The Age of Steel

172b – "The Age of Steel"
Doctor Who episode
The Cyber Controller confronts the Doctor
Cast
Doctor David Tennant (Tenth Doctor)
Companions Billie Piper (Rose Tyler) Noel Clarke (Mickey Smith)
Others Camille Coduri – Jackie Tyler Shaun Dingwall – Pete Tyler Roger Lloyd Pack – John Lumic Andrew Hayden-Smith – Jake Simmonds Colin Spaull – Mr Crane Helen Griffin – Mrs. Moore Duncan Duff – Newsreader Paul Kasey – Cyber Controller Nicholas Briggs – Cybermen (voice) Noel Clarke – Ricky Smith
Production
Writer	Tom MacRae
Director	Graeme Harper
Script editor	Helen Raynor
Producer	Phil Collinson
Executive producer(s)	Russell T Davies Julie Gardner
Production code	2.6
Series	Series 2
Length	2nd of 2-part story, 45 minutes
Originally broadcast	20 May 2006
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → "Rise of the Cybermen" "The Idiot's Lantern"

"The Age of Steel" is the sixth episode of the second series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on 20 May 2006 and is the second part of a two-part story that was the first to feature the Cybermen since Silver Nemesis in 1988. The first part, "Rise of the Cybermen", was broadcast on 13 May 2006. It stars David Tennant as the Doctor, Billie Piper as Rose Tyler and Noel Clarke as Mickey Smith.

It focuses on events in a parallel universe London, where John Lumic plans to convert the whole world's population into Cybermen and the Doctor, Rose and Mickey Smith try to stop him. They are assisted by Mickey's parallel universe counterpart, Ricky, who is the leader of a resistance movement. At the end of the episode Mickey decides to stay in the parallel universe and says goodbye to the Doctor and Rose.

The episode was relatively popular as it was the climax to the first story to feature the Cybermen since the show's revival, although it received noticeably fewer viewers than "Rise of the Cybermen". It has an Audience Appreciation rating of 86 as of 2008.

Plot

Having escaped from the alternate universe's Pete Tyler's home from an army of Cybermen, the Doctor uses the Arton power cell to disintegrate the cyborgs into dust, saving his group. Insisting to Pete that everyone inside his home, including his wife, is likely dead, the Doctor directs Pete, Rose, Mickey, and the Preachers, including Mickey's alternate universe counterpart Ricky, Jake, and Mrs. Moore, to get back to London to warn the authorities. As they flee, Pete explains that he is "Gemini," the Preacher's source of information on Lumic, working with him to provide information to the authorities on Lumic's actions, although he ended up communicating with the Preachers instead. Meanwhile, Lumic orders the Cybermen to bring the people of London under control of his EarPods to the Battersea Power Station for conversion.

When they reach the city, the group discovers Lumic's zeppelin moored near the power station and make towards it; Ricky is killed by the Cybermen while trying to scale a fence to meet Mickey. After inspecting the station, the Doctor determines they must destroy the EarPod transmitter, located on the zeppelin. The group splits up: Mickey and Jake to board the zeppelin, Pete and Rose to pose as affected humans (using fake EarPods) to try to disrupt the conversion process, and the Doctor and Mrs. Moore to find their way to Lumic. Pete and Rose are captured by the Cybermen when one, the converted Jackie, catches sight of them. Though Mrs. Moore is killed by a Cyberman, the Doctor discovers that each unit contains an inhibitor signal to prevent their human side from taking over, and determines that if he can disable the signal, the realisation of what they have become will likely kill the converted Cybermen. However, he is captured by the Cybermen before implementing his plan.

Taken to Lumic's office, the Doctor discovers the Cybermen have captured Pete and Rose, and they have forcefully converted Lumic into their leader, the Cyber Controller. When Mickey and Jake successfully disable the transmitter, the mesmerised humans come around and flee, with the Cybermen unable to stop them. In the zeppelin, the Doctor attempts to reason with Lumic by explaining that the creation of the Cybermen has actually removed the one characteristic that enabled their creation - imagination - and that by removing illness and mortality, the strive to advance will have gone and human evolution will effectively grind to a halt. Unconvinced, Lumic states that if humanity will not come along willingly, then the Cybermen will simply take the human race by force. The Doctor, aware that Lumic's office is under surveillance by Mickey and Jake, subtly attempts to ask for the inhibitor code. Mickey eventually recognizes the Doctor's plan, locates the code in the zeppelin computers, and sends it to Rose's phone. The Doctor plugs the phone into the computer systems, causing the inhibitor signal to drop and sending the army of Cybermen into despair. As the conversion facility begins to go up in flames, the group escapes to the zeppelin, leaving Lumic to die.

When they arrive at the zeppelin, they realise Lumic is following behind them, making his way up the ladder of the zeppelin, Pete uses the sonic screwdriver to cut the ladder rope, Lumic falls to his death into the pits of his exploding factory.

As the city recovers, the Doctor, Rose, and Mickey return with Jake and Pete to the TARDIS, the power cell sufficiently charged to allow the TARDIS to return to the proper dimension. However, Mickey reveals that he plans to stay with Jake and Pete in the alternate universe, as to take care of Ricky's grandmother and continue the Preacher's fight and destroy Lumic's other factories. After the TARDIS' departure, Mickey and Jake make plans to travel to Paris to destroy the Cyber factory located there. When Jake asks how they are going to be able to liberate Paris with just a van, Mickey says that there is nothing wrong with the van—after all, "I once saved the universe with a big yellow truck."

Continuity

• Lumic's expression of "Excellent!" is a reference to the off-key rendition of the word that the Cybermen have used in previous stories (beginning with the Fourth Doctor story Revenge of the Cybermen).
• The Doctor's comments about Cybermen in his universe confirms that the origin of the Cybermen in this universe is not a rewriting of the origins of the Cybermen on Mondas as established in The Tenth Planet. Similarly, this leaves the Big Finish Productions audio play Spare Parts intact.
• Mickey refers to his "tin dog" status, as in "School Reunion", a comparison to the Doctor's former robot companion K-9.
• The Doctor refers to attacking Cybus's factory at three points: "Above, between, below." This echoes an ancient Gallifreyan nursery rhyme that refers to the three possible entrances to the Tomb of Rassilon (The Five Doctors).
• The storage of the converted Cybermen in the cooling tunnels is similar to the events of The Invasion, where the Cyber-army was hidden in the sewers of London. Cybermen were also kept in cryogenic freeze in The Tomb of the Cybermen. In The Invasion the Doctor also used emotions to defeat the Cybermen.
• This episode is also the first time since Attack of the Cybermen that gold has not been used as a weapon against the Cybermen. The Cybus Industries tie-in site makes reference to earlier prototypes having an "allergy" to gold, stating that this was eliminated after further improvements of the Cyberman body.
• This episode marks the first time that women are known to be converted into Cybermen in the television series. There is no visual difference between a Cyberman that was a male or female human (however, see also the Torchwood episode "Cyberwoman").
• Elements similar to Spare Parts include the converted Jackie being aware of her previous identity as a human (as Sisterman Constant and Thomas Dodd were in the play). Sally Phelan's moment of awareness is also similar to Yvonne Hartley in the play.
• Although a Cyber-Director appeared in The Invasion, and was an immobile unit, the first Cyberman Controller appeared in The Tomb of the Cybermen (and later in Attack of the Cybermen) as a differently designed Cyberman with an enlarged cranium.
• The Doctor says, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," to the dying Cyberman, Sally Phelan. He has used these words before in the 2006 series, when discovering a diseased 'New Human' in "New Earth". The President said this in the previous episode, "Rise of the Cybermen". The phrase recurs in subsequent episodes.
• The scene in which the Doctor takes pity on and euthanises the Sally Phelan Cyberman is similar to one in Revelation of the Daleks (1985) in which a character destroys the Dalek mutant her father has become.
• The Doctor's speech to the Lumic Cyber-Controller while walking round in circles is reminiscent of the speech he used against the Sycorax in "The Christmas Invasion" and to the Clockwork Droids in "The Girl in the Fireplace". It is also similar to a conversation about emotions between the Fifth Doctor and the Cyber Leader in Earthshock (1982).
• Mickey leaves in this episode, choosing to assume the role of his deceased doppelgänger Ricky and continue his fight against the Cybermen, making him the first companion in the new series to leave the TARDIS crew by choice. Adam Mitchell was expelled from the TARDIS in "The Long Game", and Jack Harkness was left behind at the end of "The Parting of the Ways".
• As the Doctor says goodbye to Mickey, he jokingly calls him "Mickey the Idiot". This was a nickname the Ninth Doctor used for him more harshly. The Doctor also refers to this nickname when, during his debate with Lumic, he continuously uses the word "idiot" while trying to drop clues to Mickey.
• Mickey mentions that he "once saved the universe with a big yellow truck". This is a reference to "The Parting of the Ways", when Mickey opens the time vortex on the TARDIS using a tow truck, thereby allowing Rose to return to the future and defeat the Daleks.

Production

• This episode, along with "Rise of the Cybermen" was produced in the same production block as the series finale story, "Army of Ghosts"/"Doomsday".
• According to an interview with Andrew Hayden-Smith, and comments given by Russell T Davies in a press conference, Ricky and Jake were initially intended to be gay and lovers. A deleted scene included in the Complete Series Two DVD box set confirms this.
• Footage from "Rose" — specifically, the destruction of the Nestene Consciousness — was reused as part of the destruction of the Battersea Cyber-conversion facility.
• Location shooting took place at the Coal Exchange and Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff Bay.

Outside references

• Pete derisively calls the Preachers "Scooby-Doo and his gang" and compares their van to the Mystery Machine.
• The marching of thousands of mind-controlled Londoners to Battersea (referred to by the Doctor as "sheep") echoes the Pink Floyd song "Sheep" from their album Animals, where the sheep are led into the "valley of steel" to be slaughtered. The album also features a shot of Battersea Power Station on its cover, with a pig floating above it just like Lumic's own airship. Pink Floyd is known for incorporating the Doctor Who theme music into live performances of the song "One of These Days".
• As noted by Noel Clarke on the commentary, Mickey phones Rose and says "I'm coming to get you!", which echoes the Ninth Doctor's words to her at the climax of "Bad Wolf". The words also constitute a catchphrase used by Davina McCall on the UK television programme Big Brother, the latest series of which started two days prior to the episode's broadcast and which also featured in "Bad Wolf".
• The climax of the episode echoes that of Casablanca, with Mickey in the role of Rick Blaine and Rose as Ilsa Lund. Indeed, Mickey adopts the name "Ricky" and talks about freeing Paris.

Broadcast and DVD release

• The average overnight viewing figure for this episode was 6.85 million (a 36% share), peaking at 7.7 million.
• This episode was released together with "Rise of the Cybermen" and "The Idiot's Lantern" as a basic DVD with no special features.It was also released in the complete series 2 box set and the doctor who cybermen collection.

External links

• The Age of Steel on TARDIS Index File, an external wiki
• TARDISODE 6
• Episode commentary by Noel Clarke, Camille Coduri and Shaun Dingwall (MP3)
• "The Age of Steel" episode homepage
• "The Age of Steel" at the BBC Doctor Who homepage
• "Rise of the Cybermen" / "The Age of Steel" at Doctor Who: A Brief History Of Time (Travel)
• "Rise of the Cybermen" / "The Age of Steel" at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• "The Age of Steel" at Outpost Gallifrey
• "The Age of Steel" at TV.com
• "The Age of Steel" at the Internet Movie Database

Reviews

• "The Age of Steel" reviews at Outpost Gallifrey
• "Rise of the Cybermen" / "The Age of Steel" reviews at Outpost Gallifrey
• "The Age of Steel" reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide
• "Rise of the Cybermen" / "The Age of Steel" reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide