Hypo Full of Love

Cyberon

A couple of years back, I was between jobs, having taken voluntary redundancy and decided to go travelling for a bit, my parents kindly agreed to stow my gear - and me - temporarily.

While I was staying there, I happened across a very odd TV show airing on SixTV -  the local public access-style network serving Oxfordshire.  The Adventures of Stephen Brown, it was called, and it was a quirky, likeably amateurish attempt at doing Doctor Who with the serial numbers sawn off.  A weird fusion of fan-video and BBV, if you like. 

It was creaky, and hackneyed, and occasionally very very cheap looking.  But it was also made with passion, and charm, and an attention to detail in writing and performance that belied its zero-budget ultra-local telly origins.

Cyberon reminds me a lot of that.  If you can get by the alien costumes - no, they’re not really badly made Cybermen at all, and you’d be a fool and a communist to think otherwise - it’s an eminently watchable, entertaining piece of drama, boasting some decent writing and performances.  It’s the sort of thing that, with a few more quid spent on it, you’d expect to have been shown on Channel 5 back in the day.

they’re not really badly made Cybermen at all, and you’d be a fool and a communist to think otherwise

And, if you’ll permit me to put on the wank hat for a moment, there’s some interesting ethical discussions at the heart, over the morality versus the practicality of science.  If anything, as debates rage between church and state over the potential application of hybrid embryos in stem cell, it’s more topical than ever.  There’s a real sense of expecting the viewer to not only pay attention to the technobabble, but to understand the arguments at the heart of the episode, rather than just chew cud and wait for the monsters to turn up.

Indeed the script, by chubby ginger veterinarian Lance Parkin, is at its best when steering away from the more Who-heavy concepts.  Specifically, the aforementioned big silver giants who favour the word cyber.  When he’s focusing on the rights and wrongs of Cyberon, and the mystery of what the drug is and how it works, it’s a far stronger tale.

Ochlan is one of those rarities in the Who spin-off field - a proper actor

It also benefits, too from some surprisingly strong performances.  BBV stalwart Jo Castleton, last seen getting her baps out for some red hot Zygon action, gets in some practice here while boffing scrawny Yank scientist Tom Mordley, played by PJ Ochlan.  Ochlan, incidentally, is one of those rarities in the Who spin-off field - a proper actor, who has real credits on his CV.  Little Man Tate, The Practice... oh, and he was also in Police Academy: The Series, one of those TV spin-offs you suspect was only commissioned under the influence of a shedload of single malt and blow.

But the pair are very good - Castleton as the Scully-like sceptic who begins to realise the potential of Cyberon, then becomes aware of its dangers, and Ochlan as the scientist misguided by his hope of curing the world’s ills and manipulated into a position of evil.  The relationship that develops between them also feels realistic and adult  - and not in a Zygon way, even if Castleton spends a reasonable amount of time in her scanties.

There’s some good support too.  OK, gay flatmate Ray - played by sleepwalking Simon Cowell lookalike David Roeciffe - is a bit bland, but veteran actor Oliver Bradshaw as the elderly George, cured of his dementia by Cyberon but eventually driven to its death by the alien side effects,turns in a gentle performance.  It’s the sort of role that, had they the money, Graham Crowden would probably have got, but Bradshaw is a more than able deputy.

The difference between being a Channel 5 drama and a straight-to-video fan cash-in

In fact, that seems to be the best way to sum up Cyberon.  You get the feeling that with a bit more resources, this could have been even better, but with the limitations it has, it just about gets away with it.  It’s the difference between it being a broadcastable Channel 5 drama and a straight-to-video fan cash-in with a BBFC certificate.   There’s a lot that’s decent, don’t get me wrong, and given the resources and limitations the production must have endured, it’s a damn sight better than it could have been.  It’s also a damn sight better than Spooks: Code 9, but to be fair, so’s herpes.

But when Cyberon creaks, it creaks heavily.  Nowhere more so than the Cyberons themselves.  They look like they’ve been lifted from a dodgy cracked copy of Manhunter v Boxhead.  The creatures have this sort of weird, melted plastic face that looks halfway between Tomb era Cybermen, and the kiddies plastic voice changer helmets released on the back of the new series.

They work best when they’re kept out of shot, seen as a ghostly transparent presence,  reflected in a syringe, or otherwise distorted.  When one’s leaning over the bannister of Mordley’s mezzanine, however, suddenly it threatens to come crashing down.  The drama, that is, not the bannister.  They might as well have used one of the Tubcon costumes from Stephen Brown.  Effect would be about the same.

But Cyberon just about gets away with it.  Allow it a bit of leeway with the not-Cybermen, and it works as a taut, surprisingly strong piece of drama in its own right.  God alone knows what it’d have been like with a bunch of washed up Doctor Who actors, so kudos to Baggs for going down the route they did instead.   Of the three stories I’ve watched for this little mini-series, it’s definitely the best, and the one that stands up to scrutiny the most.

Next time, Downtime.  And the wank hat is most definitely getting left on the peg for that one.