitors") was loaned to ''Blue Peter'' and not returned to the BBC Film Library, there was never a copy of ''The Tenth Planet'' Episode 4 there to have been loaned. Another department – [[BBC Worldwide|BBC Enterprises]] – was still offering all four episodes for sale to foreign broadcasters until the end of the following year and would not, in any case, have loaned out master negatives.
In 1992, a man named Roger K. Barrett (later revealed to be an alias) claimed to have a videotape recording of episode four of this story, and offered to sell it to the BBC. Before this was revealed as a hoax, the BBC produced a special introduction for an intended VHS release of the story, hosted by [[Michael Craze]]; two versions of which were filmed: one explaining that episode four was still missing, the other introducing the story as if it were complete.
==Outside references==
The song "Among The Cybermen" by [[GZR|G/Z/R]] (a band formed by former [[Black Sabbath]] bassist [[Geezer Butler]]) from their 1997 album ''[[Black Science]]'' was originally about the "death" of the First Doctor in ''The Tenth Planet''. The original chorus was "Doctor Who lies dead among the Cybermen".
==In print==
{{Doctorwhobook|
|title=Doctor Who and the Tenth Planet
|series=[[List of Doctor Who novelisations|Target novelisations]]
|number=62
|featuring=
|cover=Doctor Who and the Tenth Planet.jpg
|writer=[[Gerry Davis (screenwriter)|Gerry Davis]]
|publisher=[[Target Books]]
|coverartist=[[Chris Achilleos]]
|isbn=ISBN 0 426 11068 4
|set_between=
|pages=
|date=19 February 1976
|preceding=[[Invasion of the Dinosaurs#In print|Doctor Who and the Dinosaur Invasion]]
|following=[[The Ice Warriors#In print|Doctor Who and the Ice Warriors]]
|}}
A novelisation of this serial, written by [[Gerry Davis (screenwriter)|Gerry Davis]], was published by [[Target Books]] in February 1976. It was the first Hartnell-era serial novelisation to be commissioned by Target, and the first new adaptation of a Hartnell adventure to be published in nearly ten years. It would take until 1990 for the complete First Doctor era to be novelised.
The novelisation largely follows the original script and so places the action in the year 2000 as well as restoring the Doctor to the third episode.
==Broadcast, CD, VHS and DVD releases==
*The story was eventually released on [[VHS]] in 2000 from BBC Video, with the fourth episode reconstructed by the [[Doctor Who Restoration Team]] using still photos, existing clips and the surviving audio soundtrack.
*The existing clips from the missing final episode – 8 mm film recordings made by fans – were included in the [[DVD]] release ''[[Lost in Time (Doctor Who)|Lost in Time]]'' in 2004.
*The soundtracks for ''The Tenth Planet'' and ''[[The Invasion (Doctor Who)|The Invasion]]'', put together from fan-made recordings, along with a bonus disc, ''The Origins of the Cybermen'', an audio essay by Cyberman actor [[David Banks]], were released on CD in a collector's tin called ''Doctor Who: Cybermen''.
*A [[Dr Who - Music from the Tenth Planet|CD of stock music]] used in this serial was released in 2000.
The only surviving clip of the regeneration was released as a special feature on The Three Doctors DVD release.
==External links==
*{{BBCCDW|id=tenthplanet|title=The Tenth Planet}}
*{{Brief |id=dd | title=The Tenth Planet}}
*{{Doctor Who RG | id=who_2d | title=The Tenth Planet}}
===Reviews===
*{{OG review | id=dd | title=The Tenth Planet}}
*{{DWRG | id=tent | title=The Tenth Planet}}
*[http://www.whoniverse.org/reviews/DD.php The Whoniverse's review on ''The Tenth Planet'']
===Target novelisation===
*{{DWRG | id=tentnov | title=Doctor Who and the Tenth Planet}}
*[http://www.personal.leeds.ac.uk/~ecl6nb/OnTarget/1976/tenth/76tenth.htm On Target — ''Doctor Who and the Tenth Planet'']
{{Doctor Who (season 4)}}
{{Cybermen Stories}}
{{Regeneration Stories}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tenth Planet, The}}
[[Category:First Doctor serials]]
[[Category:Doctor Who missing episodes]]
[[Category:Cybermen television stories]]
[[Category:1966 television episodes]]
[[vo:Planet Degid]]