A 5 star for true fans, for everyone else a 3

As is usual in older Doctor Who episodes (and some of the later ones as well), you have to ignore the bad special effects and use your imagination. If you can do that in this one, it becomes one of the better episodes of the William Hartnell era, not to mention an intriguing look at all of the hopes and fears of America's then (1966) burgeoning space program and technological advances. The travelers have arrived at an arctic, military run space station in the year 1986. Fascinating to see how the folks at or working for the BBC in the '60's imagined what space travel would look like in 20 years. They obviously couldn't have imagined the advances in technology that would exist in a mere two decades. Even the cybermen, former humans who have technologically adapted themselves so as to have superior strength and no emotions, bear bulky technology, have difficulty speaking anything like normal humans, and are surprisingly easy to defeat. Yet they are, at the same time, if one uses one's imagination, as terrifying as the Borg of Star Trek Next Generation and even more alien than the Vulcans. Even the Cybermen's claim that "resistance is useless" seems to predict the Borg.

Technically speaking, this series is a little rough, particularly the sound, so careful viewing is required. But in many ways, it seems a more modern series of episodes than some of the later ones, as it still seems to be a realistic view of a remote space station, and the general who runs it, although seemingly a bad caricature of John Wayne, represents all too well the kind of cowboy American thinking to which many people can still relate to all too well! The sets are wonderfully realistic and claustrophobic, and the existence of a national agency run by a Swiss man whose native language is French seems a precursor of how in the future the world would need to work together more as one body and those bodies would not necessarily be run by England and America.

I agree with the other reviewers that it would have been nice to see more of William Hartnell in his last episode, but it's kind of exciting to see the first regeneration in the show, even though it's in the lost episode which is mostly just audio of the show over stills, with descriptive information in text at the bottom of the screen. By the time of the last episode, however, one is so into the story that it's easy to ignore the fact that it isn't playing out with full video.

If you're new to Dr. Who, this isn't the place to start, but for Who fans, this is really a must episode as it's not only a well-told story, but has the first appearance of the Cybermen and the first regeneration. It's a fitting final episode for William Hartnell, who really remains the quintessential Doctor. He may not be everyone's favorite (personally I find Tom Baker much more fun and warm), but he's what the creators had in mind and every other Doctor draws from him.

A reasonably good end to the Hartnell era.

December 1986. Isolated Antarctica, full of snow, snow, and more snow. Ideal place to have Snowcap Tracking Station, a military base under International Space Command. While tracking the progress of spacecraft Zeus IV, several things happen. One, loss of power in the fuel cells and some gravitational force prevents Zeus IV from reentry. Two, a new planet is seen inbetween Mars and Venus. Three, the Doctor, Ben, and Polly land at the base.

The new planet looks familiar, as many of the land masses look like Earth's, only upside down--Polly has a big deal claiming to recognize Malaysia. It turns out that this world was a twin of Earth, Mondas, which left millions of years ago. Now nearly drained of energy, it has returned to regain its energy--from Earth.

The Cybermen are clearly supposed to be a menace, but they do look laughable. One author described them as someone dressing up with kitchen implements at a jumble sale. However, their spaceships are more impressive than the paper-plate like ones in the second Cyber story, The Moonbase. Two human-like aspects of these primitive Cybermen can be seen. One, they have names. Two, their bare hands are still human.

The use of emotions to the ruthlessly logical Cybermen is a big point here. Polly's concern for the astronauts, "they're people and they're going to die" is responded with: "I do not understand you. There are people dying all over your world, yet you do not care about them." Another time, they say, "Our brains our just like yours, with certain weaknesses have been removed. ... You call them emotions, do you not?" and "We have freedom from disease, protection against heat and cold. ... do you prefer to die in misery?" A clip from here is used in the Earthshock story (1982), where the Doctor asks a Cybermen, "Emotions--love, pride, hate, fear--have you no emotions, sir?"

General Cutler is one of the nastiest characters ever to appear in a Who story, though not as much as Professor Stahlman (Inferno). He's gruff, has a harsh voice, puts the safety of his astronaut son above all other priorities, and takes a page from another general, Jack D. Ripper of Dr. Strangelove, in wanting to use the Z-bomb. When the Doctor tells him, "I don't like your tone [of voice]" the General shoots back, "Well I don't like your face or your hair." Fortunately, the time travelers gain a friend in Barclay, the Australian physicist, as an ally.

Ben's resourcefulness, real assertiveness and Cockney accent give him a credible and visible role here. Yet, he expresses regret when he has to kill a Cybermen ready to kill him, crying out, "You didn't give me an alternative!" Polly has a thankless time in comparison, but at least she's nice to look at. Pity more of her stories aren't available anymore.

By the time William Hartnell's last Doctor Who story aired, he was a very ill man and in Episode 3, he collapses and is taken to his bunk. That's all we see of him until he pops back up for Episode 4.

Speaking of which Episode 4 of this story was stolen from the BBC vaults and never returned, but a combination of photo stills, some of them publicity shots of the Doctor, surviving film footage, and the complete audio soundtrack help make this four-parter as complete as it possibly can. It still works.

When this was first aired, viewers in Britain witnessed an event more historical than the first appearance of the Daleks--William Hartnell (First Doctor) regenerated into Patrick Troughton (Second Doctor). It's thus legendary for this reason, as well as introducing the Cybermen, but it still stands out on its own as a reasonably good story in the Doctor Who canon.

1st Cybermen 1st Doctor 1st regenoration scene ever!

I am new to the Hartnell era, but I already like him nearly as much as Tom Baker and Jon Pertwee even though his episodes played a good six years before I was born. This one, Unearthly Child, The Daleks, and Dalek Invasion are a must see for every Dr. Who fan(even new ones.) My first Doctor was Tom Baker, but William Hartnell was THE first and after watching him, I see Doctor Who in a whole new light. This was not my first watching of Hartnell, I was fortunate enought to purchase his first one first(Unearthly Child) after seeing it in raw form on 'The Hartnell Years'. The Tenth Planet introduces the Cybermen which are a bit lame, but still watchable. I liked the story, I just didn't like the costumes(but it was 1966). The most interesting characters were the Base General and the compaignion Ben, Polly was great too, except for the certain pollitically incorrect scene involving coffee and a rude remark from the scientist. I thoroughly enjoyed the regenoration scene which was fully restored(unlike the rest of episode four) I am not certain but is that Patrick Troughton's face at the end or William Hartnel in make up? The camera was too close to tell.