Cybermen don’t sleep, you see. They can wait until we drop.
The Third Doctor
Synopsis
The Doctor and Jo land on Port Anvil – a bleak, abandoned mining colony on the remote planet Burnt Salt. A huge armoured crate has recently arrived in the almost derelict Spacehub. No-one knows who it’s for. No-one knows what it contains.
Strange creatures lurk around the outskirts, and a rag-tag population of misfits inhabit what is left of the town: a saloon bar owner, a literal one-man band and a hunter of very unusual prey. If they want to survive the night, they’re going to have to work together.
Because the Cybermen want the contents of the crate. And they will stop at nothing to get hold of it.
Quick Facts
| Doctor | Third (Tim Treloar) | Writer | Marc Platt |
| Companion | Jo Grant (Katy Manning) | Director | Nicholas Briggs |
| Range | The Third Doctor Adventures | Parts | 4 |
| Original Release Date | 21 March 2018 | Music | Jamie Robertson |
| Sound | Martin Montague |
Cast
| Linda Marlowe (Gusta Pardo), Carolyn Pickles (Professor Marian Schaeffer), Ronan Summers (Hollisen Grier), Jeff Rawle (Chad Caramel), Deli Segal (Skippa) & Nicholas Briggs (The Cybermen) |
Review
It’s ironic that the Cybermen do not feature in the Third Doctor’s television era, besides a brief cameo in Carnival of Monsters, given how important they are for the show surviving to that point. Their last appearance before Jon Pertwee took the key to the TARDIS was in The Invasion, a story that acted as a backdoor pilot to show how the programme could still work if storylines were set on Earth. That would prove crucial to the show’s survival beyond Patrick Troughton’s Second Doctor. In the face of declining viewing figures and the departure of not only Troughton, but of Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury, the show was staring down the barrel of cancellation. It had, of course, previously done so in its very early days, with The Daleks proving crucial to its continuation on that occasion. Here, it is the Cybermen who are vital to the show’s survival.
Your physical appearance has altered, but your identity is confirmed. The Doctor: a recognised opponent!
Sorry to ruin your plans!
The Cyber Leader and the Third Doctor
The Tyrants of Logic‘s author, Marc Platt, is no stranger to Cybermen stories. One of his notable writing credits is for the Fifth Doctor story Spare Parts, an audio play for Big Finish which sees the Doctor and Nyssa witness the genesis of the Cybermen. That story was an influence on the Cybermen’s return to revived series in 2006, with Platt receiving an acknowledgment in the credits of The Age of Steel and Rise of the Cybermen. He also wrote The Silver Turk, an Eighth Doctor story which kicks off that incarnation’s travels with the gothic author Mary Shelley. Here, he innovates with the Cybermen, introducing the Cyber-Leveller, essentially a Cyber-Planner who can move around and invade any technological system it comes into contact with, and the Cyber-Fog, which starts preparing the body for conversion by removing any barriers and populating the brain with logical thoughts. This allows the spirit of the Cybermen to loom over this story without any Cybermen actually appearing. I have seen some criticism of this story for being too long, especially when it comes to the third and fourth parts, however, this story kept me interested and engaged throughout.
Platt uses the Cybermen sparingly, however, they feel like a massive threat throughout this story. Even when the Doctor and Jo do not know what they are dealing with, the mystery of what is contained within the cargo ship, the fate of the crew and the intended recipient of that cargo is something which looms over the initial stages of the story. These Cybermen are survivors of the Cyber War, and widely believed to be extinct, having devastated the planet of Burnt Salt, processing the majority of the population. When they do arrive, they do not disappoint, and with the revelation that not only the Doctor has been exposed to the Cyber-Fog, but Jo, Grier and all of the characters are at risk of conversion really ups the stakes of this story. Nicholas Briggs does again bring new vocal depths to the Cybermen, making it clear which are speaking, which does help, and his voice for the Cyber-Leveller is particularly creepy.
The universe is a nasty, cruel place, you seen? But that’s what makes life so precious. It doesn’t have to be so short, you know?
Marian Schaeffer
It is revealed that the reason the Cyber-Leveller has been brought to Burnt Salt is ultimately because the wife of a victim of the Cybermen wants revenge on them. Professor Marian Schaeffer appears to be looking to make a deal with them, however, is secretly working on an antidote to the Cyber-Fog, although she is giving Cyber augmentations to characters like Gusta. Gusta, of course, brings her the Cyber-Leveller, and a replacement arm and eye only work to infect her with the Cyber-Fog. I think that’s the biggest problem with The Tyrants of Logic, in that it features a character who is seeking a way to undo a partial Cyber conversion – as her husband is later revealed to be – which feels like a bit of a trope. That didn’t break the story for me. Nor did the Lemuri, who I think could have definitely been a negative for other listeners.
The rest of the guest cast are pretty strong. I want to particularly praise Jeff Rawle as the augmented human Chad Caramel, who is basically an internal one man band. That concept is so odd that it could possibly break the story, but Jeff Rawle’s casting is an inspired move. Rawle makes you really feel for Chad, and his death is definitely one of the most moving moments of the story. Linda Marlowe doesn’t really make much of an impact in the story, disappearing for most of the third part. Then, there is also Hollisen Grier, played by Ronan Summers, who is a Cyber hunter investigating situations where they believe the Cybermen could be interferring. He is a little bit one-dimensional, but I liked the way his character softened through the story, ultimately taking Gusta off into the universe at the end of the story.
This is a really strong story for Tim Treloar’s interpretation of the Third Doctor, and is all the more uncanny here. This story allows an opportunity for this incarnation to show vulnerability, something very rarely seen on television, as he succumbs to a potential conversion. He has really touching moments with Jo, giving her the TARDIS key, something that has more significance in the Classic series of the show. He also gets to show the Doctor’s authority, like when he barges into Grier’s room and takes affront at the photograph that the Cyber hunter has taken of him. Equally, Katy Manning has a really strong story here as Jo. The standout is definitely her speech to the unconscious Doctor, where she expresses her feelings for him and the impact he has had on her life. Manning effortlessly brings the younger Jo back for these stories, and her chemistry with Treloar really helps both his interpretation of the Doctor and these audios all the more.
Verdict: The Tyrants of Logic delivers the long-awaited meeting of the Third Doctor and the Cybermen and certainly doesn’t disappoint. 9/10
Behind the Scenes
- This is the first full cast Third Doctor Big Finish Cyberman story. The Third Doctor only met the Cybermen on screen in The Five Doctors, whilst the Third Doctor had previously met them in The Companion Chronicle The Blue Tooth.
- Parts 3 and 4 are both 40 minutes each, making them some of the longest installments of a Big Finish released story.
Cast Notes
| Linda Marlowe | Marlowe has also appeared in Casualties of War, The Word Lord and The Macros. |
| Carolyn Pickles | Pickles has played Cardinal Ollistra in multiple Big Finish plays, as well as playing Lady Mera Darone in The Army of Death. |
| Ronan Summers | He played a Rendition Man in Spyfall, Part One. He has also appeared in Secrets of Telos and The Great White Hurricane. |
| Jeff Rawle | Rawle played Plantagenet in Frontios, and Drax in the Eighth Doctor Adventures story Here Lies Drax. |
| Deli Segal | Segal also played Amanda Keynes in The Ravencliff Witch. |
Best Quote
Doctor, I’m not sure if you know I’m here. Please, please get better. Things are pretty bad right now and …I don’t know if I can get us out of this one, not on my own. All those times when things were terrible and I’d given up hope and you’d always saved us. No one else can do that. You’re always so full of stories and ideas and you take places I hardly even understand. But you always find a way back out of the dark.
Jo Grant
Previous Third Doctor review: The Rise of the New Humans
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