Doctor Who (1963–1989): Season 12, Episode 17 - Revenge of the Cybermen: Part One - full transcript

The Time Ring returns The Doctor, Sarah and Harry to Nerva Beacon thousands of years before they left. Where the Doctor, Sarah and Harry find the Beacon's crew have been wiped out by a space plague, only to discover the crew have been murdered by a cybermat and the culprits are the Cybermen and geologist Professor Kellman who bid to wipe out "Voga" a planet of gold, home of the subterranean Vogans who defeated the Cybermen in a war.

(DOCTOR WHO THEME)

(SARAH GRUNTS)

Thank heaven for that. We've made it.

-Haven't we?
-Of course we've made it.

Did you think we wouldn't?

Well, in these past few weeks, yes.

-Quite frequently.
-There is really nothing

that could go wrong with the time ring,
except the molecular short circuit.

-Doctor.
-Yes?

The Tardis isn't here.

Well, it probably hasn't arrived yet.
We're a little early.



Hasn't arrived yet?

No, you see, the Tardis is drifting back
through time, Harry.

We'll just have to wait
for it to turn up.

(CHUCKLES)

I say, Doctor,
did you want this ring thing?

-What, that?
-Yes.

-No.
-Oh, well, I'd rather like to have it.

-Well, you take good care of it, Harry.
-Of course I will. Thank you.

(GASPS)

You knew that was gonna happen,
didn't you?

-He's dead. Been dead some time.
-How long?

A week or two, I'd say.

There's very little sign
of putrefaction though.

Sterile atmosphere.



Yes, exactly, and no sign of injury.

Nothing to indicate the cause of death.

Well, he was just sitting against
the door as though he'd collapsed.

He wouldn't have been there
for two weeks unless...

Unless what?

Unless there was something
seriously wrong here.

Come on.

(BEEPING)

This is Nerva Beacon
calling Pluto-Earth flight 1-5.

This is Nerva Beacon
calling Pluto-Earth flight 1-5.

Pluto-Earth flight 1-5,
are you reading me?

MAN: Hello, Nerva Beacon,
we read you fine and clear.

Our dropover Tango Oscar Alpha
estimated at 13.20.

Pluto-Earth flight 1-5,
ex-notice urgent.

This beacon is a quarantine zone.
We have a plague infection.

I repeat, we have a plague infection.

Your dropover is transferred
to Ganymede Beacon,

1-9-0-6-7 and 0-2.

Do you require a repeat
on those vectors?

MAN: No thanks, over. We got them.

How bad are things there?

They're pretty bad.

MAN: Hello, Nerva,
Crewmaster Colville,

I say again, Crewmaster Colville
is doing a tour with you.

He's my brother. Is he all right?

Hold contact, I'll check.

(COMPUTER BEEPING)

Commander Stevenson.

(COMPUTER BEEPING)

Warner wants to speak to you, sir.

STEVENSON: Yes, Warner?

Sir, I'm in contact
with the Pluto-Earth flight.

One of the crew wants news
of his brother,

Crewmaster Colville.
What shall I tell him?

STEVENSON: Tell him Colvillle's fine.

And say that our medical staff
have got the epidemic under control.

Just that, and nothing else.
Thank you, Warner.

KELLMAN: Why didn't you tell him
the truth, Commander?

I'm just following the orders
I was given by Earth Centre.

KELLMAN: Operating the beacon
till the last man?

If necessary, yes.

You're a civilian, Kellman,
you wouldn't understand.

(CLEARING THROAT) How much longer
can you go on?

Three of you doing the work of 50 men.

We've managed for one week,
we can manage for another.

And another after that?

No, Lester,
this beacon's job is finished.

Nerva beacon
has a 30-year-assignment.

And it will be that long
before the last inward bound ship

has this new asteroid on its star chart.

Until then, there's a constant danger
of space collision.

You deserve a medal for self-sacrifice
beyond the bounds of stupidity.

(SCOFFS)

I've lost most of my crew
in these last months,

some good friends among them, and yet
a thing like that is still alive.

It's probably because he locked himself
in that cabin of his

at the first sign of the plague.

(GRUNTS)

It's only these last few days
he's dared poke his nose outside.

Is it jammed?

-The control's locked.
-You mean we can't get any further?

Those poor fellows couldn't.

They were trapped in the after end
and left to die.

Whatever did it
might be on the other side of this door.

There might be a way of opening it.

Look, are you sure
we're in the right place, Doctor?

I mean, this doesn't look like our ark.

Well, of course it doesn't.
This is a different point in time.

-How can you tell?
-Some of that equipment.

This is probably a beacon,

put in orbit to service and guide
space freighters.

So this is before the time
of the solar flares

-when the Earth was evacuated.
-Thousands of years before, Harry.

Well, I am not even going
to think about it,

I'll only get a headache.

All you have to remember
is that this is where we parted company

with the Tardis.

What is it?

If they've changed things round,

the Tardis might materialise
in the forward control room.

(RADIO STATIC)

MAN: Anyone hear me?
I'm calling Nerva Beacon.

This is Nerva Beacon.
I repeat, this is Nerva Beacon.

Hello, are you reading me?
This is Nerva Beacon.

MAN: Can anyone hear me?

Can anyone hear me?

Can anyone hear...

(GASPS)

WARNER: This is Nerva Beacon
calling on 3-9-8.

Do you read me?

Professor, this new asteroid,
this rock or whatever it is.

-Are you sure there's no life on it?
-On Voga?

-Of course not, how could there be?
-Oh, I don't know, Professor.

But I just picked up a call

and that's the only place
it could have come from.

It's the only place near enough.

Hallucinations, Warner,
you've been sitting here too long.

Where did that rock come from anyway?
What system?

Oh, nobody knows.

It was first detected in our system
50 years ago

-and it was captured by Jupiter.
-So there could be life on it?

Impossible.

An asteroid that size? Drifting
in the vacuum between star systems?

Nothing could have lived
under those conditions.

All the same, I'd swear that's
where the transmission was from.

Warner, I'm an exographer.

I've been down there.
I set up a transmat station there.

I spent the last six months
studying rock samples from...

-What are you doing?
-Logging it.

Unidentified call apparently
from the direction of Voga.

You're mad, I said it a long ago,

it was a mistake
to keep this control room operating.

Commander Stevenson's decision.
Nothing to do with you, is it?

Every time that someone goes down
that transom

is a risk of spreading the plague.

If the Commander says
this beacon is staying operational,

it stays operational.

-SARAH: Can you reach?
-Yes, I think so.

If you two could put your weight
on the door

and stop it opening too suddenly.

I don't want to lose my arm.
I'm rather attached to it.

So handy, yes.

(SCREAMS) Doctor!

(SARAH SCREAMS)

(GRUNTS) Wait, wait, through.

Quick.

Thank you.

What have I done now?

(BEEPING)

Hello, Lester, is the Commander there?

I'm here, Warner, go ahead.

Sir, somebody has just opened
the aft transom shutter.

I know it's impossible,
but it's happened.

The information's right here
on the electronic register.

Everybody in that aft section
had the plague, sir,

no one can be left alive.

Exactly, and the shutters were sealed.

It couldn't possibly be operated
from the aft section.

Right.

Come on.
We'll have to check the transom.

Take it out and bury it.

Bury it deep.

Why?

(COUGHING) Your plan
frightened you, Vorus.

Sometimes it frightens me.

But would you warn the humans?
Do you feel kinship?

No, no, it's simply
that there are so many things

which might go wrong.

Of course, it's a big plan,
but it will work.

You and I together, Magrik,
we'll make it work.

Yes, but can we trust our agent?

We can trust in his greed.
Gold buys humans.

And we have more gold here on Voga
than in the rest of the known galaxy.

But he has not communicated.

Better he should not at this time.

The Cybermen may be monitoring
our radio frequencies.

(COUGHING)

The mention of Cybermen
fills me with dread.

You feel fear, Magrik,

because you've lived for too long
in this underground darkness.

When I lead our people into the light,
all those ancient fears will fall away.

The light.

(COUGHS)

Yes, I believe you, Vorus.

(GRUNTING)

The rivets have been taken out.

But from the outside, sir,
but that's impossible,

they're blind-headed.

They could have been loosened
with a sonic vibrator.

Well, in that case, Warner is right.
Somebody has come through.

Right, then we'll have to check
every section, come on.

-We just left here.
-No, this is the forward control room.

Well, the Tardis doesn't seem
to be here either, does it?

No, but the time ring is designed
with a slight safety margin.

We can expect it to arrive soon.

HARRY: Doctor, do you expect me
to believe that

that old police box
is going to materialise out of nothing?

Right, put your hands up.

I said get your hands up!

Now who are you? How did you get here?

I'm the Doctor,
this is Sarah Jane Smith,

Harry Sullivan. We're travellers.

-You'd better step in here, Commander.
-What is it?

See for yourself.

Watch them.

LESTER: All of you. Come on, move.

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

-What are you going to do?
-Get back, he's got the plague.

This is the only way to deal with it.

-The man's sick. He needs treatment.
-There is no treatment.

All we can try to do
is stop the infection spreading.

-Sorry, gentlemen, I can't allow it.
-You can't allow it?

My colleague is a doctor of medicine,
and I'm a doctor of many things.

-If we could examine...
-Commander!

I'm afraid you'll have to kill
these people, too.

They've brought the plague in here.

Who's the homicidal maniac?

You say you're doctors.
Did Earth Centre send you?

Yes, we're from Earth,
we want to help you.

Help us?

Don't you realise you brought
the infection through

-from the aft section?
-Oh, don't be ridiculous.

How could we have brought it through
when he's infected and we aren't?

It's quite impossible,
we've had no contact with him.

I don't believe you've got
the plague here, Commander.

According to our own medical team,
we have.

Did they identify it?

They didn't have time.
They were among the first victims.

Well, now you've got a new medical team.

Well, Commander?

(WARNER BREATHING RAGGEDLY)

-All right, you can examine him.
-Thank you.

But not here. It will have to be done
in the crew quarters.

The control room
must be kept operational.

Oh, yes, at all costs.

Lester, help the doctors with him,
I'll take over the console.

Once the infection develops,
they've got a few minutes to live.

I'll help you.

(WARNER BREATHING RAGGEDLY)

(BEEPING)

DOCTOR: Have you noticed these rather
strange scratches, Commander?

-Can't say that I have.
-All over the ship?

I've seen them somewhere before,
if I could only remember where.

-STEVENSON: Is it important?
-Everything's important.

-Well, well, well.
-What is it?

I've just made
a third interesting discovery

about your plague virus, Commander.

-A third?
-Yes.

One, it scratches metal.

Two, it attacks its victims so suddenly

that they become unconscious
before they can even raise the alarm.

-And three...
-Go on.

It removes tape from radio logs.

It must be a very literate
and inquisitive virus.

What exactly are you trying
to tell me, Doctor?

Whatever it is
that is attacking your crew, Commander,

it's certainly not a plague.

I've never seen
anything like this before.

His temperature's just shooting
up and up.

Harry, I make his pulse 120.

It's always the same.
They just seem to burn up.

Warner's lasted longer than most.

A strong constitution.

He's as tough as an old boot.

How long since all this started?

This? This is the 79th day.

And you've had no outside help?

Earth Centre decided to isolate us.

That's a bit ruthless, isn't it?

Oh, they reckoned it was better
to lose one space crew

than take the chance of carrying
an extraterrestrial disease

back to Earth.

(BREATHING RAPIDLY)

DOCTOR: Who's that civilian?

Professor Kellman. He is an exographer.

DOCTOR: Ah, interesting,
planetary survey.

-Of what?
-Jupiter.

I thought Jupiter had already been
thoroughly studied.

Yes, he's interested
in its new satellite.

What do you mean, there are now 13?

Turned up 50 years ago.
That's why this beacon's out here.

A lot of the great circle of freighters
haven't got it on their charts yet.

-What's it called?
-Neo Phobos originally,

but Kellman's renamed it Voga.

Voga.

Of course.

Has he been down there?

Kellman? He set up a transmat. Why?

Voga, Voga...

Planet of Gold. Yes.
It's all coming back to me now.

-Well, what's coming back to you?
-Cybermen.

That's what we're up against,
Commander, Cybermen.

But surely, Doctor,
Cybermen died out centuries ago.

They disappeared after their attack
on Voga at the end of the Cyber War.

Not the same thing
as dying out, Commander.

They are utterly ruthless,
total machine creatures.

(MACHINE HUMMING)

(MACHINE BEEPING)

(BEEPING CONTINUES)

-How is he?
-I'm afraid he's had it, Doctor.

You'd better take over
the control room, Lester.

(WARNER BREATHING HARD)

Yes, just as I thought.

-You mean the two puncture marks?
-Yes, like a snake bite.

-You mean venom?
-He's been injected with poison.

Poor man.

If only I'd been quicker,
I might have saved him.

STEVENSON: How? Is there an antidote?

The matterbeam displaces
human molecules.

That type of alien poison
might be separated and rejected.

-Alien?
-STEVENSON: Now where are you going?

I smell a rat.

You know, I sometimes wonder

if your friend is quite right
in the head.

If the Doctor scented a rat, Commander,
he'll find one.

(BEEPING)

Gold.

(MACHINE HUMMING)

Where are we going to put him,
Commander?

When this trouble first started,

we turned part of the infrastructure
into a mortuary.

LESTER: Yes, we used to leave them
where they dropped.

We saw.

MALE VOICE: ...observation of
Zerus X20.

The intensity of radiation caused
severe distortion.

When the computer
dealt with all original errors,

it was found
that the intensity was minus...

(BUZZING DIES DOWN)

(BEEPING)

MALE VOICE: Star charts
for outer space section four

carry a 2% error factor.

Solar readings
should be independently taken

when controlling the...

(DOCTOR COUGHING)

(BEEPING)

MALE VOICE: ...com-opt magazines
which departed from the ship's cell.

In the constellation of Zerus X20,

the intensity of radiation caused
severe distortion...

(SCREAMING)