Doctor Who: The Tenth Planet

The Tenth Planet is the second serial of the fourth season in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 8 to 29 October 1966.

It was William Hartnell’s last regular appearance as the First Doctor, and the first story to feature the process later termed regeneration, whereby the lead character, The Doctor, undergoes a transformation into a new physical form. Patrick Troughton makes his first, uncredited appearance as the Second Doctor.

The Doctor and his companions Ben and Polly arrive in the TARDIS at the South Pole in 1986, and are taken to the Snowcap Base, a space tracking station commanded by General Cutler. The base is supervising the mission of the Zeus IV spaceship, running a routine probe on the Earth’s atmosphere.

The spaceship is drawn off-course by an unknown force, and Snowcap monitoring staff discover a new, unknown planet approaching Earth. Recognising identical landmasses to those of Earth, the Doctor reveals that this is Mondas, the Earth’s long-lost twin planet, and that its inhabitants will soon be visiting Earth.

A mysterious spaceship lands in the snow and three robotic creatures emerge, kill the guards and infiltrate Snowcap Base, taking control. They reveal that they are Cybermen, a race who, though once like human beings, have gradually replaced their bodies with mechanical parts, and eliminated the “weakness” of emotion from their brains.

The Cybermen prevent the base staff from saving the Zeus IV, and it is destroyed by the gravitational pull of Mondas. The emotionless Cybermen state that the lives of the crew are irrelevant to them. 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.

General Cutler, the Snowcap base personnel and the Doctor’s companions mount a resistance to the Cybermen, overpowering them and killing them with their own cyberweapons. Cutler plans to destroy Mondas using a Z-bomb, one of a series of powerful nuclear bombs that are placed at strategic points around the world, and contacts Space Command HQ in Geneva.

The chief scientist Dr. Barclay expresses concerns that the radiation caused by the exploding planet would cause immense loss of life on Earth, and Ben argues that Mondas might destroy itself anyway when it absorbs too much energy. Suddenly, the Doctor passes out, ill. Faced with dissent, Cutler orders Ben to be imprisoned in a cabin with the Doctor.

Ben escapes and, with the help of Polly and Barclay, sabotages the Z-bomb rocket. Cutler attempts to fire the Z-bomb, but the engines fail on the launchpad. As Cutler threatens to kill Ben, Barclay, and the Doctor, who has regained consciousness, he is killed by a new squadron of Cybermen.

The Doctor, who informs Polly his body is “wearing a bit thin”, and realising that Mondas is approaching destruction, attempts to mediate with the Cybermen, offering them a home on Earth. The Cybermen take Polly and the Doctor back to their spaceship as hostages.

As the Cybermen take over Space Command in Geneva, the Doctor realises that their plan is to destroy the Earth with the remaining Z-bombs, thus saving Mondas. The Cybermen order the humans to disarm the Z-bomb and send Ben, Barclay, Haines and Dyson into the bomb chamber. Ben surmises that the reason the Cybermen send humans to do this work is that the Cybermen are highly susceptible to radiation.

Using radioactive rods from the reactor chamber as a weapon against the Cybermen, Ben and the crew regain control of the base. Just as more Cybermen enter the Tracking Room, Mondas explodes. Disconnected from their power source on Mondas, all the remaining Cybermen die. Geneva Space Command contacts the base to announce that the Cyberman threat has ended. Ben frees the Doctor and Polly from the Cybermen’s spaceship.

The Doctor, who uncharacteristically has lost his sense of humour, says “it’s far from being all over” and abruptly departs for the TARDIS. Ben and Polly find the TARDIS in the snow; though weak, the Doctor gathers enough energy to rescue Polly and Ben. He falls unconscious and transforms into a younger man.

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To view the list of other Doctor Who serials, please click this link

Doctor Who Episode Guides for Sale on Amazon

Step aboard the TARDIS and journey across the universe with every incarnation of The Doctor in this series of unofficial Doctor Who episode companions.

This collection of twelve books explores every televised adventure of the Time Lord’s lives.

Each volume in the series delves into a different Doctor’s era, offering detailed episode guides, behind-the-scenes insights, character profiles, and story synopses.

Once you have clicked the link, choose which book you want, and then whether you want to buy the Kindle (eBook) or Paperback versions.

Previews are available before you buy.

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