The first story in the Cybermen arc, followed by "The Reaping" and "The Gathering".
This episode introduced new companion Hex Schofield, played by Philip Olivier.
Thomas Hector "Hex" Schofield, a young London nurse in 2021, comes into work on his birthday and finds out that a mate of his, Damien Boyd, is in A&E courtesy of a road accident. Although he's usually got a strong stomach, Hex isn't used yet to seeing people he actually knows being cut open, and he has to take a moment to step outside. Fortunately, Dr Farrer, one of the more prestigious specialists from the research departments arrives to save the day, transferring Hex's wounded friend upstairs to a restricted area. As Hex finally relaxes, his workmate and boss, Dr. Mark Mathias, tells him to take it easy — they'll go out drinking later to celebrate Hex's birthday and take their mind off of things; Mark has taken the liberty of inviting every single cute girl he knows in the hospital, telling them all that Hex fancies them.
Unfortunately, while investigating on one of the upper floors, Hex discovers that Damien didn't survive: Dr Farrer was unable to save him, despite his best efforts. Though Farrer offers all due condolences, Hex can't help but notice the level of security around a room supposedly being used as a morgue, and the fact that Executive Security Officer Garnier seems to be hiding something.
Later, the party is in full swing, but Hex isn't in the mood for any of it. However, he soon finds himself being chatted up by one of the girls Mark mentioned - namely Ace (undercover in HR); over the course of their time together, Ace probes Hex for some information about the hospital - unaware that Garnier is having her watched. The two soon find themselves being chased by an 8-foot-tall brute in a Mercedes and escaping on Hex' motorcycle, a chase that only becomes more harrowing after the driver gets out to chase them on foot, very nearly catching up with them before Hex manages to shake him.
Eventually, Hex drops Ace off at Totter's Lane (now a car park); however, the events of the night have left him suspicious and he follows her into the TARDIS, where - after a lot of horrified shouts of "oh my god" on Hex's part - the Seventh Doctor explains that they're on a mission to uncover some misuse of alien tech at the hospital.
Meanwhile, in the restricted areas of the hospital, Dr Farrer is running a mysterious "C-program" in which a man identified only as Subject One has been given new flesh and organs and feelings for the first time, which leaves him looking grotesque but feeling amazing. It's soon revealed that Farrer has been performing similar procedures on other subjects, with the necessary human organs supplied by patients who wouldn't have survived anyway - most notably Hex's friend. For good measure, Garnier has been empowered to use any resources necessary to keep the project supplied and protected, and that includes making use of C-program's newest product...
Back in the TARDIS, Hex is in way over his head, but he agrees to help the two out and get them into the hospital morgue. While the Doctor hacks the universal hospital security System, Hex and Ace convince Dr. Mathias (who is hung over and an idiot) to let them into the morgue to look for some "files". They're a bit disturbed when the morgue doesn't have any data on Hex' dead mate from the previous day. It is, however, full of Cybermen.
In the confusion that follows, Ace and Mathias are captured and Hex barely manages to escape with the Doctor's help. After explaining Cybermen to him on the taxi ride back to the TARDIS, the Doctor then makes a risky journey into the restricted floor itself, just managing to materialize inside the hospital without getting the TARDIS stuck inside a wall. However, it's not long before the two end up getting separated, leaving Hex to witness Garnier ordering Farrer to harvest the organs of Ace and Mathias for the C-Program; though Farrer protests this, Garnier leaves one of the new "Cyberhumans" behind to make sure the operation goes as planned.
Elsewhere, the Doctor manages to stumble into Subject One's room, where he is soon cornered by Garnier and one of the Cyberhumans; however, Subject One orders the Doctor's life spared, claiming to recognize him. As it turns out, the patient is actually a Cyberleader and knows of the Gallifreyan's long-standing opposition to the Cyber-race, but reasons that his superior knowledge of medicine and technology can be used to aid C-Program. Over the course of the meeting that follows, Garnier reveals that the European Government have made a deal with a shipwrecked crew of Cybermen: Subject One will teach them how to reverse-engineer and replicate the xenotech taken from the ship, allowing the Euro-Combine Administration to convert human volunteers into cyborg astronauts without the need to eat, drink or even breath, guaranteeing them a headstart in the global space race and the budding colonisation of space.
All the Cybermen asked for in return was to be given new flesh bodies and the ability to feel. Which, the now half-organic Cyberleader claims, is what the Cybermen really want: unlike Telos and Mondas before it, Earth is much more hospitable to organic life, and would allow the former Cybermen an opportunity to enjoy the ability to indulge in sensory input and interact with the environment in a way they haven't experienced in centuries. The Doctor is almost inclined to believe the story, partly because he's still wracked with guilt over his role in the survival of the Mondasian people.
However, he does try to explain that converting humans into Cybermen is a very bad idea. Garnier predictably doesn't listen, and soon demands that the Doctor use his knowledge to help the converted Cybermen: despite their best efforts, Subject One and his crew keep suffering from organ rejection syndrome, requiring constant replacements; with his alien intellect and extensive knowledge, the Doctor might be able to come up with a long-term solution.
Elsewhere, Ace and Mathias are just about to be made into organ donors when Hex intervenes, allowing Farrer enough time to dispatch the Cyberhuman on duty via the automated surgical tools. Unfortunately, it soon turns out that the Cyberhumans are now aware that one of their number has been destroyed, and are now determined to eliminate all threats to the program... threats to the program including all humanity. As a result, the Cyberhumans arm themselves with guns from the security locker and begin massacring their way through the hospital, killing anyone in sight. For good measure, Garnier ends up getting gunned down as well when he tries to call off the attack.
It's at this point that Subject One reveals that the Cyberhumans are under his command, and most of his spiel to the Doctor was a lie: although they do crave flesh and emotion for the strategic advantages an organic mind can offer, the Cybermen don't exactly intend to settle down peacefully. In fact, they're planning to use the hospital as a factory to begin the conversion of the entire human race, having all the resources they need to remain independent of the outside world. With one of the Cyberhumans now ready to kill the Doctor at a moment's notice, Subject One orders him to begin emergency surgery on the ailing Cybermen immediately.
However, Farrer reveals to Ace and the others that he was smart enough to add a kill-switch to the Cyberhumans' programming in case they ever went rogue; unfortunately, the kill-switch is in Farrer's office, forcing the four of them into a desperate sprint through the corridors while the Cyberhumans are still in mid-rampage. In the process, both Farrer and Mathias end up getting shot - the latter superficially, the former fatally. With Farrer dying, his computer requiring a password and Mathias having lost consciousness, it looks as though they've been cornered and will be killed as soon as the Cyberhumans finish battering down the doors. However, it's at this point that Hex finally shines as a nurse, managing to resuscitate Farrer long enough to learn his password before he dies, allowing Ace to activate the kill-switch.
As one, the Cyberhumans keel over, leaving Subject One without any means of motivating the Doctor. Now suffering from chronic organ failure, the Cyberleader openly begs the Doctor for help, but he's in no mood to listen to another word, and strolls off as Subject One quietly flatlines.
Hex makes sure that Dr. Mathias will be alright until the emergency team arrives, then he says goodbye and rushes after Ace and the Doctor, fully aware that he's got no idea what he's getting into, but is excited to find out.
Tropes:
- Agent Scully: Hex, at first, finds the TARDIS interior a bit much to swallow, and half-heartedly tries to put it down to some kind of optical illusion.The Doctor: How dearly the human mind clings to the rational explanation...!
- And Some Other Stuff: How the Doctor makes some small explosives to set off a fire alarm.
- Answers to the Name of God
- Hex: "Oh my God! OH MY GOD."The Doctor: "No, I'm the Doctor. But hello just the same."
- Arbitrary Scepticism: Subverted Trope. Hex believes anything the Doctor tells him 'cause he "lives in a box the size of a public toilet which is bigger than his nan's house on the inside."
- Artificial Human
- Big Brother Is Watching You
- Big "OMG!": Hex' catchphrase. The Doctor gleefully mocks him for it.
- Blatant Lies: The ones Ace is trying to get away with what's happened in their motor cycle chase.
- Body Horror: Application of quickly decaying organic tissue to the mechanical body of Subject One.
- Candid Camera Prank: Hex assumes the TARDIS is one of those.
- Chase Scene
- China Takes Over the World: Not exactly but it is mentioned they rule the Moon.
- Computer Voice: System.
- Continuity Nod: The Doctor mentions the W Stations.
- Dying Vocal Change: Subject One, the Cyberleader; originally sounding almost completely human thanks to the recarnitive surgeries, his voice becomes more metallic as his body begins to reject the donated organs, until he's left screaming for help in an electronically-distorted shriek.
- E.T. Gave Us Wi-Fi: The Doctor is trying to prevent this.
- Flatline: See also Hoist by His Own Petard.
- Foreshadowing: Hex's name was first mentioned in "He Jests At Scars..."
- The Doctor reads Hex' file and discovers something very interesting. As we find out later, he's Tommy, Cassie's son from the Forge story arc.
- Failed Future Forecast: This story aged hard.
- It's set in 2021, and as of 2020, not only had the EU not turned into the more authoritarian "Euro-Combine", but Britain was no longer a member. Oh, and we still don't have those space stations Zoe came from, either.
- And of course, there's no mention of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic either, which disproportionately affected the UK, and which happened between the above editnote and this onenote . Especially noticeable considering this story takes place in a hospital.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: The Cybermen wish to become more human. The Doctor, quite naturally, doesn't trust them an inch, although when he becomes convinced they're being genuine, he regretfully tells them that he would help them, but doesn't think it's really possible. It's all academic in the end because, true to form, it was all a lie.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: How Hex escapes from The Cybermen in the Morgue.
- History Repeats: The attempt by the Cybermen to gain emotional ingenuity somewhat recalls the Daleks' claimed intent in The Evil of the Daleks.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: David Garnier, after using the Cybermen as a blunt instrument to get what he wants out of Ace, Matthias and the Doctor, finds out the hard way that the Cybermen have minds of their own when they begin regarding human beings as threats - and don't appreciate his efforts to command them. Cue fatal barrage of gunfire.
- Subject One AKA the Cyberleader is dependent on the hospital staff for medical attention and the Cyberhumans for security; after allowing the Cyberhumans to kill everyone in the hospital so it can be converted into a cyber-factory, he suddenly finds himself without a workforce when Ace enable the Cyberhumans' killswitch - created by one of the very doctors that Subject One left to be massacred. Unable to convince the Doctor to help him, the Cyberleader is left to die of multiple organ failures, flatlining as the Doctor strolls away.
- Hollywood Hacking: The Doctor in the hospital. The System is deeply disturbed by the Doctor probing her security mechanisms.
- Hospital Hottie: Hex' actor, Philip Olivier, is a professional model.
- Humans Are Flawed: The Doctor dislikes mankind's tendency for secrets, and warmongering, crossing over in Humans Are the Real Monsters towards the end of the story.
- Human Resources
- Last-Name Basis: Ace is still going by "Mc Shane" after her experience in Colditz.
- Literal-Minded: The Cybermen are told the program must be protected. As humans threaten the program they try to eliminate humanity.
- Portmanteau: Hex' real name is in actuality Thomas Hector Schofield with a bit of Xtreme Kool Letterz.
- Resistance Is Futile
- Reversible Roboticizing: Not reversible enough for the Cybermen to stop being a threat, unfortunately.
- Shout-Out to Shakespeare: The Doctor quotes sound and fury.
- Third-Person Person: System.
- 20 Minutes into the Future: This story is set in 2021.
- United Europe: Implied to be happening.
