Doctor Who: Revenge of the Cybermen

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Revenge of the Cybermen is the fifth and final serial of Doctor Who Season 12, originally broadcast in four episodes from 19 April to 10 May 1975. It was written by Gerry Davis and directed by Michael E. Briant. It stars Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith, Ian Marter as Harry Sullivan, and Christopher Robbie as the Cyber-Leader.

Returning to Nerva Beacon, the Doctor and his friends find a deadly “plague” and a secret plot that leads to Voga, the planet of gold: the Cybermen’s great weakness. With a human traitor working from inside the station and Vogan factions fighting underground, the Cybermen plan revenge by turning the Doctor’s party into living bombs. The Doctor races between space and tunnels to uncover the truth, stop the sabotage, and prevent the destruction of both the beacon and Voga, showing his sharp wit and courage as his new era continues.

The story is notable for being the first Cybermen serial in nearly seven years, following The Invasion (1968). It was also the first serial to be released on VHS, making it historically significant for fans and collectors.

Episode 1

The Doctor, Sarah, and Harry arrive back at Nerva (now a lonely navigation beacon orbiting Jupiter) and step into a crisis. Crewmen lie dead with blackened veins, and Commander Stevenson and Lieutenant Lester whisper about a “space plague” that kills within hours. A shifty exographer, Kellman, keeps to his locked cabin and “studies” asteroid charts.

The Doctor notices odd burn marks and glittering dust, and guesses this isn’t disease at all. A Cybermat slithers through the ducts and strikes; Sarah collapses, veins flushing gold. The Doctor smashes the creature and realises its bite delivers a toxin filtered from local ore. He gambles on a cure: purge Sarah’s blood by putting her through the station’s transmat, but Kellman has sabotaged the system and tapped it to an asteroid that should not exist: Voga, the hidden “planet of gold.”

As the Doctor jury-rigs a bypass, Sarah flickers on the pad between life and death. Kellman quietly signals someone beyond Jupiter and orders a service robot to tamper with life support. The Doctor forces the transmat to fire; Sarah reappears, gasping, colour returning. Relief lasts seconds. A signal alarm screams from the long-range scanner. Something massive is decelerating toward Nerva on a direct interception course: and Stevenson breathes the name “Cybermen.”

Episode 2

The Doctor exposes Kellman’s secret link to the asteroid and his planted Cybermat, but the traitor plays dumb and slithers free of every accusation. Sarah and Harry test the repaired transmat and are snatched away to Voga’s caverns, where armoured Vogans emerge with crossbows and distrust.

Two factions clash under the rock: Vorus, a hard-eyed idealist building a sky-rocket to destroy any Cyber ship that comes, and Tyrum, a cautious elder who wants the tunnels sealed and contact with space ended. On Nerva, a sleek Cyber ship locks on and disgorges a boarding party led by an implacable Cyber Leader. The “plague” panic is brushed aside; this is a purge. Stevenson and Lester are disarmed. The Doctor is forced to demonstrate the transmat and admits it reaches Voga.

That name chills the Cybermen: legendary world of gold, the metal that clogs their systems and once shattered their fleet. They resolve to erase it forever. On Voga, Sarah and Harry are marched at arrowpoint through glittering galleries as Vorus hisses to his lieutenant that Kellman delivered the beacon exactly as planned; now they must lure the Cybermen closer. Back on Nerva, steel boots ring on the deck as the Cybermen seize the control room and turn their black-eyed gaze on the Doctor.

Episode 3

The Cybermen convert Nerva into a staging post for genocide. They strap explosive belts to the Doctor, Stevenson, and Lester and order them to transmat to Voga to plant the charges in key junctions. If the humans disobey, the belts will be detonated remotely. Kellman, suddenly confident, tries to bargain for safe passage; the Cybermen coldly use him as a guide, then keep him under guard. On Voga, Sarah and Harry slip between factions. Tyrum’s men speak of survival; Vorus dreams of revenge with his rocket (Sky Striker) waiting on a launch cradle. The travellers reunite briefly in the labyrinth before the Doctor is herded away by his Cyber escort. He quietly tests the bomb controls and learns the trigger is proximity; defusing them will need nerve and timing.

Kellman reveals his double game (that he lured the Cybermen in so Vorus’s rocket could annihilate them) but the plan is slipping from everyone’s grasp. In the tunnels, the Doctor leads the bomb team along an alternative route, baiting the Cybermen into a narrow choke point. On the surface, Vorus orders the rocket primed against Tyrum’s pleas. The cliffhanger tightens in the dark: the Doctor inches a hand toward the belt’s release while a Cyberman raises its weapon behind him.

Episode 4

The Doctor lunges, frees his detonator, and shoves it into a crevice as the Cybermen open fire. Lester, grim and steady, stays behind and manually blows his own charge, obliterating the pursuing Cyber squad and giving the others a chance to run. Above, Vorus launches Sky Striker; Tyrum’s guards storm the gantry and a shot cuts Vorus down even as the rocket streaks skyward.

On Nerva, the Cyber Leader prepares to steer his ship in close and obliterate Voga with nuclear charges if the ground bombs fail. The Doctor fights back up through the tunnels with Stevenson, scrambling for the transmat control to retarget the rocket. Sarah and Harry dodge cave-ins and finally reach the beacon pad. The Doctor beams aboard, baits the Cybermen into a crossfire, and hurls a coil into their control to jam transmissions.

With seconds left, he slews the rocket off Voga and onto the departing Cyber ship. A distant flare blossoms in Jupiter’s shadow; the Cybermen are wiped from the sky. Voga stabilises; Tyrum orders the tunnels opened to hope. On Nerva, the dead are counted, and Stevenson thanks the travellers with quiet, exhausted respect. The Doctor restores the beacon, beckons his friends to the transmat, and vanishes toward their waiting TARDIS.

Themes

As a season capstone and coda to the Nerva arc, Revenge of the Cybermen delivers glossy menace and sturdy adventure, even if it never matches the sinewy dread of The Ark in Space or the moral thunder of Genesis of the Daleks. Tom Baker is fully settled, the Cybermen regain a chilling austerity, and Nerva’s steel corridors hum with atmosphere.

The Vogans’ politicking sometimes blunts the pace, but the set-pieces and momentum keep it engaging. In the grand tally of the era, it lands as a confident mid-tier entry. It is less essential than Pyramids of Mars, sharper and more cinematic than Robot, and a welcome chance to see a classic foe reimagined.

In continuity terms, the story ties threads neatly: the time ring from Genesis of the Daleks returns the TARDIS team to Nerva, closing the loop begun in The Ark in Space and the detour through The Sontaran Experiment. It nods back to Cyber-legends like The Moonbase, The Tomb of the Cybermen, and The Invasion, while introducing the gold vulnerability that will echo through Earthshock, Attack of the Cybermen, and Silver Nemesis.

As the Doctor, Sarah Jane, and Harry depart for twentieth-century Earth, the series pivots toward the looming folk-horror of Terror of the Zygons. By its final fade, Revenge of the Cybermen has done its job: it closes one arc, rekindles an old enemy, and points the way to darker, grander canvases ahead.

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This is a chapter from Craig Hill’s book “Doctor Who – The Fourth Doctor”, chronicling every episode featuring the Fourth Doctor. It is available on Amazon.

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

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