Cyberman Part 1: Scorpius
After years of temptation, I finally decided to buy myself Cyberman. Expecting something like Dalek Empire I, where within about half an hour we had Daleks everywhere, I was pleasantly disappointed. The story is completely gripping, engaging and just brilliant. The characters, especially Sarah Mowat’s Karen Brett, can be tough to like, but that doesn’t detract from the story. Liam Barnaby isn’t given enough room to breath in this episode. While this is remedied by part 2, there is a feeling that you are only scraping the surface. As for the rest of the cast, the only person who really took my breath away was Barnaby Edwards, as the mysterious Paul Hunt. After his disappearance at the very begging of Scorpius left me confused and bewildered, his reappearance towards the end left me thinking who on earth he was. While, of course, most of that is the point of his character, to be mysterious, his sudden appearance makes it difficult to follow. However, Edwards portrays Finch in a terrifying manner, reminiscent of Tobias Vaughn from the Invasion. His monotone voice means you instantly know who he is working for.
A lot of this episode feels like that. The Orion war, which is talked about a lot on the blurbs and any synopsis that I could find, is really not the main element of the story that I thought it would be. While its presence is definatly felt, the great tragedies and loses each day really do make you see the complete disaster that is the war, but only from one side’s point of view. The Androids have no part to play here, being merely the unseen enemy running the show. The same can be said for the Cybermen. Do not buy or listen to this instalment thinking that they are going to be in it from the first track. They aren’t. However, what they are in is fantastic. Two key scenes feature them heavily. While they have no physical presence, you can see (or hear) their soulless drive behind every scene. Where they do appear, they make drastic changes to the world around it. These type of Cybermen are not the Mondasian or Telosian style that we are used to, but that is for the next part. And so, while Scorpius is not the Cyber-fest that I thought it was going to be, it is certainly an enjoyable story, leaving the listener begging to hear the next episode.. Definatly worth the £5.
A lot of this episode feels like that. The Orion war, which is talked about a lot on the blurbs and any synopsis that I could find, is really not the main element of the story that I thought it would be. While its presence is definatly felt, the great tragedies and loses each day really do make you see the complete disaster that is the war, but only from one side’s point of view. The Androids have no part to play here, being merely the unseen enemy running the show. The same can be said for the Cybermen. Do not buy or listen to this instalment thinking that they are going to be in it from the first track. They aren’t. However, what they are in is fantastic. Two key scenes feature them heavily. While they have no physical presence, you can see (or hear) their soulless drive behind every scene. Where they do appear, they make drastic changes to the world around it. These type of Cybermen are not the Mondasian or Telosian style that we are used to, but that is for the next part. And so, while Scorpius is not the Cyber-fest that I thought it was going to be, it is certainly an enjoyable story, leaving the listener begging to hear the next episode.. Definatly worth the £5.