Writer: David Whitaker
Original Broadcast Date: 27 April 1968 - 1 June 1968
Ninety million miles off course, the silver carrier floats through space, having been missing for nine months. When the Doctor and Jamie land in the ship they discover the crew are missing and the ship empty. Floating into orbit of a nearby wheel, Jamie must act fast before the ship is blown to pieces.
Coming at the end of Season 5, The Wheel in Space is a mixed bag, that boasts great ideas and a decent base-under-siege plot, but definitely lasts two episodes too long.
There is nothing particularly bad about The Wheel in Space other than its pacing. It's actually a pretty decent plot, but it is stretched thin, most notable in the first episode, in which absolutely nothing happens. At all. In fact you could probably skip the whole 25 minutes, and go into episode two with the following knowledge: the Doctor and Jamie land on the Silver Carrier, some people want to blow it up and the Doctor falls ill. Literally nothing else happens. Fortunately the pace picks up (but only ever so slightly) from there.
The Cybermen, now in their fourth appearance, aren't as scary as in their debut, but are an improvement over The Tomb of the Cybermen. The unexpectedness of a certain death had a great effect, making me truly realize the might of the metal men, but other than that, nothing new is presented.
I enjoyed this story most in Episode 3, which reintroduced Troughton after a break from filming, and properly introduced the new companion, Zoe Heriot, who has brilliant chemistry with the Doctor and Jamie, the latter - especially. She is given some great character development in the brilliantly haunting idea based around people being brainwashed into spitting out facts and figures, and forgetting human emotion, which ties in with the Cybermen really rather well.
Cybermen; a companion introduction; a space station; snazzy special effects; and dark undertones: The Wheel in Space has all the ingredients of a brilliant and unforgettable adventure, but is stretched far too thin to make it one.
6/10
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