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Age of Steel Format Reviewed: TV Review Age of Steel brings to a close the Cybermen two-part story of the first series in David Tennants reign as the Doctor. As before, it is played out in an alternative reality on Earth, with different version of the returning characters of Mickey, Jackie and Pete. Again, the Cybermen depicted here are not supposed to be anything to do with Cybermen from the original series, but are effectively a seperate creation in a different, parallel universe. The story sees John Lumic carry on with his plan to create a means to survive, as he is dying. In this, the Cybermen decide to upgrade Lumic, and convert him into a Cyber Controller. The upgrade process is started for the Humnan Race, with ear pieces being used to drive Humans to the upgrade centers where they will become Cybermen. Eventually, Mickey and guest character Jake manage to discover a code that the Doctor uses to turn off the emotional inhibitors in the Cybermen, thus removing them as a threat and everything works out. There are some really nice touches in here with the Cybermen, given that they are not neccessarily what fans of the original series would believe they are. The parts about the emotions needed to be revisited for the new audience of today, and it provided a good solution to the problem. We also see here that in this version the Cybermen are aware of who they were before they were 'upgraded'. This makes for some interesting plot points, but I'm not neccessarily sure I like what was done with this though. In general terms, the story plays out well and is pretty well thought out. It is a little predictable though after going on about emotions for a little to have that be the solution. What I thought was good though was the plot twist with Mickey at the end, a good ploy in my opinion. This story really gives Noel Clarke a chance to shine as Mickey the idiot. Rose has her little cameos with alternative versions of her parents, and the Doctor is naturally present throughout but plays a much less important role than before. Thankfully, Camile Coduri is only briefly in the episode, and I prefer Jackie as presented later on in the show, much less rigid. Shaun Dingwall again proves that he is a good actor, and for me it would have been better for him to have been the lone parent rather than Coduri. Noel Clarke shows a real bit of versatility here in his acting, and he does shine. I think this is possibly playing to his limits, but he really excels here. David Tennant, whilst more of a periphery figure, is again excellent in the role of the Doctor. The guest cast is largely similar to that of the previous episode, given that it is a two-part story, and again they do well. This seems like a good time to talk about the Cybermen in this incarnation. Visually they retain many of their distinctive features, namely the silver look, the handles on the head, teardrop at the eyes etc. but the infamous chest unit is replaced by a trademark logo. Whilst I accept that these are not the Cybermen of Mondas that we know and love and are a creation of John Lumic, I think I actually would have preferred to have a continuation of the original Cybermen and have kept their continuity and history, rather than giving the story of them a free hand to get rid of the Cybermen elements that didn't fit the plot. For example, not once did the Doctor mention gold as a method of stopping the Cybermen, which you'd have thought he might have tried in a close shave. Overall, Age of Steel brings to an end the two-part story reviving one of the most popular monsters in TV sci-fi history, not just in Doctor Who.I am still undecided though whether the changes to the history of the Cybermen, facilitated by the use of a parallel dimension, are a good thing. Generally, I think I would have preferred for most of the history to have been left in. Rating:  |