Into the Time Vortex Podcast Episode 16 - Doctor Who - The Planet of the Odd and Closing Time

Doctor Who - Farewell Matt: Closing Time By BlackAdder345

Doctor Who: 

Closing Time 

By Gareth Roberts 

Reviewed By Will Barber – Taylor

“Yes, he likes that, Alfie, though personally he prefers to be called Stormageddon, Dark Lord Of All.”

The Doctor decides to meet up with his old friend Craig Owens to pay his respects before his journey to Lake Silencio.  He soon discovers strange things are happening at the local department store; people are going missing and a large silver rat has been seen. The Doctor knows this can mean only one thing - the return of the Cybermen.

The plot was a very good one. The return of James Corden ( Gavin And Stacey) as Craig Owens was written well and better than Corden’s first appearance in the series (The Lodger).  The return of the Cybermen and the Cybermats was also well written and the Cybermen were finally returned to the skulking menaces they were in the Troughton and Davison eras, respectively.   The Cybermats also make a welcome return, having not been in the series since Revenge of The Cybermen back in 1974.  Unlike the Revenge Cybermats which were just plain silly, these Cybermats were similar to the ones seen in Tomb Of The Cybermen (1967), which were actually scary.  The Cybermens’ evil plot was a bit basic and rather unimpressive.  Some fans may argue the fact that the Cybermen were beaten by love was a bit - well… unimpressive. They are wrong.  The core idea that emotions can be so powerful that the Cybermen can be destroyed by pure, raw emotion was utter genius.