When I reviewed City of Death, I was perhaps a little over the top. But actually, when you come across the episode City of Death, it is a perfect combination of humour, location and aliens. Silver Nemesis is an upgraded version.
Silver Nemesis is fantastic. It’s a showcase of what Doctor Who can do and what it is, and it makes you wonder why the show was cancelled when we can have fantastic episodes like this. Everything is fantastic about it. Yes there are a few boring scenes, but these are soon forgotten as we uncover a clever story which is clever portrayed.
The story and plot itself is simple, despite the fact it comes across in the normal complicated way that most McCoy stories do. Three things are searching for a statue called Nemesis which the Doctor launched into space years ago. He didn’t realise it was going to crash into Earth. But anyway, it does and so people are looking for it. The Cybermen, who want it to possess ultimate power, and so they need the Statue, the Bow AND the Arrow to get its power. The neo-Nazis, who have the bow but need the other things, and then Lady Peinforte and Richard, who have the arrow but not the bow, and perhaps want the Nemesis most of all. From that point it’s a simple chase to get it. People are moving all over the place to try and get it, the Cybermen land, the neo-Nazis arrive and Lady Peinforte and Richard time travel.
The story comes across in all kinds of interesting ways. I have to say, the thing that makes me love this episode most of all, is the part 1 cliffhanger. It’s amazing. Neo-Nazis are about to shoot, then a huge spaceship lands and you can see these figures stepping out. The wind blows through everybody’s hair and the Doctor does his “riding a motorbike” face and pose. Then we see then. The Cybermen are shining, they shine, the sun bounces off them. They look magnificent. Magnificent. So, we have the WHAT ARE THEY? and then the Doctor saying “CYBERMEN.” And it is a fantastic cliffhanger, I love it.
Then Part 2 goes a bit slower, with people trying to get to the Nemesis and we maybe encounter the most boring parts. But it still has the kind of things we need, the humour and the aliens, and just the feel of Doctor Who. Then the cliffhanger of Part 2. I was shocked. CYBER WARSHIPS! LOADS OF THEM! It is a fantastic cliffhanger, just seeing all of the warships, and in a day when they were quite boring looking model shots, the effect comes across perfectly.
Part 3 is immense. Apart from the turn-taking to get the Nemesis at the end of the episode, it is fantastic. Though even the turn-taking is good, because it finally brings people together and it gives the Doctor and Ace a purpose. Yes they’ve always had a purpose throughout the story, but this makes them the umpire of what seems like a very long Tennis Match, with the equipment changing hands constantly. Part 3 has moments which puts Remembrance to shame. It has the EPIC chase scene with the Cybermen, and it is epic. Ace is using the slingshot to fire the gold coins, and the Cybermen are shooting everywhere, while Ace charges across the abandoned car park, and then there’s the fantastically clever bit on the balcony. The clever shots with the TARDIS below, the clever way to get out of the problem with three Cybermen and then when the Cyberman falls from the balcony, it’s all epic. It then calms down, and perhaps the moment where the Doctor gives the Cybermen what they want is ruined, because the Doctor has explained (or near enough) what Nemesis is going to do beforehand. So we know that whatever happens, the Cybermen will still be destroyed. It needed more mystery, more suspense.
The actual episode contains fantastic scenes, excellent humour, and is a brilliant use of explosions and EPIC! battles. It is showing what a Doctor Who episode can do, and despite the travelling round and in some places drawn-out plot, the episode is brilliant. It is a showcase of Doctor Who and the travelling round and drawn-out plot allows us to celebrate Who further. But the bits which are just fantastic, and I mean fantastic, show off Doctor Who brilliantly, and the episode is really really amazing for the most of it.
The characters are fantastic as well. While the reason the Doctor is so mysterious isn’t the same reason that was developed in later episodes, the way he is mysterious and the big mystery of Doctor Who really works quite well. Ace is fantastic as always, and the scene where she discusses ‘chickening out’ of confronting the Cybermen is perfect. The big chase scene also shows just how good Ace is as a companion.
The other characters are maybe slightly exaggerated but it wouldn’t be Doctor Who without characters like this. The way we have three types of people going after the Nemesis, and yet in the end it of course picks the Doctor, is perfect and is perfectly Doctor Who. There are similarities between the three groups, it is a fantastic idea with the three groups.
So with FANTASTIC scenes, FANTASTIC battles, FANTASTIC monsters, FANTASTIC comedy and with a Doctor Who plot that is full of FANTASTIC Doctor Who stuff, I can confirm that the episode is fantastic. It’s brilliant work and it all looks really good, refined and it is the ultimate showcase of 80s Doctor Who. Fantastic work, and one of my favourite episodes.
NEXT TIME – Who knows?
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