TV.com

Doctor Who Season 2 Episode 6

The Age of Steel (2)

Favorite

Watched It I've Watched This 2

Next
Episode Previous
Episode

8.7

User Rating

456 votes

Your Rating: 10
Your Rating: 9.5
Your Rating: 9
Your Rating: 8.5
Your Rating: 8
Your Rating: 7.5
Your Rating: 7
Your Rating: 6.5
Your Rating: 6
Your Rating: 5.5
Your Rating: 5
Your Rating: 4.5
Your Rating: 4
Your Rating: 3.5
Your Rating: 3
Your Rating: 2.5
Your Rating: 2
Your Rating: 1.5
Your Rating: 1

Rate Now

EPISODE REVIEWS
By TV.com Users

Write A Review

Episode Summary

EDIT

Free Trial / Subscription

VUDU

Buy

AIRED: 5/20/06

Location: A parallel Earth Date: 1st/2nd February 2007 Enemy: John Lumic/Cyber-Controller/The Cybermen The Cybermen are taking over the world. Can the Doctor save this Earth from the Cybermen?

FAN RECAP

Fan Episode Reviews (20)

The Age of Steel

10

By TrueTvWatcher, Oct 26, 2012

The Age of Steel was another perfect and very entertaining episode of Doctor Who. I really enjoyed watching because the story was intriguing, fun, and over all awesome. It was great watching The Cyber Men rise and take over humanity. I enjoyed the origin story of The Cyber Men and it was interesting to see the humans behind what was happening. I liked the action, drama, intrigue and character conflicts. I liked how every thing played out and look forward to watching what happens next!!!!!!!!!moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
1 0

Flag
Share Hide
This episode stands out as being different from the rest.

7.6

By ben-the-hen, Aug 23, 2008

This episode stands out as being different from the rest even though it's a two-parter. It drives away from the normal stereotype of a Dr Who episode and shocks you quite a lot.

It is fairly clever in the way they defeat the cybermen. It is also quite spectacular in the way that they defeat the CyberLeader.

It isn;t the best episode so far, and the acting is a bit weak but at least it wasn't the worst episode.

7.6 is a reasonale score, the worst Dr Who episode (Boom Town) I would give a 6.1.

All in all a fair episode by Dr Who standards.moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
2 1

Flag
Share Hide
good, and intresting

6.9

By vbkzlfie, Jul 14, 2008

"Where's Mickey?"

"He's gone home."

Much as it was back in the Hartnell days, in the new series episodes have not only an individual title but also an individual identity. Unmistakably Part 2 of 2, "The Age of Steel" is the action-packed follow-up to last week's "Rise of the Cybermen", but it is also a very different animal. The Cybermen are no longer 'rising,' they are here. We know there are two Mickeys. We know about their Gran and about Pete Tyler being alive in this universe. "Rise of the Cybermen" set the pieces up, "The Age of Steel" knocks 'em down. And what's more, it does it in style.

I found the episode's opening hilarious – after all that hype and all that build up the Doctor just uses that TARDIS battery or whatever it was to disable the marauding Cybermen closing in for the kill. What a cop out! It makes the sonic screwdriver look like a sophisticated plot device! Still, I couldn't really complain as within moments all our heroes were aboard their "Scooby Doo" van and things were really starting to kick off. As with last week the surprises kept on coming, although unlike last week, I was quite disappointed them. Having Pete turn out to be the Preachers' informant, working against Lumic, seemed like a bit of an easy way to get Pete over with the audience. I preferred him as an ordinary, money-grabbing Del Boy – a wide boy, but a wide boy with his heart in the right place. Moreover, having Ricky turn out to be London's Most Wanted "for parking tickets" was equally disappointing, especially considering Noel Clarke's intense performance in the previous episode. I have to admit that a few minutes into "The Age of Steel" I was losing faith… and then it happened. Just like that, he's dead. "Who?" I hear you ask. Exactly!

I guess I was being a bit daft for thinking that they might kill Mickey off, but considering how some companions have fared in previous Cybermen stories it isn't unprecedented! When I saw Noel Clarke running down that road, I really didn't know whether it was Mickey or Ricky that had been 'deleted' by the Cybermen. Thankfully, Mickey hadn't 'done an Adric' and from that point on we were treated to one of the most nail biting, edge-of-the-seat Doctor Who episodes ever.

The design and cinematography on this episode is outstanding. "Rise of the Cybermen" was set primarily in daylight with night only falling as the Cybermen rose, and although last week's visuals were technically more impressive, I found "The Age of Steel"'s darker, grittier look much more appealing. The Zeppelin hovering above Battersea Power Station is a particularly powerful image; it looked like something torn out of the pages of a graphic novel. Even more disturbing were the scenes of London's inhabitants willingly walking like cattle into the Power Station; into their doom! As for the Cybercontroller – wow! As it was shot in 1967 most of us can forgive the original, quite feeble Cybercontroller that we met in "The Tomb of the Cybermen," but by 1985 the show's producers should have learned their lesson. A gigantic dome on the top of a normal Cyberman's head looks atrociously bad. A Cyberman with eyes of blazing light and his gigantic brain visible, however, is far more effective. It's a pity that we didn't get to see as much of Roger Lloyd Pack in the flesh this week, but at least we had the consolation of having him voice the Cybercontroller that Lumic is 'upgraded' to.

"Why am I cold? Why so cold? Where's Gareth? He can't see me. It's unlucky the night before."

Ouch. As well as being an episode absolutely crammed full of action, "The Age of Steel" is also a very moving story. The Doctor realises that the key to bringing down these Cybermen is to find that code that deactivates their emotional inhibitor chips, driving them mad with the knowledge of what they have become. Of course, if he did that he would be dishing out immense suffering on what are, at the end of the day, innocent victims. It's an intriguing dilemma, but in the end the Doctor has to save the world – no matter what. The death of the female Cyberman really tugs on those heartstrings – of all the nights to be robbed of her humanity, she became a Cyberman on the eve of her wedding. It's heart breaking. The story of Angela Price – Mrs. Moore – is equally sad. Mrs. Moore didn't do much last week, but in this episode she really gets drawn into the action and enjoys a fantastic adventure alongside the Doctor before her inevitable demise. Characters like this are what really make this new series of Doctor Who so special – they could so easily be written as throwaway parts; red-shirts who you aren't ever really meant to care about; characters that are only in the story so that they can die. When they are written (and portrayed) as well as Mrs. Moore, Clive, Jabe, Gwyneth, Lynda with a 'y' and the like are, we remember each and every one of them, reminding us that it is death – not Rose – that is the Doctor's constant companion and that this life that he leads is wrought with danger.

My money was on Pete for the chop after Ricky bought the bullet, but in retrospect I can see exactly why MacRae killed off the alternate Jackie instead. Not only do we have to see her as a Cyberman – how weird is that? – at the end of the episode we are left with a widowed Jackie in our universe and a widowed Pete in another. Hmmm. In the old Cybermen stories, whenever a character we knew became a Cyberman (Lytton, for example) we never saw them 'finished', for want of a better word. We'd always see their face. Hear their voice. There would always be some clue. "The Age of Steel" comes at things from a completely knew angle – the "which one was it?" angle. We met the Jackie Cyberman, and then she vanished into the crowd and could have been any one of their uniform number. It's one of the most frightening Cyberman scenes ever – forget Star Trek's 'Borg' and the like, the Cyberman represents the complete loss of self. Even your face.

The ending was absolutely fantastic. It was so rewarding to see Mickey absolutely kick ass! He pilots a Zeppelin (all those hours on the Playstation came in handy!), baits a Cyberman, hacks into a computer and saves the world. On top of that, he even demonstrates a different type of courage, standing up to Ricky's friend Jake and refusing to leave without the Doctor, Rose and Pete. And so the idiot saves the world. Of course, the Doctor helps – luckily his spiel about "ordinary, stupid, brilliant people… some idiot…" didn't fall upon deaf ears!

In terms of suspense, you can't beat having the Doctor, Rose and Pete dangling from a Zeppelin over an exploding factory with the Cybercontroller grabbing at their ankles! I was sure Pete was dead, especially when the sonic screwdriver didn't work immediately; it was so, so well done. I also enjoyed the shot of the Cybermen looking in the mirror and letting out a painful, mechanical howl. MacRae did everything right with his script. Doctor Who stalwart Graeme Harper, the first classic series director to return, did everything right and more. As for the actors… there's not a bad performance in there. Tennant, Piper, Pack, Dingwall, Coduri and Helen Griffin (Mrs. Moore) all give 110%, Andrew Hayden Smith (Jake) isn't bad, and Noel Clarke completely steals the show – just as he should if this is indeed his swansong. Somehow though, I doubt we've seen the last of Mickey.

"Dad."

"Just don't."

Or Pete, for that matter. Unable to cope with Rose's revelation that she is his daughter (of sorts), "The Age of Steel" concludes with Pete slipping away into the night, his understated exit overshadowed by the departure of Mickey, who decides to stay behind to look after his Gran and fight the remaining Cybermen from his van.

"Nothing wrong with a van. I once saved the universe with a big yellow truck…"

Out of six episodes this year, half of them have ended on tearjerkers. I have no objection at all to pathos and such 'soap' elements in Doctor Who; I feel that the 'real life' element they bring to the show only add to the magic and somehow make it all much more real. Rose obviously doesn't want to leave Mickey behind because they've been through so much together and probably because subconsciously, he's her backup. "What if I need you?" she selfishly asks him, but the time has come for him to stop playing second fiddle to the Time Lord who turned his life upside down.

"We had something a long time ago, but not anymore."

Gags about the Cybermen's marching sounding like Wallace's "Wrong Trousers" aside, this two-parter has certainly been handled brilliantly by all involved. To be fair, I was never a massive fan of the Cybermen in the classic series, but after a trip on this phenomenal roller coaster ride I cannot wait until they come back. That final shot of the episode, the shooting star or whatever it was… something following in the TARDIS's wake, perhaps? I have a funny feeling that Mickey, Pete and the Cybermen will all be back in our universe before long…

Until then, we'll have to make do with "Gatiss by gaslight…"

It's such hardship being a Doctor Who fan these days!moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
1 3

Flag
Share Hide
Brilliant in every respect.

9.4

By Gardevoir_1993, Mar 31, 2008

The Good: everything not in the bad

The Bad: Mrs. Moore is wasted

Full Review: I missed most of rise of the Cybermen. I was at a wedding and we recorded it but the football ran over. we thought we were missing it but really because of the overtime we could have watched it anyway! That didn't stop us watching the Age of Steel, which is definitely one of the best revived episodes. There is finally a properly co-ordinated plan (that will work) to stop the bad guys, ricky gets obliterated by a small army of Cybermen, Lumic is betrayed by his own henchman (who dies!), it's everything I was waiting to see in an earlier two part story but never got. The only problem was wasting Mrs. Moore. What I saw of rise of the Cybermen protrayed her as a mastermind behind Cybus' destruction (the Preachers being a testimony to that) and for a while it looked like she was going to get to play the hero. Sadly it was not to be and she was sneaked up on and killed. Still, great episode.moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
3 0

Flag
Share Hide
Lumic's Cybermen have arrived and are intent on upgrading the world. Only the Doctor and his allies can stop them, but that means going into the lion's den!

10

By tomtheroadkill, Nov 01, 2007

A brilliant conclusion to the first new Cyberman story. The Cybermen have a much darker (and probably better) beginning to the original Cybermen from Mondas. It also should get people thinking about the future, as it could happen. We could all be Cybermen one of these days (but not just yet, I fancy!) Brilliant look for the Cyber Controller (Lumic), based on the original, but with all the appearances of the new Cyberman. At least, the parallel Jackie gets turned into a Cyberman. I'm being unfair! Jackie's role in Doctor Who tends to be a comical one and people need relief from some of the doom and gloom that can be in episodes. A touching farewell to Mickey, which is one character I believe has grown throughout his past appearances. Probably won't be the same without him! Nice one all around really!moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
3 1

Flag
Share Hide

See All Fan Reviews

Cast & Crew: STARS

EDIT

Billie Piper	Rose Tyler
David Tennant	The Tenth Doctor

See All Cast & Crew

Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

EDIT

Helen Griffin	Mrs. Moore	Guest Star
Andrew Hayden Smith	Jake Simmonds	Guest Star
Roger Lloyd-Pack	John Lumic	Guest Star
Noel Clarke	Mickey	Recurring Role
Camille Coduri	Jackie Tyler	Recurring Role
Nicholas Briggs	Cyber-Voice	Recurring Role

See All Cast & Crew

Watch Online

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

FILTER BY TYPE

TRIVIA (6)
ADD TRIVIA
- The Doctor: I'm sorry. I'm so sorry
  
  This phrase became a recurring theme in Doctor Who and its spin-offs.
  
  *In Dalek Van Statten says it to the Dalek just before it tries to exterminates him.
  *In The Doctor Dances, Nancy says it to Jamie.
  *In Bad Wolf by Lynda when Crosbie is evicted from the house.
  *In New Earth by The Doctor to a diseased 'New Human'.
  * In The Rise of the Cybermen by Mickey Smith to his grandmother's counterpart and again by the President to the Cybermen at the party.
  * In The Age of Steel by The Doctor to the dying Cyberman, Sally Phelan.
  * In The Idiot's Lantern by Mr Magpie to Rose before allowing the Wire to feed on her.
  * In The Impossible Planet by The Doctor after seeing Scooti's body.
  * In Army of Ghosts by the Doctor as he disrupts the signals controlling Adeola, Matt and Gareth.
  * And in the Torchwood episode End of Days, it is spoken by both Bilis Manger and Jack Harkness.
  EDIT SHARE
- Lumic: Excellent. Then let's begin!
  
  The expression 'Excellent' is a reference to the use of the word by the Cyber-Controller character (although Lumic has not yet become the Cyber-Controller at this point) in almost every previous story beginning with the Fourth Doctor episode, Revenge of the Cybermen.
  EDIT SHARE
- At the begining of the episode as the van drives up to rescue the Doctor and the others you can see a row of Cybermen marching toward them in the background. The camera angle changes and suddenly the Cybermen are nowhere to be seen.
  EDIT SHARE
- When The Cyberman is hit by the electro-magnetic bomb, it falls to its knees, then backwards. Yet in the next shot, it is flat on its back, with its leg extended.
  EDIT SHARE
- Reference is made to the episode School Reunion where Mickey refers to himself as "the tin dog", a comparison to K9.
  EDIT SHARE
- Reference is made to the episodes Dalek (Rose mentions seeing a Cyberman head in Van Statten's museum), and Parting of the Ways (Mickey mentions saving the world with a big yellow truck).
  EDIT SHARE
QUOTES (14)
ADD QUOTES
- Rose: You're alive! (hugs Jackie) Oh, Mum, you're alive!
  Jackie: Well, I was the last time I looked. What is it, what's happened, sweetheart? What's wrong? Where did you go?
  The Doctor: Far away. That was... far away.
  Jackie: Where's Mickey?
  The Doctor: He's gone home.
  EDIT SHARE
- The Doctor: (Speaking to a disabled Cyberman) Can you remember your name?
  Cyberman: Sally. Sally Phelan.
  Mrs. Moore: You're a woman.
  Cyberman: Where's Gareth?
  Mrs. Moore: Who's Gareth?
  Cyberman: He can't see me. It's unlucky - the night before.
  Mrs. Moore: You're getting married?
  Cyberman: I'm cold. I'm so cold.
  The Doctor: It's all right. You sleep now, Sally. Just go to sleep. (The Doctor uses the Sonic Screwdriver on the emotional inhibitor and the Cyberman's power dies...)
  EDIT SHARE
- Cyber Controller: You are proud of your emotions?
  The Doctor: h yes.
  Cyber Controller: Then tell me, Doctor, have you known grief and rage and pain?
  The Doctor: Yes. Yes, I have.
  Cyber Controller: And they hurt?
  The Doctor: Oh yes.
  Cyber Controller: I can set you free. Would you not want that? A life without pain?
  The Doctor: You might as well kill me.
  Cyber Controller: Then I take that option.
  The Doctor: It's not yours to take; you're a Cyber Controller, you don't control me or anything with blood in it's heart!
  EDIT SHARE
- Cyber Controller: I will bring peace to the world. Everlasting peace. And unity. And uniformity.
  The Doctor: And imagination? What about that? The one thing that led you here. Imagination? You're killing it dead.
  Cyber Controller: What is your name?
  The Doctor: I'm the Doctor.
  Cyber Controller: A redundant title. Doctors need not exist. Cybermen never sicken.
  The Doctor: But that's it! That's exactly the point! Oh, Lumic, you're a clever man. I'd call you a genius, except I'm in the room… but everything you've invented you did to fight your sickness. And that's brilliant. That is so human. But once you get rid of sickness and mortality, then what's there to strive for? Eh? The Cybermen won't advance. You'll just stop. You'll stay like this forever. A metal Earth with metal men and metal thoughts. Lacking the one thing that makes this planet so alive. People. Ordinary, stupid, brilliant people!
  EDIT SHARE
- The Doctor: That's the key. The emotional inhibitor. If we can find the code behind it, the cancellation code, then feed it throughout the system, into every Cyberman's head, they'd realise what they are.
  Mrs. Moore: And what happens then?
  The Doctor: I think it would kill them. (pause) Can we do that?
  Mrs. Moore: We've got to. Before they kill everyone else. There's no choice, Doctor. It's got to be done.
  EDIT SHARE
- Mickey: You're just making this up as you go along!
  The Doctor: Yep. But I do it brilliantly.
  EDIT SHARE
- John Lumic: My everlasting children. Tell me, how does it feel?
  Cyberman: We feel nothing.
  John Lumic: But in your mind, what do you think?
  Cyberman: We think the same. We are uniform.
  John Lumic: But you think of what?
  Cyberman: We think of the humans. We think of their difference and their pain. They suffer in the skin. They must be upgraded.
  EDIT SHARE
- Mickey: The Preachers know what they're doing. Ricky said he's London's most wanted.
  Ricky Smith: Yeah, that's not exactly…
  Mickey: Not exactly what?
  Ricky Smith: I'm London's most wanted… for parking tickets.
  EDIT SHARE
- The Doctor: How did you get in to this, then? Rattling along with the Preachers?
  Mrs. Moore: I used to be ordinary. Worked at Cybus Industries nine to five. Till one day I find something I'm not supposed to. A file on the mainframe. All I did was read it. Then suddenly I've got men with guns knocking in the middle of the night. A life on the run. Then I found the Preachers. They needed a techie so I just sat down and taught myself everything.
  EDIT SHARE
- Mickey: I know it's not easy with my face looking exactly like Ricky. But I'm a different man. I'm not replacing him. But we can remember him by fighting in his name. (Jake nods) With all those Cyber factories out there, do you think there'd be one in Paris?
  Jake Simmonds: Yeah.
  Mickey: Then let's go liberate Paris.
  Jake Simmonds: What, you and me? In a van?
  Mickey: Nothing wrong with a van. I once saved the universe with a big yellow truck.
  EDIT SHARE
- Peter Tyler: Who are you?
  Rose: It's like you say. Imagine there are different worlds. Parallel worlds. Worlds with another Pete Tyler, Jackie Tyler still alive and their daughter.
  EDIT SHARE
- Cyber Controller: This is the Age of Steel and I am it's creator.
  EDIT SHARE
- The Doctor: Good luck. Mickey the idiot.
  EDIT SHARE
- Peter Tyler: Encrypted wavelength 657 using binary 9. That's the only reason I am working for Lumic, to get information. I thought I was broadcasting to the security services, what do I get? Scooby Doo and his gang. They even got the van!
  EDIT SHARE
NOTES (7)
ADD NOTES
- International Airdates:
  Turkey: August 15, 2010 on CNBC-e
  EDIT SHARE
- As with Part 1, Marc Platt receives a "With thanks to" credit. Platt wrote the script for the Doctor Who audio, Spare Parts, which provided much of the inspiration for this episode.
  EDIT SHARE
- The only significant edit made to this episode was the removal of a line confirming that Ricky and Jake had been lovers, as part of the sequence of Mickey promising not to try to take his counterpart's place.
  EDIT SHARE
- Footage from Rose, most specifically, the destruction of the Nestene Consciousness was reused as part of the destruction of the Battersea Cyber-conversion facility.
  EDIT SHARE
- This episode is the first time since Attack of the Cybermen that gold has not been used as a weapon against the Cybermen. The Cybus Industries tie-in site makes reference to earlier prototypes having an allergy to gold, stating that this was eliminated after further improvements of the Cyberman body.
  EDIT SHARE
- At one point, the Doctor orders everyone to split up so that Lumic's Cyber processing centre can be broken into most effectively. He says this is so everyone can find a way in, either "above, between, below." This could be a reference to The Five Doctors because the 2nd Doctor recites a poem on how to enter the Tower Of Rassilon that uses the same phrase in it.
  EDIT SHARE
- The final viewing figure for the BBC One airing of this episode was 7.63 million.
  EDIT SHARE
ALLUSIONS (7)
ADD ALLUSIONS
- Mickey: What? Stay ou' o' trouble, be the tin dog? No, those days are over.
  
  A reference to K-9 and School Reunion earlier this season, wherein Mickey realises he's the comic sidekick in the group dynamic.
  EDIT SHARE
- Mickey: Nothing wrong wi' a van. I once saved the universe wi' a biiig yellow truck.
  
  A reference to Mickey's use of the tow truck to gain access to the TARDIS's core at the end of the first season.
  EDIT SHARE
- Peter Tyler: Encrypted wavelength 657.
  
  BBC Radio Wales is broadcasting on frequency 657 kHz. Doctor Who is produced by BBC Wales.
  EDIT SHARE
- The Doctor: Give people their minds back. So they don't walk into that place like sheep.
  
  The marching of thousands of pod-controlled Londoners to Battersea echoes the song 'Sheep' by Pink Floyd from their album Animals, where the sheep obediently walk into a valley of steel to be butchered. The album cover features an image of Battersea Power Station, with a pig floating above it just like Lumic's zeppelin.
  
  Incidentally Pink Floyd is known for incorporating the Doctor Who theme music into live performances of the song 'One of These Days'.
  EDIT SHARE
- Rose: Where'd you learn to fly that thing!?!
  Mickey: Playstation. Just hold on, Rose. I'm coming to get you.
  
  The Sony Playstation is a video game console first produced by Sony Computer Entertainment in the mid-1990s, the game Mickey mostly likely used to learn to pilot a Zeppelin is X-Plane.
  
  "I'm coming to get you", is a direct echo of the Ninth Doctor's words to Rose at the climax of 'Bad Wolf', and could be considered the final step in the transformation from Mickey the Idiot to Mickey the Hero.
  EDIT SHARE
- Pete: I thought I was broadcasting to the Security Services, and what do I get? Scooby Doo and his gang. They've even got the van!
  
  'Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?' premiered in 1969. The cartoon introduced four kids and a dog named Scooby-Doo. The kids were Daphne Blake, Freddy Jones, Velma Dinkley, Norville "Shaggy" Rogers. They travelled around in a green van known as "The Mystery Machine" and solved many 'scary' mysteries along the way.
  EDIT SHARE
- Cyber-Controller: (to the Doctor) Your words are irrelevant.
  
  This line is similar to when the Cyberleader responds to the Fifth Doctor in Earthshock Part 4 (1982), "These things are irrelevant," when the Doctor tells it how emotions have their uses.
  EDIT SHARE