The BF Time Warp 034: Spare Parts

[SiHart]

On a dark frozen planet where no planet should be, in a doomed city with a sky of stone, the last denizens of Earth's long-lost twin will pay any price to survive, even if the laser scalpels cost them their love and hate and humanity.

And in the mat-infested streets, round tea-time, the Doctor and Nyssa unearth a black market in second-hand body parts and run the gauntlet of augmented police and their augmented horses.

And just between the tramstop and the picturehouse, their worst suspicions are confirmed: the Cybermen have only just begun, and the Doctor will be, just as he always has been, their saviour...

Spare Parts- one of the best, or overrated? You decide!

[brandynigma]

A simply terrific character piece from the incomparable Marc Platt. Truly presents the invention of the Cybermen as an act of desperation rather than aggression. The characters are, without exception, brilliantly written and beautifully played, with Sally Knyvette a standout as Doctorman Allen. She is the type of character who would normally completely change her ways at the end of Part Two- yet she's still fighting Nyssa for the booze until the end.

It's actually a great story for Nyssa, too, as she gets a lot to do. Her interactions with the Hartmanns and argument with Allen are just two fine moments Sarah Sutton portrays brilliantly. Davison is on fine form as well- his cold determination is really quite scary.

Loses a point for the Doctor becoming a blueprint for future Cybermen. I mean, honestly...

[SiHart]

The Doctor being the blueprint for the Cybermen was crap. Everything else was great. This is still more than likely the best story BF have ever done.

[Anthony Williams]

I have absolutely fantastic memories of this play. It's incredibly well written, the return of the voices of the original Cybermen was an absolute delight to hear, while the entire cast were absolutely on fire (not literally, mind!)

The best thing about Spare Parts is not just that it's an absolute nostalgia-fest. Admittedly, we have those wonderful voices, mentions of the death of Adric and the like. But Marc Platt has written a wonderful character piece here, where every single character is well fleshed out.

In the end, this story would be used as a blueprint for the return of the Cybermen to TV. Yet, at the end of the day, IMO, this was superior to their return to the small screen.

[Anthony Williams]

Coming back to this one again in my listen-through of Big Finish, my opinions really haven't changed. It's still up there as one of the best pieces of Doctor Who ever written.

Let's be honest. There was a lot of hype for this one. After the spectacular ending of Neverland, and the next thing that we knew we were getting was a "Genesis of the Cybermen" story. It could have all gone horribly, horribly wrong. And yet this is pitched just right. It sounds like it would be a massive production on television, and yet it's also a small character piece. It has equal amounts of action and tragedy. The TARDIS team chosen for this - the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa - was just perfect, particularly given how Adric died in a fight against the Cybermen.

It would have been so easy to go down the route of scene-chewing villains creating the Cybermen out of an unexplained desire for conquest. Yet, here, they're created out of an act of desperation, as the world around them is dying, and their frail human bodies aren't able to cope with the harsh conditions. This was an idea that was merely alluded to in Rise of the Cybermen on tv, where the President makes a blasé comment about how Pete Tyler sold health drinks to a dying world - clearly that story was much closer to Spare Parts in an earlier draft, and that's a line that snuck through. But it provides a convincing rationale as to why someone would create these inhuman monsters, with a streak for conversion. Particularly since it gives them the rationale that they are helping people. In this story, Marc Platt takes everything that we already know about the Cybermen and manages to somehow spin it as a twist that works to shock the listener. He really is a master of the macabre.

And despite the blockbuster stylings of the creation of the Cybermen, there's room for character here. The moment where the bodily-converted Yvonne turns up is one of the singularly most tragic moments in Doctor Who - truly touching. So much that it's a scene that was almost directly poached for the new series with in The Age of Steel. Then, there's the character development of Nyssa - she realises what's going on, and she's going to stop it, the web of time be damned. On top of that, we find out some lovely background stuff about her past before the Doctor jumped on the scene. We hear about her childhood on Traken, with events like the Autumn Festival. Beautiful.

And what of the Doctor? Well, we really have Davison at his best here. The one bad idea in this play - the Cybermen using the Doctor's body template for themselves - gives us a wonderful Doctor moment, furious at this plan, refusing to be a part of their future, which he knows will condemn so many to suffering at their hands. His rapport with Thomas Dodd is magical - two characters that are so far removed from each other, both of whom work together so well. And his reaction at Dodd's eventual conversion is just so well acted. He really is at the top of his game here.

And then there are the supporting characters. A special shout-out has to go to Sally Kyvette as Doctorman Allan. As Brendan pointed out, in any other story, she's the sort of character who would normally reform at the end of episode 2, and join forces with the Doctor to defeat them. Yet here, to hell with all that. She's determined to go down in an alcoholic haze. That is the level of despair portrayed on Monday, and Knyvette just portrays that perfectly. The Hartley family are a lovely touch, too, giving the play a domestic and very human aspect.

While the concept of the Doctor being used as a blueprint isn't the greatest idea, it provides some great drama. This play doesn't lose any kudos from me for that, as in it's own strange way, it works. This is one of the most perfect things ever written for the Doctor Who universe, and I absolutely adore it, and can't help but keep returning to it, time and time again. A full 5/5 from me.

[Junkyard]

This is possibly the best audio Big Finish has ever done. I've listened to it four times over the years and it still sends chills up my spine, and I know what's coming! Hints about the origin of the Cybermen have been in all the TV Cyber-stories since Tenth Plaet and Marc Platt draws on these. There isn't a poor performance in the whole play but Sarah Sutton particularly stands out.